Lucas changes Star Wars again for Blu-Ray

[SciFiSam]

@Larry_Mudd

In Raiders, the scene where Indy faces a cobra - there is a visible reflection in the pane of glass that separated Harrison Ford from the snake. Presumably someone messed up with the angle of the polarizing filter they’d have used to cut it out, or it just didn’t filter enough of the reflection - but the glass was not meant to be visible, in the context of the movie Indy is inches away from a venomous snake. Why does it always have to be snakes?

Yup. And that’s the sort of change I don’t necessarily mind seeing, though it wouldn’t entice me to buy a new edition.

[monkeylucifer]

This made me chuckle…

[Larry_Mudd]

@SciFiSam

Yup. And that’s the sort of change I don’t necessarily mind seeing, though it wouldn’t entice me to buy a new edition.

Yes for sure. I wonder if George will ever get around to fixing the visibe support post when the tractor beam brings the Falcon into the death sta hangar. Bothers me a big that it remains in the special edition.

Sent from my MB860 using Tapatalk

[Pitchmeister]

Thank you, Larry, I shall rewatch that.

[cmyk]

YESSS!

[sparky_1]

@cmyk

YESSS!

Ok, that is funny!

[AClockworkMelon]

@monkeylucifer

this made me chuckle…

LOLOL

Might want to check this out. Lucas has been making changes to the Phantom Menace.

[asterion]

@SciFiSam

Yup. And that’s the sort of change I don’t necessarily mind seeing, though it wouldn’t entice me to buy a new edition.

And it was that it was mostly small changes like that in ESB that makes the “Special Edition” watchable. There is some additional footage, some of which works better than others, and a lot of new effects, but nothing like what sticks out in the other two. That said, I still prefer to watch the laserdisc transfer “bonus disc” that came with the DVD.

[BigT]

In my opinion, he could do whatever the hell he wants with this stuff if he’d just leave the originals available, and not pretend like they don’t exist.

Oh, and if he’d shut up saying he had the whole thing planned and changing the story. It’s bad enough he can’t not change the movies, but he rewrites reality as well.

[TBG]

@bienville

Not much to add, but I thought I’d share this quote from a friend of mine. He contributed this gem to the conversation by way of a Facebook post:

Originally Posted by bienville’s friend on Facebook
By now the original Star Wars trilogy has been recut more times than Jocelyn Wildenstein.

Is Jocelyn Wildenstein someone known for getting plastic surgery or something? If so, tell your friend to say Joan Rivers next time,

[GuanoLad]

@TBG

Is Jocelyn Wildenstein someone known for getting plastic surgery or something?

Google is your friend. She’s the cat lady.

[TBG]

Then just say “catfaced lady” next time, bro.

[Equipoise]

You guys want the “Original” version, and I want the “REAL Orginal” version. None of us will get what we want.

Lucas has always been screwing around with the original, from day one. I’m one of those nerds who saw Star Wars 100+ in either the theater or the Drive-In because it played in “First Run” for months and months where I lived. At some point I started noticing changes. The most significant ones were much worse.

1. he changed the sound of the alarm heard when we first meet R2D2 and C3PO (not worse, but jarringly different),
2. he changed the voice of Aunt Beru (from a natural-sounding voice to something that didn’t fit her face at all), and
3. the radio transmissions during the final battle went from clear and understandable audio to full of crackly static, which made the voices harder to understand.

I’m sure there were more, but those are the ones that have stuck with me all these years and that I can remember at the moment.

@BMalion

“Open the blast doors! Open the blast doors!”

Yeah yeah! Why would he take that out? That was hilarious.

@Peremensoe

It has nothing to do with any of that. It’s just the George Lucas cannot stop himself from fucking around with these things.

Never could. Never will.
[off topic]

@Elendil_s_Heir

I think it may have been da Vinci who said, “Great art is never finished; it is abandoned.”

I saw a documentary once of Picasso painting on glass. The glass panel was set up over the camera, so the work surface filled the screen and you could see every brushstroke from beneath as Picasso worked. I think there were ten paintings, and on most of them I remembered thinking, “Oh, that’s great… no, stop! That was fine the way it is! Please, stop! STOP!” Most of them turned out well, but there were several that were IMHO ruined, or not nearly as good in the final version, because he just wouldn’t stop messing with 'em.

I saw that last year in the theater during a Henri-Georges Clouzot retrospective! You’re referring to his 1956 work “The Mystery of Picasso” (Le mystère Picasso) described as “A filmed record of Pablo Picasso painting numerous canvases for the camera, allowing us to see his creative process at work.” There are several clips on YouTube. Oh boy, I agree with you 100%! I kept thinking “That’s great, I love it!” then he would do some more and it wasn’t so great to me anymore. It happened over and over again. Thank you for letting me know that I’m not the only one.

[cactus_waltz]

One thing hasn’t been mentioned about Darth Vader’s added “No”, which I find really important: shortly after Darth Vader throws the Emperor down the shaft, his mask is removed. He is huffing and wheezing and looks to be close to death. In other words, his decision to off the Emperor comes across as a great self-sacrifice to save his son, which the silence underlines.
Speaking of alterations, what is the Star Wars version to have for the real Star Wars fans? Is it the Laser Disc? Is it the VHS versions converted to DVD?

[robardin]

@cactus_waltz

Speaking of alterations, what is the Star Wars version to have for the real Star Wars fans? Is it the Laser Disc? Is it the VHS versions converted to DVD?

The Laserdisc version was the only digital transfer (with remastered digital sound) of the original original trilogy. (Well, 99% original origional.)

Just before the initial release of the Star Wars movies on DVD I got bootleg copies on eBay (printed in Asia) which was clearly the Laserdisc transferred to DVD. I’m a-keepin’ those (even though the picture is noticeably more washed out and noisy than the eventual re-re-mastered DVD releases).

[Mahaloth]

@robardin

Just before the initial release of the Star Wars movies on DVD I got bootleg copies on eBay (printed in Asia) which was clearly the Laserdisc transferred to DVD. I’m a-keepin’ those (even though the picture is noticeably more washed out and noisy than the eventual re-re-mastered DVD releases).

Correct me if I"m wrong, but I think the theatrical DVD release is more or less the Laserdisc release. It got bootlegged so much, Lucas buckled and released them. I mean, why lose money?

[Justin_Bailey]

@Mahaloth

Correct me if I"m wrong, but I think the theatrical DVD release is more or less the Laserdisc release. It got bootlegged so much, Lucas buckled and released them. I mean, why lose money?

Yes, this is it. The DVD versions of the originals are the laserdisc versions. They’re the best we’ve got for now.

(you know the second Lucas kicks the bucket his kids will release the original original trilogy on whatever the home video format du jour is)

[Mahaloth]

@Justin_Bailey

(you know the second Lucas kicks the bucket his kids will release the original original trilogy on whatever the home video format du jour is)

I hope someone does. I wouldn’t mind a nice, digitally cleaned up version of the theatrical versions.

But no extra scenes or added special effects.

[cactus_waltz]

Ok, but didn’t the DVD versions add Haydn Christensen force ghost?

[Justin_Bailey]

@cactus_waltz

Ok, but didn’t the DVD versions add Haydn Christensen force ghost?

The original original trilogy was included as a “bonus disc” when you bought the Special Edition versions.

YMMV on which disc actually contains “the movie” and which is the “bonus disc”.