I don’t think this announcement confirms that GL is “pissed.” It seems more like common sense to me. If DVD versions of the O-OT are going to be produced and sold, he might as well be the one to do it. That way, he can control the quality and content. Oh, and as others have said, he can also make more money.



So, your going to be ignoring the Ewok song at the end of ROTJ?



Better yet, he should insert Jar Jar into one of the O-OT films.

You know what I mean... But actually, yeah. I prefer the celebration song in the SE to the Ewok song. "Celebrate the love"? What the hell is that?

Or maybe a Jar Jar commentary as the default audio track would be best.

...perhaps in the US, a "few" cinemas had "Dolby Surround" in cinemas, not in New Zealand they certainly didn't...and most of the 'wider' releases of StarWars wouldn't have had the technology to play the sound the way it was intended.

So what I said was true, from a certain point of view.

...regardless, an "enhanced" soundtrack wouldn't be a true "Original" release...as alot of Ben Burtts sound-design stuff has been re-recorded and enhanced in recent releases anyways...

I'm convinced GL put that "Wesa free!" in there with the sole purpose of fucking with sheep's minds. He's the ultimate troll.

And now you can too. *warning:poor quality* but maybe thats just originality, hmmm....

http://d.turboupload.com/d/580391/yubnub.wav.html

I don't see what the big deal is since DVD burners and editing software allow people to do their own edits anyway. It's no different than how I used to edit music casettes by replacing the tabs and dubbing a song I liked over one I didn't.

This reminds me of the different versions of the Moody Blues album Days of Future Passed. Some included the orchestra, some left out different voice tracks... and just last year it was released in surround sound. Paul McCartney did the same with Let it Be. I don't remember any fans of the Beatles or the Moodies bitching about how they're getting screwed.

Some Star War fanwhores are only happy when bitching. Fuck 'em.

The overwhelming majority of theatergoers heard ANH (and probably the other two as well) in mono. *That* was how it was intended. Burtt even said he prefers the mono track over the other ones as it's the one that most people would have heard and, thus, the only LFL invested the most time with.

Like you said though, it is interesting how the sheep are inconsistent on what can be upgraded vs. what can't. Lucas is probably doing the smart thing by releasing the 1993 version. If people didn't bitch about the THX edition when it was released, there's no reason they should bitch now (which, of course, isn't stopping anyone; see AICN if you don't believe me).

Me too! YEE-HAW!!! This is one sheep that's happy. But of course, I'm happy with almost anything Star Wars.

You know what piturbs me the most is that a lot of the whiny people say that Lucas is a money hogger and he's releasing these to "milk money" out of us customers.

Give me a fucking break. Obviously these people haven't got a fucking clue how to run a sucessful business. Grant Lucas has said through out the years that he would not release these versions of the movies. I guess though the pressure has been building and he decided to release them for 'purists' sake. Also keep in mind as I said before this isn't something that's going to be produced in the masses, this is a limited time thing.

Will we see these actually re-released again next year? Who knows but I am leaning towards the "no" answer for this one.

In the end this is after all his decision and he has the right to do with his products as he pleases. If that means bringing more money for him then hey more props to him because that's what it takes to run a sucessful business.

Ya know, we've had three Fifth Element DVD's, three Spider-Man 1's, three Princes Brides, three Terminators and T2's, three JFK's, God-only-knows how many Halloween 1's and at least three There's Something About Mary's. I've not heard anywhere near as much whining about these.

Lucas releases the '04 discs and now the oh-riginal OT discs (as an afterthought) and suddenly he's a moneywhore.

I'm sure it makes sense to somebody, just not me.

EDIT- Lucas could've as much as quintiple-dipped on SW DVD's by now and would've made a killing each time. He never did. That tells me a lot.

Uh...I guess I'm missing your point then. Didn't you say that we're getting Dolby 2.0 because it's the "original sound-recording release that was in cinemas"? You do realize that it's NOT, right?

Whatever, not that big a deal.

I know I sound like a momma's boy typing this, but the reason I'm most excited about this release is for my mom. She loved the original trilogy and doesn't really like the new stuff they added in the special editions. She saw the originals in the theaters like millions of others and fell in love with them for what they were. (Unfortunatley I wasn't born until '81 so I didn't ge the chance to see any of them. I don't think my mom would take a two year old to the movies. But, she did say I was probably in the womb during "Empire". My friend once said that I had "a womb with a view" during the movie.)

But I'm glad she, and all the others that have craved the original trilogy, are finally going to get it. It's weird because it's like going back in time, because we should have gotten this release first, along time ago, then the special editions on VHS, then the even special editions on DVD.

