Oh yeah...I never buy fullscreen, even though I don't have a widescreen TV. Mainly because I know someday I will upgrade (probably after I'm out of college and I have a real job, that would be the smart thing to do, eh? :p ), and fullscreen movies look absolutely shit on widescreen TV's.

The only fullscreen movie I own is Spider-Man. Not exactly a cinematic classic; I can deal with that.

But yes, I'm getting the silver/platinum cover Star Wars Trilogy, not the full screen gold one.

Keep talking Geoff.

I am acctualy more excited over the release of THX 1138 on DVD.

Nah. Star Wars has a much bigger (and deservedly so) fan base and is probably the crown jewel of DVD's...I've been waiting for this release since DVD technology came out.

First I need to buy the LOTR trilogy. Then I'll get Star Wars.

Yes. Star Wars has a WAY larger fan base but I can survive without the DVD's for now because I have a copy of the Original Trilogy before Georgie Lucas decided to fuck with the films.

I got it today from Best Buy for $41.99. I have watched Star Wars and Empire so far. Sound and picture quality are off the charts!!!

I just came in the door with my now unwrapped star wars set. I will be up late tonight. I got mine for 60 canadian at future shop.

Good news - I checked my order status on UPS...it shipped on the 20th, a day before it was released, which is nice. Even though Amazon estimates delivery on the 28th (what are they smoking?) it's most likely going to come today ( )

So we'll see what happens.

I do too, but it's off the TV, really crappy and such. Boycotting Lucas isn't going to get you anywhere. Regardless of how many people thing it's a travesty to meddle with the original prints, it's Lucas' film...not yours, not mine. He created it, and he has the right to do what he wants. And apparently, alot of people like me, agree with him.

His changes are not "earth-shattering" and in fact, only add to the original vision that he had. The only real scene of debate is Han/Greedo, which I will agree on...there was no need to change that at all. However, the Jabba scene in ANH existed, but they replaced it with CGI. The scene already existed.

For the rest, they are cosmetic modifications (lightsabers and such). As far as replacing Sebastien Shaw and using Temmura Morrison's voice-over for Boba Fett, Lucas is stressing continuity. I mean, let's give him a break...as I understand, he explains in depth why he put Hayden Christiansen's face in at the end of Jedi. If he wouldn't have done it, all the people who wanted it in would have bitched up a blue streak as well.

Someone explain to me why widescreen is better Thank you

Well, rather than explain it, there's a neat Flash demo you can see here -- you'll see how full frame movies are reformatted for your TV screen which removes almost half of the movie in some cases! Instead of seeing everything as intended by the director, they have to "pan and scan" the widescreen (theater) image so the important parts fit onto the TV screen.

Some people like full frame because it takes up their entire TV screen, doesn't show black bars above and below the movie, and the action is bigger on the screen. And sure, if you have a small TV (less than 32"), the image will be smaller with the widescreen version. But at the risk of not seeing the movie as intended.

Here is the definitive arguement for widescreen.

5-10 years from now most of us will have widescreen HDTV's in our homes. When we do, the widescreen DVD's will fill up those TV's as the full screen versions do now, without taking anything away from the movie. It'll be more like a theater experience. And the full screen DVDs you have will then be the ones to look small cuz they'll have to be cropped on the left and right.

I just ordered it on Amazon ($41.99), and ordering it with THX 1138 ($18.89) you get an additional $3 off. So $57.88 for both, and with free shipping, that's not too bad

I was tempted to pay the $4 for regular ("faster") shipping, but figured hell, I waited years for this, what's an extra couple days?

So how was it, Blake??? Or did you fall asleep on us? When I get it, I'm gonna watch all three back-to-back like I did when I got my VHS copies (which I still have to keep, cuz they are the original versions, not the "enhanced" ones from a few years back).

Okay, I said screw it - when I answered the door for UPS at 2:30 PM ET, I couldn't resist. I had to pop in at least ANH.

So here goes...

DJ's first of three (and probably only) reviews

Star Wars: Episode IV, A New Hope (1977)
Movie Rating: 4.5 out of 5
DVD Rating: 5 of 5

Picture: Wow, I don't understand how you can hate Lucas. He kept the picture fully intact (except the Han scene, which he has greatly reduced in flagrancy and makes it almost back to '77) and improved everything else.

