The Original Trilogy on DVD

[Dave]

George Lucas told Post Magazine that it will take time to release DVD versions of the first Star Wars trilogy of films, according to a report on the Dark Horizons Web site. "The first three films in the trilogy are much harder to put together as a comprehensive package, like we did on Episode I," Lucas told the magazine. "That's why we're spending more time on it, and it's going to take more time, because we didn't shoot very much behind-the-scenes stuff, and a lot of the material that we would normally include just didn't exist in those days."

Lucas added, "This was a long time ago, before even VHS." Smaller budgets for the films meant fewer deleted scenes, "which furthers complicates the process of putting together a DVD package," the director said.

[Aing-Tii]

I had access to a big HDTV with a DVD player this weekend. I'm so bummed the Trilogy isn't on DVD yet. It would have been awesome......


:star::star::star:

[Tabitha]

I don't have the Episode I DVD yet, just on VHS, but I gather there are many many many extras. I wonder if by the time Lucas gets around to getting these DVDs for the original trilogy out, we should expect all the bells and whistles we got with epsiode I?

If, as he says, there isn't the same kind of behind-the-scenes footage, then what is going in instead? Will there be documentaries of the painstaking detail needed in the new footage shot since 1997?

Maybe the rumours about the extra footage for the old films are a bit off - and Lucas is recreating "behind-the-scenes" scenes instead

[CommanderCain]

Tabitha one of the great extras on the Episode I DVD is the Duel of The Fates music video. They have started selling the both disks in a box set, Episodes I and II. However the films aren't in the Widescreen format.

[Dave]

from SciFi Wire

Extras Enhance Star Wars DVDs

The upcoming release of the original Star Wars trilogy on DVD will include never-before-seen extras, including archival footage and early screen tests, Variety reported. The centerpiece of the four-disc set, priced at $69.98, is Kevin Burns' two-and-a-half-hour original documentary, Empire of Dreams: The Story of the Star Wars Trilogy, which includes interviews with more than 40 members of the cast and crew of all three movies, plus interviews with Walter Cronkite and Bill Moyers, among others, discussing the cultural importance of the movies, the trade paper reported.

The set will also include a 10-minute behind-the-scenes preview of next year's Episode III, focusing on the return of Darth Vader. The preview features creator George Lucas discussing the evolution of the character and shows the first glimpse of the new Vader costume, but no actual scenes of Episode III, the trade paper reported. The DVD will also include promotions for Star Wars video games, including the first level of LucasArts' Star Wars: Battlefront, which is being released the same day as the DVD, Sept. 21.

I hate it when they do that. I bought the Original Trilogy on VHS because I assumed they wouldn't come out until after 2005. At least, they didn't cost much.

[timdgreat]

sounds cool, being a hardcore star wars fan i will of course be buying it right as it comes out:rolly2:

[Dave]

Since I just bought the videos I'm in no rush, but I have some info on the DVD changes....

from Scifi Wire

Lucasfilm Defends DVD Changes

Lucasfilm spokesman Jim Ward told SCI FI Wire that the company strongly defends Star Wars creator George Lucas' right to make controversial alterations to his beloved original trilogy of films in the upcoming DVD release. "It comes down to what [Lucas] has said constantly, which is that he very strongly believes in an artist's right to have his work presented in the way he wants it presented," Ward said in an interview at the press preview of the DVD set in Los Angeles. "In terms of your own personal art, and how you want it to be presented, the artist has that right."

The DVD set of Star Wars, The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi includes changes to the 1997 so-called "special editions" of the movies, which were released theatrically. Those films in turn significantly altered the original release versions of the movies. But Ward, vice president of marketing and distribution at Lucasfilm Ltd., said, "With the '97 version of the film, or what he feels is closer to his original vision, he couldn't accomplish [certain things] back in 1977, and people either like it, or they don't. We respect that point of view. But at the end of the day George feels very strongly about artists' rights."

SCI FI Wire obtained an early copy of the DVD set and confirmed reported changes that have been made to the films since the 1997 release, when Lucas used state-of-the-art computer technology to make what he considered improvements to the original movies' visual effects. The new changes, detailed below, are largely revisions to earlier edits or changes made to include actors and character developments unveiled in the prequel films Episodes I-III. Among the changes:

•In Episode IV: A New Hope, the controversial confrontation in the cantina in Mos Eisley has been changed yet again. The villainous Greedo now fires shots at Han Solo (Harrison Ford) at the same time Solo fires back. In the original film, Solo fired first; in 1997, Lucas changed the scene to have Greedo fire first.
•Also in Episode IV, 1997's added computer-generated footage of Jabba the Hutt appears to have been improved, with more fluid motion.
•In Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back, the hologram image of the Emperor has been altered to feature Ian McDiarmid, the actor who played the Emperor in Return of the Jedi and appears in all three prequel films. The scene's dialogue has also changed to clarify the progression of Luke Skywalker’s training as a Jedi, as well as to acknowledge the relationship between Luke and Vader. In the original release of Empire, the Emperor's image was played by an unbilled old woman wearing prosthetic makeup, with chimpanzee eyes superimposed in post-production into darkened eye sockets, the official Star Wars Web site reported. The original voice was provided by Clive Revill.
•In Episode VI: Return of the Jedi, Hayden Christensen's Anakin Skywalker is added as a ghostly image in the final scenes of the film, alongside Yoda and Alec Guinness' Obi-Wan Kenobi. But Sebastian Shaw remains as the face of Darth Vader/Anakin in the scene in which Luke removes Vader's helmet, and not Christensen, as had been rumored.

The star Wars Trilogy DVD set hits retailers on Sept. 21.

The biggest change seems to be changing back the 'Greedo fires first' change, which was a mistake to begin with IMHO. The other changes seem minor to me, they don't alter the story, just improve the special effects.

[timdgreat]

well i got mine and have already watch the first one, nothing too big that i think is important to note, now on the other two eps and hte 4th dvd:rolly2:

[Dave]

Which is better though -- Solo fires first, Greedo fires first, both fire together?

[Dave]

Apparently, they've made a huge mistake with the soundtrack on 'A New Hope'. The music is back to front (left to right speakers) throughout the whole film and some of the important fanfares are inaudible.

I obviously don't know if this is true as I didn't buy them, but it is reported on Scifi Wire and several Star Wars sites.

Music is fundamental to a film. The Star Wars music was a very important part of that film. One might say that that the music was as important as the special effects. So why spend five years reworking the special effects but ****-up the music?

Sorry Tim, but I'm glad I haven't bought them now.

[timdgreat]

ill have to go back and listen for that, didnt catch it when i saw it first time and i would have though that was something i would have noticed right away:rolly2: