The Star Wars Trilogy

[Lex]

Wow, I just finished the trilogy last night. Unlike Mr. Marathon, I watched one a night for 3 nights, lol.

The space scenes in the last film were great! It was a fun retrospective, and you know, until I watched it last night, I did not remember that Harrison Ford was Hans Solo.

Lex

[Danbry39]

I've watched over the last three days and loved the whole experience. After watching the documentary, it is absolutely a miracle that we ever got to see the thing, especially in the form it took when it hit the theaters.

I remember seeing it the first week of its release on Wilshire Boulevard in Westwood. I'm not sure about now, but, back then, Westwood had THE state-of-the-art theaters. It was like a roller coaster ride and the sound was so loud that I, who regularly attended rock concerts, had to cover my ears during some scenes. One of the best theater going experiences of my life.

As to the new transfers, I've read how hard the dedicated workers over at Lucas focused on making this thing as right as possible. I've also read of people who saw the before/after at the studios and how stunned they were at the improvement. I know there might be some flaws and some questionable calls such as the volume level of the soundtrack, but, overall, I'm quite impressed.

What's even more amazing to me is how well this stands up to the pictures of today. It was made something like 27 years ago. Compare it to any sci-fi picture made in 1949-1950 and see if that picture bears any comparison to Star Wars.

Oh, well, maybe I'm just an old fan.

[Brandon B]

I remember seeing it the first week of its release on Wilshire Boulevard in Westwood. I'm not sure about now, but, back then, Westwood had THE state-of-the-art theaters.

Oh, well, maybe I'm just an old fan.

I was right there with you.

The AVCO Gnereal Cinema where you and I saw it has long since split the "big" theater up into smaller boxes and it is now little better than the main theater in a good mall cineplex.

But several of the Mann theaters are still real good. My favorite is the Fox Village over on Gayley. They have well-maintained and operated 35mm and 70mm rigs, as well as a new DLP unit that is fair, although not really up to par for the 65' wide screen. And A full blown top end JBL cinema setup that just rocks.

The National is still also a good presentation. The Bruin is smaller, but still pretty nice too.

Outside that, the El Capitan in Hwood is good, and the Chinese is decent too, although I like it less than a lot of other people seem too. I was also not highly whelmed by the Cinerama dome under its new Arclight management. They have made it look awful nice, but I swear the older sound system had a much better bottom end than what's in there now. And they're using those stupid capcodes in the prints, like anyone could possibly get a decent camcorder copy of the film off that curved screen. Not their choice I'm sure, but still.

BB

[George Bellefontaine]

Nothing like those great theaters around here anymore. How I miss those grand old cinemas.

[Danbry39]

The strange thing is that, unless they visit an IMAX, most of the youngsters today will be clueless as to what used to be the standard of yesteryear. I'm even old enough to remember watching films like How the West Was Won in cinerama. Good to know that some theaters in L.A. still keep up the tradition though.

[George Bellefontaine]

So true, Keith. I am glad I still have my memories of seeing films like THE ROBE for the first time in Cinemascope in one of Halifax's finest grand old cinemas, plus all the great ones that followed. We never had a Cinerama theater but I did see How The West Was Won in the same theater that presented The Robe. It was a huge wide curved screen. My jaw dropped the first time I saw anything on that screen.

[purplepeople]

Finally got my box last night at London Drugs for $58 CAD. Watched ANH and ESB in succession. Unfortunately, I don't have a VCR to play the original and SE tapes so I am going by memory here.

1) Luke's first light saber is not only green, but where it comes out of the handle, the edge is now angled (not the blade but the transition).

2) Seems that sound was mixed (up) a bit in some places... as if it went mono on the center momentarily. (I'll try to get time codes).

3) There seemed to be a lot more detail in the sets, like extra knobs and surfaces on the droid oil bath at the moisture farm and the walls of the abode having desert mixed in so that they are no longer all white.

4) And I think some of the dialogue has been changed. Not much, but one or two words seems to have been swapped. I'll have to re-look to confirm this one.

More have I to say...

ensen.

