Kevin's Watch

About time! i'm going to get it

Thanks TOM CAT!

Man I am jazzed about this. I can't wait.
I will certainly try to get them day one!!!!

Thanks for the great news, TOM C! The DVD event of the year!! (Sorry, ROTK fans.)

Wow. My wife'd birthday is 9/22. Guess what she's getting!Okay, okay; guess what I'll but for the family while out shopping for her "romantic" present then.

How much will they cost?

Yeah. you are one smooth operator dAN. Unless of course she wants them as much as you do. Kim certainly would. I think a nice clandestine under the table purchase is in order.

What I do with my wife under the table is of no concern to you, Tomcat.

You said a mouth full dANimal. Rev, I didnt and haven't seen what the cost of the dvd's will be but I will post them if I run across that info. I'd like to know myself so I can start saving pennies in my piggy bank.

that's good news, thanks for the info!

It's only 2 weeks away, folks! This is a good article to get you in the mood.

Painstaking restoration performed on Star Wars trio for Sept. 21 DVD release

TORONTO (Canadian Press) - Were Luke Skywalker's eyes really that blue?

Did the cacophonous rebel-versus-Empire battle on the ice planet Hoth sound that amazing? What happened to the little black matte boxes that visibly framed the tie fighters during those space dogfights? No doubt about it. The original Star Wars movies haven't just been given a beauty treatment for their long-awaited Sept. 21 release on DVD. They've undergone an extreme makeover.

"There were scenes that had over a million pieces of dirt in them," says Kevin Kurtz, marketing manager for Lucasfilm, which oversaw the meticulous cleaning of the original negative elements for the Star Wars Trilogy. "We're proud about basically what was done. George (Lucas) has taken a look at these films and gone 'Wow, they in my opinion look better than when originally screened.' "

The titles, 1977's Star Wars (now known as Episode IV: A New Hope), 1980's The Empire Strikes Back and 1983's Return of the Jedi, also now carry THX-mastered Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround EX audio tracks, something the original film didn't have even for its 20th anniversary re-release in 1997.

The result is a state-of-the-art package for what is, after all, the last and most-requested popcorn blockbuster franchise to make the less-than-light-speed jump to the DVD home video format. While many stories have circulated that creator-producer Lucas was too busy making the ongoing prequel trilogy to oversee these digital transfers, Kurtz says it was basically the lack of technology, the kind of computer power that was needed to make the audio and visual elements sparkle.

Until now.

"Success breeds dirt," explains Kurtz. "Which is to say that the more popular a movie is, the better a movie has done, the dirtier they get, the more scratches they get. Because essentially you have to go back to those negatives to strike new prints."

As a result, digital experts had to perform a frame-by-frame restoration, removing loads of dirt and scratches. One question that Kurtz refused to answer, however, deals with whether there's been anything more than just cosmetic improvements to the films, recalling how Steven Spielberg made some key content adjustments to scenes in E.T. when it came out on DVD. The films were already juiced up with more modern CGI F/X during the '97 theatrical and video releases and these new discs are described as those special editions.

For the foreseeable future, purists will have to rely on their video cassette widescreens to enjoy the un-doctored originals.

But as for any content tweaking this time out? "You guys will have to see for yourselves. These are the films as George sees them right now," is all Kurtz would say, except to add cryptically that it's an artist's prerogative to paint over his works.

(The lengths of the new releases vary by only a minute or two and any substantive changes are few. At the end of the Jedi DVD, for example, the ghostly image of Anakin Skywalker, Luke's father, has been replaced with that of young Hayden Christensen, who played the role in Episodes 2 and 3.)

A sneak peek given to reporters recently confirms that the image and sound are certainly groundbreaking. When Mark Hamill tells Carrie Fisher that he's come to rescue her from the evil Empire's dungeon, the skin tones and the blue in his eyes are startling in their clarity. And gone - mostly - are all the F/X flaws that marred the early space battle sequences when optical matte cutouts were visible around the superimposed ship models viewed against the black starfields of space.

