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There aren’t a ton of extras here, and purists will be annoyed by George Lucas' changes, but picture and audio is excellent and you’ll finally have these on DVD.
Well , after all my bellyaching about how Lucas went and ruined a upright thing by fixing what was n’t broke , I resolve to make the plunge and buy theStar Wars TrilogyDVD stage set . Overall , I am very well-chosen with the moving picture ( hey , it’sStar Warsafter all ! ) , but I have quite a few " nitpicky " things I want to betoken out here . This followup is not so much of the movies themselves , since the motion picture have been brush up to death elsewhere . This is more of a commentary on what ’s there and what ’s not there . Since I never saw the " Special Editions " of the movies that were released in 1997 , I may be give comment on content that has existed for eld without realizing it , so bear with me .
The first matter that surprise me about this DVD set was the lack of extras . Compare this to the aggregator ’s variant DVD ’s ofPulp FictionorJackie Brown , or the Extreme DVD interlingual rendition ofTerminator 2 , and you ’ll see what I mean . There is comment on each movie disc , but that ’s it . There is a fourth " extras " DVD that has a somewhat lengthy behind - the - prospect documentary and some old trailer , but nearly everything else is likely a plug for an forthcoming movie or TV game . virtually every featurette on the " extras " DVD show up either a bunch of losers trim up asStar Warscharacters or a cluster of directors talking about how George Lucas is larger than God . Ultimately , the extra were a piece of a disappointment .
Now for the pic themselves …
Episode IV : A New Hope
The one that started it all … to me , this one has the greatest sense of adventure . Lucas in the first place said he think of for this one to play like a western , and in many ways , it does . ( Like most westerns , it also lacks deepness of fibre development , but that ’s another treatment . ) There were a few enhancements , such as short add scene of wight struggle and the like . Overall , they neither helped nor pain the movie . However , two scene are worth noting . The first is the scene between Greedo and Han Solo . Everybody say Greedo shoots first , but what I fancy was both shooting at roughly the same time . What struck me about the scene was that Greedo come along to miss Han Solo by a skillful two feet . I hate to say this , but if you ’re a premium hunter and you burgeon forth at a fashion plate and neglect by two feet from across a narrow table , you deserve to become a crispy critter . I care the original scene better – Han Solo was fresh enough to shoot first . Why muss with that , Lucas ? It did n’t make sentiency to me . The second picture that I see noteworthy was the added scene between Han Solo and Jabba . Originally , we never run into Jabba untilReturn of the Jedi , and in that movie , he ’s a remorseless slug ( or whatever he is ) that you do n’t want to mess with . InEpisode IV , he ’s a steady - pie , for deficiency of a beneficial term . He babble a little rough , indisputable , but he lets Han Solo take the air away without getting a dime from him . And this isafterhe has put a monetary value on his head ! Did I miss something there ? The rest of the movie is relatively untouched , except for a few CGI spruce - ups of explosions . I had no issue with those ; I must admit they looked a little weak in the originals , especially the burst of Alderaan . Overall , the DVD video tone is fantabulous , and so is the phone , considering it ’s a digital mastering of a 27 - year - former flick that was made on a taut budget .
Episode 5 : The Empire strike Back
By far , this is the best of the trilogy . It has the best storyline , the best character development , you name it . I thought conductor Irvin Kershner did an excellent job , but his career does n’t seem to have reflected it . apart from a few TV directing gigs , he direct the abysmalRobocop 2 . What strike me about this picture show was that it seems to be relatively untouched . There were only two thing that stood out to me . The first was the redubbing of Boba Fett ’s vocalization . The original had a deep , convinced American voice , while the redub has a high , insecure - sounding British voice . This was done to make Jango Fett ( from the newer trilogy ) and Boba Fett ( from the older trilogy ) sound the same , since they ’re clone . There ’s nothing wrong with a British accent , but I liked the original voice better . Does Lucas really expect us to think it wasthatdifficult to duplicate the voice of the original Boba Fett ? Sorry , but I ’m not confident . The second noteworthy scene was the one where Darth Vader is speaking to a holographic picture of the Saturnia pavonia . Clive Revill has been cut out and replace with Ian McDiarmid , who trifle the role inReturn of the Jedi . That made good sense to me , and I thought it was very well done . I recall watching the originals back in the twenty-four hours , wonder why they had used manifestly unlike doer for the Saturnia pavonia in each of those moving-picture show . I ca n’t blame Lucas for making that modification . Picture and sound caliber are first-class on this DVD .
Episode VI : Return of the Jedi
Oh boy , where do I begin ? This inadequate movie never stood a chance . Lucas always had some ' splaining to do because of Han Solo inexplicably becoming a rack up puppy dog and because of the infernal Ewoks , but then he went and carved this bad son up like a Thanksgiving turkey . Some scenes are nearly unrecognizable in equivalence to the prospect from the pilot . There are two setting in finical that deserve honorable mention . The first is the one in Jabba ’s palace where things have patch up down a bit , and the dance band is roleplay a musical number just before Jabba decides to throw one of the professional dancer to the Rancor . in the beginning , it was a brisk mess sitting that did n’t feel portentous . In this one , it becomes a Muppet showtune that seems to find more at house in Vegas than Jabba ’s palace . It felt completely out of place to me , and it would have made more sense to go away the original scene intact . The 2d scene that deserves mention is towards the end of the motion picture , when the Ewoks are observe with everybody . The first problem I had with that scene was the song they were playing . In the originals , the call was lively and cheerful , appropriate for celebrating . In this one , the euphony is more down - tempo and subdued . look on people trip the light fantastic and observe to a easy - moving composition like that is just weird ; it does n’t find right . The second problem I had with that scene was when the " ghostly " Anakin was portrayed by Hayden Christensen instead of Sebastian Shaw . ( Shaw still present Anakin in the fit on the Death Star , though . ) The optic effect was n’t as cheesy as I retrieve it might be , but still , I did n’t know whether to express joy or fall out of my chair . What was the head of portray Anakin as untested ? Obi - Wan and Yoda were both very old when they cash in one’s chips ; why not replace Obi - Wan with Ewan McGregor and Yoda with a younger - look Muppet ? That made no sense to me ; I preferred the original scene with Sebastian Shaw . ( I was surprised to read that Sebastian Shaw was endure in 1905 , which entail he turned 78 before long after this movie was first released in 1983 . ) delineation and sound quality are excellent . I especially liked the flavour and audio of the first scene in this movie , when Vader ’s birdie arrives on the Death Star .
Overall , despite Lucas ’s " slice - and - dice " preference , I found the trilogy very enjoyable . This videodisk stage set is well deserving owning , as long as you ’re not expecting a huge variety of " extras " with the movies . The widescreen variation is in a silver box , and the fullscreen reading is in a gold box . You must pick out sagely … oh waitress , ill-timed trilogy .
I call back find an interview with Lucas quite a few years ago where he was talk about how it ’s the narration that count most , not the especial effect . He went on to say that special result are not a story unto themselves , and that they should only be shown as long as necessary to aid tell the level , even if it ’s only a few indorsement . I totally agreed with that ism , and I still do . If only Lucas had mind his own advice while making Episodes I through III …
