Oregon Countdown to the Original "Unaltered" Trilogy on DVD

69 days

 

68 days !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

P.S. for those of you who are new to these countdowns, anyone can post the updated day count......you just have to be the first one to do it. Staying up till midnight helps

 

Crash,

Are these still gonna be the NON-widescreen 1995 laser disc version that I have heard about?

 

I heard that is the version they are using. It's pan and scan. Boooooooo! I love the OT but I will keep my VCR tapes until Lucasfilm comes out with the widescreen DVD version.

Can you believe this crap: I am waiting till a better one comes out

A friend sent me this today from imdb 'news' :

'Star Wars' Fans Upset About DVD Plans for Original Trilogy


Despite earlier reports that Lucasfilm would be re-releasing the original
unedited theatrical versions of the first three Star Wars movies on DVD, it
now turns out that they will be copied from the laserdiscs of the films
released in the mid'90s, formatted for the conventional TV screen and not
wide-screen "letterbox" versions. The revelation has provoked anger among
Star Wars fans, expressed on such Internet sites as www.thedigitalbits.com,
and www.hometheaterforum.com. VideoBusiness.com quoted Lucasfilm spokesman
John Singh as saying, "We hoped that by releasing the original movies as a
bonus disc, it would be a way to give the fans something that is fun. We
certainly didn't want to be become a source of frustration for fans."

 

Okay. So I need some verification hear after reading above post. I just read in the recent SW magazine at B&B book store that they used old archival film footage, and that A New Hope is even going to start with the orginal Star Wars title. They said it will be released in its orginal theatrical release format. They even showed a DVD of the sept. 12 A New Hope release and it said Widescreen right on it. Seemed pretty convincing to me.

 

I will continue the Countdown......67

I copied the following from www.originaltrilogy.com
-----------------------------

I wanted you to know how much we appreciate the passion and enthusiasm you have for Star Wars, and thank you for sharing your concerns about our upcoming DVD release.

The DVDs being released in September will contain two versions of Star Wars: Episodes IV, V and VI - the Special Editions (which represent George's vision of the movies) and the first versions, which will be included as bonus material. We hoped that releasing those "original"� movies on a bonus disc would be a way to have some additional fun with the debut of the movies as individual DVDs. We certainly did not want it to become a source of concern or frustration for any of our fans.

As you may know, an enormous amount of effort was put into digitally restoring the negatives for the Special Editions. In one scene alone, nearly 1 million pieces of dirt had to be removed, and the Special Editions were created through a frame-by-frame digital restoration. The negatives of the movies were permanently altered for the creation of the Special Editions, and existing prints of the first versions are in poor condition.

So many fans have requested the original movies, we wanted to find a way to bring them to you. But since these movies do not represent George's artistic vision, we could not put the extraordinary time and resources into this project as we did with the Special Editions. The 1993 Laserdisc masters represented the best source for providing the original versions as DVD bonus material. Although these are non-anamorphic versions, they do preserve the original widescreen composition of the movies.

We want you to be aware that we have no plans - now or in the future - to restore the earlier versions.

We hope you will understand our decision and, again, want to let you know how much we appreciate your interest and enthusiasm.

Sincerely,
Lynne Hale
publicity@lucasfilm.com

 

In other words.............the Special Editions will now be called just the "Editions"

 

P.S. if you are intrested in the difference between Anamorphic vs. Non-Anamorphic DVD, check out the following site.

http://www.thedigitalbits.com/articles/anamorphic/anamorphic185demo.html

I think the only difference is for Digital TVs. On older TVs I think there is no difference. But the future is in Digital, which is the reason people are made at Lucas.

But Knowing Lucas, he will eventually convert the movies to Anamorphic format.....that way he can sell yet another verson of the films.

 

Anamorphic Widescreen movies reformat themselves for 16x9 TVs. Non-anamorphic is letterbox only. So if you have a 4x3 tv its no big deal and if you have a 16x9 TV it won't be as good as Anamorphic but it will still be widescreen.

