Star Wars On Blu-Ray

[jye4ever]

yeah, I agree. I hate the layout/presentation of the bonus features. Very tedious to trawl through. The DVD menus were excellent in comparison.


And Battle of the Heroes! Amazing music. Infact the entire Sith score is as good as the best of Williams other work.

I forgot that song

I wonder if in the 40hrs of extra they include all the time it takes to make your way around

 

[CollectorNC]

"Duel of the Fates" and "Battle of the Heroes" are the two single best cues from the PT.

 

[CollectorNC]

I think my major problem with Star Wars is that it's a little too everywhere. You could tell that George wasn't really sure where the characters were headed and tried to cram as much as he could into it. Mind you, this is looking at it from the "now" perspective. When I first saw it at 7, it was an entirely different story.

Agreed. Being in single digit years gives you a completely different perspective of what was good or bad. Of course as a kid the OT was awesome. I even liked ROTJ and had a stuffed Ewok. haha. But I will say that through some...ahem...disturbance in the force...for some reason, the OT still holds up well for me as a 35 year old. Sure, it looks dated which when viewed after the PT, it looks REALLY dated but it still looks like a good piece of science fiction. PT looks like Sesame Street meets Star Wars except the dark tone ROTS took. I panned TPM long ago and refused to even buy on VHS or DVD. AOTC was better only because of Jango Fett and more jedi fights, but the whole in your face romance crap turned me off. Lucas should have looked at ESB and remembered THAT's how you do romance. Not cheese, but witty. ROTS came out and I felt SW found some redemption only because it was the only one of the 3 PT that wasn't nearly unwatchable. The Clone Wars is far better written and I wish those folks had written the PT.

 

[karamazov80]

Lucas should have looked at ESB and remembered THAT's how you do romance. Not cheese, but witty.

Yeah, the romance between Han and Leia felt natural somehow, and the romance between Anakin and Princess Whatsherface didn't. I don't know if it was just the wit vs. cheese, as I think some of the stuff with Han and Leia was a bit cheesy, and I think Lucas tried (even though he failed) to inject wit into Anakin's dialog. Probably more chemistry by Ford and Fisher vs. a lack of chemistry between guywhoplayedAnakin and Portman, and just better dramatic performances by the former pairing. But I think the wit vs. cheese ratio is not good in the prequels.

And really, I think that's one of the key differences between the OT and the PT--the degree of naturalism and believability in the performances. Again, I think McGregor did a fantastic job despite everything else, but the focus on the CG worlds and characters, and Lucas's growing detachment from traditional dramatic filmmaking over the years all led to stiff, unbelievable performances in the PT as a whole.

 

[CollectorNC]

And really, I think that's one of the key differences between the OT and the PT--the degree of naturalism and believability in the performances. Again, I think McGregor did a fantastic job despite everything else, but the focus on the CG worlds and characters, and Lucas's growing detachment from traditional dramatic filmmaking over the years all led to stiff, unbelievable performances in the PT as a whole.

And therein is the problem: OT got to act in "real" sets and locations for the most part, adding to their performances like any other actors' performance, whereas in the PT the actors were stripped of most of the basic elements to help their acting.

In most movies that have a CGI element (not 90% CGI like the PT) the actors still have enough real stuff around them to act. Not the case with PT. It made some good actors look bad.

 

[jye4ever]

Agreed. Being in single digit years gives you a completely different perspective of what was good or bad. Of course as a kid the OT was awesome. I even liked ROTJ and had a stuffed Ewok. haha. But I will say that through some...ahem...disturbance in the force...for some reason, the OT still holds up well for me as a 35 year old. Sure, it looks dated which when viewed after the PT, it looks REALLY dated but it still looks like a good piece of science fiction. PT looks like Sesame Street meets Star Wars except the dark tone ROTS took. I panned TPM long ago and refused to even buy on VHS or DVD. AOTC was better only because of Jango Fett and more jedi fights, but the whole in your face romance crap turned me off. Lucas should have looked at ESB and remembered THAT's how you do romance. Not cheese, but witty. ROTS came out and I felt SW found some redemption only because it was the only one of the 3 PT that wasn't nearly unwatchable. The Clone Wars is far better written and I wish those folks had written the PT.

Yeah, the romance between Han and Leia felt natural somehow, and the romance between Anakin and Princess Whatsherface didn't. I don't know if it was just the wit vs. cheese, as I think some of the stuff with Han and Leia was a bit cheesy, and I think Lucas tried (even though he failed) to inject wit into Anakin's dialog. Probably more chemistry by Ford and Fisher vs. a lack of chemistry between guywhoplayedAnakin and Portman, and just better dramatic performances by the former pairing. But I think the wit vs. cheese ratio is not good in the prequels.

And really, I think that's one of the key differences between the OT and the PT--the degree of naturalism and believability in the performances. Again, I think McGregor did a fantastic job despite everything else, but the focus on the CG worlds and characters, and Lucas's growing detachment from traditional dramatic filmmaking over the years all led to stiff, unbelievable performances in the PT as a whole.

