Star Wars Trilogy (Special Edition)

In the first film, Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill) gets to live out every boy's dream: ditch the farm and rescue a princess (Carrie Fisher). Accompanied by the roguish Han Solo (Harrison Ford, the only principal who was able to cross over into stardom) and trained by Jedi master Obi-Wan Kenobi (Alec Guinness), Luke finds himself involved in a galactic war against the Empire and the menacing Darth Vader (David Prowse, voiced by James Earl Jones). The following film, The Empire Strikes Back (1980), takes a darker turn as the tiny rebellion faces an overwhelming onslaught. Directed by Irvin Kershner instead of Lucas, Empire is on the short list of Best Sequels Ever, marked by fantastic settings (the ice planet, the cloud city), the teachings of Yoda, a dash of grown-up romance, and a now-classic "revelation" ending. The final film of the trilogy, Return of the Jedi (1983, directed by Richard Marquand), is the most uneven. While the visual effects had taken quantum leaps over the years, resulting in thrilling speeder chases and space dogfights, the story is an uneasy mix of serious themes (Luke's maturation as a Jedi, the end of the Empire-rebellion showdown) and the cuddly teddy bears known as the Ewoks.

Years later, George Lucas transformed his films into "special editions" by adding new scenes and special effects, which were greeted mostly by shrugs from fans. They were perfectly happy with the films they had grown up with (who cares if Greedo shot first?), and thus disappointed by Lucas's decision to make the special editions the only versions available. --David Horiuchi

It's tough to take all three movies into account at the same time because of the strength of one, the brilliance of the other, and the somewhat troublesome last one. It's sort of common ruling that "Empire Strikes Back" is the best, "Star Wars" the second, and "Return of the Jedi" the last. Now, considering what "Jedi" is up against, it's still a great movie, just not "Empire Strikes Back" quality. Forgive me for saying this too, but were it not for "Empire Strikes Back" I don't think we'd be talking about Star Wars like we do today, and George Lucas's ghastly new movies would be only sidebar mentions in movie-mags.

Overall, the quality of the tapes isn't very good. The picture is exceedingly bright, to the point where we can't make out details in the background. The special effects are sort of a first-generation attempt at modern movie sophistication ("Matrix" anyone?) and were interesting at first glance, but considering how far we've come since then, they've become almost corny in appearance. What's up with Jabba the Hutt? He looks now like a concept effect and not a finished product. And why couldn't they clean up the lightsaber effect? If so much of the movie's old effects weren't good enough to remain, why was the painted-on blade allowed to stay? (which is the only good thing about the new movies vs. the old ones). And what's interesting too is how they still don't stack up to those highly detailed models they made back in the 70's and 80's. Give me a Star Destroyer cruising past before I see Jabba the Hutt slithering on by.

The performances haven't changed except for Han Solo shooting first (an unforgivable transgression by Lucas, must all our heroes be virtuous and unspoilt?) Frank Oz's performance as Yoda was allowed to remain, which we should all thank our lucky stars for. I suppose Lucas didn't want to jeopardize his relationship with Oz since he needed him for the new trilogy.

All in all, I prefer the old versions to the revamped versions, which I can still find at my local used-book and movie outlet. I would recommend going purest and getting those instead of these "special edition" versions.


It was great, but what happened?   April 15, 2002
JBT (Reality, USA)
183 out of 251 found this review helpful

I'm a fan of the films as they were, not what Lucas intended them to be, or so he says.

In my opinion, Lucas added or replaced characters with CGI ... just so he could test pilot 'technology' that would be used in subsequent films.

The changes made turn Han from being a dangerous smuggler into someone that has survived because only far-sighted idiots have chased him across the galaxy ( I refer to the Greedo shoots first scene ).

The changes make the story inconsistent. In episode 4 Jabba is a laid back, don't worry about it pal, when you get the chance dude, but a I'm going to send bounty hunters after you at the same time. If he is so mad, then shouldn't he had offed Solo when they met in e. 4?

They also axed the classic ROTJ songs. Again I feel that it was done as an excuse to show off what would and wouldn't work for episode 1. Now that episode 1 is out, can we get the ORIGINAL trilogy?

IF dvds ever come out for this trilogy, I hope they have a 'watch the original movie' option.


I love Star Wars, but I am so over George Lucas...   May 7, 2004
76 out of 100 found this review helpful

Lucas has been raised upon the shoulders of fanboys for ONE movie he directed, "Star Wars; A New Hope". He can't write well and he can't direct. Why did the first 3 (yes the FIRST) do so well? Fox had control. He didn't write the screenplay for "Empire" or "Return" nor did he direct either of them.

"Raiders of the Lost Ark" you say? Sorry, but Lawrence Kasdan (writer of Empire Strikes Back and ROJ) wrote the screenplay and Spielberg directed it. Lucas deserves credit for the idea and many details but it ends there.

With SW he knew what the story was, but he didn't tell it-better men did, which is why the original Star Wars was the franchise it was, and not a laughable joke like "Phantom Menace" and "Attack of the Clones" and most likely the next one.

