http://www.starwars.com/episode-iii/release/video/news20050725.html

Releasing a week earlier than previously reported

[hr]

Nov 1: Experience Episode III on DVD and Star Wars Battlefront II

This November 1st will be a landmark day for fans to celebrate the saga with two major releases in Star Wars home entertainment. The explosive and emotional finale to the saga,Star Wars: Episode III Revenge of the Sith, arrives on DVD and Star Wars Battlefront II, the sequel to the most successful Star Wars game ever, arrives on Xbox, Playstation 2, Windows PC and Sony PSP formats.

Lucasfilm and Fox Home Entertainment present a two-disc set for the Revenge of the Sith DVD, with uncompromising picture and sound mastered directly from the original digital source material. The DVD will include a brand-new full-length documentary produced by Lucasfilm Ltd. as well as two new featurettes -- one that explores the prophecy of Anakin Skywalker as the Chosen One, and the other that looks at the movie's amazing stunts. A 15-part collection of Lucasfilm's groundbreaking web documentary series, Making Episode III, will also be included in the set. A two-level playable demo of Star Wars Battlefront II is also included on the DVD.

"Revenge of the Sith gave audiences an extraordinary experience, and we want this DVD to do the same," said Jim Ward, Vice President of Marketing and Distribution for Lucasfilm Ltd. "From the beginning of production, George wanted to be sure we chronicled everything that went into the making of Episode III specifically to create an incredible DVD experience. This DVD has literally been three years in the making, and it's going to be a fantastic way to complete the Star Wars saga at home."

In addition to its November 1st debut in the U.S. and Canada, Revenge of the Sith debuts on DVD in most major territories around the world on or about the same day.

Start planning your viewing parties now! With the November 1st release of Episode III on DVD, it will mean that the entire Star Wars saga -- from The Phantom Menace to Return of the Jedi -- will be available on DVD.

Keep checking starwars.com as more details of this set become available, and for behind-the-scenes looks at many of the features of the Episode III DVD, make sure you're a member of Hyperspace: The Official Star Wars Fan Club.

[hr]

Can't wait to download it

Thank you so much DD
That cover gave me shivers

Anakin's scar is on the wrong side, most likely because it's a mirrored shot or however that goes. Also it sucks that some of the smaller characters get gyped out of being on the cover like Mace, Yoda, and R2. Still, I love the cover, gotta love the "duel" shot.

I really like the cover art. The duel pic is sweet.

Certainly better than the OT covers...

I'm surprised there was no announcement of an Episode I re-release with a digital Yoda and/or Original Trilogy. Guess that won't be happening anytime soon.

But Battlefront II looks awesome and the cover art suits this film a bitmore than AOTC's did.



This will either answer questions or stir up controversy. Sounds cool.

Darn, no deleted scene info yet. The featurettes sound promising, the one's for AOTC didn't really offer anything new that wasn't covered in its other docs. The long documentaries are always great, I wonder what subject it will be focused on this time or if it will cover all aspects of the production like The Beginning did? Can't wait to find out more.

Maybe some insert scans will pop up soon. I remember scans of the AOTC insert leaked pretty early.

"The Beginning" documentary for Episode I was great, I hope this one is more like that. The Episode II one was dissappointing. Actually, the whole Episode II DVD was dissappointing.

I agree...

That EpII doc was terrible. What garbage...why do I give a rat's ass about the trials and tribultions of digitizing Yoda. Whoopity doo!

Whoaaa...the EPII DVD doc's rocked."From Puppets to pixels" was fun & so was the "sound" doc with Ben Burtt.The deleted scenes were weak tho, no doubts there.

the countdown has begun!

My favorite part about the cover is how it doesn't match up with any of the previous DVDs.

mm, the artwork (as opposed to the photos) does kinda stand out... but I still think it's the best of them all.



Ah, well, at least it don't have a goddam lens flare on the sabers...

The dis-continuity in this cover with the previous ones is a turn-off for me.

Cover doesn't suck big this time.

Still very fan-artish, but oh well. :p



"A 15-part collection of Lucasfilm's groundbreaking web documentary series, Making Episode III, will also be included in the set"

Wasn't there 18?

Here's your damn lens flare:

If all goes as hoped, that is some foreshadowing for future DVDs.