And therein is the problem: OT got to act in "real" sets and locations for the most part, adding to their performances like any other actors' performance, whereas in the PT the actors were stripped of most of the basic elements to help their acting.

In most movies that have a CGI element (not 90% CGI like the PT) the actors still have enough real stuff around them to act. Not the case with PT. It made some good actors look bad.

You 2 really hit the nail on the head

Stiff is an understatement

Watch in AOTC when Anakin, Obi and Padme are in the battleship that picked them up in the arena and Anakin calls for the gunner to shoot the tower right above the fuel cell, watch when Obi says to him "good call my young padawan, just look at Wooden Christensen's and Natalie Doorman's face and acting, like deers staring into headlights

In the OT, the emotions just flow very naturally, you know....like my pee.

 

[thenammagazine]

You 2 really hit the nail on the head

Stiff is an understatement

Watch in AOTC when Anakin, Obi and Padme are in the battleship that picked them up in the arena and Anakin calls for the gunner to shoot the tower right above the fuel cell, watch when Obi says to him "good call my young padawan, just look at Wooden Christensen's and Natalie Doorman's face and acting, like deers staring into headlights

In the OT, the emotions just flow very naturally, you know....like my pee.

Like your perspective on the movies, that'll change when you get older.

I gotta wonder if the reason for the stupid romance scenes in AOTC is because Lucas figured if he forced it, we wouldn't stop to think, "Wait, there's like a 10 year age gap. Why would she even be hot for Anny?" Instead we're bombarded with these painfully awkward scenes and focus more on how uncomfortable they look vs. the situation.

 

[Karaduin]

Just watched all the blu-rays, did one a night all last week. Working thru them in chronological order:

TPM - I used to hate this episode (apart from Liam Neeson) I actually enjoyed this more than ever on this viewing. Maybe it was the fact that Yoda didnt look so appalling now a CGI model was used. In fact, while still not anywhere near as good as any OT film, it has gone up a few notches in my view. It can be viewed as a stand alone film in the same way as ANH was/is.

AOTC - now the worst of the prequels for me. Love story is blah-de-blah. Padme should have Anakin sectioned after he admits to slaying a whole village of sentients including women and children. But shes all like 'u poor thing'... i mean they killed his mum sure (what exactly did the Tuskens do to her?) but he is obviously unhinged after that. But hey nevermind, off to save Obi Wan, and jump along a live action platform game with conveyor belts and molten metal. Why does that massive slab of metal that stamps on Anakins hand "mold" itself around his hand and not totally damage his arm. Just weird.

ROTS - still the best of the prequels. BUT, still not quite buying the way Palpatine seduces Anakin into the Dark Side with a little bedtime story about Darth Plageuis (sp?). Still not buying that the epic battle of Obi Wan and Anakin and how Anakin gets mortally wounded is all down to who had the higher ground... these are Jedi ffs... and it boils down to who had the higher ground... lame.

ANH - I know this film like the back of my hand. Watched it A LOT when I was younger on VHS. To this day I feel odd when I get to part where Tarkin orders for Leia to be terminated and the film doesnt cut to the Royal Variety Performance of 1985 when my dad very nearly taped over my Xmas recording of Star Wars. All the problems from the special editions are still there. Krayt Dragon scream made even worse, Han still doesnt shoot first (although it looks less jumpy and obvious in this edit... it is still lame) Han stepping over Jabba's tail is still poorly realised (the conversation is almost the same one he has with Greedo), if George is going to make Ewoks blink then why not go back and tweak some of the Cantina aliens? I will still be watching Adywans Star Wars Revisited in future - that guy did it right.

ESB - thankfully still fairly untouched. Still my fave as is the same with most people lets face it. Still wouldnt mind having "Bring my shuttle" instead of that new line but meh a small annyonance.

ROTJ - Jabbas palace song is still lame, the new end song is lame (what was wrong with the Yub-nub song anyway George?) and now we have the "Noooooo!" added in. Great. Now I have lost all faith in GL. I could even live with Hayden appearing instead of Sebastian at the end... but this is the last straw for me.

Dont get me wrong. I aint that annoyed or having a psychosis over it but it just begs the question...Why? Just Why?

I keep reading that Adywan is almost finished with ESB Revisited (he was just waiting for the Blu-Rays editions to come out to give him some better material to work with imo) and look forward to ROTJ revisited if he ever gets around to it. Probly in 6 years time lol. Adywan has the right vision and careful approach when combining the original and special editions plus adding his own (usually) spot on additions.

My 2 pennies worth from a long time fan.

 

[jye4ever]

Like your perspective on the movies, that'll change when you get older.

I gotta wonder if the reason for the stupid romance scenes in AOTC is because Lucas figured if he forced it, we wouldn't stop to think, "Wait, there's like a 10 year age gap. Why would she even be hot for Anny?" Instead we're bombarded with these painfully awkward scenes and focus more on how uncomfortable they look vs. the situation.