The films are packaged in a boxed set similar to the previous VHS collection of the Special Editions. There are three discs containing the three titles only - using every "bit" of space for optimum quality. They include new optional audio commentaries by Lucas and cast and crew.

A fourth disc offers more than four hours worth of extras, including Empire of Dreams, a whopping 2-hour documentary on the history of the franchise's creation. (A 90-minute version airs on A&E on Sept. 12).

Among the interesting clips are screen tests showing Kurt Russell and Perry King trying out for the part of Han Solo and Cindy Williams as Princess Leia, roles that, of course, eventually went to Harrison Ford and Fisher.

The disc also includes a behind-the-scenes preview of Episode III: Revenge of the Sith, due in theatres next year, as well as a look at Star Wars Battlefront, a video game also coming onto the market Sept. 21.

And, as with the recent DVD release of Spielberg's early film efforts, Lucas's low-budget 1971 sci-fi debut, THX-1138, is being released Sept. 14 by Warners in two versions, a restoration of the original and a director's cut.

Thanks for that info MM

Purist I am and Purist I'll stay...
I'll avoid those steenkin DVD's because the originals have been doctored
Lucas just a plain idiot for screwing up a good thing.

I'll buy them the first day they're out. I'm just that dumb.

My sister has the original box set on VHS (pre-doctoring versions of Episodes IV-VI.) I have told her to put them up and take care of them, as they might be valuable someday.

I have all the originals too on VHS. But, I want to get the DVD's because we all missed the new features when they were re-released a few years ago.

I still say that these three were the best and the new movies pale in comparison...

I'm in complete agreement with you, Furls.

The Digital Bits has put together an excellent and exhaustive review of the DVD set. They've even included screenshots showing the changes between the DVD release and the 1997 Special Editions. For those not fond of linking to other sites, here's what they say about the DVD picture quality:

Simply put, the Star Wars films have never (and I mean EVER) looked this good before. The films presented on these discs absolutely sparkle, in all their anamorphic widescreen glory. The folks at THX and Lowry Digital worked for months to create new high-definition digital masters of these films, transferred directly from the original negatives. Once the films were transferred, painstaking efforts were made to clean the digital masters of dust, dirt, scratches and excessive grain. To give you an idea of just how much work was involved, more than 100 bits of debris were digitally removed from EACH FRAME - ultimately entailing the removal of over 10 million such blemishes in all over the three films combined. As a result, you will not find a single speck ANYWHERE on any of these films. The snow-white slopes of Hoth and the sand-baked dunes of Tatooine have never looked so pure.

Because the transfers were done from the original negatives, you're going to see detail in these films that you've never seen before. You'll notice this right from the opening shot of A New Hope, when the Star Destroyer chases its quarry over the surface of Tatooine. Just look at the subtle swirl of cloud patterns on the planet below - astonishing. Best of all, not a lick of added edge enhancement was required to bring out this detail. What else is good? The color palette here is more lush and accurate than ever before. You're going to be blown away by everything from subtle flesh tones to the vibrant gold plating on C-3PO's chest to the bright orange flightsuits of the Rebel pilots. Contrast is also spectacular, with deep detailed blacks and clear, accurate whites. All three films in this set are just going to absolutely blow you away, and the bigger your screen the better it gets. The Star Wars Trilogy on DVD is the best excuse you're ever going to have to go out and buy yourself a good anamorphic widescreen display. Until true high-definition arrives, it just doesn't get better than this.

Thanks, MM.

Judging by most of the screen shots, the changes do not seem to be as blasphemous as some believed.

Since the DVD set is here now, this thread is kinda moot.

I have created a separate thread for discussing the DVD's--Episodes IV-VI on DVD: Your Thoughts. Please head over there and fire away!

dlbpharmd and duchess, I've moved your posts there.