I love your channel. I credit you with getting me into Laserdisc collecting again.
I was very envious of those evergreen 007 Laserdiscs.
I liked Lost Stars and Bloodline.
And some of the new Marvel comics. But the quality varies. A lot of it is rubbish. But they are putting out a lot of material and very fast. So much so that the art quality is often mediocre. But there are some gems in there. I liked the old EU and Dark Horse comics more. But i’m not kidding myself into thinking all of it was great. After all it was tie in fiction.
I liked Tom Veitch Tales of the Jedi contributions to the old EU more than what became of the series after Kevin Anderson took it over.i really love Dark Empire despite people hating it. Although Luke and Ulic’s stories are too similar. The same descent into the heart of darkness to conquer the dark side from within.
The last i heard it was an oxymoron to release the Original. That was Lucas final word on the subject in 2011 or was it 2010. It was around the time of the blu ray release. The other thing he said was there were pipelines for these things or some other BS.
I take him at his word when he said he never had any intention of the Original ever being made available again. He said it in the press and it is documented.
I got it all out of my system years ago. I respect nearly everything George has done. Except removing the Original cuts of his films from being widely available. As for the Special Edition it wore out its novelty pretty quick. But nobody ever argued he did not have the right to fix the films how he wanted. Only that fans be given a choice over which version they want to see.
I would argue some of the changes were valid updating the sound mix, fixing matte lines, replacing cardboard backgrounds. Fixing the shot where the Landspeeder wheels were visible and blurred with vasoline on the lens.
Restoring the image. Replacing the unstable color reversal stock with original negative shots and recombining them. But then he added a bunch of cartoon cgi that aged worse than the original effects, put an awful version of Jabba into the movie, dinosaurs in Mos Eisley Why? He also had Han shoot second and removed some laser burns on a that guy in the black uniform on the death star. Never mind years later making Boba sound like Jango or putting Hayden into Return of the Jedi, or ruining the Emperor scene in Empire Strikes Back.
He had a right to think he did not achieve what he set out to do on the Original production. But preserve for posterity the version that fans fell in love with, and won all those academy awards.
Lucas had a massive impact on Cinema though. You need only look to digital editing, and digital sound or movies shot digitally to see the impact he had on modern cinema. He pushed all the technology forward when few were doing it.
Is the Laserdisc worth it for ones own private collection if they can get it for 35 dollars? The Japanese release i mean.
I have the VHS somewhere. But i seem to have misplaced it.
The first part is most likely Lucas revisionism i agree, but Star Wars a New Hope goes back to November of 1979. In the first edition of the art of star wars. But yeah it was only spliced into prints with a new rollup and starfield in 1981.
Some things do go way back. Some fans insist Sith was created on the prequels. But it goes back to the 1976 Novelization where Darth Vader was a Dark Lord of the Sith.
As for midichlorians i still believe those were created during the prequels and Rinzler will never convince me otherwise.
I’m looking for a better quality copy of great movie stunts. The one on Raiders of the Lost Ark.
All i’ve ever seen is a really dodgy laserdisc transfer that was overly compressed and stuck on a single layer DVD. I used to have it on VHS and that was not all that much better.
The overly compressed version that was on youtube was worse than the fan brew DVD.
Hopefully someday the people who did 4K77 will transfer it off of 16mm.
Years ago i was going to buy that print directly from the lab for 700 dollars. I’m glad i didn’t later i read that there was a blue push or cyan based problem that effects the entire print.
They never said in the reviews whether it was only certain copies which were effected but you can clearly see this was one of them.
Other than that it is a sharp print and very nice. Low Fade polyester. But the colors are wrong so its not suitable for preservation or as a color source.
Lucas is the one who claims it was always called that but it confused the executives at Fox and Alan Ladd Jr.
The first time the title surfaced was in the public script not the shooting script edited by Carol Titleman in the art of Star Wars. Unless i am mistaken and my memory is failing me again. That was well before 1981 that was in the 1970s. Not sure when it was first published. I don’t have a first edition at hand.
Funny thing even when the Episode IV title was old news and it had A New Hope at the beginning the film was still just called Star Wars. I don’t remember a single person calling it a new hope. I even have VHS copies and Laserdiscs where it just says Star Wars. The standee displays and advertising was for Star Wars.
His memory has failed him maybe once or twice in 40 years when it comes to the making of the films, or he misremembered something. But for the most part he is usually correct even when he does not know what a character is called or what a prop was called.
The most notorious example i can think of is him thinking he yelled Carrie on Star Wars. Or claiming the scene with him building the lightsaber was never shot on Return of the Jedi. And having to be corrected by Tony Daniels who remembered it was shot.
Over all i think Mark Hamill is a pretty great guy and is allowed to have an imperfect memory.
I will never forget the kindness he showed me when he responded to a letter i sent him and sent me an autograph in the 1990s.
I would also add
Akira Kurosawa
Hayao Miyazaki
Robert Zemeckis
Sergio Leone
David Lean
Stanley Kubrick
Ridley Scott
Ron Howard
John McTiernan
Irvin Kershner
John Carpenter
Terence Young
Michael Curtiz
I have always wanted to own the James Bond Criterion Laserdiscs and the Kurosawa titles but the crazy prices always kept me from getting them. I wonder if they are cheaper now that very few still collect Laserdiscs.
I like the version without the DVNR and newly added edits with cgi that was done for the 3D re-issue.
It would be ideal if the theatrical blu ray had the original color timing and original audio mix.
