the crimes of george lucas ('90s on)

"You're so...

...beautiful."

One thing I did notice when watching Episode IV yesterday, is how stilted and awful the CGI stuff added to the Mos Eisley scene looks in comparison to the CGI stuff in the prequels. There is one shot in particular, with a very jerky and stilted Threepio, that reveals the limitations, particularly in crisp Blu-Ray on a big screen.

I thought that had been revealed as a hoax last week

Really? So the dragon call is the original? Cos that new clip sounds like someone getting goosed and then growling into a delay pedal. But in a really crappy way.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8rCEJYiaNtk

Watched some of the new deleted scenes on youtube today. This is the coolest thing ever.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cPpWlTs48Bg

I'd seen a camera job of part of this but, wow, damn. I think that new shot of Darth Vader walking down a corridor is almost as cool as Luke Skywalker putting together his lightsaber and that last shot of the Millennium Falcon parked in the desert. This scene is better than 90% of the finished movie.

Hadn't watched the original trilogy deleted scenes yet, that one alone blows away every single one for the prequels (unsurprisingly).

I want more Hoth footage.

They should have dubbed Hayden's voice in for Vader's. That would have been awesome.

good deleted stuff. is there much more on the dvd box?

if anyone has the time to engage in my frivolity: what is the main menu like?

i remember being particularly agitated at my 2004 cuts for the "BRUM BRUUUUUUUUUM BRUM" that started off each and every time you put it in the disk. god dammit, save that for when it actually happens! b/c when it does, it's kinda underwhelming/annoying

it's like when dvd's first started coming out and KEY SCENES were just used as ladeedadeedadee infinite loop gif images in the background, while i'm trying to sync my remote w/ the dvd player

There is probably eight or nine total deleted scenes for the prequels, but they are all pretty much worthless - low quality storyboard type with basic 3D stand-in renderings for any efx, etc. And they don't add anything at all plotwise. The only even close to interesting one is the extended lightsaber battle between Darth Maul and Qui-Gon at the ship on Tatooine, but again, pretty low quality. Haven't delved into the extras on the original trilogy yet.

The DVD menus are decent, but tbh nothing special considering how well done a lot of Blu-Ray menu screens have been lately. The music isn't as jarring or whatever, good background. Functional, but not really as impressive as I'd hoped.

can't believe any of you are actually buying this shit

mind you i don't typically ask about movie menus,

but sometimes when you're presenting a movie to your friends that you've seen before and they haven't do i suddenly become conscious of them and utterly disappointed in how tacky/boring they happen to be. as an example, i've always loved everything the criterion collection art dept. does w/ the graphic design element of their movies, but a black screen with the movie title and an elongated underline can only be seen 17 times before i start to notice

/rant

xpost

a boycott against george lucas is useless. i'm only making this statistic up, but i'm certain purchases made for 14yr old sons/as presents to children & filmic illiterates far outnumbers the admittedly large base of old fans whom've noticed the changes, but are buying this shit anyways b/c they love star wars that much

i mean there must be 890732897 petitions in existence *right now* demanding that george lucas release the originals, unedited

NOPE

can't believe any of you are actually buying this shit

Well, like I said, my wife surprised me with this, knowing that I loved the originals and assuming I would want them on Blu-Ray.

Well, you did say something about a baby, so I guess you can't disappear in the night never to be seen again at this point.

Lol, no, and her heart was in the right place. I mean, its pointless to hold out for the originals at this point, so I'll take gorgeous looking crappy movies and re-works over nothing.

can't believe any of you are actually buying this shit

Gotta say that seeing the remastered deleted scenes and all the behind the scenes stuff, it looks pretty tantalizing. I bought the '95 original VHS box so I passed up on the Special Edition that soon followed. The lameness of the prequels turned me off to getting the DVDs. But seeing some of the bonus footage on this set, I'm far more curious than I thought I would be.

I now own the original trilogy on VHS, not sure the dates but I definitely got them when I was still in high school so it was pre-1994, the Special Edition VHS, the Special Edition DVDs, the prequel DVDs as they came out individually, the original trilogy 2004 DVDs, and now the Blu-Ray Complete Saga thing. I'm that guy, apparently. But, in my defense, only the Special Edition DVD set was what I paid for myself, the rest have been given as gifts.

good god

GL probably could have kept making Star Wars movies or TV shows or whatever but i think his divorce was so traumatic and tied up with SW that by the end he wanted nothing to do with it for a while. Which is a shame, cos he probably could have a dozen Star Wars movies, had he also ignored tinkering with the original trilogy. The CGI work developed alongside the films, there would be no reason for Special Editions. There would just be more movies.

I kinda wish he would make more movies, tbh. The prequels were horrible films but great entertaining b-movie stuff.