If anything, this should doesn't imply, but makes me feel strongly, that Lucas will release them yet again, probably on Blu-Ray with even more things changed or updated. If he doesn't change anything for the HD release of his movie, then I will be convinced that he's finally happy with it. But do we really ever get closure?

Well, they put the paragraph about the non-ANH crawl, etc. back in the press release on sw.com.

Actually you are both right and wrong with your statements. Dolby surround was around in 1977 because thats how Star Wars was presented when i saw it in 1977 but it isn't the surround sound we know today. The soundtrack on the film was 2 channel only the dolby processing produced the same effect as dolby prologic does in home theater systems. Not many cinemas could reproduce the surround and just had the stereo track, but many cinemas only had mono systems so i guess both the stereo (surround) & mono mixes are the original soundtracks depending on where you originally saw the film

But 2.0 may only be used to describe the track because it is just that: 2 seperate channels & 0 subwoofer channel. its just more commenly known as 2.0 now thanks to dvd using Dolby Digital AC3 2.0 compression, so it doesn't necessarily mean that because they described it as 2.0 that we'll be getting the THX mix.

i think its a bit too early to speculate on who's right and who's wrong about the specs of this release until we see more detailed information.

I'm quite looking forward to buying this set (well get my wife to buy it as an anniversary present. l definately picked the right month to get married.lol) and then next year buying the OT all over again when its released on Hi-Def BluRay or HD DVD (or both), then the next year with the ultimate super Hi-Def version, then the next year............

Actually, no, it's not. I think it's been mentioned here at least twice that Jim Ward was quoted by USA Today as saying that the discs will be state-of-the-art as it was in 1993. He didn't just pull that year out of a hat. It happens to be the last time the OOT was remastered for a home video release.

And yes, you could refer to the Dolby Surround of 1977 as 2.0 -- but at that time, no one did.

All of this really isn't as ambiguous as this back-and-forth thread would make it appear. Jim Ward might turn out to be completely wrong, I suppose, but until we hear otherwise, I think it's pretty clear that the specs of the cuts appearing on the new DVDs this year are the same as those released in 1993.

BTW, are you the Adywan that does the custom LOST discs, or is that someone else?

Yeh, I'm the same one.

What i meant by its too early to speculate is that I know, having worked in journalism, how quotes can be be slighly altered and "before" can easily be changed to "circa" and that one word can change the whole meaning of the quote. I think you're right though because i can't see Lucas spending a load of money cleaning up the original audio just for this release, especially when they have the laserdisc track ready to use.

I guess it won't matter what audio track they use though because there'll still be sheep moaning that theres a slight pitch difference in Artoo's whistle or something like that. It'll just be nice to have these versions finally released on DVD (even though I've got most of the fan edits anyway). I just hope that they do release Episode IV without the ANH crawl. The only other thing that I wished would have been NOT to include the 2004 editions too. I don't need them again until the Hi-Def versions come out. Having 3 seperate 2 disk sets will probably cost about £20 here each too. Its going to cost twice as much to get the 3 "original" OT than it cost me to buy the 2004 box set.

Adywan, Episode IV will not have the "Episode IV: A New Hope" with the crawl. As Thundercracker said they put that information back on the page. Not sure why they edited the information in the first place.



Well if you know someone who wants copies of the 2004 DVD set or has been meaning to get it just give your copies to them. That's what I plan on doing with my set. I plan on giving it to my dad.

I really do wonder though if they'll correct the audio problems for ANH on the 2004 set or if this will just be another slap-on-DVD re-release. If that's the case chances are they'll save the correction for the saga set next year hopefully...

Cool. I salute you.



Yeah, same here. I think a lot of the excitement about this announcement will fade once people realize that LFL is putting forth the absolute least amount of effort to get these things out there.



Strange as it might seem, I don't think we'd have seen them otherwise. LFL has been referring to these theatrical versions as "bonus" material. The OT has not yet seen release on DVD as 3 individual units, only as a combined box set. I suspect that the initial marketing decision was to finally get all three of them out there on their own, and at that point someone realized that there wasn't enough supplemental material to go around -- or at least not without a lot of work. Adding the original cuts as a "bonus" feature to each film satisfies the marketing desire to release them as 2-disc sets, and also shuts up the fans for awhile, all without having to produce anything new.



If the intention from the start was to use the 1993 remasters, then the information was edited because someone realized that the ANH remaster DOES have the Ep IV crawl in it, and it stayed edited until it was confirmed that they could restore the original title. My guess is that, apart from the menus, that will be the only real work that's done specifically for this release.