I prefer the old 2K master over the 4k because the 4k is horrible.
Both T1 and T2 remasters have a horrible new teal to them. They never looked like that.
I’m going to say George Lucas. Unironically. I like the Theatrical Cut of American Graffiti, THX 1138 and Star Wars. Before he made changes to the films in the 1990s and 2000s. I also don’t hold the belief that just because he made the prequels he never was a good filmmaker to begin with.
My second favorite Is Steven Spielberg because of Raiders of the Lost Ark, Close Encounters, Jaws and ET.
Third favorite is Francis Coppola for Godfather 2, The Conversation and Apocalypse now.
Fourth is Richard Donner for Superman 78 and Goonies and Lethal Weapon.
I’ve long wanted to hear the original mix by Walter Murch, the Mono Mix.
It does not exist on any home video version. Even the earliest Discovision Laserdisc is the Stereo Remix done after the success of Star Wars.
I bought the Collectors Laserdisc from 1995. Of the trilogy from Japan and the new 2020 Special Edition.
I have far too many versions including every American VHS release of the Star Wars trilogy on VHS, The First issue Definitive and US faces laserdisc, the Japan Definitive Collection. The Special Widescreen Collection. Original issue and re-issue of the pan and scan US release on Laserdisc. The CAV pan and scan for Star Wars and Empire on LD, the special edition on 1997 US LD. Phantom Menace on Japan LD. The Japan Special Collection CAV LD issues. 2011 blu ray, 2004 DVD set. Phantom Menace, Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith 2 DVD sets NTSC North America releases. I also have 35mm trailers for a re-issue of Empire and theatrical return of the jedi release flat not cinemascope. And some 70mm film frames from Willits Designs.
The OT was about Luke’s journey. The prequel about Anakin’s Journey and the third Trilogy about Rey’s Journey.
Rey being an adopted Skywalker ties the 3 together and nothing more. A loosely connected Saga about the Skywalker/Solo family and their friends. At least its no longer the Story of Darth Vader. That in itself erased the series being from the adventures of Luke Skywalker.
I disagree with respect. I see the Special Edition as a fundamentally different film trilogy. Its like a remake. And i find it unwatchable, i tried watching the 2020 Special Edition and i hated every single change, it just is not Star Wars anymore. The novelty of the Special Edition for me wore off in about 2000. When i realized the original was being actively suppressed and we were unlikely to ever see another release. The last scan was done for Laserdisc in 1993. In 2020 i realize its never going to happen at least in my lifetime.
If you can find it for a decent price just get the Arista Records boxed set. The Anthology. The tracks are not restored and Return of the Jedi sounds rather muddy, but it is better to me than any noise reduced release. To me the best sounding Star Wars is both the first issued CD double release, and the same for Empire or the original vinyl releases. The best sounding Original Return of the Jedi was the cut down release on CD. Though i have not listened to them in years.
I have to say though other than youtube i have not listened to the Disney remasters. They supposedly restored return of the jedi from the original recording materials. But it is still the same release with missing tracks from the 1980s just restored.
I once saw the VCD set in Newbury Comics and almost bought it.
It had a nice box and even looked official the discs were factory pressed.
Only did i find out years later that the set was a bootleg.
I think it uses the pan and scan Hong Kong Laserdisc as a video source but i’m not a hundred percent sure of that. The 1995 faces transfer.
I liked that Luke was redeemed. And that he did not die in vain. Rey now carries on the Jedi tradition and Luke lives on in her. The same way Ben Kenobi did with Luke.
I also like her being an adopted Skywalker. I like Han Solo being redeemed and thought the force ghost scene with Han whether it was real or imagined in Ben’s mind was very good. Harrison Ford did a very good job in his acting.
I hate that it all ended we need to see Rey rebuild the Jedi Order and take Finn as her Padawan. And to see the Republic restored for real this time. Hopefully the Empire and First Order are finally defeated.
Honestly my whole opinion of the new trilogy changed with Rise of Skywalker. I see how it all connects even if the story was not planned out in advance and i no longer hate The new trilogy. It just is not what i expected i expected a sequel focusing on Luke.
But like Mark Hamill said he had his trilogy, and this New Trilogy was Daisy’s trilogy. And the prequels obviously were Hayden’s trilogy since he was in 2 of them.
It is not going to happen. Lucas maintains final cut over his films. Disney cannot just decide to create a 4 hour cut of Revenge of the Sith, which does not exist.
What people should be asking for is Theatrical Cuts of Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi because Lucas did not direct them. Based on Lucas own belief that a director should legally have the right to final cut, those should be available.
I was watching the bonus features from a few years ago where they interviewed the crew who did the effects at ILM, and when they are talking about specific shots from the original in the special features it is a Special Edition shot. Did the person editing those clips together not notice or did they just not care? I think Rinzler was the one who did those new digital special features.
Palpatine is the only Sith in Rise of Skywalker. And he is a Clone of the Original. They kind of seem to have been inspired by Dark Empire.
Kylo Ren is a darksider but not a Sith. Because JJ seemed to be confused as to what a Sith is. Snoke was not a Sith either.
I was reading the making of Raiders of the Lost Ark and Lucas said he believed directors deserved to get final cut on their films. As i was reading that it reminded me that Irvin Kershner and Richard Marquand did not get that on their Star Wars films. Since 1997 you have not been able to see the films they directed. Lucas pretty much made himself the director in the Special Editions by changing scenes.