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From an e-mail: So... anyone up for a little MORE George Lucas on DVD today? Yeah?
Okay then... after 8 long years of waiting, here's my in-depth review of
20th Century Fox and Lucasfilm's 4-disc Star Wars Trilogy DVD box set. Was
it worth the wait? Do the films look and sound awesome? Has Lucas really
made more changes to them? Just read the review, folks. It's all in there.
On that last question however, I think this will finally convince you that
we weren't lying all those many months ago when we first said there would be
more surprises in store for these films. Don't say we didn't warn you. ;-)
http://www.thedigitalbits.com/reviews3/starwarstrilogy.html
and yes - they keep screwing with the films.
http://www.thedigitalbits.com/reviews3/starwarschanges.html
god forbid you get one consistant ver, or be able to get the old original
ver without cgi up your a** that you saw when you were a kid.
http://www.thedigitalbits.com/reviews3/starwarschanges02.html
check out the ghosts at the bottom - hmmmmmmmmmmmmmm
Part One - The Films & Changes
"A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away..."
It's very strange to finally be writing a review of these films on DVD. I
don't think a single day has gone by in the eight years we've been running
The Digital Bits that we weren't asked: "When is Star Wars coming out on
DVD?" We've struggled to answer that question as best we could of course,
constantly checking with both 20th Century Fox and Lucasfilm. We've
repeatedly tried to convince George Lucas himself to release these films on
DVD, eventually succeeding in getting at least the prequel films on disc
(after a LONG campaign with other websites in which we jointly collected
over 30,000 signatures and took out a full page ad in Daily Variety). But as
to the ultimate question of when Star Wars, The Empire Strikes Back and
Return of the Jedi would be released on our favorite format, Lucasfilm's
answer was always "eventually". Well... eventually has finally arrived, hard
though it is to believe.
The Star Wars Trilogy arrives on DVD in the form of a new 4-disc box set,
containing not only the much-loved movies, but also a separate disc of
all-new bonus material. So let's take a closer look, shall we? We'll start
with the films themselves.
As most of you know, Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope tells the story of
Luke Skywalker, a young farmboy living on a backwater planet with dreams
escaping his humdrum plight for a life of heroism in outer space. It seems
that the galaxy is embroiled in a massive civil war between the evil
Galactic Empire and the freedom-loving Rebel Alliance. Luke longs to fight
for what he believes in, but the conflict is raging a long way from his
far-flung world... at least until a pair of bumbling droids suddenly arrives
on his uncle's farm. Luke discovers that the droids are carrying a secret
message from a Rebel princess, intended for a wizened Jedi Knight named
Obi-Wan Kenobi, who happens to live nearby. The droids are also carrying the
stolen plans for the Empire's ultimate weapon, the Death Star, a massive
space station with enough firepower to destroy an entire planet. Unless
these plans can be safely delivered to the Rebel forces, their struggle for
freedom and justice will be crushed once and for all. So with the help of
Kenobi and a wise-cracking pirate named Han Solo, Luke suddenly finds
himself whisked away into deep space on the adventure of his life, pursued
all the while by the Empire's most sinister agent of evil... Darth Vader.
It's really unnecessary to say much more about this film, as you're all no
doubt intimately familiar with it by now. Released as a lark in 1977 by 20th
Century Fox, George Lucas' original Star Wars became a hugely successful
blockbuster almost overnight and it quickly changed the landscape of
Hollywood filmmaking, not only reviving a long-lost cinematic genre but also
pioneering the field of movie visual effects. The film had an incalculable
impact on my then ten-year-old life, opening my eyes to the possibilities of
the film medium and firing my imagination like nothing before it. I'm
certain that, like me, most of you have a very special place for the film in
your hearts. But Star Wars today is somewhat different than you might
remember it from 1977... or even the 1997 special edition re-release.
As you may have heard, a number of new digital changes have been made to the
Star Wars films for this DVD release. As with the 1997 special edition, A
New Hope has received the majority of the attention. Many shots have been
altered in very subtle ways, which only the most zealous fans will notice.
There are, however, a number of more major changes. In A New Hope, these
include a revised opening shot as Luke's landspeeder enters Mos Eisley
Spaceport (the speeder model is more detailed and moves more naturally), an
improved version of the Han/Greedo fight (Greedo still shoots first, but
only just - the blasts are much closer together and Han's movement is
smoother), a new CG model of Jabba the Hutt (it's a revised version of the
Episode I model of the character and is much improved) and re-rotoscoped
lightsaber blades throughout the film (blade color is more pronounced and
the animation is more like the prequel films). Personally, I quite like most
of these changes. The Han/Greedo fight is still less than perfect, but it
does look more natural. Han's head doesn't jerk like it did before - instead
his whole upper body shifts over slightly. And the blaster shots are VERY
close together now, so the encounter is not as implausible as it was in
1997. I still wish George would just let Han shoot first as he did
originally in 1977, but I can at least stomach watching this scene now.
George Lucas has made to the Star Wars Trilogy for the 2004 DVD release.]
Three years after the release of the original film, Episode V - The Empire
Strikes Back continued the epic adventure. After successfully destroying the
Death Star, Luke and his Rebel friends have been pursued across the galaxy
by Darth Vader and the Empire's mighty space fleet. While hiding out in a
new secret base on the frozen planet of Hoth, the Rebels are discovered by
Vader. After a massive snow battle, our heroes barely escape with their
lives and are scattered across space. Luke finds his way to the jungle
planet Dagobah, where he begins training to become a Jedi Knight. Meanwhile,
Han and the princess find refuge on the planet Bespin, unaware that they've
been followed by Vader's forces. Soon, Luke must abandon his training to
come to his friends' rescue, ultimately risking his fate in a reckless
confrontation with Vader himself.
