Star Wars UNALTERED Original Trilogy Released

[adam]

http://www.starwars.com/episode-iv/release/video/news20060503.html

Looks like Lucas finally caved in. 20th Centry Fox is re-releasing the original triology films in individual 2 disc sets, one disc being the remastered/edited versions and the other being the unaltered version as it was originally shown in theatres. All those "Han shot first" fans should be happy I think.

Only one catch though, when they say unaltered they mean it. The films will only have Dolby 2.0 audio. I imagine we will have a new 50 page thread on this board about how to sync up the 5.1 track to the unaltered video. Shouldn't be too hard actually.

[pchan]

Holy crap... Money talks...

He should have released THE ORIGINAL first.. then I wouldn't waste my money on his "adulterated" version.

[reco]

Then next year comes the BlueRay or HD-DVD version with 3 disk, new useless extras and so on.

After 5 years you will have 10 diferent releases of the same movies.


I am a big SW fan, but I am definetly skipping this one.

Regards

[Forum Troll]

Wouldn't it be easiest to capture the LPCM soundtrack from the THX Laserdiscs? That's the master they're going to use, so it should be easy to do.

[dvd3500]

Oh please let this not be a "May Fool's" joke...

[ROF]

OH well I new there was a reason why I passed on the last round. I thought Lucas might eventually give in and now it seems I will be buying Star Wars again.

[Tom Saurus]

I think this is good news. I haven't purchased any DVD of the Star Wars Trilogy. So this will be ideal for me, as long as it is reasonably priced.

[SingSing]

Let me finish capturing my star wars VHS to DVD first, then ...

[dphirschler]

Wow! I wonder what the folks at xoproject are thinking about this?


Darryl

[rbatty11]

No offense to you SW fans.. but this is just f'g ridiculous.. How many versions are there of this film??

[j1d10t]

Great marketing on LucasFilm's and Fox's part - get people to go out and spend the money on SE OT DVDs, then get people to spend more $$ on the unaltered OT... Very sneaky.

Unless these have a bunch of really cool bonus features, like deleted scenes, etc. I'll stick with the SE versions - I happen to be one of those weird people that like the SE versions

[j1d10t]

No offense to you SW fans.. but this is just f'g ridiculous.. How many versions are there of this film??

Don't ask. There are dozens, if you count a new version every time a change was made...

[tgm4883]

I wonder which movie holds the record for most times released in different versions/packaging? Star Wars? LOTR?

[hech54]

So many great movies that I can't find/were never released to DVD and more of this Star Wars crap?
In-freaking-credible.

[adam]

No offense to you SW fans.. but this is just f'g ridiculous.. How many versions are there of this film??

I never understood why people think there are so many releases of Star Wars. There are not even as many releases as most modern movies today. Most major movies get released once on VHS, once on laser disc, and then at least three times on DVD (bare bones, then special edition, then a collector's/uncut edition.) BTW I'm counting WS and FS as the same release.

Star wars was released twice on VHS, once on laserdisc and now is getting its second DVD release. Sure there are tons of different bootleg versions but those hardly count.

[dvdguy4]

Theres even talk of another box set coming soon. All 6 and all enhanced "AGAIN"

[j1d10t]

I never understood why people think there are so many releases of Star Wars. There are not even as many releases as most modern movies today. Most major movies get released once on VHS, once on laser disc, and then at least three times on DVD (bare bones, then special edition, then a collector's/uncut edition.) BTW I'm counting WS and FS as the same release.

Star wars was released twice on VHS, once on laserdisc and now is getting its second DVD release. Sure there are tons of different bootleg versions but those hardly count.

But for every time it was re-released in theaters there were changes made - it might have been something as small as one line of dialog, or a changed sound for an effect, but they differ from the "original" version that was released in theaters. So that right there makes them a different "version".....

And not all movies are the same as the theater version when they are released on VHS/DVD - and they don't call them SE, or DC. And then there are the different versions of movies that are released in other countries.....

[adam]

j1d10t the original trilogy was only re-released in theatres ONCE back when the SE VHS was released. There are currently three actual versions of the trilogy. The original, the SE, and the lastest one currently on DVD. After this new release there will only be TWO versions of star wars available on DVD, the original and the latest SE. This is no more than any DVD out now that has a director's cut.

[adam]

Theres even talk of another box set coming soon. All 6 and all enhanced "AGAIN"

Where did you read this? Everything I have seen from Lucas has said that he considers the lastest release to be the definitive and final version of the trilogy and that they will not be changed again.

[rbatty11]

Adam, so does release = version?? Are original VHS releases/versions identical in content to the LD? And is the LD identical to the 1st DVD.. (rhetorical questions.. you get my drift). If WS and FS were released conurrently, then yes, same release..

But really, I thought there were numerous changes/edits/revisions to the movie over the years. Regardless, they're milking this cash cow for every red cent they can.. And it's not just SW.. just bugs the heck out of me that hollywood and their damned marketing gimmicks set us up for future releases/versions..

That said, I really like the themes/messages of all of Spielberg's(sp?) films.. he's very talented and "clever", imo.

[j1d10t]

j1d10t the original trilogy was only re-released in theatres ONCE back when the SE VHS was released. There are currently three actual versions of the trilogy. The original, the SE, and the lastest one currently on DVD. After this new release there will only be TWO versions of star wars available on DVD, the original and the latest SE. This is no more than any DVD out now that has a director's cut.

