Confirming earlier reports (see blu-ray.com, April 17), George Lucas himself announced today that the Star Wars films will be released on Blu-ray in 2011, in a six-movie box set. Speaking at the Celebration V convention in Orlando, Lucas said: "I wish I could say it was coming out this year, but it will come out next year." New, extensive special features will be featured, including documentaries, vintage behind-the-scenes moments, interviews, retrospectives and never-before-seen footage from the Lucasfilm archives.
One of those special features, a deleted scene from Return of the Jedi, premiered at the convention. In it, Luke Skywalker is seen asembling his new lightsaber before going to the palace of Jabba the Hutt.
"Blu-ray is the absolute best way to experience Star Wars at home – in pristine high definition," said George Lucas. "The films have never looked or sounded better."
In an interview with the The New York Times, Lucas said that the saga hadn't been announced before because he was waiting for mass adoption of the Blu-ray format. "We've been wanting to do it as soon as we possibly could, but we just wanted to do it when enough people would be able to buy it and see it," said the filmmaker.
Lucas also clarified that the original trilogy movies will be included as they were shown theatrically in 1997 and released on DVD in 2004 - i.e., the original versions will not be included. "You have to go through and do a whole restoration on it, and you have to do that digitally," he said. "It's a very, very expensive process to do it. So when we did the transfer to digital, we only transferred really the upgraded version.
I don't care about having the original, untouched films on disc, but some may balk at that.
EDIT: Check out the NYT article linked in the post.
Last edited by FSTargetDrone on 2010-08-14 07:27pm, edited 2 times in total.
Meh, don't really care if it's not the original cut; never got the fuss over the SE anyway (Greedo shot first? Who gives a fuck? You can't tell without looking closely anyway).
EDIT:Said final instead of original cut by mistake.
Last edited by Srelex on 2010-08-14 07:30pm, edited 2 times in total.
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Srelex wrote:Meh, don't really care if it's not the final cut; never got the fuss over the SE anyway (Greedo shot first? Who gives a fuck? You can't tell without looking closely anyway).
Like I've said before, I just wish those blaster bolts in that scene weren't so puny.
I hope they go back through the CGI additions and keep updating the effects to 2011 standards, because I think some of the 1997 SE alterations were definitely improved by 2004 for the DVD release. Really, I'm thinking of the ROTJ musical number- re do those singers!
I'll wait for Lucas to kick the bucket, to many versions have been released. I want the dead Lucas editions with every scene they cut in Blue Ray MK III. Until he dies or the 50th anniversary roles around I'm holding on to my damn money.
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You know; it's really absurdly easy to do the theatrical release AND the Speical Editions on the same disc.
Remember that they restored the theatrical release for the 1997 Laserdisc and VHS releases. So it shouldn't that *that* much extra to bring back only the footage that was different (Han Shoots first, Old Anakin Skywalker in ROTJ) and then use the advantages of Blu Ray to seamlessly make it possible to switch from one version to the other like you could do with the TOS Blu Rays (Original SFX or New SFX)
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MKSheppard wrote:You know; it's really absurdly easy to do the theatrical release AND the Speical Editions on the same disc.
Remember that they restored the theatrical release for the 1997 Laserdisc and VHS releases. So it shouldn't that *that* much extra to bring back only the footage that was different (Han Shoots first, Old Anakin Skywalker in ROTJ) and then use the advantages of Blu Ray to seamlessly make it possible to switch from one version to the other like you could do with the TOS Blu Rays (Original SFX or New SFX)
This sort of thing was part of the original advantage of the DVD, and some movies I believe do it... but custom playlists should be pretty damn easy to set up (although older DVD players probably don't have the memory to make the change undetectale).
The laser disc version of the original films looks like arse on those DVDs. They haven't gotten a proper remaster at all. They'd look even worse on blu-ray. I also don't really understand the whole "I'm not buying them again" schtick. That's fine, but don't pretend that a blu Ray release of one of the great scifi franchises ever is somehow uncalled for, lol.
Vympel wrote:The laser disc version of the original films looks like arse on those DVDs. They haven't gotten a proper remaster at all. They'd look even worse on blu-ray. I also don't really understand the whole "I'm not buying them again" schtick. That's fine, but don't pretend that a blu Ray release of one of the great scifi franchises ever is somehow uncalled for, lol.
It's not uncalled for but color me skeptical that we won't see a redux of the last two releases IE a year from now the Ultra-Mega Super-remastered Blueray will come out in a giant collectors case and that one will have features like the theater release on the disk. It's not like we saw that happen twice before on VHS and DVD.
"A cult is a religion with no political power." -Tom Wolfe Pardon me for sounding like a dick, but I'm playing the tiniest violin in the world right now-Dalton
Vympel wrote:The laser disc version of the original films looks like arse on those DVDs. They haven't gotten a proper remaster at all. They'd look even worse on blu-ray. I also don't really understand the whole "I'm not buying them again" schtick. That's fine, but don't pretend that a blu Ray release of one of the great scifi franchises ever is somehow uncalled for, lol.
