Thecherryloon said:

I'm wondering if when Ep. 3 comes out on DVD, will he be ready to package all 6 in one boxed set?? He did say he'd release them sequentially, and since the next one is the last one he's doing, they might as well come out all at once!

alexnvrmnd said:

Its hard to say at this point, since Lucas is being rather tight lipped. I'd venture to say that we'll probably get Episode III on DVD, then about a year later the whole series will get re-released to theaters, followed by the release of them on DVD later in the year. Then again, he may just wait until 2007, since that will be the thirtieth anniversary of ANH. Either way, we've got a long-ass time to wait!

There's also been more than a few subtle hints that the original trilogy is getting another facelift.

I heard a pretty strong rumor that they're replacing ALL the special effects in the original trilogy with CGI work. Not in a radical 'new' way, just recreating the same shots with CGI instead of matt paintings and models, so they 'fit' more with the prequels.

BorisFishpaw said:

What a total fucking... George Lucas is obviously not a film historian if this is true...

IceNine said:

Well, when you compare Obi-wan and Vader's fight to some of the others, it's a little weak...even if they are old men.

teller said:

I don't think that they'll replace that fight.Some of the saber effects are pretty weak though. I reckon he might CGI things like the AT-AT walkers on the snow planet Hoth, basically replacing anything done with stop motion.

As for Icenine's point about Lucas not being a film historian.I think he is, he'll be able to realise the vision he had in the 70's to it's true potential.The original 3 films are a work in progress, George is the artist, he should be allowed to tinker as he sees fit.

Thecherryloon said:

I agree...these movies are precious and if Lucas can "freshen them up" so that they look top-notch, I say more power to him!

It's not like when Prince totally changes an old classic.

teller said:

My point is this...

Ray Harryhausen was great... would you want someone to come in and CGI his work to modernize it?

I think that the movies should be allowed to stand on their own merit without alteration. This is just my opinion though...

IceNine said:

Ray Harryhausen WAS great.Time moves on.Kids are more sophisticated now.Sure i can watch 'clash of the Titans' and love it.My nephew would think it's lame.

kind of sad that.

I have to admit I have mixed feelings about Lucas tampering with the original trilogy.

Most of what they did with the special editons was actually very good, New CGI shots in A New Hope's final dogfights (you could actually follow the action better), opening up Bespin into more of a city (instead of a few white corridors).

There were also some bits that I really didn't like. Having Greedo shoot first was lame, and having Han walk on Jabba's tail was even lamer.

If it weren't for the fact that Lucas is still making Star Wars films, I'd say; leave them alone. But I can see His point that when all 6 are finished he wants them to have the same 'feel'. The Original trilogy's special effects do look a bit poor when viewed next to the new shiney CGI creations, and since Lucas wants all 6 to flow together, I can see his point.

Hopefully they will approach the 'nose job' on the original trilogy with a bit of subtlety and care.

One thing I know for a fact is that ILM have CGI AT-ATs, X-Wings, Star Destroyers etc. specs programmed already in their computers. I wouldn't be surprised if they're working on the original trilogy at the same time as they're doing pre-production on Episode III.

BorisFishpaw said:

Perhaps I can clear some stuff up. Lucas and Co are working on adding new scenes to the trilogy, as well as cleaning up some of the clunkier effects. This process actually began quite a while ago. The Spacial Edition releases from 1997 were just the beginnig of the process, and work on all of the films has quitely continued since that time. I wouldn't count on them totally reworking all of the effects as CGI, however. From what I understand, Lucas mainly is cleaning up some of the lightsaber effects, as well as erasing the lines in all of the blue screen work. New scenes are also being filmed that Lucas originally intended to use, but had to leave out of the script due to time/budget/etc. Scenes involving Bail Organa and the Emporer are suppossed to be added, as well as some reaction shots on the planet when Alderaan gets destroyed. Since they now have an actor to play Organa, these scenes were begun during the Episode II production. New scenes are also planned for filming during Episode III.

Personally, I have mixed feelings on the revisions, and the earlier alterations that BorisFishPaw mentions. I agree with BFP's assesment of those scenes 100%. On the one hand, these films are a major part of history, and it would be nice if the world could retain them for posterity. On the other, it IS Lucas doing the revisions, and it is the director's right to do what he wants with his films. Some of the ideas he has for new scenes are fantastic, others less so. it would be nice if the inevitable DVD releases of the original trilogy would feature both the new cut, as well as the original, but that's unlikely to happen.

If he would just go back in and update ANH with a better CGI Jabba, and get rid of Greedo shooting first, I would be a whole lot happier. I also think he needs to go back and take out the awful Yoda puppet in Episode I. The CGI in AOTC was so much better!

JediMaster said:

I agree that some of the improvements in E4 didn't come off so great...in fact I was more surprised than disappointed; here are these great X-wings but then Luke's lightsaber is still all crusty looking...and then that awful scene where Vader's lightsaber is pointing right at the camera and you see the stick! I guess he was in a hurry to release the Special Editions in advance of E1?

Interesting tidbit: Lucas said that the movies are canonical, followed by the radio show, then the novels. In the radio show, some henchman of Jabba's named "Heater" argues with Han instead of the Jabba/Han scene. But I guess it wasn't meant to be...