charlottegelin said:

are you related to this other illiterate?

ufoclub said:

dude, i LOVE the original star wars as it is, and i will probably get the original versions on dvd (used to own them on vhs), but george has created a whole universe since then which begs for better "continuity". for example, in no other star wars movie is there any blood when a limb is severed (light-sabres cauterize apparently), but in episode IV we see blood in the cantina scene. i'm just a bit of a geek with this stuff and unlike some people would also like to see george's story as he intends it as a whole, along with the original unaltered film. also, some of the cgi already could do with some updates... episode III looks way better than any of the other films, excepting parts of the original trilogy.

hold on! there's more to come...


SKYWALKER RANCH, Calif. (SP) — No sooner did George Lucas finally release the original Star Wars trilogy on DVD than comes word that he is planning another theatrical release of the films early in the new year, filled with new scenes, special effects, and other "enhancements".

Many die-hard Star Wars fans felt as though Lucas turned to the dark side the first time he began tinkering with the holy trinity in the so-called "Special Edition" of these films, which soon became the only edition that one could buy in stores. Some of the more controversial changes included littering the scenes at Mos Eisley Spaceport with CGI, and showing that Han Solo wasn't such a cold-blooded scoundrel by having Greedo shoot first during their deadly confrontation at the Cantina. Lucas maintains that these changes simply brought the film closer to how he had originally envisioned it, but few were convinced that the newer versions of the films were actually an improvement.

Lucas's obsessive-compulsive need to continually revise his own material seemed to reached a new extreme with the recent long-awaited release of the trilogy on DVD. Some of the gratuitous changes in this version of the films included dubbing over the voice of Boba Fett to be the same as Jango Fett (from whom he has apparently been cloned), and changing Dark Vader's eye color and digitally removing his eyebrows in the scene where Luke takes off his mask, in order to make him look more like a real burn victim. But it now seems that these alterations were just a preview of the radical changes that Lucas has planned for the Revisionist Edition.

First of all, Lucas wanted to bring the plot of the original trilogy more in line with Episode 1 (The Phantom Menace), which dealt largely with bureaucratic bickering over the taxation of trade routes. By simply 'looping' or re-recording much of the dialogue from Episode 4 (A New Hope), Lucas managed to change the plot quite substantially. As a result, in the Revisionist Edition, Obi-Wan Kenobi is no longer a General, but rather a Certified General Accountant, whose mantra is "Use the GAAP". Meanwhile, the information being smuggled in R2D2's memory banks are not technical schematics of the Death Star, but rather an audit of the most recent tax return filed by the Death Star Interplanetary Demolition Corp. "If a powerful organized crime figure like Al Capone could be taken down on charges of tax evasion, why couldn't the same fate befall the Emperor or Darth Vader?" argued Lucas.

Lucas has also managed to incorporate a substantial amount of footage from the infamous Star Wars Holiday Special into the Revisionist Edition. The Holiday Special was a two hour television program that aired on CBS in November 1978 and featured all of the principal actors from Star Wars except for Sir Alec Guinness. The "storyline" of the Holiday Special, such as it was, focused on Chewbacca, who was attempting to return to his home planet in order to share a special Wookie holiday known as "Life Day" with his family, including his wife Molla, his father Itchy and his son Lumpy.

Scenes from the Holiday Special featuring over 20 minutes of interaction between the Wookies will be included in the Revisionist Edition, despite the fact that they were performed entirely in the Wookie language, without any subtitles. "The Passion of the Christ didn't have subtitles, and that film was mostly in Aramaic, yet that didn't seem to hurt its performance at the box office," noted Lucas. "Besides, I'd venture to guess that more people in this day and age speak Wookie than speak Aramaic."



Above: Chewbacca's father Itchy and son Lumpy.

Lucas also plans to use scenes from the Holiday Special that featured Bea Arthur as a cabaret-style chanteuse/bartender at the Cantina in Mos Eisley. "Other than Princess Leia, there weren't very many female characters in the films, let alone strong female characters," explained Lucas. "Bea had always been my first choice to play the bartender in A New Hope, but our shooting schedule conflicted with the taping of her hit sitcom, Maude. I was thrilled when she was able to do the Holiday Special. She brings a great deal of gravitas to the role, as well as a wonderful singing voice."

One of the most controversial new changes to the trilogy is Lucas's decision to replace the character Lando Calrissian (played by Billie Dee Williams) with Jar Jar Binks, the bumbling sidekick from The Phantom Menace and the inspiration behind such websites as www.JarJarBinksMustDie.com. However, film critic Roger Ebert thinks that the switch actually makes a lot of sense. "People always accused George Lucas of devising Lando as a token black character in response to criticism that there were no black people in A New Hope, with the notable exception of Darth Vader's voice," explained Ebert. "Therefore, given the character's thinly-veiled purpose, who better to replace him with than Jar Jar Binks, who's clearly an homage to the original black stereotype in Hollywood, Stepin Fetchit?"