Adam, I beg to differ. There may be only 3 or 4 "official" VHS/DVD releases, but when the movie was re-released in theaters in 1981 and 1982 (in the US) (see this link for release dates: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0076759/releaseinfo ) there were changes. And the audio was different depending on which theater you saw the movie at. See here: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0076759/alternateversions

And according to imdb.com the LD version can bE different from the "original" theatrical release....

And if you have one of these version on VHS/DVD it might not be a "bootleg", as you may have recorded it off TV Because when they show the movie on TV they don't always play the first theatrical release, and will make changes based on what they've had to cut out - and I'm not just talking about cutting out swear words. For some movies if they have to cut a scene they will fill in with another scene that was not in the theatrical release.

And then there are the versions released outside the US....

[hexxisoft]

awesome!

[LloydAZ]

Star wars was released twice on VHS, once on laserdisc and now is getting its second DVD release. Sure there are tons of different bootleg versions but those hardly count.

Actually, Episodes 4, 5, and 6 were released twice on Laserdisc. Once in the original theatrical version (which my friend has) and once with the special edition (which I have.)

Episodes 4, 5, and 6 were also released once on Beta if we want to count that.

Episode 4 was also released on CED disc as well (if anyone remembers those.)

[RLT69]

Oh for Luke's sake!

There have been only 3 different version of the Star Wars originial Trilogy:

1. Star Wars
2. Star Wars - Special Edition
3. Star Wars - Hayden Christensen insert

#1 NEVER made it to DVD. It did make it to laserdisc.
#2 is available on DVD and was on available on laserdisc before making it to DVD.
#3 is availabe on DVD and the version Lucas prefers.

Many Star Wars fans did not buy the remake DVD versions because we wanted the original unadultered version. Why, because the other versions were pure crap. Lucas should never have been allowed access to computers and his original film prints should have been taken away from him. Bastard!

Even my fiance (who I dragged to all the pre-quals and who is not a Star Wars fan) agrees the originals are better than the remakes and the prequals.

As an aside:
Did anyone catch the episode of Robot Chicken were they did a parody of Star Wars - scene from Empire where Vadar tells Luke, he is Luke's father, then goes on to tell him the force is a bunch of bacteria, that he built C3PO, etc...Luke gets up and says, "Look if you are not going to try, I'm leaving..."

I think the voice was actually Mark Hamill's. .

[j1d10t]

Oh for Luke's sake!

There have been only 3 different version of the Star Wars originial Trilogy:

Maybe, "from a certain point of view."

But all the changes that have been made are not anomalies/oddities - they were made by LucasFilm/Fox, and officially released to theaters/TV/VHS/LD/DVD. They might not be the "mainstream" widely accepted/viewed versions of the films, but they are different versions that were edited/cut/released.

Take Episode II as an example. In the UK version (I've read) they removed the part where Jango Fett head-butts Obi-Wan so the movie could receive a lower rating (the equivalent of the US PG rating). Now, if you ask the people in the UK that saw that cut of Episode II they would probably say the US has a different version with an additional scene/part (even though it's only about 1 second long). Who's right?

[rbatty11]

I feel for you gf.. My gf dragged me to the last one, which I think was "Episode.. um .. 13?? . I fell asleep 30mins into the movie and was rudely awakened by a very sharp pain in my left gut.. her elbow.. .

Can you explain to me what the heck all this is??:

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0076759/alternateversions

[akrako1]

wait wait... don't forget about the 3-D versions that will be coming next year!

http://film.guardian.co.uk/News_Story/Guardian/0,4029,1440820,00.html

[RLT69]

Now, if you ask the people in the UK that saw that cut of Episode II they would probably say the US has a different version with an additional scene/part (even though it's only about 1 second long). Who's right?

George Luacs, thats who

Honestly it depends on what you can purchase officialy. Thus if there are going to have UK and US versions of Episode II on DVD then you are correct in saying there are two versions of Episode II.

This is what we are talking about, what versions people can purchase on DVD. I fully understand Theater anomolies such as this but when it comes time to releasing the film on DVD, there generally is only one version of the movie released, typically followed by directors cut and whatever else the studios can think of.

In case of the original Star Wars trilogy, there were only 3 versions. We can split hairs and say that the original original version of Star Wars did not say "Episode IV - A New Hope" in the opening sequence but that's superficial. The rest of the content remained unchanged. No Jaba da Hut, no CGI added extra characters, no cgi enhanced special effects. Hell, I don't even want the firing sequence between Han and Guido fixed!

[hech54]

Just the fact that the original "Star Wars" from 1977(?) cannot be found under that title TODAY is stupid enough for me not to give a rats ass about sequels/prequels or any other incarnation.
The history of Star Wars releases/renaming is as confusing and stupid as Pink Floyd releases....IE...re-recording 20 year old songs and putting them out on a new release....and it's not a live recording.
Either break out your pocket protectors or hash pipes....neither the makers of Star Wars or Pink Floyd are looking for new fans...they are catering to die-hards who are just silly enough to fork out money AGAIN for the same thing.
Don't forget to save enough for the Star Wars Convention...

[j1d10t]

Can you explain to me what the heck all this is??:

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0076759/alternateversions

The changes that have been made to all the different releases of Star Wars (aka Star Wars: Episode IV: A New Hope)