We gotta keep that Logboy guy around here. The links he sends in are better than bad, they’re good! What’s he got for us today? Comparison shots of images from the Star Wars Special Editions and the revised versions of the same shots from the soon to be released 2004 DVD edition.
Lucas’ constant tweaking drives me as crazy as the next guy but the changes in these shots amount to minor tweaking and cleaning up and generally make things look a fair bit better, particularly on that cleaned up Jabba from A New Hope. I still wish I had the option of seeing A New Hope without Jabba in it at all and there’s still a ton of speculation about further, more extensive changes being made which is troubling to me but as far as straight clean up goes these look pretty good.
Check ’em out: Star Wars, Empire Strikes Back, Return of the Jedi.
Well…..the thing with replacing the old fellow with Christensen…it kind of doesn’t match the logic of having Obi-Wan as old….why on earth would Anakin become young when he dies if Obi-wan didn’t…..I liked the old guy……
I say make your own special edition – rubberfaces.com has a bunch of their faces and you can really mess them up
Star Wars Movie Premier Tickets at:
http://www.starwarstix.com
Anybody else notice that in the SE 2004 edition, C-3PO’s right leg is silver from the knee down? I don’t remember that ever being in there before.
I think most of the changes are dumb. Phooey!
You can rent the trilogy at my website!
its makes sense to change anakins ghost because that was the last time he was fully good. yes he was good when he died, but having anakins ghost appar young makes a lot of sense because it was the anakin before any vader. replacing alec is stupid because he remained good into his old age and died good. they didnt change it because they can, they changed that scene because thats how it should be. Also the reason Solo steps on Jabbas tail is because it was originally a human actor he walked around and they couldnt have him walk all the way around his tail so it makes perfect sense. geezus get over it people, I used to be just like you till I realized, if I dont like the new stuff I wont buy it. I’ll always have my original trilogy tucked away.
I never believed the SE messed up the OT.
I accept that GL wanted the movies a specific way, and the SE let him finish that. While I liked the new parts to the story, I felt the new effects such as Jabba and Greedo shootout wernt as ‘real’ is they could have been.
Now its all working fine visually and story. I just wish I had the money to go out and buy them tomorrow, instead of having to wait til Christmas!
I never believed the SE messed up the OT.
I accept that GL wanted the movies a specific way, and the SE let him finish that. While I liked the new parts to the story, I felt the new effects such as Jabba and Greedo shootout wernt as ‘real’ is they could have been.
Now its all working fine visually and story. I just wish I had the money to go out and buy them tomorrow, istead of having to wait til Christmas!
People…. where is that damn dark blob??, I can’t see it!!
So, when are the original 1977 theatrical films coming out in DVD ? Uh ?
Gah, if he’s going to replace the old Anakin at the end of Jedi, then he may as well replace Alec Guinness with Ewan in both Empire and Jedi, just piss on everybody for the sake of effects-masturbation. It makes sense because we can do it! Yeah, right.
In a pathetic attempt, Lucas explained the dark blob at the Emperor’s hood as a SIth Slug that comes out of his ear to enhance his power. Apparently Vadar has one to, but it slithers around under his mask. What a crock.
If you’re still interested, you can see the undoctored footage of Jabba in A New Hope where Jabba the Hutt is an actual human being doing a very Chief O’Hara type Irish accent. The original scene can be found in From Star Wars to Jedi, The Making of A Saga
Got my star wars dvds this week as ordered from the us to the uk. All i can say is how amazing the prints are for all the movies. New hope looks as though it was made yesterday,clean & crisp & bright. Only thing i wish was that the original versions were available on the dvds like the T2 ultimate dvd with the branching as this could count as 1 of the best dvds of all time but all things taken into account is that at last we have them all on dvd.
They look great and I can’t wait to see them. Too bad I haven’t saved up enough money to buy a wide-screen television yet to watch them on – stupid 19 inch…
@ Mr. Yngve,
I think Georgie fixed the sabers for these new DVDs :)
For someone who’s supposed to be so nitpicky with details, Lucas-the-editor sure hasn’t impressed in his later years.
Case in point: when the A NEW HOPE Special Edition was released some years back, I was surprised to see Lucas had NOT cleaned up the most obvious continuity errors: namely, the lightsaber effects.
In several scenes, one can clearly see Obi-Wan and Darth Vader are holding light-strip tubes. It was obvious even in 1977, and he didn’t bother to fix it 20 years later.
That, ladies and gentlemen, is not “vision”. It’s not “meticulousness.” It’s ****** **.
If he ONLY fixed those things, I’d been content. But nooo… and you know what? I like stop-motion aliens. CGI ALIENS SUCK!!
-A.R.Yngve
http://yngve.bravehost.com
for the life of me, i can’t understand why they won’t (or can’t) fix the darker black blob on the right side of the emperor’s hood/cloak. it’s so damn distracting! c’mon… someone else has to be able to see that as a needed fix!
doc.theop
Why should anyone be upset with the changes?
People don’t love Star Wars because it’s good, they love it because of how closely it sticks to George’s vision.
I saw Star Wars as a little kid in the theaters back in ’77 or ’78. I have the VHS versions and the LD versions, and I admit to having the pirated LD->DVD transfers that don’t hold a candle to these new versions when it comes to picture and audio quality.