This film looks digital. I mean, to the point where they shot it yesterday. Barely any film artifacts, they got rid of pretty much everything, even I was surprised as to how antiseptic the picture looked. It's better than any film made it the 70's deserves to look.

Very rich colors, and the picture on the whole looks absolutely fantastic. The lightsabers were completely redone, the ships look awesome, and the death star looks better than ever. Everything is crisper, cleaner, and more vibrant. The only error is that Luke's lightsaber, when he's training on the Falcon, has a greenish tint to it. But other than that...you will be knocked off your feet.

Sound: Incredible! The first time I've ever heard it in 5.1 digital sound, it is bloody awesome. I actually have to reposition my subwoofer because it literally shook the wall panel and speakers I have next to it (not related to the home theatre speakers).

I did notice that the sound is a bit...so-so in some spots. It seems to lose it's clarity for a few brief moments, but not enough to bother. Also, they did some cool things, like add echo when Luke and Leia have to jump to the other platform and they are shouting, just little things.

The ships sound awesome. When you hear the TIE come screeching from the left rear and then progress over to the right side, it will blow your mind. Stereo does not do this justice.

Negatives: The only flaws I've seen in this DVD version is something I figured they would fix, and I guess it's annoying me because I notice it so much.

I'm sure most have noticed the "boxes" around ships (you can see this mostly on TIE's) where the area looks slightly lighter or brownish-shaded. It's annoying, and I'm surprised that ILM couldn't fix it for the DVD release.

The only thing I didn't like was the Vader-Kenobi fight, because when the sabers touch, they give off a brief greenish-yellow shock, which I suppose is "realistic" for lightsaber collisions, but it almost detracts from what's happening on the screen.

Other than that though?

If you boycott these DVD's, you are an idiot. You're missing out on films that have been enhanced, not eroded.

Overall Score for DVD: 5 out of 5 (not an average).

Haha, here i am a day later, I love them though! This friday me and my friends are pulling an all nighter so it should be my second one this week. At the future shop here in saskatoon the dvd is on such high demand, they have to reshelve 4 times an hour! How are you guys gonna keep em', in the cases out of the cardboard box or keep them all in the cardboard? I'm torn.

Keep 'em in the box, like my GF collection, though I'm reversing the inner box so that the DVD cases have their spines facing outward. Also, I'm trying to figure out how I can keep that little cardboard attatchment that says "widescreen" and has all the specs on it and not block the other thing, the glue didn't hold it very well (that it came with) so I'll have to figure something out.

I've decided to keep themin the cardboard box too, like my godfather collection. The only difference is I don't keep my godfather dvds with the rest of my collection. :p

Yeah, my GF collection is the same too. I built a little cabinet for all my DVD's upstairs, but I keep my Star Wars, GF, and Scarface boxes downstairs nestled someplace safe and cozy.

I just finished watching the "A New Hope" disk and I was very happy with the way it looked and sounded. Its SO clear, though, that the scene with Han and Jabar shows (too clearly) how Jabar was superimposed.

The audio (through surround-sound) was awesome!

Just because they sneak a young darth vader in at the end with obi and yoda, does'nt mean these films are ruined at all! Also check the sneak peek on the bonus disk for episode 3. Kinda spoilerish though. Also I never realised it until now, but luke french kisses his sister!

I got the full screen version as a gift from my father today. I still love the set and everything about it. Also, Geoff forgive me, I know better, but my father knows nothing about technology and I watch these movies on my small t.v.'s. One day I'll wide screen editions.

It's not a matter of Technology. It simple. If a movie is filmed in Widescreen, that how it was ment to be seen. Plain and Simple.

Yeah, but take a look at the 1997 version where the scene was originally added...it is much better in this 2004 edition.

