Star Wars Trilogy

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

Amazon.com
What's cool about this video is also what makes it seem amateurish at first: it is neither endorsed nor authorized by 20th Century Fox or Lucasfilm. The result: a montage of interviews with everybody of importance to the Star Wars world--from George Lucas and Liam Neeson to Samuel L. Jackson and Harrison Ford, with intelligently written voice-over narration, and a unique exploration of Star Wars and Star Trek together. This is at once an homage to the Star Wars trilogies and a documentary of its sci-fi precursors, from silent film to Star Trek.

Since this collection of interviews isn't authorized by Lucasfilm, you won't find footage of the Star Wars movies here, although you will find terrific snippets from sci-fi milestones such as Fritz Lang's Metropolis. A youthful Carrie Fischer talk about the interplanetary appeal of the original Star Wars, while a 20-years-older Fischer talks about the films' fairytale-like grasp across generations. Young and older Harrison Fords and Mark Hamills give interesting perspectives as well; the video also sports one of the longer interviews recorded with the man inside C-3PO.

Besides the actual cast and crew of the Star Wars movies including The Phantom Menace, there are interviews here with stars as fans, famous people who love the movies as much as anyone: Sharon Stone, Gary Busey, Hugh Hefner, Magic Johnson, Christina Ricci, and William Shatner. A fun and provocative look through uncensored interviews across the spectrum at all that is Star Wars, worthy of any fan's archive, a must for any serious collection. --Erik Macki

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 256 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.


Setting the Record Straight   August 23, 2006
Kory J. Koester (Glyndon, MN United States)
150 out of 167 found this review helpful

After reading countless reviews about these Star Wars DVD's over the past few months here on Amazon from some who are taking this issue way too seriously to others who just don't seem to have a clue as to what some words mean, I finally feel compelled enough to write a review of my own.

To begin, I agree with the majority of reviewers in the fact that these films, the original unaltered Star Wars trilogy, deserve much better treatment for release on DVD. Now, from what I understand, the original negatives/prints were destroyed or altered during the restoration for the Special Edition release back in 1997 and, as a result, can't be restored. Therefore, the laserdisc transfers from 1993 are being used as source material for the upcoming DVD release, which explains why these "bonus" DVD's (don't get me started on the originals only being - according to the soulless marketing geniuses at LucasFilm - "bonus" discs), won't be anamorphic and without 5.1 surround sound. I also understand that LucasFilm is not willing to put in as much time, effort, or money into this project since the original unaltered films didn't represent his true "vision" for the films. However, I take issue with the reasoning behind this thought process.

First of all, I'll admit I'm no film restoration expert, but common sense would tell me that 95% of the restoration of the original unaltered trilogy has already been done since only, at the very most, 5% of the original movies was altered for the Special Edition releases. And if all the negatives from the originals were, in fact, destroyed (which I highly doubt unless George Lucas cut them up and set them ablaze late one night during a fit of artistic rage), all one would have to do is find some copied negatives/prints that were used in the theaters when the movies originally came out (perhaps from a private collector if LucasFilm doesn't have any which, again, I highly doubt) and restore just the 5% of scenes that were changed or removed completely from the newer versions with better picture quality and 5.1 surround sound instead of re-restoring the entire original movies. As a result, the excuse of not wanting to put the time, effort, and money into this project doesn't really make much sense since they would only have to restore just a few scenes here and there, even if those scenes weren't taken from the original negatives. Also, keep in mind these are the same people behind THX, so LucasFilm releasing a half-hearted attempt of a DVD release is hypocritical of a company who prides itself on industry-setting high-standard video and audio quality.

As for the "anamorphic" situation, I think the meaning of the word "anamorphic" first needs to be explained. In simplest terms, a DVD in anamorphic widescreen format means the video contained in the DVD will take up the entire screen on a widescreen TV without having to zoom in and, in turn, no black letterbox bars will show (at least they won't if the movie was shot in 16:9 widescreen; Star Wars, on the other hand, was shot in "extra-widescreen" so the black letterbox bars will still appear on the top and bottom of a 16:9 widescreen TV, but roughly only half as much as they would on a standard 4:3 TV - the image will still fill the screen from side-to-side). Now, if you don't own a widescreen TV, this isn't a major issue since you will see the letterbox bars regardless if you're watching a widescreen-version DVD on a standard 4:3 TV. However, if you're like me and do happen to own a widescreen TV, there is nothing more frustrating than buying a DVD only to find out it isn't anamorphic when you start to play it, which defeats the whole purpose of owning a widescreen TV if the DVD you'd like to watch will not only show the letterbox bars on top, but on the sides as well. And zooming in to enlarge the picture and rid the bars doesn't help much either because whenever you zoom in on something, whether it be a DVD or a picture on a computer, you lose picture quality which again defeats the purpose of a owning a DVD in the first place. So for you reviewers out there who think some people are overreacting because these DVD's won't be anamorphic, you obviously don't own a widescreen TV and don't know what words mean.

Now for the fans who are taking this situation way too seriously, just take a deep breath and relax. Don't get me wrong, I'm as big a fan of the original Star Wars trilogy, especially "The Empire Strikes Back", as much as anyone and would like to see the original movies get the proper respect and treatment they deserve (even if only for preservation's sake). But keep in mind these are just movies meant to entertain - not cure the world of cancer. And even if the new computer-generated footage added in the Special Edition versions already released on DVD takes away from the original trilogy (which it does, especially that new Max Rebo Band song in Return of the Jedi - who was the genius that came up with that?) they are, like I mentioned, practically 95% visually the same and 99.9% the same story-wise as the originals and are anamorphic with 5.1 surround sound. And if not having Han shooting first or having the original "Star Wars" opening crawl from '77 makes you lay awake at night (the addition of "Episode IV - A New Hope" actually does improve the film from a storyline standpoint if you think about), I truly do feel sorry for you (even though I agree Han should be shooting first, which accounts for that extra 0.1%).

I could also get into how the original trilogy, even the Special Editions, is far superior to the blue screen-themed new trilogy by leaps and bounds (keep in mind George Lucas didn't write or direct "Empire" or "Jedi" and wasn't surrounded by "yes men" back then), but then I'd really ramble on and this review would be five times longer than it already is now.

Hopefully, one day in a galaxy far, far away (boy was that clever), George Lucas will put his ego aside, or at least follow a masterful yet soulless marketing plan, and give the cinematically-outstanding originals he created the proper respect and DVD treatment they deserve. But until then, I (along with almost every other reviewer here on Amazon - admit it) will probably end up buying these half-hearted DVD's just so I can say I've got the originals on DVD, even though these DVD's will probably only be slightly better than the widescreen VHS tapes I bought back in '95. In the meantime, though, I'll have to admit it is kind of entertaining to watch the real-life transformation of Anakin Skywalker to Darth Vader back to Anakin Skywalker in the form of one George Lucas.



Note: According to "The Rumor Mill" over at The Digital Bits website from 8/24/2006, it has been confirmed that LucasFilm will be releasing an "ultimate, 6-film Star Wars anniversary boxed set planned for 2007" with even more changes to the films (supposedly one change is the puppet Yoda from Episode I is now going to be a CG version like what was used in Episodes II and III), as well as more special features and deleted scenes. It is unknown if restored versions of the original trilogy will be included, but keep this in mind if you plan to purchase these DVD's.