I can understand there are rabid fans out there who blow their stack when Lucas changes any minor thing in the movies, sure. But where exactly are all those changed scenes, chronological events and re-edits? I’m personally a bit upset about the Greedo shoots first debacle (I think the scene’s tweaked in the new DVD so they shoot at the same time?), especially since it’s Solo’s character to shoot first – but apart from that scene, what else has been radically altered?
OK sure, he replaced the old guy with Christensen for that one scene at the end of ROTJ, but I felt it was a natural thing to do in the name of continuity within the six-part story, so I won’t really count that as a ‘radical’ change.
It’s been quite a number of years since I last viewed the original trilogy, but I’ve seen them many, many times. Seeing the new versions on DVD now brought up the same feelings of exhilaration and wonder I remember having when I saw the movies for the first time. So in essence, they are still the same movies I fell in love with. My point is that none of the changes take anything away from the movies; if anything, they make the movies better.
Oh ya I forgot to mention the sock puppet in the asteroid in Empire, I never understood why they didnt do anything with it.
I think some of the scenes add to the hole expeience, for example:when they enter Mos Eisley, you see the city alot more and it gives the feeling that it actually is a space port and not just one bar and a couple streets.Some things should have never been changed, do I need to mention Greedo and the stepping on Jabba’s tail.Either way I am not surprised, Lucas has gone retarted over the years I don’t think he has a clue what he is doing anymore, he is in a galaxy far far away.What pisses me off the most is that the things he has done has just pissed off the original fans so much but its like he doens care what we think, he seems to forget we are the ones who made him ritch back in the 1977.
You won’t find many people that complain about the digital restoration and the visual *enhancing* of the overall picture, no.
But you will find that people will complain when he changes scenes, chronological events, re-edits events that, for drastic hard-core fans -that the Star Wars Universe thrives on- changes a LOT of things to the point of frustration.
Sure, they are “his” movies. But by making and releasing “his” movie to the public, it has become, to many people “their” movie. And when you change parts of it and don’t let anyone see the movie the way it was shown as they remember it, people get mad.
Again, if someone took Back to the Future, altered it so Marty went back to 1956 instead of 55, and then proceeded to tell me that this new version *IS* the original version, I’d be furious.
George has the right to alter his movies to the point of sexual pleasure if he wants, but I really don’t think he reserves the right as a polite human being to deny millions of people access to their favorite movie as they remember it.
I say Lucas has the right to do whatever he chooses with the films. The changes aren’t _that_ drastic, after all. OK, so he put in that talentless plank of wood in the shot with Obi-Wan and Yoda, but hey, it’s in his power and it actually works, if you think about continuity and all six films as a whole.
Besides, the company in charge of the restoration has done wonders for the picture quality. I don’t know if you folks have seen the actual DVDs (I have), but the movies look (and sound!) like they’ve been shot in this century. That alone is enough for me to enjoy the trilogy, regardless of the tweaks Lucas has done. And if you ask me, most of the tweaks serve to make the movies even better.
Find and view the episode of South Park called “Free Hat”. Says it all.
originaltrilogy.com
nuff said.
The latest rumor is that Lucas will digitally alter the species of Hans Solo’s sidekick, Chewbacca, from Wookie, replacing it with Gungan, playing Jar Jar Binks’ brother-in-law.
I love how much the picture quality has been cleaned up. And the changes aren’t really annoying at all. My biggest beefs are the more drastic changes that occurred with the Special Edition. But all in all, it’s shaping up to definetely be a MUST OWN Dvd set.
Oh, and while I’m at it… it would have been kinda cool if Lucas had updated some of the old LCD screens to be more consistent with the “busy” screen designs in the prequels.
I’ll shut up now.
Ok, take off your Purist Hat for a minute and humor me this point. If the Man’s going to the trouble of updating the freaking hell out of the older films, why would he stop in obvious places? Cases in point: A) the Tauntauns, and B) the Rancor. Why in the world would Lucas keep ANY claymation creatures in any of those films? If you concede his “revisioning” or whatever, then anything less than Jurassic Park quality creature animation is just jarringly off. And as cool as claymation was back in the day, it could have been updated as well and looked really great.
Go fig.
At least the Jabba in A New Hope looks better.
I just hope they take out the “stepping on his tail” gag. That took a little away from the scene. Made it more of a joke than the cocky banter Solo had with him back then.
I guess carbon blindness openned his eyes, he seemed more humble in Jabba’s presence in Jedi.
I think the pictures look awesome though. I have very little problem with the remastering.
I still have my original triology set tucked away. If I wanted to see outdated special effects I would dig them up. But for now, bring me this clean clear edition.
Bark all ya want. I am just fine with a creator updating his old work. Somethings I don’t care for “Young Anakin’s ghost” or the cartoon Jabba do bother me. But I do think Greedo should have shot first. But Im not starting a debate on it.
Go forth and buy DVDs. I predict this set will outsell Nemo despite the Lucas Hater Clan.
Yeah, I don’t mind most of these changes actually. I hate the fact that Lucus feels the need to change stuff just as much as anyone, but like you said, changes like this are alright.