What I Intend to Do about Getting the Original Versions of the OT on DVD

If Dubya orders Lucas to sell the originals on DVD, he'd win the reelection by a landslide! And I'll take back everything bad I say about him!

 

If Dubya orders Lucas to sell the originals on DVD, he'd win the reelection by a landslide! And I'll take back everything bad I say about him!

I think he's got more important things to think about rather than worry about which version of a certain movie makes it to DVD.

 

"I sure hope the originals are destroyed. GL changed them for a reason."

Funny, you make the SE's sound like completely different movies. Considering how few changes were made (as SE gushers like to point out), it's amazing that you can even watch the SE's.

"If you were a real purist you would go for mono or stereo sound. After all, that's the way it was in 1977."

What a load of crap. It was Dolby pro-logic srround. If you were a real purist, you would know that! Christ-almighty!!!

"The man made the movies, he's allowed to do whatever he likes with them."

True, but having the right to do something, doens't mean that doing it is right!

I'll buy both versions on DVD. I won't buy the SE's if they're all that are offered. I'll stick with my LD's instead.

Lucas hates the unbastardized OT, I hate the OT:SE. If he ignores my version, then I will ignore his.

 

People just need to get off the soapbox and just accept what Lucas gives us. It's his baby. ow i was there at the Egyptian, and what i saw on screen the deteriorated edited scenes from the entire trilogy, i see why Lucas did with the S.E. Like Lucas said the original was not finished to his liking due to certain things. The entire saga is to be seen as one movie. So the minor changes he did to Ep4-6 doesnt make a difference to me.Hold on and enjoy the OT on LaserDiscs.

 

Thats correct. Lucas gave us the OT which is preserved on VHS and LaserDisc. To cry to have it on dvd if we NEVER had it on VHS and LaserDisc would make sense.

 

If Dubya orders Lucas to sell the originals on DVD, he'd win the reelection by a landslide!

I still won't vote for him.

 

"To cry to have it on dvd if we NEVER had it on VHS and LaserDisc would make sense."

What kind of reasoning is that? Does this mean you are happy to have the OT:SE on VHS only? Do you not want it on DVD as well? Listen to yourself!

BTW, nothing is "preserved" on VHS. Even if the quality never degraded, the visual limitations of VHS still make it unbearable.

 

VCR's won't be in production by 2010, and LD players are already out of production (accept one very expensive model). I like the idea of still having my OEs when I'm 50 or 60, but Lucas is actively trying to prevent that. That's what's annoying, CaptPanakaBacca.

 

CaptPanakaBacca

It's alright for you. You will have the version that you want on DVD for as long as you live. Why can't you respect the right of other Star Wars fans to have the version that they want.

 

"I'm with you too", Binary.

 

I'm with Binary, the original trilogy were classics and didn't need to be "fixed" for the SE. I wouldn't mind having the SE if on the flip side of the DVD I'd get the classic trilogy

 

This is a repost from my thread on this. We need to join forces.

Let's get a report/article going, along the lines of wascally's thinking. Then I propose we contact as many SW websites as possible and ask them to link to it on their homepage. We can also hit all the DVD and general film sites. They seem to follow the general media trend of favouring the original versions so they would back it hopefully. I think we need to try and distance this from the usual fan boy whining. To be fair I don't think this is the case with a lot of people. We need to get support from the mainstream as well as the hardcore fans so . No Lucas bashing, no SE bashing, just a well argued case for releasing the Originals as part of a boxed set ( a la ET) or even on their own. Personally I think the first is more likelt. Either way, the cash incentive is there. They could charge more. We'd all pay. They could pretty much charge what they want for a bumper collectors set. If he's worried about the points contract that Darth Malliflous mentioned then he should include them as extras( 3 long deleted scenes ) or give them a new name. The restored editions or something like that.

 

>>>If you were a real purist you would go for mono or stereo sound. After all, that's the way it was in 1977.

>>>What a load of crap. It was Dolby pro-logic srround. If you were a real purist, you would know that! Christ-almighty!!!



To be honest, I don't know how many channels of sound there were in 1977... (I'm pretty sure it was pre-THX though...)

I guess if we're only getting one version on DVD, I don't really want it to be limited by the restrictions of the cinema technology of 1977.

Which brings me round to Lucas' argument about being able to do things he couldn't do at the time...

Hmmm....

