Sep 12, 2011

Posted by in Off-TORpic | 9 Comments

Off-TORpic: Star Wars On Blu-ray This Week!

Off-TORpic is our occasional peek outside the world of Star Wars: The Old Republic. Sometimes it’ll be Star Wars. Sometimes it’ll be games. Sometimes, something else all together. But all the time it will be Off-TORpic.

It’s finally here – the event we’ve all been waiting for!

Oh, no sorry. Not THAT event – The Old Republic has not been secretly released without your notfication. Sorry for the false alarm!

What I AM talking about is the impending release of the entire Star Wars saga – the original trilogy and the prequel trilogy – on glorious 1080P high-definition Blu-ray this Friday, September 16 in the US.

But, as usual, no loyal Star Wars fan will go unpunished.

True to form, George Lucas has yet again decided to “improve” the  films for this Blu-ray release. Scenes that have otherwise have come to be known as classic, milestone moments in the saga are being given the once over. Perhaps the most egregious of these to fans is the addition of the now infamous Darth Vader “Nooooo” to critical scene in Return Of The Jedi. Cry with me as you watch this.

Many fans have already resigned to the fact that Lucas will tamper with these things, and he certainly has the right. But a Blu-ray release would be the perfect spot to include the original theatrical versions as well, right? To the dismay of many fans, the original theatrical versions are not included in the set as alternate versions or bonus material. Nothing.

None the less, countless Star Wars fans with recently acquired large, flat panel HD entertainment systems will no doubt line up for the privilege to pick up this box set, including this writer.

If the cost of the entire 6-film set is too much, or you just can’t stomach the prequel trilogy, there are also trilogy packs for Episodes I-III and Episodes IV-VI respectively.

So, is Star Wars on Blu-ray part of your holiday wish list?

 

  1. Already pre-ordered the original trilogy!

  2. I was excited about the Blu-ray release until I heard Lucas tampered with IV-VI again.

    I was waffling between Star Wars and the Extended Edition of LotR. LotR won out now.

  3. Mike Honcho says:

    I already had the Complete Saga pre-ordered day one. Then I saw that Lucas was making more “improvements”. Cancelled the next day. Dude lost his damn fool mind.

  4. “To the dismay of many fans, the original theatrical versions are not included in the set as alternate versions or bonus material. Nothing.”

    Unfortunately, too many fans will still buy this load, which validates Lucas’s ‘improvements’. Me, however – I bought the original trilogy years ago on VHS before any changes and have them now digitized and saved on my computer. I’ve not bought a SW version of the original trilogy since his massacre and gave up on the prequel when I realised effects were more important than story. I urge others to boycott this, too.

  5. Veto it! It’s just a money grab.

  6. Eh, I’d still get it.

    It could be worse, Lucas could’ve done the same thing Paramount did with the Star Trek franchise and Blu-Ray. (I.E. put the dvd quality films on Blu-Ray without remastering them for high def resolution. So essentially you got dvd movies on Blue Ray with the added privileged of paying more for it!)

  7. I’m skipping this one. I would have loved to have the original trilogy in HD, but I’m really tired of Lucas’ “improvements”.

  8. We talked about this in our latest podcast – and I surprised myself by saying I wasn’t really bothered by these changes! What’s the old adage? “You’re not sure what you think until you say it?”

    These changes seem fairly minor to me and the Vader “Nooo!” Well…at least it isn’t pure cheese like his cry of despair at the end of Revenge. It’s delivered with conviction and is believable – that’s what matters.

    For better or for worse Lucas is someone who continues to think about and alter his his past work. We’re not used to it with movies but we’re living in a digital age when nothing is “set in stone” for very long. Whereas a painter or a writer would complete their work of art and it would be static from that point on, now things can be continually adjusted potantially forever.

    I don’t think changing things is inherently wrong – it’s when the changes don’t ring true that problems arise. Artists make mistakes and so the more changes they make the greater likelihood one of those changes will be a mistake.

    I thought Greedo shooting first was a mistake.

    But I thought putting Jabba in A New Hope wasn’t a mistake.

    If in order to see Harrison Ford in a really lovely new scene I have to put up with a fluff elsewhere…well, okay. I can live with that.

  9. Well I received my set last Friday 9th. I’m in the UK and it’s a bit strange that we get it before the US!

    The only problem I have with all of the amendments made is letting Greedo shoot at all. It softens Han’s character, and diminishes the impact of his return to save Luke’s ass for the 1st time.

    I joined the ride at the very beginning in ’77 and love it for everything it is, and has become. If George Lucas wants to tamper with what is in fact his property, we can only sit back and accept it or not pay for it. It really is that simple.

    Having said all that I still haven’t watched them, because I justified spending the cash to my girlfriend by saying she could get them for me for Christmas, I got in from work and she’s hidden them already!

    …I never expected her to actually stick to it!!! :p

    Any ideas?

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