so who's buying star wars dvds tomorrow?

[kylerexpop]

i tend to follow in my friend luke's footsteps, which translate thusly: it was okay to buy bootleg dvds of the original theatrical incarnations of the original trilogy, because if the originals were ever put out on legit dvds, i would buy them.

i guess i have to live up to that. doh. doh! i'm more excited about the lego star wars 2 video game, and just might make the midnight trip to 24-hour walmart to see if they've put it out. although waiting to hit circuit city, where you apparently get a free tee-shirt (of chewbacca with a stormtrooper helmet askew on his head), is probably the superior option.

but, yeah. any takers on the original trilogy dvds? only for a limited time, and presumably NEVER AGAIN! i think i HAVE to buy them. do you?

[Al]

I was gonna, but after hearing about the crummy transfer plus the fact that I already own both version anyway, I'm gonna stick with my VHS tapes as long they'll play.

[pfrsue]

I'm not planning on buying the DVD's... yet, but I'm all over the Lego game!

[deusdragonexx]

I'm gonna kinda have to. I mean, I gotta. That way I will own the trilogy of the original trilogy. I'll have the Special Edition DVDs, the SP. ED. VHS, and the re-released original (which reminds me of High Fidelity. 'Original, not re-released underlined...') on DVD. then I'll get the Prequels, which aren't as important, but still good.

[Al]

pfrsue said:

I'm not planning on buying the DVD's... yet, but I'm all over the Lego game!

Yes, I'm all about Lego Star Wars II, but the dvds are just a small blip on my radar.

[DTH]

In all honesty, I will wait for the "Ultimate 9 million hours extra 6 movie edition" that is inevitably going to come out.

I am very cynical about DVD purchases nowadays. Particularly when it comes to anything that has the words "Star" and "Wars" on them.

[StarOpal]

I might get them. Depends on how finances work out.

I remember years ago when that other set of episodes 4-6 came out, my brother snatched them up. I said I'd wait 'til an untampered with version came out. He's telling me George Lucas said he wasn't going to put the original on DVD, blah blah blah.

"I bet you he does."

I sent him an Email to taunt him. He hasn't written me back. I love being a sibling ;D

[Head Mutant]

I think I'm done spending money on Star Wars for a good long while. Movie-wise, at least. I haven't even ponied up the dough for Revenge of the Sith (side note: wouldn't Phantom Menace make for a great mutant viewing?).

I'm watching the upcoming TV series(es) out of the corner of my eye. We shall see.

[Hilasophy]

If it really is the original trilogy...I'll accept THX version...I'll buy them. But are they really going to be untampered? I will not believe that until I see it. The preview I saw on TV showed a planet exploding...and not in the original way, but the special edition way (you know with the ring around it?) Anyway, I haven't purchased a piece of Star Wars merchandise in probably 5 years so I'll feel okay about giving Lucas some cash. Okay, that last part was a lie.

[kylerexpop]

well, i went to circuit city first thing, mostly so i could get a free tee-shirt with my purchase of lego star wars 2 (which kicks so much you know that i had to go jog around my neighborhood, pumping my fists "rocky"-style. AND I'VE ONLY PLAYED THE FIRST STAGE EACH OF EPISODE 4 & 5. wild!) but ended up buying the dvds, too.

i feel really, really dumb about it. what was i thinking? actually, if it were any other week i'd have them open already. but because i just got home and heard about the new ipods, and have had enough of feeling like an obsolete fool when i walk around with my seemingly monstrous 20g ipod photo (it's the generation before everything got super-thin), i think i'm going to return my $48 or so worth of "unaltered" star wars dvds and put that money where it belongs: towards a new 30 gig ipod and one of those ipod shuffles that you can either clip to your belt or swallow for safekeeping.

stupid star wars dvds. the weird thing is i can't even remember when i last watched one of those movies. any episode. i think i'm burned out on star wars for a while. unless it's star wars, lego-style! oh yeah!

[starwenn]

I don't know. Everyone's complaining about how crappy the transfer is, but it would be nice to have (real) DVD copies of the originals. I could give my videos to my brother. I'm not the most particuar person, and if George Lucas releases something else...oh well.

[Hilasophy]

captainkyle said:

stupid star wars dvds. the weird thing is i can't even remember when i last watched one of those movies. any episode.

The last time I watched the original trilogy was May 18, 1999. So, it's been a while. I took the prequels pretty hard.

[kylerexpop]

yep. returned them today. i want a new ipod!

but that's funny you mention that: i spent all morning at work talking with everybody about when exactly our star wars love died. at lot of people had very specific moments in either the prequels or in actual life when they realized they could and would no longer love star wars like they once had.

it was a fun conversation. moments ranged from reading the crappy opening scrawl in ep1 and realized taxation and whatnot really was a big part of the film, the word "midicholrians," realizing there was no real hurry to see ep2 or 3, and for one friend it was something completely out of star wars: it was lucas removing the guns from 'e.t.' and putting in radios. whoa.

but, yeah, no dvds for me. it doesn't seem like there is any real excitement about these either. or maybe i'm just not noticing any because i could care less.

i will repeat what i told everyone else: the ONLY positive effect the prequel trilogy has had on the world is that it lead to 'lego star wars.' especially now that II is out, based on the original trilogy, so we can all relax and be all "okay, now that we have a game based on the ot, we can relax and enjoy playing as prequel characters. hooray!"

p.s. i played the first chapter in the 'return of the jedi' portion of lswII, and unlocked black-garbed jedi luke. being able to play as black-garbed jedi luke is FANTASTIC. green lightsaber!

[PoolMan]

I'm still trying to make up my mind, so I went and did a little reading. The folks at IGN have a writeup for the new DVDs:

Star Wars (A New Hope)
Empire Strikes Back
Return of the Jedi

They're all basically the same article, though, so if you've read one, you've read 'em all. The pictures are different, however, to give you an idea of what's on the discs.

Some choice quotes from the article:

...finally the time had come for Lucas to recognize his fans' wishes. Unfortunately, keeping in the filmmaker's proud tradition of withholding, misdirecting and otherwise, yes, offering what audiences want but not necessarily when they want it, he chose to release them in non-anamorphic widescreen, without any retouches, changes or improvements since their original remastering in 1994 - which most know is substandard in the context of today's expansive home-theater offerings.

In other words, it's the original... for real. That means no CGI and no obnoxious changes that we've grown to hate, but it also means nothing's been done to make them look nice for the DVD release.

Overall, however, the Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi (Limited Edition) DVD is a worthwhile purchase only for folks who love the movies unconditionally, do not own previous versions of the films on DVD, or worry as much about home-theater presentation (and in fact would be hard-pressed to discern between the two editions on a small, non-widescreen television).

For me, that's fine, because I always knew this day was coming, but if you bought another edition, maybe sit it out? IGN definitely believes this to be a backhanded "gift" to the fans... yes, they're the originals, but don't expect us to have done anything special with them. Which is disappointing. (You know when IGN gives something 6 out of 10, it's not everything it's cracked up to be)

If I pick it up, I'll try and give it a proper MRFH review...

[Al]

I was just coming here to post about that. Did anyone else notice IGN has spent nearly every single day of the past six weeks shilling some kind of Star Wars nostalgia article to build as much hype and possible? Then, on the big day that the DVDs hit shelves... no review. They waited one day after release before revealing that it was an unecessary double-dip and for most of the people that it's geared at, not worth their twenty bucks per movie. Paid-off-heavily-by-Lucasfilm, much?

Al