10bucks says lucas will get his own 8 1/2 come 2033, directed by martin scorses's brain-in-a-jar and it'll revolve around him being the world's most celebrated mastermind behind the biggest cultural phenomenon yet, and his struggle to cope with it in the consecutive years after. it'll be surreal-ish and involve george lucas's life being re-edited with crappy cgi, a la Run Lola Run

the last scene will be a portraiture of george lucas against a black background, soundtracked by trent reznor, as a mouse cursor edits out his turkey wattle

So you're saying the last scene will last about 35 minutes?

http://i.imgur.com/mVOX6.jpg

yes, 35 minutes sounds about correct, but his face will continued to be edited until entire portions of his body are removed and george lucas eventually becomes the abyss, black and without feeling for about 10 minutes (which serves as allegory for time he spent editing his script)

his breathing through a oxygen mask will soundtrack the credits

i am a creative genius

and then the deleted scenes will consist of 66 minutes of scrapped jarjar binks skits

God, I just arrived at this thread from the wikipedia article for LingChi. xp

Star Wars is the bestselling catalog Blu-ray Disc of all time, including 515,000 units sold in North America in its first week alone. This worldwide consumer spend included $38 million in North America – unprecedented for a 9-disc Blu-ray collection at a premium price

http://www.deadline.com/2011/09/star-wars-complete-saga-on-blu-ray-breaks-global-sales-records/

I watched ESB last week and it was a TREAT. Looks absolutely gorgeous. But IMO the color saturation is a bit much, and the music should be louder throughout the film. I felt like the voices and effects were too loud, and the music was just slightly underwhelming, particularly in the asteroid belt scene where the TIE fighters are getting smashed. I remember seeing the VHS as a kid and the music at that part was way more in-your-face.

I don't think I've sat through it since before the prequels, because when Darth has a chat w the new Emperor it totally caught me off guard. Instantly I thought back to the prequel trilogy. Here I don't really think the continuity works, cos the Emperor says something akin to "Luke is the son of Anakin Skywalker", as if Darth Vader doesn't identify with that person. But when he was suited up at the end of Ep III, the first thing he asks is about Padme. I wish i could remember what the original Emperor speech was (with the way scarier looking OG hologram) but I think I'm going to see out the new HD Laserdisc rips of the original trilogy that are floating around...

I guess you could argue he doesn't say anything about Luke to the Emperor cos he's already started plotting against him.

i thought the empire knowing the anakin connection was already established in the first movie when they bbqed owen and beru?

They did that because they didn't/couldn't tell where the droids were! I don't think they ever established that Vader knew the specific farm where the droids were.

luke blows up the death star and becomes a famous rebel commander.

Well, in that movie the empire were after the droids. The stormtroopers specifically tracked them down after slaughtering the jawas who had sold them to uncle owen. I don't know if anyone had made a connection. I guess Vader could have sensed Luke down there from up on Leia's ship. Its not supported by the film though.

xxp

luke blows up the death star and becomes a famous rebel commander.

― the-dream in the witch house (difficult listening hour), Friday, September 23, 2011 1:17 PM (0 seconds ago)

^^ this

Was it in ESB when the Emperor says something about "the son of skywalker" or is that purely in ROTJ?

he says that in the original esb, i think, even when he's played by rick baker's wife wearing monster makeup

I kinda wish he would make more movies, tbh. The prequels were horrible films but great entertaining b-movie stuff.

― Telephoneface (Adam Bruneau), Tuesday, September 20, 2011 11:30 AM (3 days ago) Bookmark

he directed the action portions of the upcoming Red Tails, apparently. though i can't even imagine why you'd come away from the prequels craving more punishment

Darth developed Post-traumatic stress, and blanked out the knowledge of his past life...didn't resurface until Luke surfaced...that'd be my retcon.

hiding a kid with his closest blood relatives is kind of a gimme to the empire, though. darth was prolly all watevs, long as i don't have to pay support until the death star thing.

Also "The Emperor has forseen this" about Darth & Luke taking him out. Vader was telling his kid the truth, presumably, cos he also tells him that he's his father, and that's the truth. Maybe Vader finds out during Ep IV and is pissed off at Obi-Wan for hiding Luke and Leia from him, so that's why he kills him.

Yeah, probably not, otherwise he wouldn't be out there trying to shoot Luke down in the Death Star trench.

Vader doesn't even really know about Luke until after Ep 4 happens!

So the death star blows up. Vader has to talk to the Emperor, says "The force was strong in the dude that blew up our Death Star, my master". Emperor is like, "Btw, dude is your kid."

I'm guessing that's where another "Nooooooooooo!" would go.

there's a (now probably non-canon) comic where the emperor is cackling that he knows that vader is really anakin, like vader's been keeping it a secret from him, too.

What happened to those 3-D ified Star Wars editions? Because it is very important that they come out, to save 3-D.

3D Phantom Menace is out February 2012

Oh man I can't wait to feel like I'm being violated by Jar Jar's tongue.

there will presumably be inserted bits with lightsabers poking right out of the screen at you and that