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Post by Col. Charybdis on May 4, 2006 8:15:12 GMT -6
Just found this:
"In response to overwhelming demand, Lucasfilm Ltd. and Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment will release attractively priced individual two-disc releases of Star Wars, The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi. Each release includes the 2004 digitally remastered version of the movie, as well as the original theatrical edition of the film. That means you'll be able to enjoy Star Wars as it first appeared in 1977, Empire in 1980, and Jedi in 1983."
Cool thing about this is the individual packaging. I'm not sure if I want ROTJ, but an original version of Star Wars, hot dog!!!
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Post by Col. Charybdis on May 4, 2006 8:29:44 GMT -6
Star Wars Day is today! I hadn't heard about this but then I searched and found:
Puns
* Star Wars Day. "May the Fourth be with you" (parody of "May the Force be with you").
* In the way dates are written in many countries (not the USA), this day in 2006 comes out as 04/05/06 - which are also the numbers of the episodes of the original Star Wars trilogy.
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Post by Brie on May 4, 2006 12:03:58 GMT -6
The release is good news, I guess, but exactly how many copies of Star Wars does George Lucas expect me to buy? I have the pre-Special Edition on VHS already, three different Special Addition renditions, the DVDs...
When they say "as it first appeared in 1977" I wonder if that means without the words "Episode IV, A New Hope." I'm one of the few around here old enough to remember that those words were added a year later when it was re-released and "Empire" was in the works.
I guess that means that the 6 movie complete set that some people predicted would be coming out before Christmas isn't happening...yet.
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Post by Col. Charybdis on May 5, 2006 8:49:36 GMT -6
I do believe that these will NOT have the "Episode IV" moniker on this version. And for those waiting for the six DVD set of all movies, probably for next May on the 30th anniversary.
Keep saving your cubits, er, I mean Republic Credits...
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Post by Col. Charybdis on May 5, 2006 10:42:40 GMT -6
Also heard this from Rick McCallum about the new Star wars tv show:
""All-new characters," he added. "That missing 20-year period when Luke is growing up. ... Think bounty hunter. That's all I can tell you."
I think Boba Fett fans might be rejoicing...
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Post by Col. Charybdis on May 5, 2006 10:43:44 GMT -6
or could he be talking about another bounty hunter such as Aurra Sing? Interesting possibilities...
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Post by Brie on May 8, 2006 16:10:54 GMT -6
Two things from Sci-Fi Weekly. Sounds like George isn't the one after my money after all!
#1:
Original Star Wars Comes To DVD
Fox will release the original unaltered theatrical versions of the first three Star Wars movies on DVD on Sept. 12, despite statements by series creator George Lucas, USA Today reported.
Lucas had adamantly declared that 2004's digitally restored Star Wars Trilogy DVDs were the definitive versions of his movies. But fans have held out hope for DVDs of the originals, and it appears that Lucasfilm is responding, the newspaper reported.
Fox will release new two-disc DVDs, priced at $30 each, of Star Wars, The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi that will feature the films as they first appeared in theaters, along with the new, restored versions (now available in the four-disc $70 Star Wars Trilogy). The individual DVDs will be taken off the market on Dec. 31, a strategy that Disney uses on many of its classic releases.
This new set of DVDs does not constitute "George changing his mind," Lucasfilm's Jim Ward told USA Today. "What we've always said is George viewed the revised versions of the films as the definitive versions."
The original films' video quality will not match up to that of the restored versions. "It is state of the art, as of 1993, and that's not as good as state of the art 2006," Ward said.
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Post by Brie on May 8, 2006 16:12:30 GMT -6
#2:
Star Wars TV A Ways Off
Rick McCallum, George Lucas' longtime Star Wars producing partner, told SCI FI Wire that future projects are a ways off, including a live-action TV show that is at least a year and a half away. "Star Wars TV series, probably not for a couple of years," McCallum said in an interview at the Saturn Awards in Universal City, Calif., on May 2. "George is starting to start the basic concept of it. ... We're interviewing writers. We're seeing a lot of people. But I'd say it's not going to be happening for another at least 18 months."
McCallum also denied rumors that the new series would focus on members of the Skywalker family, but repeated that the show will take place in the timeframe between Episode III and IV. "All-new characters," he added. "That missing 20-year period when Luke is growing up. ... Think bounty hunter. That's all I can tell you. There's nobody else that you'll know [in it]. At the moment. You know, it's still [in] really, really early stages. He hasn't really sat down to think about which direction [he's going]."
McCallum added that 3-D theatrical versions of the Star Wars movies are still planned. "We're working on that," he said. "It's just a question of how many theaters will be out there. Hopefully, by the end of this year there will be about 1,500 [3-D] theaters. We need about two or three thousand before it makes it, you know, viable for any of us to go out in 3-D. But that looks like it will happen sometime in the year 2007, so hopefully we'll be happy about that."
Lucas is also planning a new run of Clone Wars-themed animated shorts. "There's an animated series being done right now, so that probably also won't be ready for another year," McCallum said. "But, yeah, that's looking really good."
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Post by Col. Charybdis on May 9, 2006 7:56:32 GMT -6
I had read somewhere that the new animated series will not be in the same style as the first Clone Wars animated series. If not, that's too bad because I liked what they had done with it...
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Post by Captain Hawke on May 11, 2006 9:37:32 GMT -6
This September: Original Unaltered Trilogy on DVD
May 03, 2006
Source: Starwars.com
Fans can look forward to a September filled with classic Star Wars nostalgia, led by the premiere of LEGO Star Wars II: The Original Trilogy video game and the long-awaited DVD release of the original theatrical incarnations of the classic Star Wars trilogy.
In response to overwhelming demand, Lucasfilm Ltd. and Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment will release attractively priced individual two-disc releases of Star Wars, The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi. Each release includes the 2004 digitally remastered version of the movie and, as bonus material, the theatrical edition of the film. That means you'll be able to enjoy Star Wars as it first appeared in 1977, Empire in 1980, and Jedi in 1983.
See the title crawl to Star Wars before it was known as Episode IV; see the pioneering, if dated, motion control model work on the attack on the Death Star; groove to Lapti Nek or the Ewok Celebration song like you did when you were a kid; and yes, see Han Solo shoot first.
This release will only be available for a limited time: from September 12th to December 31st. International release will follow on or about the same day. Each original theatrical version will feature Dolby 2.0 Surround sound, close-captioning, and subtitles in English, French and Spanish for their U.S. release. International sound and subtitling vary by territory.
"Over the years, a truly countless number of fans have told us that they would love to see and own the original version that they remember experiencing in theaters," said Jim Ward, President of LucasArts and Senior Vice President of Lucasfilm Ltd. "We returned to the Lucasfilm Archives to search exhaustively for source material that could be presented on DVD. This is something that we're very excited to be able to give to fans in response to their continuing enthusiasm for Star Wars. Topping it off with a new interactive adventure makes September 12 a red-letter day for Star Wars fans."
That's also the day fans will be able to experience the LEGO Star Wars II: The Original Trilogy video game, the action-packed sequel -- filled with tongue-in-cheek humor -- to one of the best selling video games of 2005. To see the trailer to the new game from LucasArts and TT Games, go to lucasarts.com!
To order the first in a series of t-shirts to commemorate the return of the original unaltered trilogy, go to starwars.com.
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