That seems logical.

I agree with you though I do hope this shuts up the fans that have been whining about this. All though every message board I have been to that is Star Wars related still have fans that are bitching about this. I guess you can not please everyone.

On a side note I did get a copy of ocpmovie's "Classic edition" from the OriginalTrilogy.com forum however it would not play correctly on either my computer's pc, my actual DVD player or my dad's DVD player. It kept locking up after certain points for all 3 movies. So I will be happy to finally get a copy that doesn't lock up on me.

Also too who cares if Lucas makes money off of this? That's how you run a successful business. It is his right to do whatever he wants with his own products and if it means making money from them then hey I'm all for that.

There will always be bitching everywhere from everyone about everything. Putting these DVDs out certainly won't do anything to stop it. But really, who cares? As long as the wolfmen are in the cantina, Han shoots first, CG Jabba is MIA, ESB's sound mix isn't the SE version, and Lapti Nek and Yub Nub are in ROTJ (etc.), I'm happy. And that's what this release will have. I just find it slightly amusing that Lucas, who was always so adamant about never ever putting the original versions on DVD, decided to release the hostages, what, like two years later? Whatever, it's done.

Of course not. And what's silly about this is that NO home video release is ever going to be "unaltered" or "authentic." You can't capture a theatrical experience on your home setup no matter how good it is. I would wager that most Star Wars fans ARE Star Wars fans because that opening shot of the Star Destroyer in ANH completely scorched some vital part of their brains. I know it did mine. And you're just not going to get that experience again, regardless how much you piss and moan for Lucas to release "your" version of the OT. I would much rather see him commit to re-releasing the films theatrically every 5 years or so than to have any version, new or old, on DVD. In about 10 years we're going to be using DVDs to prop up the short leg on our coffee tables anyway.

I'm going to agree with Neil S. Bulk on this and say that people are going to be very dissapointed with the video quality of these new DVDs. They aren't putting any effort into cleaning up the master or doing any color timing. It's basically going to be the '93 laserdisc version with slightly higher resolution.




Don't get your hopes up for anything spectacular. His ANH isn't very good. Bad video edits and horrible encoding make his effort look more like a lesson on what not to do when combining DVD and laserdisc-converted-to-DVD footage. I hear ESB and ROTJ were better though.

Oh, for fuck's sake... Yeah, let's accept Neil "Internet Martyr" Bulk's word based on nothing at all, since he does not have inside access and his guess is based on his own pessimism and bitterness. Is this what happens when people with no life have their one litte crusade taken away from them?

Lucas may not be a fan of the original cuts, but he's not about to hurt his bottom line by releasing DVDs that don't even measure up to some of the pirated LD-to-DVD releases.

If you want a true answer to that, the answer is yes! I just ignore people like Neil and all of his posts.

Zion: As far as ESB and ROTJ goes for ocpmovie's versions of the "Classic Edition", as I said all 3 movies locked up at certain points and became heavily pixelated. I was begining to wonder if it was the way how he encoded it or burned into the DVD-R. I've gotten a few copies of other people's works for the unaltered versions of the OT and the same thing happened again. All 3 movies got locked up at certain points.

I will admit I never had any problems what so ever with when I got a copy of ROTS from you before it was offically released on DVD.

Edit: You know it's funny there are other movies that get "Director's Editions" or "Director's Cut" treatements and no one complains about them. However when it comes to Star Wars it seems that a lot of fans just get down right rude and start bashing the hell out of Lucas because he is changing and updating his films. As I said you never see any bashing like this with other movies that get the same kind of treaments.

Damn, sorry I brought his name up.

I still say anyone who thinks these will look anything at all like the 2004 DVDs is going to be very dissapointed. The fact is they're using the '93 master. Has anyone bothered to take a look at what the 1993 pre-THX editions looked like? The laserdiscs made from that master are riddled with dirt, scratches, and splice tape. The overall color has a greenish-blue tint to it, showing the age of the film before the THX process restored it. Unless they spent the time and money to correct these things, this is exactly what you're going to get on the DVDs.

Then again, I guess some of you who didn't think there was anything wrong with the 2004 DVDs won't have any complaints. Then again, if you're expecting crystal-clear video and color as vibrant as the 2004s, you're probably not going to like them.

This is all coming from someone who has studied these laserdiscs more than I care to admit. I hope I'm wrong. Only time will tell.



I can't say I'm surprised. It's a pity people don't know how to author their own DVDs correctly.