Star Wars fans seem much less concerned about the rumor that Lucas next plans to give the prequels the 'revisionist' treatment. "What's the real downside to tinkering with those films?" asked Star Wars aficionado Rusty Miller, author of the Jedi Master's Quizbook. "They were so bad to begin with, what could he possibly do to make them any worse?"


.
[Edited 5/4/06 3:09am]

Cheek said:

you know, The Star Wars Holiday Special was for real.



In reality, Lucas abhors it and has tried to remove it from the intent and destroy surviving copies.

http://www.starwarsholidayspecial.com

if anyone knows where to get it, btw, orgnote me... been searching for it for years... the torrents never have it seeding

JPW said:

it's AWFUL, like so bad it's good.

jerseykrs said:

thank God they're getting rid of that version of Yoda. he looks nothing like the Yoda from any of the other movies, Eps II-VI. in fact if you watch the special features on Revenge of the Sith you can see a still of the new Ep 1 Yoda already. I'm looking forward even more to these rumoured releases (all six episodes together, re-done again!), to be released hopefully later this year or next:

CHANGES TO THE ORIGINAL TRILOGY

Episode IV: A New Hope
01. The Imperial March has been added to Darth Vader's first appearance on Princess Leia's ship.
02. When Obi-Wan is talking to Luke about his father Anakin's Theme plays in the background and then it turns into the Imperial March as he talks about Vader.
03. The lightsaber effects have been redone and the frame jumps of lightsabers being turned on has been removed.
04. There's a new scene which has been shot during the filming of Episode III in which the Emperor dissolves the Senate.
05. In the Cantina, the Duros(green aliens guys) have been replaced with Neimoidians and some aliens from the prequels have been added.
06. The bleeding arm on the floor in the Cantina has been replaced with a non-bleeding arm because it's now canon that lightsabers cauterize wounds.
07. The original shooting scene between Han and Greedo has been restored.
08. Jabba the Hutt has been given a makeover and Han no longer steps on his tail.
09. In place of R2 wobbling down the stairs to the Falcon's hangar, a CG R2 navigating the stairs like he does in Attack of the Clones was added.
10. The white boxes around space ships have been removed and new CG shots have been added.
11. The scene of the Falcon being chased by the two Star Destroyers was modified. The Falcon now does spinning moves, avoiding the Star Destroyers' fire.
12. When the Death Star destroys Alderaan there's a new scene of Yoda's reaction to the disturbance in the Force that is created by all those deaths and then it cuts to Obi-Wan reacting to it as well.
13. The Dianoga has gotten a CG makeover and were are now able to see more of the creature.
14. The Death Star's paneling and computers have been slightly altered to show similar displays to those in the prequels.
15. The words "Tractor Beam" with Aurebesh lettering.
16. More stormtroopers have been added to the Death Star.
17. Temuera Morrison's voice is being recorded for use with all the stormtroopers.
18. The Obi-Wan/Vader duel has been spruced up. It is much more epic and there is much more movement. A modified version of Duel of the Fates is being considered for the scene.
19. The Death Star plans that are taken from R2 have been updated. When the Rebels are reviewing the Death Star plans they look similar to the plans we see in Attack of the Clones.
20. The Death Star battle is much more epic with more Tie Fighters and more Rebels being blown to bits. We get to see old Naboo starfighters being used by the Rebels.
21. There's a new scene(shot during Episode III) where Darth Vader goes to Coruscant and lands his ship in the same building Count Dooku does at the end of Attack of the Clones. Except now the building is all fixed up and it is now Palpatine's palace. He meets with Palpatine to ask for forgiveness for his failure and inform him of a new potential who is strong in the Force.
22. Chewbacca now gets a medal.

Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back
01. The taun-tauns are now CG.
02. The battle of Hoth is much more epic. We see the Imperial ships land on Hoth and release AT-ATs. The AT-ATs have been sped up a bit. There's a ground battle between the Rebel soldiers and stormtroopers featuring new ships and vehicles.
03. Temuera Morrison's voice is being recorded for the older Boba Fett and all the stormtroopers.
04. The white boxes around space ships have been removed.
05. The slug monster is CG.
06. Ian McDiarmid has refilmed scenes as the Emperor. The conversations between Vader and Palpatine is now longer and features a few connections to the prequels.
07. Yoda's face is now animated in CG allowing more _ex-pression of emotions yet his movements remain the same. Also two deleted scenes featuring Yoda instructing Luke have been restored.
08. A new scene was shot in which the stormtroopers, after they capture Han, Leia and Chewie, bring Vader the box containing C-3PO in pieces. Vader orders the stormtroopers to bring the broken droid to Chewbacca's cell so that he can fix him.
09. The lightsaber effects have been redone in certain parts.
10. Luke's fall from Cloud City has been reshot against bluescreen using a stuntman.

