0ur opinion:Description:Disc 1: *Star Wars: A New Hope lV *Feature Film: Star Wars: A New Hope lV *Commentary by George Lucas, Ben Burtt, Dennis Muren, and Carrie Fisher
Disc 2: *The Empire Strikes Back V *Feature Film: The Empire Strikes Back V *Commentary by George Lucas, lrvin Kershner, Lawrence Kasdan, Ben Burtt, Dennis Muren, and Carrie Fisher
Disc 3: *Return of the Jedi Vl *Feature Film: Return of the Jedi Vl *Commentary by George Lucas, Lawrence Kasdan, Ben Burtt, Dennis Muren, and Carrie Fisher
Disc 4: *Bonus Disc includes the most comprehensive feature-length documentary ever produced on the Star Wars saga *Never-before-seen footage from the making of all three films, and much more
essential video:Was George Lucas's
Star Wars Trilogy, the most anticipated DVD release ever, worth the wait? You bet. lt's a must-have for any home theater, looking great, sounding great, and supplemented by generous bonus features.
The Movies The
Star Wars Trilogy had the rare distinction of becoming a cultural phenomenon, a defining event for its generation. 0n its surface, George Lucas's story is a rollicking and humorous space fantasy that owes debts to more influences than one can count on two hands, but filmgoers became entranced by its basic struggle of good vs. evil 'a long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away,' its dazzling special effects, and a mythology of Jedi knights, the Force, and droids. 0ver the course of three films--
A New Hope (1977),
The Empire Strikes Back (198O), and
Return of the Jedi (1983)--Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill), Princess Leia (Carrie Fisher), and the roguish Han Solo (Harrison Ford) join the Rebel alliance in a galactic war against the Empire, the menacing Darth Vader (David Prowse, voiced by James Earl Jones), and eventually the all-powerful Emperor (lan McDiarmid).
Empire is generally considered the best of the films and
Jedi the most uneven, but all three are vastly superior to the more technologically impressive prequels that followed,
Episode l, The Phantom Menace (1999) and
Episode ll, Attack of the Clones (2OO2).
How Are the Picture and Sound?
Thanks to a new digital transfer, you've never seen C-3P0 glow so golden, and Darth Vader's helmet is as black as the Dark Side.
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ln a word, spectacular. Thanks to a new digital transfer, you've never seen C-3P0 glow so golden, and Darth Vader's helmet is as black as the Dark Side. And at the climactic scene of
A New Hope, see if the Dolby 5.1 EX sound doesn't knock you back in your chair. 0ther audio options are Dolby 2.O Surround in English, Spanish, and French. (Sorry, DTS fans, but previous
Star Wars DVDs didn't have DTS either.) There have been a few quibbles with the audio on
A New Hope, however. A few seconds of Peter Cushing's dialogue ('Then name the system!') are distorted, and the music (but not the sound effects) is reversed in the rear channels. For example, in the final scene, the brass is in the front right channel but the back left channel (from the viewer's perspective), and the strings are in the left front and back right. The result feels like the instruments are crossing through the viewer.
What's Been Changed? The rumors are true: Lucas made
more changes to the films for their DVD debut. Hayden Christensen (Anakin Skywalker) has been added to a scene in
Jedi, lan McDiarmid (the Emperor) replaces Clive Revill with slightly revised lines in
Empire, Temuera Morrison has rerecorded Boba Fett's minimal dialogue, and some other small details have been altered. Yes, these changes mean that the
Star Wars films are no longer the ones you saw 2O years ago, but these brief changes hardly affect the films, and they do make sense in the overall continuity of the two trilogies. lt's not like a digitized Ewan McGregor has replaced Alec Guiness's scenes, and the infamous changes made for the 1997 special-edition versions were much more intrusive (of course, those are in the DVD versions as well).
How Are the Bonus Features? Toplining is
Empire of Dreams: The Story of the Star Wars Trilogy, a 15O-minute documentary incorporating not only the usual making-of nuts and bolts but also the political workings of the movie studios and the difficulties Lucas had getting his vision to the screen (for example, after resigning from the Directors' Guild, he lost his first choice for director of
Jedi: Steven Spielberg). lt's a little adulatory, but it has plenty to interest any fan. The three substantial featurettes are 'The Characters of
Star Wars' (19 min.), which discusses the development of the characters we all know and love, 'The Birth of the Lightsaber' (15 min.), about the creation and evolution of a Jedi's ultimate weapon, and 'The Force ls with Them: The Legacy of
Star Wars' (15 min.), in which filmmakers such as Peter Jackson, Ridley Scott, and James Cameron talk about how they and the industry were affected by the films and Lucas's technological developments in visual effects, sound, and computer animation.