It's obvious from the article on StarWars.com that the unalerted versions of the Original Trilogy will not look and sound as good as the 2004 versions. I have no problems with that. I'm not picky at all unlike a lot of people are.

As far as the 2004 versions go...the only problem I have with that is the audio problems for ANH as well Luke's green ugly ass saber on the Falcon. If these aren't fixed for this set hopefully they will take the time to fix them again for the big saga box set next year.

Other than those two problems for the 2004 set I have no other problem at all. I particularly enjoy the 2004 sets very much. Even Hayden being at the end of ROTJ doesn't bother me any more.

That hasn't been established one way or the other. Jim Ward referred to "the state of the art circa 1993". That doesn't definitevely say the 1993 masters will be used. Considering ANH is supposed to feature the original 1977 crawl, a straight transfer of the LD master doesn't sound likely.

I agree with you Raveers. IT would be nice if Luke's saber color was more consistent. I like the old shimmering effect from the OT sabers, makes them look more dangerously electric.

If LFL were to release corrected versions of the 2004 DVDs, they would pretty much be admitting to a legion of fans that they own defective versions. It isn't going to happen. The green lightsaber, Vader's bubblegum stick lightsaber and the translucent blades in ROTJ are "deliberate creative decisions". Yeah, they look like absolute shit, but it's only a few shots and they won't bother with it.

By the way ETandElliot, I love your avatar. I remember watching that commerial when it aired a long time ago. Was pretty funny back then.

Which, given the way that Lucas has always felt about the original cuts, should be exactly what we expect. It may not suit their bottom line to release subpar discs, but it certainly suits the company line that the SEs are an improvement over the originals. Any complaining about the quality of these masters is going to be met with a simple "that's why we made the Special Editions."

Which is why it would be almost a complete waste of money to buy this set if you have the LD already or even the mastered 1995 collection on VHS. It isn't going to look much better.

The craze is of course going to be that they cleaned up the O-OT and are releasing it for this collection, which is why it's going to be met with a harsh, harsh response.

To me at least, it seems retarded for any sheep to buy this set just because it'll be on a smaller disc. If LFL was cleaning it up and gave it the visual and audio clarity that other restorations have enjoyed then yes, it would be a big deal. This is just a money-grab.

In a perfect world you'd get the Special Edition, the Original versions restored and two discs of extras to reflect the vault of material LFL has at its disposal all in one release. Unfortunately, the nature of the Star Wars market - constant demand, overwhelming fanbase, lack of product material - makes that impossible; you'll be getting constant re-issues like these (and the useless holiday re-release in a different package - perhaps the most embarassing product I've ever seen LFL release) until you die.

I have Definitive Collection DVD transfers at present. I haven't really inspected them too closely (frankly, if I'm going to watch Ep IV-VI, I tend to prefer the '04 versions) but I think it's worth it to own them for completion and so I can have official versions over the questionable transfers. Even if these aren't brand new transfers (which Zion maintains and I agree), it's still going to look better than the transfers because LFL only has to take those 1993 transfers and slap 'em on to a DVD, whereas the sheep have to do a lot more work and the end result suffers.

As it stands, I'll probably give my original '04 discs I bought to my brother and his wife while keeping the newer material for myself.

Everybody wins!

Don't know what I'm going to do with the Definitive Collection DVD-R's though. I want to keep those commentaries and the bonus disc. Decisions, decisions...

Oh hey, Raveers, post-ROTS, I've got absolutely no problem with Hayden's appearance at the end of ROTJ. It fits so well now, but before ROTS it bugged the hell out of me.

You liked the Yub Yub song?

Yes. And I'd gladly take Yub Nub anyday over that Yanni-sounding new age shit with the dancing gungans.

Getting rid of the Yub Yub song more than made up for Greedo shooting first and the butchery of the escape from Bespin. It made Jedi a good movie, which it wasn't with that retarded shit that should have been left in the Holiday Special with Art Carney.

Jedi Rocks.

By the way, how is a two minute song at the end of a movie a deciding factor in whether or not it's good? What?

It's more Kitaro, really. With a little John Tesh thrown in.

But I love it nonetheless.

I'm so torn as to whether to buy these or not. I hate to spend more money on the crappy 2004 versions, but it would be nice to have the originals.

First of all, I think it's great news that these versions of the films are getting an official release. I'm a bit pissed off that they are being released with the 2004 DVDs again, but then, it is all about the money rather than about fan pressure, so should we be shocked?