Episode VI: Return of the Jedi
01. Jabba the Hutt is now a combination of the puppet and CG.
02. The Rancor is CG and looks disgusting as ever.
03. Yoda is CG. Yoda disappears leaving his clothes behind like Obi-Wan now.
04. The ewoks are now mostly CG and there are a lot more of them.
05. The plan is to insert the love theme Across the Stars when Luke is talking with Leia about their mother.
06. Temuera Morrison's like before is now the voice for Boba Fett and all the stormtroopers.
07. In the battle of Endor there are thousands of Ewoks and they are more vicious than there midgets-in-suits counterparts. More bite the dust now.
08. White boxes around ships removed.
09. The black blotches around Palpatine's face are gone.
10. Some of the lightsaber effects have been redone. The shadows that the lightsabers made on the floor are gone.
11. During Anakin's death scene it starts with a sad rendition of the Imperial March and slowly evolves into Anakin's Theme.
12. Sebastion Shaw who played Anakin when he was unmasked has been replaced with Hayden Christenson in make-up to make him look older. Anakin has much more dialogue. He apologizes for the destruction he caused, he thanks his son for turning him back to the light, he tells his son to rebuild the Jedi and he says he loves him and his sister. Just before he dies he says, "It is finished...".
13. We see more planets celebrating at the end of the movie. We see an aged Jar Jar, who is now the leader of the Gungans, on Naboo celebrating with the people of Naboo and the Gungans. We see an old Watto, who is now unable to fly, sitting in a hover chair cheering on Tatooine. During these scenes Across the Stars plays transitioning to the victory celebration music at the Ewok tree village.
14. Anakin's spirit is now played by Hayden Christenson with make-up to make him look his age. He looks on proudly at his son Luke with the spirit of Padme by his side.


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[Edited 5/3/06 21:03pm]

JPW said:

I am so buying this.

GlamSlamKidjr said:

hey boo. Glad to c ya.

But is there any truth to that list?

JPW said:

I am so buying this.

GlamSlamKidjr said:

I think that's probably someone's wish list rather than what's really going to happen.

Imago said:

TMPletz said:

As much as I hate to say it, me too.
It reminds me of the fake track lists on the P M&M forum before Prince releases his albums.

I do hope it's true, becuae I'm 100% for tweaking the movies, so long as he allows us access to the originals.

Imago said:

It is, indeed, a wish list. Further edits and "tinkering" are coming to the series, but not necessarily everything listed her.

Personally, I'm quite happy that the originals are coming out for archival purposes. I love many of the new effects and what-not put into the re-releases, but I think the original versions needed to be preserved for posterity.

There must be seriously wrong with a world where a video game made of LEGO redux of Star Wars gets a sequel.

JediMaster said:

What's up with the sound only being 2.0 on the originals? Is this for sure?

u2prnce said:

"original versions of the movies as seen in theaters in 1977, 1980 and 1983, respectively."

ufoclub said:

They weren't seen on DVD in 1977, 1980, and 1983, either The sound not being 5.1 doesn't make sense.
[Edited 5/9/06 12:34pm]

ufoclub said:

They weren't seen on DVD in 1977, 1980, and 1983, either The sound not being 5.1 doesn't make sense.
[Edited 5/9/06 12:34pm]

I hope the rumor is true that Star wars will not have episode IV , A NEW HOPE, tacked on the beginning. That has always bugged me, cause I saw it 4 times in 1977, and it did not have that shit on there.

ufoclub said:

Well, the thing is, that film has been tinkered with all the way back to DURING the original '77 release (particularly, the sound mix was continuosly tweaked), so who knows what version this will be?

As for HD, yes, it will happen, but it won't be these versions. Currently, work is being done on all of the films for an HD release, but they will build upon the previous DVD release.

I hope the rumor is true that Star wars will not have episode IV , A NEW HOPE, tacked on the beginning. That has always bugged me, cause I saw it 4 times in 1977, and it did not have that shit on there.

ufoclub said:

You sure about that? I saw it many times in '77, and I do remember seeing Episode IV/A New Hope in the title.

from the official lucasfilm starwars website:

See the title crawl to Star Wars before it was known as Episode IV; see the pioneering, if dated, motion control model work on the attack on the Death Star; groove to Lapti Nek or the Ewok Celebration song like you did when you were a kid ( yuck!); and yes, see Han Solo shoot first.

ufoclub said:

Personally, I think the effects are better in the old movies. New CGI just seems really fake to me.

u2prnce said:

Agreed in many cases: I think the shot where the x-wings go by Yavin on the way to the Death Star was so much better and more real looking with models then in the CG one... check it out... the CG one looks like illustrations are flying by.

plus the danger with CG is they start moving the camera around in these exaggerated moves that completely destroy any feeling of physical reality. Now, Spielberg knows how to use CG tastefully like in War of the Worlds (the scene where they first rise up out of the street is amazing)... he uses CG in a very physical way.

Lucas kind went crazy with CG in his revisionist versions of the original trilogy, but he did well in most cases in the new ones (except for all the CG creatures which have no feeling of reality, but harken back to Jason and the Argonauts)

To take this back to Prince... at the Xenophobia event, I went up into the little break room pool table area one morning when it was briefly opened to the public, and among the videos by a little tv in front of a couch was.... "Jason and the Argonauts".