I'd like it a lot better if they used a different image of Palpatine. It just looks wrong with the rest of the image. Vader looks a lot more natural here than he did on the poster.

hell, it doesn't seem to different to me.

Well, for all the rest there's one character holding a lightsaber as the centerpiece of the cover. On this one, there is Obi-Wan and Vader fighting in the bottom corner where there would normally be starships or something. Also, Vader's helmet is just thrown back there when there are normally only 4 main characters on the cover. Just looking at the covers again you can see they messed up by having Obi-Wan wielding the saber on the TPM cover rather than Qui-Gon. Obi-Wan should have the saber on AOTC's cover and Anakin on ROTS. But whatever, it's not as though these even compare to the Struzan art.

They're not really bad covers, but they're not particularly good, especially AOTC. I'm still wondering why Yoda is on that one and not ROTS.

I'm thinking we'll get classier DVD covers in the 6 movie set that comes out on the next format. Hopefully in those ones we also get all the little technical fuck ups fixed.

It maybe for the best just to start a new thread for fan-created DVD Covers. Commenting on the official/real cover is fine but for some reason this thread and others like it on other forums were degenerating into "hey check out my dvd cover fuck yeah kick ass" threads.

I know there exist some debate on Anakin's missing scar from the cover. Well, Pablo Hildalgo said it was digitally removed from the cover because Anakin's scar in the movie was done with actual makeup.

So do you think his scar is missing /digitally removed in the actual movie? That would throw off some EU.

Holy fuck.

You're either joking, or you're a fucking retard.

In all honesty.. is it just me or does every DVD that has come out has been kind of a rush job in order to get product to the public?? for no other reason than to satisfy an ungodly demand for these DVDs.

Same thing goes with Indiana Jones.. the DVDs so far have all been pretty unimpressive.

Original Trilogy DVDs: while adding in a few new FX shots, have glaring production and editing issues... watch closely in ANH, when Vader is talking to Tarkin the dialogue is overdubbed and Vader's body is moving and gesturing after his voiceover has stopped.. just dumb little things like that. ESB and ROTJ have quality control issues as well.. not nitpicky little details about continuity or "Wouldn't it be cool if...?" but just shoddy work. Let's be honest, does ANYONE think the DVD covers are good? There is at least 20 years of poster art for all 3 movies and the best they can come up with is a photoshop montage? Another reason for this is the tremendous amount of OT Bootleg DVDs making their way around the internet and on EBay which caused LFL and Fox to probably react very quickly and turn around an official DVD release..

Prequel DVDs: Started off as a stopgap "OK we will release TPM but not the OT until after all three prequels are done" and continued to release all three.. ROTS is coming out on Nov 8, but you can pretty much download it now so they really have no recourse but to release an official DVD in order to make any kind of profit off of it.

In any event, on Nov 1 we will all have 6 star wars dvds, while we wait for the big mega box set that Lucas probably wanted to do all along but that we as a fan base were too impatient to wait for.

Guys isn't it more important what's on the inside rather than on the cover?

wtf @ being stupid

WTF!! You mean Luca$Film is out for da MONEY?!!?

When did this happen?

I think we should all wait for the ULTRA DEFINITIVE SUPER HYPER DEFINITION version of the films... on holographic magnets.

Seriously... you're a tool. Buy the damn thing and then rebuy it again when another version comes out.

Does anyone else get the irony that this moron was probably bitching when Lucas was going to stick to his guns and release the box set in 2006 - 2007?

I know I've been happy with four of the currently released five DVDs. I'll happily rebuy TPM if it gets a new transfer and no additional bonus content. The current one sucks ass with all the edge enhancement... especially on my 8ft. wide screen.

Only Star Wars fans would complain about those DVDs (aside from TPM which has noticeable EE).

Edge enhancement. I think it's a filter applied to DVD transfers to smooth contrast but apparently only gets people complaining because of its inherent halo-ing effect.

The TPM transfer looks like one of those pre-release telecine transfers. It's got speckles and spots in it, excessive grain and wacky contrast levels.

The Star Wars DVD covers don't bother me at all.

However, nothing... and I mean nothing... is as bad as the photoshop hell that is the cover art on the DVDs of M*A*S*H.

Completely ruins the series for me.

Actually, to Jedi Master Matt and Longtime Sunshine.. Allow me to rephrase that..

First of all, I'm not a "tool" I've posted on the site quite a few times, usually I try and refrain until I have something intelligent to say.