Think about the original scene shot with like a cardboard/puppet thing! That must have been atrocious

I'm not a Star Wars fan. In fact, before LOTR, I hated these movies more than any other. However, with the release of the original 3 this past Tuesday I decided to barrow my friend's Episodes I & II DVDs. I did enjoy these movies more this time around than the first (I've only seen them twice now). Episode I wasn't great by any stretch of the imagination. However I thought Episode II was better and I'll probably see Episode III when it comes out (just not opening night). When does it open next year? Summer time or what? Also, sometime next week I'm gonna try to treat myself to the original 3 on the DVD transfer & see if I enjoy them more so than I have in the past. Anyways, for all those who hold this box set in such high regard, I hope you enjoy it. If I ever did buy Star Wars on DVD (which is HIGHLY unlikely but just for the sake of argument that I did) I'd probably wait for them to come out with a box set with all 6 episodes. I'm sure they make it once Episode III comes out on DVD.

It is released on May 22nd (I erroneously stated May 25th before) 2005, to the very day when the original Star Wars (A New Hope) was released in 1977.

Holy Cow! I ordered it from Amazon on Wed afternoon, and just got it via UPS, only 2 days later!!

I'm just pissed that only like an hour ago I told my friends I'd come over... damn! The SW marathon will have to wait!

Choosing freinds over star wars! Tisk tisk.. :p

So much prequel or OT bashing going around. I don't see why everyone has to take sides because of generation differences. The sets of trilogies are obviously different and not 100% compatible, but they're unique and fairly well done and I appreciate the stories of both. Additionally, I'm sick of Star Wars fans complaining about Lucas making changes. These are his films, his ideas, and his SW franchise. If it was someone else's work, then the fans would have every right to be annoyed, but he's doing what he sees fit so everyone can enjoy the films. Who knows anyway. Perhaps some time in the future he will release his entire content from the LFL archives to the public on a huge collection of DVDs, including all editions and features.

Maybe not.


On topic, I think that this DVD set is great.. well deserving of the record sales that it has already set.

One of the most interesting changes that I found was the change in the Empire Strikes Back scene with Emperor Palpatine talking to Vader about Luke. I like the idea of having prequel continuity by using Ian McDiarmid, but the dialogue stunned me.

It's pretty neat to see how Vader doesn't know (or pretends not to know that he has a son) and how the emperor informs him about Luke, rather than vice versa. Interesting change.. might clue us in on Episode III.


Definitely a DVD that I'll enjoy.

I have not watched any more than ANH (hopefully tonight I'll have time to pop in ESB in the the home theatre).

But I knew about this change, and although I don't think it links to Epi III much, it does bring continuity missing in the original film. In ROTJ, Obi-Wan tells Luke the something like "The Emperor knew that if Anakin had a son, he would be a threat to him. That is why you were hidden from him, and separated from your sister."

But before that, the Emperor doesn't know...we don't see the Emperor in ANH (did anyone else think when they saw the movie for the very first time Grand Moff Tarkin was like the Emperor or something? I know he mentions how the Emperor dissolved the Senate, but still), and in ESB, we formerly only saw him tell Vader about Skywalker being a new enemy.

I think the addition/continuity fix for that scene was probably the best modification to the films.

I agree.. it does add to the continuity of the two trilogies.

In the original additions, Palpatine says something like "the son of Skywalker must die". This to me is George Lucas just compensating for the "I am your father" bomb to be dropped later in the movie.

In terms of Episode III, I still do think that this is significant in some of the later scenes in the movie. Originally, I had thought that Vader/Anakin would find out about Luke (and not Leia) and Palpatine wouldn't ever see them. Now, Palpatine obviously has to see Luke somehow in Episode III... That might make for a cool scene.

As far as Episode III, we'll have to see. I suspect Palpatine won't see Luke. Most likely, he will learn of Amidala/Padme's death during childbirth, and Anakin (or some informant) will tell him that the child (Leia being hidden brilliantly by Obi-Wan/Yoda) either died, or that Anakin will take care of it (?).

Will be interesting to see.

You're probably right about someone informaing Palpatine. That would make the most sense.

The most interesting thing that I've seen discussed is whether or not Anakin/Vader will let the twins (or just Luke if that's who he knows about) go, out of his last shred of good will. I can picture Vader saying to Obi-Wan something like 'Never show your face again, my old master...'

This would be a really nice lead in to the "You should not have come back" line in ANH.