[Bing Fung]

Hey did they change the scene at Jaba's (Return of the Jedi) where the (female?) singer with the extened lips is doing her gig? The song she is singing didn't seem quite as I remembered. It was kind of dissapointing for me.... :evil:

That said, I found the Audio (esp the Score) on all 3 DVD's to be excellent. It sounded like a broad stage CD :T

[Brandon B]

Purple -

Are you talking about the first movie only? There are a lot of little color issues, but no real dialog changes in that one (other than entirely new scenes).

The saber does look green when he is practicing, when it never did before. This same saber looks blue when he first gets it back on Tatooine. Back in the theater, it looked blue in the first part, and then rather white with maybe a very faint hint of green yellow during the later scene.

The sound anomolies are on every disk, they are apparently due to the poor shape of the audio masters worked form on SW only. THe other two films seem to be just fine.

Details on the sets are all as originally shown, nothing added. COlor has been played with throughout the movie though, so don't know specifically about wall colors you are referring to.

Bing -

That is the same song as the '97 special edition, but it is very different from the '83 release, with the puppet singer replaced by CGI, real backup singers and a second CGI vocal lead all added, and a completely different song.

BB

[Gordon Moore]

That is the same song as the '97 special edition, but it is very different from the '83 release, with the puppet singer replaced by CGI, real backup singers and a second CGI vocal lead all added, and a completely different song.

That and it seemed really out of place within the context of the movie.

[Bing Fung]

Thanks Brandon, Gordo...

For once in my life I feel what it feels to be the "Cheated OAR Movie Zealot" Before, I never though things like this would bother me, and I suppose they still don't really. However i was very dissapointed in this change as i was totally anticipating that scene. It for some reason or another was one of my most favorite and memorable parts of that movie. :evil: :evil:

I borrowed a friends Trilogy VHS set once to watch, and it did have the original scene.

Like Gordo stated, I didn't see the point of the added singers or changed scene. While I welcome some inproved changes, this is one that dissapoints me very much.

I may have to find set of VHS formats just to get that scene back...DOH!

[purplepeople]

Bing,

Or find a friend who's returning from Shanghai and see if you can get the "street" DVDs. (Oh, did I say that out loud. Naughty me.)

ensen

[David Meek]

Jensen, shame on you. Bad doggie! Go to your corner. This is a fine, upstanding forum and we will have no mention of boot-legging or pirating of software!

Now, about those Shanghai DVDs. . . .

While I welcome some inproved changes, this is one that dissapoints me very much.

Bing, welcome to the world of George Lucas. People have been railing against his changes since before the release of the SE VHS tapes. IMO, most of the changes were fairly non-intrusive with the exception of the Han-Greedo shooting in the bar. In the original film Han shoots Greedo in cold blood which is the centerpiece for defining the distance he has to go during his redemption. In the SE version, Greedo shoots first.

And MISSES?

From 3 feet?

Puh-lease.

Not only is this stupid, it lessens Han's metamorphosis. In the new DVDs, Han and Greedo shoot at the same time. Again, Greedo misses. Again, from 3 feet? Again, puh-lease. However, George shows he's moving in the right direction. Maybe in the HD-DVD version we'll come back full-circle to Han shooting first. I (we? all-of-us? pick your word) can only hope. . . .

[purplepeople]

Jensen, shame on you. Bad doggie! Go to your corner. This is a fine, upstanding forum and we will have no mention of boot-legging or pirating of software!

Now, about those Shanghai DVDs. . . .

Yeah, sorry. Can I go hide in my room now?

LIke Bing, I don't like the situation either. I have a friend who came back with a set and it's just hearing about was like the moment when Darth Vader is choosing between Palpatine and Luke. You want to be good, but it's so easy and satisfying to be bad. So far, I've managed to hold out, even though I don't know anyone with a VCR to play the old VHS tapes, which are probably also starting to degrade by now. Of course, having the current trilogy helps a lot in that regard, like a full frontal nicotine patch.

What's worse for the un-requited collectors is that nobody wants to give up their own LD trilogy, never mind finding an LD player for them. But it's Lucas' kitchen and if he wants to butcher the meal the ticket...

ensen.