Lucas to release the ORIGINAL Star Wars trilogy (Non-SE)

[BrandonH]

It's not like the 2006 DVDs will be in short supply, so if nothing better surfaces in the next five years or so, I can decide to buy them at that time.

[Timon/Pumbaa fan]

Despite earlier enthusiasm, and 1/6th of my siggy, I'll probably pass.

Unlike many fans, I actually never had a problem with Lucas' changes. Now I still understand why some people would be upset and thinks that he should release them, but for me, the new effects were no big deal and I liked a lot of them. Nothing big was changed(except Hayden appearing in Return of the Jedi, but that's my least favorite of the trilogy anyway, so none of the changes had any real impact with me), with or without the new effects, they're still great movies and stories, characters, actors, music etc. are the exact same, and that's all the matters. Plus with the prequels, they flow better as one franchise with the added effects.

Even when I posted my first post in this topic, I thought about whether it was really worth around $50.00 for the same exact movies on DVD, just slightly different, and with a so-so transfer, I've decided to pass. Now I'd still like to own it sometime in time or at least see it, but for now, I'll just rent the original trilogy.

[DarthPrime]

I've went though a few parts of Star Wars and the transfer isn't great, but its honestly not that bad.

It looks a little grainy on my computer, but it looks pretty good on my standard 27 inch TV. I don't have a HDTV here to see what it will look like on one, but zoomed I'm sure it will look a little rough.

Still from the screencaps and videos I saw of it online from early reviews I was planning on it to really look horrible. I'm surprised that it looks this good. I mean this is a transfer from the 1993 Laserdisc Masters.

I never owned any of the Laserdiscs or any of the bootlegs, but this is the best transfer of the Originals I have seen. Maybe one day these films will actually get the treatment they deserve. Until then I'm happy with this release.

[slave2moonlight]

I'm another long time fan (born in '75 and been a fan for as long as I can remember), yet I didn't have much of a problem with Lucas making changes either. EXCEPT for a couple things. I was disappointed with him taking Lak Sivrak out of the cantina scene and I will always remember the original ending (though I understand the change). For those reasons, I do want to get this rerelease, but will probably wait quite a while to do so.

[DarthPrime]

I agree some of the changes are ok, but some are not that great (Jedi Rocks is terrible).

Hayden at the end of Jedi... I understand the change, but just putting Hayden's head on Shaw's body looked like a rush job. I wouldn't be surprised if this was redone eventually. It just doesn't look right.

I haven't watched the movies yet, but from skimming though them they are all about the same quality. Jedi does look a little better than the rest, while the snow on Hoth in Empire looks pretty rough. At least the Lightsabers look ok again, well other than the ones in Star Wars which have been messed up since 77.

[slave2moonlight]

Jedi Rocks? Are you referring to the musical number at Jabba's Palace (the new one)? Yeah, I forgot about that. Never liked that too well. It was definitely a creepier atmosphere before, and less cartoony.

[Jungleprince_55]

I'm watching Star Wars right now on my Magnavox 50" DLP and it's not the best i've watched but it looks a LOT better than i was expecting.

It's actually the best Non-Animorphic DVD I've seen so far, Way better than my Little Mermaid Limited Issue DVD. I cannot wait til' the Platinum comes out.

[DarthPrime]

Are you zooming the image to fill the screen or watching it with black bars on all sides?

If your zooming are the subtitles cut off any during the Han/Greedo part?

[dvdjunkie]

I can never understand why people "zoom" their picture. Of course it is going to get grainy.....it is meant to be watched the way it was released. Unfortunately, all of the Theatrical Versions are 4:3 Widescreen (2.35:1) while the 2000 versions are Enhanced for 16x9 televisions. So yes, the black bars will be bigger on your 16x9 set than on the 4:3 TV, so just enjoy what you have and don't be so dang nitpicky about the quality. For those die-hards that wanted the originals on DVD, you have them, so live with their little idiosyncracies and just be glad that you got them as cheap as you did.

"Zooming a picture" is just plain dumb and I don't understand why you think that the picture should remain crystal clear when you do that. It won't so don't do it...................oh, I'm sorry, then you won't have anything to complain about.

But I am sure that you will find something.

[DarthPrime]

I never mentioned anything about wanting them to be clear while zooming. Of course its going to look worse zoomed in, although some people will take a dip in quality to fill up the screen. Your not loosing any picture like you would with a pan and scan release, just picture quality. I can understand though why some would or would not choose to do this.

Anyway I was just wondering how Jungleprince_55 was viewing them, and if you did zoom them on a 16:9 set if the subtitles got cut off any.

[Jungleprince_55]

Yes, I was watching them Zoomed and they looked way better than i was expecting, I have watched a few non animorphic titles zoomed in before and thay looked like crap.