It's not uncalled for but color me skeptical that we won't see a redux of the last two releases IE a year from now the Ultra-Mega Super-remastered Blueray will come out in a giant collectors case and that one will have features like the theater release on the disk. It's not like we saw that happen twice before on VHS and DVD.
IIRC the release order was the THX VHS release, then the 1997 special editions on VHS, and then the 2004 DVDs, then the re release of those with the laser disc version of the theatrical cut. No super remaster of the originals or the 2004 DVDs ever occurred.
At this point, I no longer care. An extra minute of RoTJ and that's it? Oh wait, Blu-ray looks.
Sorry, it really isn't enough and after getting the VHS and DVD releases? I'm not caring. Sure it will look nicer, but it's nearing four to five sets of SW. Tell me when they do come out with some all in wonder set wherein I can custom make scenes.
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Ghost Rider wrote:At this point, I no longer care. An extra minute of RoTJ and that's it? Oh wait, Blu-ray looks.
Sorry, it really isn't enough and after getting the VHS and DVD releases? I'm not caring. Sure it will look nicer, but it's nearing four to five sets of SW. Tell me when they do come out with some all in wonder set wherein I can custom make scenes.
it's deleted footage. It's not being included in a recut of the film. Deleted scenes are mosly deleted for a reason. And how can you possibly have four to five sets of the movies? If you're including your near 20 year old VHS's, maybe. Otherwise there has been precisely one DVD release, two if you include the one that included the laser disc of the theatrical cut. That's it.
Ghost Rider wrote:At this point, I no longer care. An extra minute of RoTJ and that's it? Oh wait, Blu-ray looks.
Sorry, it really isn't enough and after getting the VHS and DVD releases? I'm not caring. Sure it will look nicer, but it's nearing four to five sets of SW. Tell me when they do come out with some all in wonder set wherein I can custom make scenes.
it's deleted footage. It's not being included in a recut of the film. Deleted scenes are mosly deleted for a reason. And how can you possibly have four to five sets of the movies? If you're including your near 20 year old VHS's, maybe. Otherwise there has been precisely one DVD release, two if you include the one that included the laser disc of the theatrical cut. That's it.
Even I noted, nearing four to five. All I know is I have it for (2) VHS, (1) LD, (2) DVD...and at this point? I don't care. I got the DVD with the ugly originals because I didn't want to pull out the VHS or LD. I'm just going to wait because there's not enough for me to justify the cost of buying yet another set for movies I've practically memorized.
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Sometimes we can choose the path we follow. Sometimes our choices are made for us. And sometimes we have no choice at all
Heh - people actually own laser discs? You learn something new every day
I tossed my VHS tapes long ago though. Its practically hoarding keeping that old crap, it'll look like arse even if you did have a VHS player to watch them on.
Vympel wrote:Heh - people actually own laser discs? You learn something new every day
I tossed my VHS tapes long ago though. Its practically hoarding keeping that old crap, it'll look like arse even if you did have a VHS player to watch them on.
Oh I know it's crappier then even the first set of DVD, but for me? I've bought the SW saga enough times and the last set satisfies me. I know there are plenty of fans that this will be another must buy, and more power to them. I'm just going to wait for a set that I can see being worth the purchase.
MM /CF/WG/BOTM/JL/Original Warsie/ACPATHNTDWATGODW FOREVER!!
Sometimes we can choose the path we follow. Sometimes our choices are made for us. And sometimes we have no choice at all
It's been a mildly distressing experience watching Spike TV's neurotic-obsessive rebroadcasting of the Star Wars movies over the last year and realizing that I've seen the original trilogy so few times that there are lines that actually surprise me. The 1995 VHS tapes were the only set I ever had, for the last 10 years or so it's just been hopping in and out of cable repeats. With this news, I'm thinking about picking up a discounted DVD set somewhere to tide me over.
I guess you could say in late 2011 I will still be young, have disposable income, and (important, judging from this thread!) lack shelves full of the series in Laserdisc and Super 8. Right in Lucas's wheelhouse.
Personally, I'm content with the last DVD release (which had both the original versions and the newest version). I guess since I grew up watching old, edited-for-time television broadcasts and, consequently, taped VHS versions, "it'll look like crap" doesn't really bother me, particularly when it's a choice between "video quality is average" and "Vader's lightsaber is pink."
And if this blu-ray looks anything like the other blu-ray movies I've seen, that might not even be a choice.
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New, extensive special features will be featured, including documentaries, vintage behind-the-scenes moments, interviews, retrospectives and never-before-seen footage from the Lucasfilm archives.
These sound pretty interesting. I'll have to wait and see (luckily the Internet will kindly list out all the special features in great detail) but since I don't have a Blu-ray player, I'm not in a rush.
I wouldn't mind one bit, though. All I have are the Special Edition VHS set, and episodes I - VI on DVD. So getting a BR release isn't going to be too bad.
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