My prostate is strong with the force

 

[galactiboy]

If I could pick one thing to change it would be the stupid and insipid "Jedi Rocks". That isn't unique to this release, so I guess I was pleasantly surprised with how much I enjoyed the blurays.

I totally agree with Jedi Rocks being the worst change to the OT; not the most important... but the length of it and shere horror of that scene ruins ROTJ for me.

But glad to hear you're happy with the BR set, now that I can watch alternative versions like Harmy's I feel better about eventually getting this set just to have and enjoy for what it is.

 

[jye4ever]

The video/audio presentation are awesome though.

All 6 movies look and sound great, hands down the best of any catalog title ever released, no shocker there.

The 6.1 truly shakes the room and while TPM does have slight DNR issues, it still looks sharp next to the dvd release, you can see the fuzz balls on their costumes.

 

[darthviper107]

I gotta wonder if the reason for the stupid romance scenes in AOTC is because Lucas figured if he forced it, we wouldn't stop to think, "Wait, there's like a 10 year age gap. Why would she even be hot for Anny?" Instead we're bombarded with these painfully awkward scenes and focus more on how uncomfortable they look vs. the situation.

You mean like how they were 5 years or so apart? She was like 14 in Episode I and then he was like 9, that's not so crazy.

 

[pixletwin]

I totally agree with Jedi Rocks being the worst change to the OT; not the most important... but the length of it and shere horror of that scene ruins ROTJ for me.

But glad to hear you're happy with the BR set, now that I can watch alternative versions like Harmy's I feel better about eventually getting this set just to have and enjoy for what it is.

Did you get those disks to work?

 

[galactiboy]

Did you get those disks to work?

Sadly no, but I was able to download them and burn the DVDs myself for ROTJ and SW; ESB is hopefully done downloading by the time I get home.

I think the only difference b/t the disc you sent me and what I did is an additional "certificate" folder; which is empty, but seemed to make it work on the PS3 for some reason

 

[The Josh]

For me personally the love story stuff in both the OT and PT are cheesy bad. IMO there is nothing natural in either and the lines they all use with each other are goofy.

Like your perspective on the movies, that'll change when you get older.

I gotta wonder if the reason for the stupid romance scenes in AOTC is because Lucas figured if he forced it, we wouldn't stop to think, "Wait, there's like a 10 year age gap. Why would she even be hot for Anny?" Instead we're bombarded with these painfully awkward scenes and focus more on how uncomfortable they look vs. the situation.

How old are they supposed to be in AOTC? I always assumed Anakin was like 16-17 and Padme was 22-24. There's 9 years age difference between my folks s depending on the age of the characters or people it doesn't bother me much.

I'm going to say that this bluray SW boxset towers over LOTR Extended ES especially when it comes to the bonus contents.

Can't say I agree with that at all.

 

[VS1976]

For me personally the love story stuff in both the OT and PT are cheesy bad. IMO there is nothing natural in either and the lines they all use with each other are goofy.



How old are they supposed to be in AOTC? I always assumed Anakin was like 16-17 and Padme was 22-24. There's 9 years age difference between my folks s depending on the age of the characters or people it doesn't bother me much.



Can't say I agree with that at all.

And why's that? The LOTR bonus content dvds are straight from the DVD extended version that was released years ago. Nothing was added to it. The LOTR picture quality does't seem to be ad clear as SW and I like LOTR more then SW.

 

[jye4ever]

I'm 9 years older than me wife

 

[CollectorNC]

ROTS - still the best of the prequels. BUT, still not quite buying the way Palpatine seduces Anakin into the Dark Side with a little bedtime story about Darth Plageuis (sp?). Still not buying that the epic battle of Obi Wan and Anakin and how Anakin gets mortally wounded is all down to who had the higher ground... these are Jedi ffs... and it boils down to who had the higher ground... lame.

Yeah, last time I looked, that higher ground wasn't THAT HIGH. Not for a Jedi. There's higher Jedi jumps in the PT's than that. Was lame. Should have been an epic lightsaber battle where Obi was standing. I guess the epic lightsaber battle before the "higher ground" was supposed to be enough, but it was drawn out too much and caused the conclusion to be a little questionable.

 

[The Josh]

And why's that? The LOTR bonus content dvds are straight from the DVD extended version that was released years ago. Nothing was added to it. The LOTR picture quality does't seem to be ad clear as SW and I like LOTR more then SW.

Because I think the bonus content that comes with the LOTR set be it what I've already got is better. I think the inside look you get with the EE set is a much better glimpse at how these movies were made and the people making them than the SW stuff.

 

[pixletwin]

Sadly no, but I was able to download them and burn the DVDs myself for ROTJ and SW; ESB is hopefully done downloading by the time I get home.

I think the only difference b/t the disc you sent me and what I did is an additional "certificate" folder; which is empty, but seemed to make it work on the PS3 for some reason

Well I'm glad you got it working. Sorry about that.