All I am saying is.. if you look at other DVDs, specifically re-releases or restorations and compare them to the Star Wars DVDs.. the quality of the Star Wars DVDs is pretty underwhelming.

I am saying this because I am a huge fan..and I get in line every time Lucas puts out a new version... as it stands right now I have:

1. VHS versions of the OT
2. THX VHS versions of the OT Definitive Collection
3. THX VHS versions of the remastered "definitive" collection
4. LD versions of the "definitive" collection
5. VHS versions of the 97-98 "special editions"
6. Bootlegs of the OT DVD from LD transfer
7. DVDs of every release that has come out thus far.

ALL I am saying is that if you look at the quality of something like the remastered Gone With The Wind, The Adventures of Robin Hood, The Lord of the Rings EE DVDs, ANY Criterion DVD or for that matter anything that Pixar has released.. I cannot help but get the feeling that the Star Wars 2004 DVDs were rushed out the door and released in a slapped together/shoddy way that I think cheapens the 6 movies and cheapens the brand.

Believe me, I'll never complain about Lucas being out for the money.. he is a businessman and his business is creating and selling movies.. I'm just saying I think the end-product suffered as a result of rushing this out the door as a result of a) demand b) the proliferation of bootlegs and pirated copies c) laziness due to a guaranteed market

What frustrates me is there is an erosion of what one could consider the "definitive" version of these movies because a new version is created and marketed every 5 years or so. Ideally what I would hope for is in 2007 there will be a FINAL "30th Anniversary" box that Lucasfilm and Fox can take the next two years to develop and then be done with it.

All I would expect is that they take the time to deliver the best product they can..not rush something to market.

That's all I'm saying.. as one fan to many others.. and I am sure most of you would agree. I'm not saying add in Senator Palpatine eating a sandwich on Naboo.. I'm saying, for example, there is no reason that Luke Skywalker's lightsaber should be blue in one scene, then green in a scene 10 minutes later, then white, then blue again.. that is just bad quality control and as a result bad product.

The salesmanship, however, has always been impeccable.

Any thoughts?

hahaha no no it made sense when you first posted it.

we all know what you're saying, thats just what you get being a star wars fan.

Well, first off, 10 posts in 7 months is not "quite a few times." Nor would a high post count disqualify you from tool status, as evidenced by Bearvomit.

Secondly, this disc wasn't rushed to market any more than any other DVD these days. Currently, the standard release window is somewhere around 5 months after theatrical release. For example, Kingdom of Heaven, which hit theaters a few weeks before ROTS, will be released on DVD on October 11. Additionally, given that ROTS already exists in digital format, the remastering time is a bit less than other DVDs. LFL could probably have released this in June if they wanted to, without "rushing" it at all.

As for the covers, yes, they're kind of lame. But the format was designed with TPM's VHS release, and the intent was likely to keep it looking different from the numerous bootlegs that already existed with the film's poster as the cover. They may look weak, but they're at least distinctive (though I have no doubt that releasing the cover image three months ahead of time is only doing the bootleggers a favor).

I won't argue with your complaints about the OT releases (other than to say that they didn't bother me nearly as much as some of the others here), but I would have to point out that you can't really compare the restorative work necessary to give 20+ year old films a fresh look with the very little amount of work that needs to be done to a film released 2 months ago.

Anyway...anyone know where I can find a good-sized, hi-res image of the AOTC poster? I've got all the others.

It's a damn shame they can't use those paintings that were used for the promotional posters. That would kick ass. I have never liked these DVD covers, there're so corny to me.

Gotta take issue there, dude. How could ILM complete the deleted scenes, the crew record the commentary, the PR department compile all the featurettes, etc, in such a short time?



At least the TPM cover somewhat references the theatrical poster. The subsequent covers have nothing whatever to do with their poster counterparts... which annoys me but is really a small, petty detail.



I blame the public for whatever shortcomings the OT DVDs have. They wanted them RIGHT NOW, so they got them.



Shit negro, that's all you had to say. I'm on this motherfucker.

- http://www.blissnet.org/ayatollah/poster01.jpg
- http://www.blissnet.org/ayatollah/poster02.jpg
- http://www.blissnet.org/ayatollah/teaser01.jpg
- http://www.blissnet.org/ayatollah/teaser02(notext).jpg

These are all in ridiculous resolution. Enjoy.

