My ass puts Yoda to shame.
Well, color me bemused by this little factoid.
Bemused I say. Can they really make ‘all region’ DVDs?
I can’t explain exactly why, but the big shockwave coming off the Death Star explosion bothered me even more than Greedo’s shooting first. Maybe it’s because the Greedo scene isn’t at the climax of the movie, or that the real version of the scene is burned into my memory at this point.
But the Death Star explosion is the crucial point of the entire movie, and it looked better in 1977 than it did in 199x. (I forget when the special editions came out.) It’s like giving Michaelangelo’s David a Vanilla Ice-style haircut; it replaced something that was a seminal image, one of those perfect movie moments, with just another CGI fad.
The shame is that a lot of the stuff in the special editions really does improve the movies – especially the windows on Cloud City in The Empire Strikes Back. They just didn’t know when to leave well enough alone.
Would those be the impossible windows in Cloud City that show outside even when they should be showing the interior? 
Liked the little touch but like most of the rest of the special editions it was piled on too high.
I have to disagree with this statement. Lucas doesn’t owe the fans original dvd editons of Star Wars any more than MGM owes me restored versions of For Me and My Gal and Summer Stock. When a moviegoer buys a ticket to a movie, he/she is entitled to see the movie in the theater that one time. Once the movie is over, the transaction is complete, and neither side owes the other anything else. When the fans buy the merchandising, they are entitled to the toys they are buying, and nothing else. Having spent a lot of money on the theatrical releases, toys, vhs tapes, laserdiscs, novels, and artwork dosesn’t entitle the fans to anything other that exactly what they bought.
However, I think Lucas is foolish for not releasing the originals on DVD. Release them as a deluxe boxed set, add a bunch of extras, and charge a premium price for them, and he’d make a buttload of money to use for his technological toys, and he’d make the hardcore fans happy at the same time. Buffy the Vampire Slayer season sets sell for about $40 compared to ST:TNG for about $100, the difference being the much higher demand for the much higher profile Star Trek. Likewise, Universal expected to make a profit on Back to the Future at $40 a pop; Lucas could price the originals at, say, double that and have a 200-300% profit margin, and sales would still go throught the roof.
I think it’s a poor business decision, and artistically bankrupt not to release the originals on dvd; I won’t be buying the SE dvd’s when they come out. I’d pay $100 tomorrow for a boxed set of the original trilogy. But my desire to have it doesn’t mean that I’m entitled to it.
Region 0 DVDs are sold in the shops, Jonathan. Music discs are often Region 0 - albums being released simultaneously all over the world, there’s no need to up costs by staggering the video release - as are old films. The first Night of the Living Dead release was R0, for example.
Nation’s Love Affair With Lord Of The Rings Threatening Its Relationship With Star Wars
Ah, the Onion.
Is this where they replace all the blaters with walkie-talkies to make it more kid friendly?
I hear the lightsabers become pillows. Darth and Obi-Wan have a pillowfight on the Death Star.
And remember when Han is tortured on Bespin? Now they tickle him.
And now Luke just sings the Rancor to sleep.
Says you. 
I’ve given up on Lucas. He’s washed up and has no ideas left. He’d be on the street if he,. um… didn’t own half of Hollywood.
Er, don’t go to Ebay for bootleg discs. Do a little searching on Google for “Star Wars DVD” and a bounty of helpful and reliable links will appear…
Having recently come into a big of Star Wars (and various other movie trivia) I feel I have the perfect answer to Lucas statement.
[sound=wilhelmscream]
I did a story about counterfeit DVDs just a couple of weeks ago. There are no legal “Region: All” DVDs. It’ll be a number from 1 to 5. – That’s according to the Motion Picture Distributor’s Assn.
Now, anyone can make a DVD that will play in all regions, but it won’t be legally indicated as such.
As for counterfeits, most of 'em are pretty crap, but some are perfect. Perfect artwork on the case, and the master DVD code has been copied.
I’m a little unclear on what you’re saying here. Are you saying that some law, somewhere, requires that a DVD be indicated as specific to one region? If so, I’m calling bullshit.
Region coding isn’t legally mandated, and the only labeling restriction would be that the label be truthful and not harmful to consumers – you could probably label an all-region disc as “Region 1,” but couldn’t label a Region 1 disc as “all-region.”
If, say, Warner Bros. wanted to release its next film as an all-region disc, there is nothing legally preventing it from doing so.
And if I’m misunderstanding you, color me whooshed and please clarify your remarks.
Agreed. I have several legit all-region discs, such as the older version of Grave of the Firefies and Trinity and Beyond, and several multiregion discs that are marked 1, 2, and 4. This is off the top of my head without looking at my collection.
[quote]
I did a story about counterfeit DVDs just a couple of weeks ago. There are no legal “Region: All” DVDs. It’ll be a number from 1 to 5. – That’s according to the Motion Picture Distributor’s Assn.
Now, anyone can make a DVD that will play in all regions, but it won’t be legally indicated as such.
[/uoqte]
Absoultely wrong, Barbarian. I’ve got piles of perfectly legal region 0 DVD’s. Several smaller DVD publishers in the US put out many titles as region 0 including the aforementioned Night of the Living Dead release (from Scimitar, IIRC). Also, legitimate DVD releases in Hong Kong are also region 0 (though with those you have to know what publishers don’t pirate the movie; I stick with the ones who distribute the movie in the US as well since major chains like Suncoast and Best Buy aren’t going to intentionally carry pirated films). The major studios avoid putting out region 0 movies and some of my films from Paramount won’t play on a region free player but they’re not the only people out there.
I should mention that Hong Kong is actually region 4, but just about the only movies released there with that region coding are the Hollywood big studio films. I guess the presses are just set for region 0 and they keep them at it no matter what they’re turning out.
Nope, Australia is R4, as are Latin and South America. Hong Kong is mashed in with the rest of Southeast Asia as R3, instead of being with China as R6.
Then the MPDA are talking utter wank, and so are you. For a start, there are six DVD regions, not five.
Lucas said that LOTR:TTT had the best special effects he’s ever seen. [sorry, I have no cite. He said it on the phone to someone I know.]