George Lucas has contributed to filmmaking like no other, with THX and ILM etc.-there is no denying that-- but the creative genius is in reality nothing more than an overrated idea man, who wants us to believe he's this maverick who had his whole story figured out. I guess that's why Luke's sister kissed him full on the lips in the Empire Strikes Back. Go ahead; argue that Leia didn't know Luke was her brother when she kissed him. Guess what, neither did Lucas until he began developing Return of the Jedi-but he continues to assert that it was all part of a well laid plan. Not.

A reviewer here decided to make comparisons to Lord of the Rings, stating that Lucas used elements of Tolkein's writings. I don't know about that, but I do know that Middle Earth (one continent on one planet) has more character, depth and creativity than Lucas' whole "universe".

One reviewer here asserts "It's Lucas' universe and he can do what he wants with it". Yes he certainly can and boy did he ever, but let's be honest. Lucas' worlds have little depth. One whole planet that is a giant planet-sized city, one that is nothing but a swamp, one that is nothing but ice, one that is nothing but a forest, one that is nothing but a desert, and one that is nothing but water and so on. The entire Star Wars universe, spanning galaxies far, far away is really just Earth all spread out in space.

The truth is to create whole planets with more than one land or sea variety would be too much for Lucas to wrap his brain around, and he probably doesn't have the patience, or the brains to work it out. So let's not compare him to JRR Tolkein, okay? Tolkien died while still developing middle earth. If Lucas croaked and didn't leave some kind of condition in his will saying no one but he can make Star Wars material (he probably did), then SW might have a real future. Now Lucas has to make a third prequel, and just get it over with. Hopefully he will have learned that, yes, he does suck and his own Star Wars fan base is telling him so.

As dull as he is, especially when he forces us to fast forward through his "making of" junk that he strategically placed before the actual movie starts rather than after (the VHS trilogy), he still can corral grown-up children wanting to relive their childhood and force their kids to sit through two HORRIBLE Star Wars "prequels". I watched "making of" materiel of Lucas shooting on a set with his little kids running around the set everywhere, getting in everybody's way, but who could argue with him?

If George Lucas wasn't such a control freak, and allowed better people than him to take over the production of these movies, and perhaps allowed others to continue his work they'd probably have been as great as Empire and Return, but no. It's HIS, and HE must control ALL aspects of his masterpiece, which is why the new films suck so bad regardless of the visual aspect.

He's made enough money from Star Wars. How much is enough? I own the original Star Wars trilogy, and I have no need of his special edition. I like the trilogy better when it had no connection with the crappy prequels. Adding CGI to the original Star Wars is the same as putting a bunch of CGI in The Wizard of Oz, and it doesn't serve the story and it frankly stains a movie that was fine the way it was, but Lucas wants us all to see his vision, so he'll jam it down our throats. I'm inclined to spew it back up at him and forget that there ever was a Star Wars.

Naturally, this didn't help anyone so click away on how it didn't. I know that it's all just sci-fi dorks flaming over how I mock one of their gods.


A note from a Lucas employee   May 4, 2005
John
71 out of 89 found this review helpful

I am tired of all the outcries over this boxset, so I'm going to give you all a bit of insight to what went on behind the curtain.

First of all, let me explain why Lucas released this set. Demand was very high, and DVDs were going to be phased out in the near future. He wanted to please the fans, and give them something to tide over with until the BD/HD-DVD set hits stores in 2007.

Long story short, we had a lot to do and a very short period of time to do it in. Most of our resources were busy with Episode III (both the release and the DVD for the film). We were strained to begin with. Add putting the entire star wars trilogy on DVD with only a little bit over a year to restore and master it, and you have a race against time.

We would have liked to re-color the lightsabers, re-color Jabba, spend more time on the audio/picture, and everything else we wanted to do, but WE HAD NO TIME TO DO IT.

In addition, we only had time to work on one version of the film. We had to choose: the originals, or the special editions. Lucas chose the SE. Lucas didn't want to shell out the millions, and divert time and resources to them when they would be released in 2007.

Yes everyone, the originals are coming to BD/HD-DVD. Seeing all this moaning and groaning makes us wonder if anything will please you guys. The film team is curious if this High-Def set will fill you with joy, or make you all whine further. Why? Because we are already having to make alterations to the film. The restoration is screwing with some key elements, so we are having to go back and manually insert some things. For example, the lightsabers. Yes, they will look like the ones from Episodes I-III, because the High-Def conversion/restoration downgraded the appearence. We had to fix it, and couldn't give it that "70's look" so we were forced to make the sabers look like the more modern ones seen in the prequels.

I'm sorry for all the pain this DVD set has caused some of you. Had we had more time, things would have been different. Now we have a substantial amount of time to work with. With this additional production time, we can now include everything (such as deleted scenes) in the BD/HD-DVD set that we could not include here. You will have your original films (HAN SHOOTS FIRST) and a new directors cut (with more changes) in High Def very soon. Please be patient with us. We hope you can enjoy this set while we work to blow you away with our finished product in 2007. Thank You.

EDIT: It seems some people are paying no attention to my words, but thats ok...

Continue to make an outcry over the set if you want. It will convince Lucas further that the originals will sell (he feels everyone will prefer the DX over the originals). So go ahead and bash us if you want, but try to be somewhat respectful about it? Thanks again.