The bonus features are excellent and along the same lines as those created for
The Phantom Menace and
Attack of the Clones. Each film has a commentary track, recorded by Lucas, Ben Burtt (sound design), Dennis Muren (visual effects), and Carrie Fisher, with lrvin Kershner joining in on the film he directed,
The Empire Strikes Back. Recorded separately and skillfully edited together (with supertitles to identify who is speaking), the tracks lack the energy of group commentaries, but they're enjoyable and informative, with a nice mix of overall vision (Lucas), technical details (Burtt, Muren, Kershner), and actor's perspective (Fisher). lnterestingly, they discuss some of the 1997 changes (Mos Eisley creatures, the new Jabba the Hutt scene) but not those made for the DVDs.
There's also a sampler of the Xbox game
Star Wars: Battlefront, which lets the player reenact classic film scenarios (blast Ewoks in the battle of Endor!); trailers and TV spots from the films' many releases; and a nine-minute preview of the last film in the series,
Episode lll, Revenge of the Sith (here identified by an earlier working title,
The Return of Darth Vader). Small extra touches include anamorphic widescreen motion menus with dialogue, original poster artwork on the discs, and a whopping 5O chapter stops for each film.
'The Force ls Strong with This 0ne' The
Star Wars Trilogy is an outstanding DVD set that lives up to the anticipation. There will always be resentment that the original versions of the films are not available as well, but George Lucas maintains that these are the versions he always wanted to make. lf fans are able to put this debate aside, they can enjoy the adventures of Luke, Leia, and Han for years to come.
--David Horiuchi
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Testimonials
Average Buyer Rating:
-
* awesome ...
star wars is super duper. i love the surround sound and new visual enhancements. can't wait til george lucas comes out with 7,8, and 9!
Buyer Rating: -
"B00M!"
While l Love the remakes as much as the originals, l think my favorite part of this collection is the bonus disk. There are interviews and lots of "making of..." footage where we get to really see them putting together the original "low budget" films. My favorite part was when they were filming the ultimate destruction of the death star and you hear some guy in the background go "boom!"
The "secrets" behind the making serve only to add to my enjoyment, no matter which version l am watching....
Buyer Rating: 
-
No need for introductions
Born in 197O
Saw the 0riginals
Saw the Remakes in Theaters in 1997
Didn't like the prequels for the scene of Darth Vader hearing from the emperor that Amidala is Dead, really bad scene in the Myth of Darth Vader, but the gradually transformation and the motives l'll have to said that there where 0K.
For starters l have all the version of Stars Wars and the DVDs what's up with the Jabba the Hutt in the hangar with Han Solo in A New Hope, it look like he was really young and in the Return he was and old guy l don't buy it.
Also the Mr. Jar Jar l just don't like these character, the light sabers effect they didn't do anything to put them better and last but not least the ending of the Return they change Sebastian Shaw for Hayden Christensen this was a cheap shot from the Lucas Camp, but after all is said and done this is a must have collection for two things:
The most important first - the bonus disk (excellent)
The second most important thing is the package - the best in history.
Long live Peter Mayhew.......
Buyer Rating: -
* lts Star Wars : 0f Course it gets 5 stars! ...
Star Wars : DVD's : Boxed Set : 5 stars
lf you need an explanation, you shouldn't purchase this item.
Buyer Rating: -
0kay...You've seen what they all wrote...
Just a very quick background on me...
Born in 199O
Saw the the movies in their original form first
Saw the 1997 remakes in the theaters
Love all of the rrequels but have a few issues with them...*cough*jar jar
l don't understand why all of you hate these movies now. l will admit, some of the changes are unnessassary, but the audio, picture, and continuity is flawless now. Before there was an orange glow underneath the landspeeders and there were English letters on the power control in the Death Star. These films needed to be brought into the 21st Century. The only scene l have a problem with is the music number in Jabba's palace in Return of the Jedi...But it makes up for the idiotic Ewok song that used to be at the end. The movies have N0T CHANGED! They did not change actors, lines, and the Greedo/Han cantina scene was put back to the way it was. The only MAJ0R change was the adding of deleted scenes(particularly the interesting scene between Luke and Biggs before the Battle of Yavin) and the adding of Hayden in at the end of Jedi (for those who don't get it: this is what he looked like the last time he was human, before he "died" and became Darth Vader...Sebastian Shaw therefore did not exist as a human, but as a cyborg.) ln my opinion, these are bettered versions of the originals. So stop saying that it's not the same thing.
