Star Wars Trilogy on DVD ... Finally !!!
There will be a boxed set of all the 6 movies (A New Hope, The Empire Strikes Back, Return of the Jedi, Phantom Menace, Attack of the Clones, and Revenge of the Sith) in the future for sure. Van Ling, producer of all the Star Wars DVDs has hinted about a possible 2007 (30th anniversary) DVD release.
Being a fan of Star Wars, I had to buy the DVD set yesterday. The picture quality and the sound are exceptional .... it's Star Wars like you've never heard or seen before. The fourth disc is jam-packed with extra's !!! But for a Star Wars fan, that will not be enough. Can you believe Kurt Russell auditioned for the role of Han Solo ? It would have been a very different trilogy with him.
I would have been more pleased if they gave us the "True Classic's" together with the "Special Edition's". There are quite a few changes to all the 3 movies, a few major and several minor ones. We can bash George Lucas as much as we want, but in the end, these are his movies and he can do whatever he wants with them.
The following are the changes made to the 3 movies:
(WARNING: **SPOILER'S**)
Episode IV: A New Hope
- Lots of matte lines removed. The space under Luke's speeder looks much more realistic.
- R2D2's blue parts are much cleaner and more consistent.
- The 1997 animation added to the entrance to Mos Eisley is much smoother.
- Greedo and Han shoot at the same time, and Han's dodge is far more realistic.
- Jabba has been retexturized and looks considerably better. Han still walks on his tail, but it's much smoother.
- The lettering on various Death Star panels are written in Aurebesh rather than English.
- The matte-painted hall in Leia's detention block looks much more realistic.
- Lightsabers look much better. Colors are far brighter and the blades are more defined.
Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back
- Ian McDiarmid has refilmed scenes as the Emperor instead of that near-fossil they had.
- The conversations between Vader and Palpatine has a few new lines. Palpatine knows that Luke is Vader's son.
- Light sabers are again fixed, making them more consistent.
- Temuera Morrison does the voice of Boba Fett
- Luke's inane scream when he jumps to escape Vader on Cloud City is gone. And there was much rejoicing.
Episode VI: Return of the Jedi
- Like the other two, the light sabers are fixed.
- The Rancor looks considerably better, with its matte lines removed.
- When Vader's helmet is removed, his eyebrows are gone and his eyes are recolored to match Hayden's.
- Celebrations on Naboo, Coruscant and one other planet, where a statue is toppled right before we see the celebration with the ewoks.
- Hayden Christensen replaces Sebastian Shaw as Anakin's ghost. Lucas explains this in the commentary, which is spoilerish for Episode III.