 

I second what jasperjones says. My I humbly submit letter I sent Lucas as a possibility for our text? Here it is:

Dear George Lucas:
Thank you for your wonderful Star Wars saga. I understand that sometime after 2005 you are going to release the entire saga on DVD. I hope that, along with the Special Editions, you also make available the original versions on DVD. While the Special Editions are indeed closer to your original vision, the old versions of the films are a part of moviemaking history; and as such deserve to be forever available to film students and movie aficionados.

 

"I don't really want it to be limited by the restrictions of the cinema technology of 1977. "

Agreed. Most DVD's have the PCM 2.0 soundtrack, which can be decoded as the Pro-logic surround. This is what most of the "original" OT laserdiscs have, except for a Japanese set that has Dolby 5.1 and the original "Han meets Greedo" scene in ANH, but without the CGI Greedo. It's pretty cool.

The SE LD's have the PCM 2.0 and DD 5.1, as does the TPM LD. The TPM and AOTC DVD's both have DD 5.1 EX, which has a matrixed back center channel (for a 6.1 "effect")

Both groups get what they want.

 

So what sort of sound did the original release of the film have?

Did cinemas only have 2 channel sound back in '77?

[EDIT- I've found out; it was Dolby Stereo,. which actually consistes of 4 tracks- left, right and centre speakers behind the screen, plus one surround track at the back of the theatre.

From here

May 1977

Opening of Star Wars in 46 US theatres equipped for Dolby Stereo, plus release of Close Encounters of the Third Kind later in year, greatly increase public awareness of Dolby Stereo and trigger further theatre installations.

April 1978

Star Wars (1977) is first in continuing series of Dolby Stereo films to win Academy Award for Best Achievement in Sound.

April 1981

The Empire Strikes Back (1980), one of four Dolby Stereo releases nominated, is fourth consecutive Dolby Stereo release to win Academy Award for Best Achievement in Sound.

 

The VHS versions will be gone and unwatchable in a decade or so. The LD's are fine, but they have sidebreaks and the quality is nowhere near that of DVD (though more bearable than VHS). Thats no condition to preserve such a thing on.

Agreed completely about the eventual deterioration of the VHS editions, but 2ndQuest, have you ever had a chance to view the THX laserdisc editions of the originals (especially the CLV discs)?

*Exceptional* quality.

As a longtime laser aficionado going back many years, here, I can assure you that there are still several laserdiscs today that look as good as -- if not better than -- many DVDs in my library, simply due to the differences in the bitrates and data-compression ratios. Several Dolby Digital AC-3 encoded discs (Strange Days, the Star Wars trilogy, Stargate, among others) are mind-blowing even by DVD standards, sweeping away their DVD counterparts.

Back in the day, to have a film "THX Certified" on laser actually meant something, because today the certification only refers to the audio standard, as THX ceased to certify picture signal once the major studios stopped outsourcing DVD mixing to out-of-house firms, such as Lucasfilm. It became much cheaper to do it all in-house, once DVD went wide, and that's pretty much the sitch today, as it were. And trust me, with this quality, you don't really *mind* turning the discs over once or twice per film...after all, I'd bet dollars-to-donuts nobody in all of God's Green Goodness *ever* watches a modern, one-sided DVD completely through without the real world somehow intruding upon their experience, by hook or by crook.

Going by today's announcement by Lucas (and people's general expected exaggerrated overreactions on Certain Websites Who Shall Remain Nameless), I'd just recommend tracking down the THX lasers of the "Original Originals" as a potential hedge, in case Lucas decides not to follow in his buddy Steven's footsteps and put 'em out there on DVD along with the Archival Editions. They're simply stunning, with super-sharp video and sound quality, and the disc-swapping-thing is not even a consideration once you start watching them.

 

"nobody in all of God's Green Goodness *ever* watches a modern, one-sided DVD completely through without the real world somehow intruding upon their experience"

Very nice point...

Not to mention the people who skip to their favorite chapters, rather than watch all the way through. Truth be known, I've used my LD's to quickly seach for supporting evidence for my posts. I don't think I've watched one all the way through. Of course, I've only had them a few months, not years like other LD'ers.

"I'd just recommend tracking down the THX lasers of the "Original Originals" as a potential hedge"

Not to mention the nostalgic effect, and "techie" factor. I love having an LD player in my home theater.

Some day, I hope to get the full Jaws documentary on LD, not the "chopped-up" version on DVD.

Yo da man, Leto II (but take it easy on the bold, please )