By this time next year, both Blu-Ray and HD DVD will be quite well established with 8-12 months worth of experience behind them. Next year is also the 30th Anniversary of Star Wars, so I guess we will probably see the 2004 editions released on one or either format. I'm guessing this is the only version we'll see as they did HD masters for the restoration didn't they?? Maybe he'll fix a few things like pink lightsabres, or maybe he won't.

With regards to this year's release of the Original Trilogy, and having read a few things on a few forums, I'm wondering what we will actually get. Working within the DVD Industry in the UK, I know that there is cheap, and Hollywood's version of cheap when it comes to doing these things.

Good Points:

- At the time of the 93 Definitive Edition releases, there would have been a set of masters produced - perhaps on digi-beta, betacam sp, or as someone posted on another forum D2?

- This tape master will have a better resolution than the laserdisc, so straight away we should get a better looking transfer.

Bad Points:

- I assume that as a laserdisc / vhs master, this transfer will be 4:3 Letterboxed - NOT ANAMORPHIC.

- Remember how bad early DVDs looked when they used Laserdisc masters? People talk about the encoders improving over the years, and yes they have, but a top end Sony encoder has been around since 1999 / 2000 and is still used today.

- The cheap and nasty solution to get passed the Letterboxed issue would be to Arc this to 16:9 Anamorphic, which would be awful.

- During the encoding process, it may be decided to apply some DVNR, or Edge Enhancement, or otherwise mess with the picture in some god awful way.

At the moment this is all obviously guess work, and maybe they've done a new HD telecine off a 1993 print before they started tinking with it (or maybe after they restored it for the 1997 SE's but before they started re-jigging the VFX).

With regards to the 77 Opening Crawl - This doesn't neccessarily mean that they are working from a 77 master. As I think Zion stated on OT.com, they already have the 77 crawl from Empire of Dreams, so maybe they'll either splice that onto the front of the 93 transfer, or offer it as a 2nd angle. Just because they mention the crawl doesn't mean we'll get all the rabid sheep stuff like different lines, different Beru that I keep reading about...

But THIS will be the place to be to find out I guess - how many months ahead of the 2004 DVDs did MF get the scoop - 1 month? 2 months? Either way, not long to go...

Yub Yub song is good! Celebrate the love!

Yub Nub song

Yub Nub lyrics

ROTJ:SE Victory Celebration song



You can always sell the 2004 versions via EBay or trade them in to a retailer for store credit. This won’t cover the entire cost, but you will at least get some of your money back.

Seriously, I hope the sheep STFU now. You got what you want, now STFU so those of us who want more changes can enjoy the further modified HD-DVD/Blu-ray releases!

Don't be too hasty there. Word from my reliable source is that that's simply *not* true.
They're not using the 93 master - there is restoration happening to bring the original theatrical versions up to a level of quality that is expected from Lucasfilm releases.

We'll have to be a bit more patient this time. Fact is, unlike the 2004 set, these films don't have to be classified again by any territory's classification body - cos they've already been released. Which means deadlines can be pushed out much later than last time. However, DLTs will be ready around July at the latest for a September release date, which means you can expect concrete news likely sometime in August.

When the 1997 Special Editions tapes were released, I swear to remember an interview with (among others) Rick McCallum at the front of the tape which said that each effects shot had been digitally redone before the SE work (as we know it today) commenced. So basically LFL made a "perfect" version of the OOT before beginning the Special Edition stuff.

No clue how that works out on the audio side but the effects/visual/remastering stuff should be okay.

As a sidenote, I think it's messed up how anybody could prefer the Yub Yub Ewok bullshit over the post-'97 music at the end of ROTJ. I mean, the Yub Yub thing is totally gay and the Celebration music is completely dignified. It should be an easy choice. Plus it makes no sense how someone can hate Ewoks so much and yet prefer Yub Yub.

When they restored the films for the Special Editions, they digitally recomposited many of the original elements. I remember an interview with one of the guys who was involved with the Special Editions who said that when they took the original negatives apart and washed them, they couldn't re-wash the opticals because the dirt had been built into the elements. Hence, they had to be recomposited. An example they gave was Luke's training on the Millennium Falcon in ANH, where the lightsaber, seeker ball and chess pieces had to be recomposited. I'm not sure if this was done for every optical shot, though.

DarthFirst,

Hey any chance do you know if they're going to correct the audio problems for ANH for the 2004 set or is this a slap-on-another-DVD re-release?

I would have thought that as the Press Release talked about a Dolby Stereo track, that it will be a new mix. Weren't the main problems with the 2004 release, mainly issues with how the 5.1 sounded?