Last summer, until those pictures got leaked, I was ready to wait for the DVDs until November of this year, or later.

And frankly, I watched the movies for the new probe droid here or there, listened to the commentaries, and watched Empire of Dreams (even though I basically had seen it already on A&E), and I put the things away. The shitty remastering really turns me off, and seeing the pink and green sabers cross in ROTJ makes me sick every time I see it.

Eh... I wanted deleted scenes, and I wanted a perfect transfer. I got neither, and I could've waited a year or however long it took to get that.

We know the lightsabers are fucked, the picture is sometimes screwy and the extras were lacking. But it's the clearest we've ever seen and heard the films, and I've watched Empire Of Dreams a few times. For the 40 bucks that I paid for it, I got what I wanted with a few problems here and there: The original trilogy on DVD. I'm not going to say I'd have waited longer for fixed versions because that's just retarded. It could've been worse: It could've been the Back To The Future Trilogy. You KNOW there will be another release. You do remember the films are being done up in 3D right?

There was no problem with the BTTF DVDs.

Clean transfer, great extras.

The framing issue on the widescreen, but that was it.

Its like if the time machine effects had been turned a completely different color and weren't lined up with the screen. That's what happened with the Star Wars set.

Honestly, that's the dumbest thing I've ever read on this board. Sorry. After you claim to want a perfect transfer for the SW Trilogy, I'm left wondering what the hell you would consider a perfect tranfer.

In retrospect, the problems with the BTTF Trilogy applied to the OT would be like having the picture literally chopped off in every scene. I'll take some shitty lightsabers over that, especially knowing that they will be fixed.

They fixed the framing within a few months of release and there was a recall on the widescreen.

I haven't heard one thing from the Lucasfilm people saying the Star Wars set is screwed up, that they realize the problem, or anything.

lol. That's because they want us to buy the next release, not trade ours in for new ones (though we would anyways)

The BTTF transfer was not only terrible, but insulting.

Any asshole on this board that compares the SW OT DVD to that set should be banned.

I shouldn't have even brought it up. Sometimes I think the OT DVDs are overly bashed and I like to keep things in perspective. But the BTTF DVDs may be a little too ridiculous to compare to.

I totally agree. I have more than gotten my money's worth out of this set and I will gladly re-buy it all over again whenever the next release comes out. I've blown more money on crappy VHS copies in the past than the cost of this DVD set so I'll never complain too much about the flaws(even though Vader's pink lightsaber in ESB and ROTJ does drive me a little crazy).

I don't see any reason to assume that they waited until after the film hit theaters to start any of that. ILM had to finish ROTS first, sure, but as the first original exciting exclusive video to Hyperspace subscribers showed, it's not like ALL deleted scenes were finished for the AOTC DVD. No doubt they were prioritized, and whatever was finished made it in. Have they even said how many deleted scenes there would be, let alone described specific content?

Commentaries, featurettes, etc -- they could have started doing those last year. It's not like everyone's in the same room at the same time for the commentaries anyway; Lucas's contributions usually amount to explaining why a scene that you thought was dull or confusing is actually quite unique and brilliant. He could do that much without even watching the movie.



Thanks dude. I'm going to make an effort to do new covers for the whole series that incorporate the Struzan posters. Should be finished in time for the 30th anniversary.

I would think the deleted scenes would be the biggest stumbling block, just because of the sheer amount of baloney that goes on VFX-wise for even minor dialogue scenes.

But the Star Wars DVD fairy paid me a visit about a week ago, so I don't mind waiting for the real thing.



Um, why would it take that long? A month or so, I could maybe see, but much more than that...

Anyway, can you keep them at least in the same style as the prequel DVD's (with uniform gold'ish/brown text in the logos and blurbs)? Nitpicky though it may be, it does sorta piss me off that the SW DVD's don't really match all that well.

Or maybe in the Definitive Collection vein, that'd be cool.

If you're taking requests anyway...

I'm exaggerating my laziness. Though not by much.

Although since my goal here will be to serve the contents of the actual releases, the ROTS cover won't be finished until I know exactly what to put on the back.



Most likely there will be NO metallic colors. They're too hard to reproduce for desktop printers. Otherwise, I'll be borrowing some existing design elements, if only to complement the look of the discs and the inserts.