Widely considered to be the best of the Star Wars series, The Empire Strikes
Back tells a much darker and more personal story than the original film,
despite the inclusion of several dramatic action sequences. In a risky move,
this unconventional sequel sees the good guys basically getting their asses
kicked from the start of the film until the very end. It's not a happy or
upbeat adventure by any means, and it ends with a stunning and unforeseen
twist that left theater audiences hanging on the edge of their seats for
more than three years after its original release in 1980. Despite the
cliff-hanger ending (or perhaps because of it) Empire ranks easily among the
best film sequels of all time. It holds up well to this day.
The digital changes to Empire for this DVD release are fewer than they are
in A New Hope. In fact, there are only three major changes. These include
the use of Temuera Morrison as the voice of Boba Fett (which I suppose makes
sense given that Boba is a clone of Jango from Episode II), the elimination
of Luke's scream when he jumps to escape Vader on Cloud City (which had been
a source of much debate among fans - why would he scream if he were jumping
willingly?), and the use of actor Ian McDiarmid as the Emperor (replacing
the old woman and voice actor Clive Revill who played the character
originally). I should note that the Emperor alteration also involves a
change in the scene's dialogue - one that is at first confusing. The Emperor
now tells Vader that he has no doubt "the young rebel who destroyed the
Death Star" is the offspring of Anakin Skywalker, to which Vader replies
"How is that possible?" That doesn't seem to make sense, because we know
that Vader is aware of who Luke is from dialogue earlier in the film
("That's it. The Rebels are there. And I'm sure Skywalker is with them."). I
suspect, however, that we'll find out in Episode III that Anakin DOES learn
of Luke's existence as an infant, and he hides this knowledge from the
Emperor. What that would mean is that Vader's been waiting all these years
to find Luke as an adult and turn him to the Dark Side so that they can
overthrow the Emperor together - a plot Vader ultimately confesses to Luke
at the end of Empire. We'll have to wait for Episode III to see how this new
bit of dialogue fits in.
Concluding the original trilogy in 1983, Episode VI - Return of the Jedi
opens as Luke, now a fully trained Jedi Knight, returns with his friends to
his home planet to rescue Han Solo from the vile crime lord Jabba the Hutt.
Luke then revisits Dagobah and learns that he must ultimately confront Darth
Vader if the galaxy is to have any hope of peace. Luke also learns a
surprising secret before rejoining the Rebels as they prepare for the final,
decisive battle in the conflict between Rebellion and Empire - an all-out
assault on the Emperor's second and even more powerful Death Star.
As the final chapter of the Star Wars saga, Return of the Jedi fails to be
either as fresh as the original film or as surprising as Empire. Too much is
predictable here (such as the appearance of a second Death Star) and too
many compromises were made for the younger audience members (the very
presence of the Ewoks, for example) which is especially noticeable after the
more adult themes of the previous installment. That said, Jedi does manage
to adequately complete the story arc of the original trilogy. There's nice
symmetry with the way the character storylines are wrapped up, and there's
enough action to keep the film interesting. I'll be curious to see how well
this conclusion works in the context of the overall 6-film saga once Episode
III arrives in theaters in May, 2005.
As with Empire, are three major digital changes to Jedi, all of which appear
at the end of the film. When Luke removes Vader's mask to reveal his
father's face, the eyebrows of actor Sebastian Shaw have been erased
(presumably because Anakin's face will be badly burned in Episode III).
Then, after the second Death Star is destroyed, when the film cuts to the
various celebrations around the galaxy, Naboo is now included among the
planets we see. Finally (and this is a big one), when the Force ghosts of
Ben, Yoda and Anakin appear to Luke at the very end of the film, actor
Sebastian Shaw has been replaced with Hayden Christensen (as he'll appear in
Episode III). That's going to piss off a lot of fans, but it makes sense. I
suspect the rational is that a Jedi's Force ghost is frozen in appearance at
the exact moment of his or her death. Since Anakin Skywalker basically
ceases to exist in Episode III (becoming Darth Vader), his ghost remained at
that age. Yeah, it's a stretch, but hey... within the logic of the universe,
it does make sense. Like it or not.
Ultimately, I've accepted that Lucas is entitled to change these films until
he's happy with them. The fact is, he's been changing them since 1977 (for
example, right after the first film was released and became a hit, Lucas
quickly went back in and added the Episode IV - A New Hope tag). These new
CG alterations are simply the logical continuation of his desire to overcome
the technical challenges he faced when he originally made the films. I have
to tell you, I'm as surprised as anyone to find myself actually appreciating
most of these changes. With the sole exception of the Han/Greedo scene
(which still bothers me, although less now than as it was in 1997), I think
all of the changes are either genuine improvements or simply make sense
given the ties to the prequel films. I still think Lucas has a
responsibility to save the original versions of these films out of respect
for the fans who have supported them all these years, the artists who
creatively invested themselves in the original work, and as a way to remind
us all just how far the films have come since they were first released. And
I still have hope that we'll see those original versions released on disc...
eventually... in a more elaborate box set of the entire saga. But more on
that later.
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