At least I think thats how it works. :lol:

 

67, 66, 65 and !!!64!!!

Sorry, I'm a bit behind my game.

 

Non anamorphic "letterbox" means that part of the image shown on the screen is actually the black bars at the top and bottom of the image meaning that the full resolution capabilities of the DVD are not being utilized. By my calculations, you only get 85% of the quality. You're only likely to notice this difference, if you have a digital television and progressive-scan DVD player...but the actual quality won't be any better than Laserdisc. I have heard reports that the reason they went this route is because they are using the same masters that were used to produce the Laserdisc, essentially making this not much different than a Laserdisc to DVD transfer rather than a film to anamorphic digital transfer retaining as much quality as possible.

Personally, I'm not as concerned about the resolution as I am about the version. If it's basically the same as the Laserdisc, I don't need to buy it because I already own the Laserdisc. If, however, it is the film as it was ORIGINALLY shown in 1977 (even before ANH), then I really want the DVD because I was only 2 in 1977 and I'd like to see that version of the film.

 

63 ....I presume.

 

62 more saving days!

 

They should also release the original Special Edition on DVD.

 

61 more days !!!

Come to think about it, I'm not sure what the big deal is about the proposed Unaltered DVD version. I mean, we are talking about a 1977 film. Just how good is the quality supposed to be....really?

 

Well Crash, by now most video tapes of the original trilogy (unaltered) have probably decayed over time. Video tapes don't last forever, usually if they're watched over and over. Also tape players aren't as common now, and people have adjusted to the much more user-friendly features of the DVD player. Whether or not the quality is good, it will be better and more convenient than a worn-down tape. Plus, I wouldn't be surprised if Lucas and his crew restored only the quality of the movies, like with the last DVD set, but used the original films, not the special edition or beefed up version of it. Restoring picture/audio quality isn't changing the movie, thus 'unaltered'. To call it altered, you'd have to say that if you got a bigger tv that would alter the movies you have, or if you changed from tv speakers to a surround sound system and subwoofer that that would be altering the movies. Restoring quality isn't altering the film, it's just altering your perception of the movie. To alter the movie you would, for example, add new scenes, changed some dialogue, re-score scenes, or redo certain visual effects, which is what the Special Edition and last DVD did, but you will not find this the case with the upcoming DVD.

 

I totaly agree.

Lucas could make the DVDs better if he wanted to. The the new DVD release will be better than anything we have today, especially the warn VHS tapes we all have. I have not bought the SE on DVD because I have been holding out for the "unaltered" version. The funny thing is, Lucas has found a way to make me buy the SE, by bundling it with the O-OT. How tricky

 

60, 59 more days

 

I have to say that even though I already have a fan-made DVD version of the trilogy, I am tempted to buy the full sets.

-Kyle

 

58

 

56, right?

 

48 !!!! Boy, I sure haven't been keeping up with this....

 

I love it how a bunch of fanboys cried about getting the old versions of these movies, and now they're whining again that they aren't just exactly as they want them. Why would Lucasfilm go through the effort to restore something old and outdated? That's like Apple deciding to release the Apple IIe again because of fan nostalgia, it just wouldn't make sense. I personally won't be buying these editions as I have absolutely no interest in old versions of movies that are now much better. I can't tolerate watching a lot of scenes in the old version that have now been improved in the current versions, and story-wise there are parts that just don't add up in ESB and ROTJ in the old versions -- only the new DVD releases, which are not the special editions as was suggested (there's a notable difference between SE and 2004 DVD releases) -- actually make sense with the current story.

I will die a happy fan if I never have to see the old versions again, so I was annoyed that Lucas even released them at all. It's awful nice of him to do that for fans, they shouldn't be complaining. I have no idea why someone would want to go back and see the crappiest possible versions of great movies, it boggles the mind, but to each his own.