Star Wars Movies Coming to Blu-ray

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It's funny that people who are ok with this never mention the fact that the original prints are gone forever is ok as well.
Are they really gone? I can't imagine that a thing like Star Wars would lose its original prints. That's the kind of thing you'd find in a museum someday in the future -- in fact, I'm sure George Lucas will put them in one because it's not like he needs them.



Thought this might be of interest.

Most controversial Star Wars changes of all time

With the reputation that the 'Star Wars' franchise enjoys, you would think that it was pretty close to perfection. Well one man who clearly disagrees is creator George Lucas, who has been tinkering away at his sci-fi adventure series for decades. And when news that further changes had been made to the latest edition was leaked, the Twitterverse and fan forums went into meltdown.

'Star Wars – The Complete Saga', released on 12 September, will see all six films remastered and available on Blu-ray for the first time, but will also see James Earl Jones' voice replaced in a key scene by Hayden Christensen, in a drastic change to the Emperor's death scene. Some fans have cancelled their pre-orders of the box-set in response, so we thought it was the perfect time to look back at some of the most controversial changes that have been made in the past.

Beware! This contains major spoilers!

'Episode IV: A New Hope' added to titles
(Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope, 1981 re-release)
Once Lucas decided to dub 'The Empire Strikes Back' as 'Episode V', we all had an inkling that something was amiss with the force. But when the numbering was backdated, the saga was bound to be continued ad infinitum. Back in 1981, fans could have had no idea what they were to face over the next three decades, as arch-tinkerer Lucas proceeded to extend, alter and dismember his beloved creation.

Han shot first
('Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope', Trilogy Special Edition , 1997)
By far and away one of the most controversial changes to the series. Back in the Mos Eisley Cantina, Han Solo is cornered by bounty hunter Greedo. In the original version, Han shoots the bug-eyed alien to escape. But in order to show kids Han had "no choice" but to shoot, Lucas changed the scene, making Greedo fire first. Fans were furious at the change, it shifted Solo's character and mocked Greedo's blaster skills. A petition called for the removal of the tampered scene and, as a result, the 2004 DVD box set tweaked the scene to make the pair shoot almost at the same time. But the act of attrition was too little too late for most fans.

CGI Jabba confronts Han
('Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope', Trilogy Special Edition, 1997)
Back in 1976, this confrontation between Jabba and Han at the Millenium Falcon's launch bay was filmed with a guy in a big fur coat playing Jabba. The plan was to add a stop motion Hutt later, but the idea was scrapped because of budget constraints. Luckily (or maybe not) the advent of affordable CGI meant an animated Jabba was added in 1997. Sadly it looks nothing like the puppet we see in 'Return of the Jedi', and animators tried to cover one of many moments where Ford moves into the space the animation occupies by having him 'stand on Jabba's tail'. Comedy genius. Or maybe not.

Luke's lightsaber
('Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope', 2004 DVD Box Set)
Whether it's bad quality control, colour correction, or inexplicable tinkering, Luke's lightsaber is turned from the whitish colour it was during training in previous editions, to green. It just makes no sense!

Boba sounds different ('Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back', 2004 DVD Box Set)
Thinking that Boba Fett must sound exactly like his dad, Jango (from 'Attack Of The Clones'), is ridiculous. Nonetheless, Lucas went ahead and overdubbed all of Jason Wingreen's's original dialogue with new recordings by Jango Fett actor Temuera Morrison. No-one has ever understood why.

Luke's Scream
('Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back', Trilogy Special Edition, 1997)
He's just learned that he is the son of Darth Vader, he has failed to fight off his devilish father and, facing the prospect of joining the dark side, Luke Skywalker bravely decides he would rather die. He braces himself, and falls through the bowels of Cloud City to near certain death. Originally he fell with deserved dignity, but in 1997 Lucas decided he should be a coward and scream his lungs out all the way down. And if it was screaming Lucas wanted, it was screaming he got as fans flooded forums to protest at the slight on their hero's character. Needless to say the change was dropped in subsequent editions.

Let's erase Sebastian Shaw
('Star Wars Episode VI: Return Of The Jedi', 2004 DVD Box Set)
In Anakin's death scene, when his helmet is off, the actor's eyebrows are removed and his eyes are turned blue to match him to the actors/plot of the prequels. But that's nothing compared to what happens to the late Mr. Shaw in his final scene. When Anakin, Yoda, and Obi-Wan appear as spirits at the end of the film, he is entirely replaced by footage of Hayden Christensen. That's not a fate we'd wish any actor.

The changes don't stop here either. 10 February 2012 will see the release of 'Star Wars: Episode I' in 3D, with the rest of the series to follow. Has Lucas finally gone too far, or should fans let the filmmaker update his films with the technology available to him? Let us know what you think...
http://uk.movies.yahoo.com/blog/arti...-all-time.html



Sit Ubu Sit.... Good Dog
I love the movie Downfall and thought that this is just about the funniest thing I have ever seen. Of course if you speak German then it will be wasted on you.




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Star Wars blu-ray set has already made $84 million, sleeing 1 million copies worldwide

2011-09-23



"You may have been horrified by all the tinkering George Lucas did for the Blu-Ray release of the full Star Wars series, you may have even looked at the online petitions to boycott the thing, but clearly not many of you cared enough to actually speak with your wallet. Early sales figures have the six-film Star Wars set becoming the bestselling catalog Blu-Ray Disc of all time, having sold a million units worldwide for an $84 million gross so far.

So the question is… has this been worth it? I haven't managed to get my hands on a copy of the Star Wars set, and I imagine even if you got an early one a few weeks ago, you still haven't dug through the massive amount of bonus material and deleted scenes-- and surely you haven't gotten around to rewatching Attack of the Clones just yet. Regardless of where you stand on the "George Lucas is raping my childhood" debate, the complete Star Wars Blu-Rays seem pretty tough to pass up, even at the current Amazon price of $80. No matter how much tinkering Lucas does over the years, the movies are still essentially the ones you grew up with, and worth passing on to new generations and/or recalcitrant significant others who somehow missed out the first time around."
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I have the Full DVD set on this movie... and I love it... best collections i ever had



I'm not old, you're just 12.
I've pretty much made my peace with this whole thing. I mean Star Wars was something I loved as a child, but I'm not a child anymore, now am I? At 35, the adventures of Luke Skywalker and Han Solo just don't mean that much to me anymore. Should they? probably not. My fondness for them is still there, sure, but it's nostalgia. As an adult I can see the plot holes, I can see the ridiculous gaps in logic, and I wish I couldn't. I thought that Return of the Jedi was the greatest movie ever when it came out, and now it's just a poorly plotted, overlong popcorn movie featuring third rate actors (minus Harrison Ford), some pretty cool effects, and teddy bears with spears. And believe me, i'm depressed about this.

So I must let Star Wars go. I'll always remember the good times, but in the end, I've grown up.
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Well, that certainly makes me not wanna give Star Wars another chance. I never ever really got excited for this series -- thought it was boring, for the most part. I can think of more entertaining stuff up in my head. But I've been thinking about getting the movies on Blu-ray. I still might, but I'd be doing it more out of curiosity and just to have it in my collection.