'Star Wars Collection' Planned for Blu-ray Release in September 2011!

[james99]

George Lucas has confirmed that all six films will be coming to Blu-ray in a boxed set in the fall of next year!

At Celebration V in Orlando, Lucas announced that the 'Star Wars Collection' is finally in the works for Blu-ray.

[jumpy27]

I wonder if George will improve the sound of the first movie. The remaining 5 movies have great sound, but the first one (even the 1997 SE) version sounds tinny and not as full sounding as the newer movies. The picture quality was excellent even on DVD, but the sound was lacking--I guess the reason for poor sound was the tight budget that the first one was made under.

[stampeder]

I hope that Emperor Lucatine restores the "Han shot first" scene!

[riceman]

and hopefully he fixes the lightsabers in the first movie, it seems easy enough, i've no idea why he didn't do it for the SE's.

[eljay]

I hope that Emperor Lucatine restores the "Han shot first" scene!

I hear that Han and Greedo play rock-paper-scissors...but Han does "throw" first.

[wprager]

I'm afraid the HSF faithful will be disappointed.

I loved some of the comments about this on /.

Six films? That's impossible - only three Star Wars films were ever made.

These aren't the prequels you're looking for...

[jokeDR]

I'd be happy if they removed Lucas' CGI graffitti inserted into the original 3.

[Soundhoundz]

Lucas confirmed that this is the 1997 se release only.

[dm_4u]

Pardon my ignorance...but are these the extended versions?

[james99]

I think the Special Editions were extended. They are not the original three which will tick off the purists.

I'm not a hard core fan so i won't notice.

[dm_4u]

I actually enjoyed the extended versions...

[jumpy27]

So did I. I watched the first 3 movies so much I new exactly where scenes were added--I liked those added scenes. I don't understand why some fans want the originals--I do see why they may not like it when Han shoots first, but what does it really matter? Either way he knew was facing a hit man and only one of them was going to walk out of the bar. George was trying to be politically correct--he could have left it the way it was and no one would have even noticed.

[Blackloz]

I also like the special editions better. I still have the original trilogy on vhs(the only vhs I have left) but I saw an interview where G.L. talked about it and said that the se's are what he always intended them to be so thats how I now prefer to watch them.

[wprager]

Originally Posted by jumpy27

So did I. I watched the first 3 movies so much I new exactly where scenes were added--I liked those added scenes. I don't understand why some fans want the originals--I do see why they may not like it when Han shoots first, but what does it really matter? Either way he knew was facing a hit man and only one of them was going to walk out of the bar. George was trying to be politically correct--he could have left it the way it was and no one would have even noticed.

I can think of a couple of scenes that were overdone. When they meet Lando for the first time he says something like "I'm the administrator of this facility". It's supposed to be a fairly small mining operation. He tells them all to abandon it and it doesn't sound like a big operation to do so. When they fly over the planet (?) in the original it fits the story. In the updated version it looks like a bustling megalopolis with millions of people. Wrong!

Similarly for when they come to Mos Eisley. It may be the "largest port" on Tatooine, but it's still a "pirate city" and, let's face it, Tatooine isn't exactly the center of the universe. I thought it was much more appropriate in the original. Plus it looked like they added CGI characters/animals just for the purpose of adding CGI -- it did not add to the story.

True, Solo was originally supposed to talk to Jabba after shooting Greedo, and they actually shot that scene with an actor standing in for Jabba. But when they could not add-in an animated Jabba they abandoned that scene and some of the dialogue was the re-added to the earlier scene when Solo was talking to Greedo. So now, in the extended version, you have almost identical dialogue repeated within the space of about a minute, and it makes it sound very unprofessional. I did not complain about adding in the Jabba scene, but they should have edited the Greedo scene to compensate.

The one modified scene that stands out as adding without disturbing is the one where Solo races down the hallways after a few storm troopers, only to come around a corner and see a whole bunch of them standing around. Again, the original intent was to have a whole platoon standing there, but costs for costumes for all those extras would have been pretty high.

Don't get me wrong -- I love the special edition, but it's primarily for the cleaned-up PQ and not for the added scenes. And certainly not for the "abortion" that was subbing-in Hayden Christensen as the 'ghost' of Anakin at the end of ROTJ.

[David Susilo]

I like the special edition even some of the added scenes, but changing the Ewok song at the end of ROTJ and flipped surround track on the orchestral track is just plain wrong (well, the Ewok song is subjective, but the flipped orchestral track is wrong from a musicology stand point).