Agreed thecolorsblend. I know I'm not going to be upgrading for a long while. I am sure they'll eventually release an HD DVD player that will have backwards compatibility so it can play regular DVD's too.

They are backwards compatible.

Exactly, and they upconvert standard DVDs to 720p. I bought a Toshiba HD-A1 HD-DVD player and it's a damn fine machine for the price.

Which has fuckall to do with the price of tea in China but thanks for contributing, I guess.

I thought everything was made in China.

Raveers was saying that he was going to hold off buying into HD-DVD until they made a player that will play regular DVDs(which they already do). That's what ETAndElliot4Ever were addressing, smart guy.

This is what I'm keeping an eye on. Samsung and HP have combo models on the way too.

As cool as HD movies are, for that price I'll still catch mine on TNT and HBO

Hey everyone,

This could just be me speculating, but I was rewatching the webdocs on the Revenge of the Sith DVD, and when watching the "Becoming Palpatine" webdoc (#12?) I caught a bunch of blue screen footage of Ian McDiarmid in his Return of the Jedi costume (black cloak with dragon clasp) delivering lines right of the scene right before he force lightnings Luke Skywalker.

It's possible that this was just rehearsal footage, but I'm wondering if Lucas shot all of Palps scenes in ROTJ with an aged Ian McDiarmid, and is going to drop that into the "new" Return of the Jedi cut? Anyone heard anything about this?

If you watch the webdoc you can see what I mean, there are quite a few shots of him delivering lines most notably this one:

EMPEROR
Your feeble skills are no match for the power of the dark side.

I've always kind of thought that when you look at the makeup in ROTJ that Palpatine looks kind of cheesy in closeup and medium shots, particularly the dreadful closeups where they had to airbrush the seams on his mask.

Thoughts anyone? I could be reaching? I guess it makes sense that if Lucas reshot his Empire Strikes Back scenes then maybe he reshot some RotJ stuff too. I'm wondering if anyone's heard, it's been awfully quiet about potential changes to Original Trilogy.

I'm by no means a purist, I've got the "extra" dvd of the original unaltered trilogy, so if he's messing with Ian McDiarmid's RotJ scenes that's good news to me.

Those shots from the OT were just certain scenes they took of Ian as Palpatine just like the shots from the Prequels since it was pratically a whole montage thing going on. I doubt they'll change that.

I prefer OG 80's Emporer over Post-Windu ROTS Palpatine, and I hope they leave him in the OT as-is. Other than the funky black smudge over his right temple (our left, his right) in a few of the throne room scenes toward the end, I never had any real issues with the ROTJ Emporer effects. I think it would be a mistake to replace him alltogether. If they could just get rid of the smudge that would be great. I like that he looks older (even though the actor was younger) and more decrepid than what we saw in Episode 3.

ROTS Palps, in the first few scenes after the change, was looking a bit like "Fat Nosferatu" to me.

FB, I think you misunderstood me. It wasn't montage footage of the Return of the Jedi Emperor, it was footage of Ian McDiarmid from Revenge of the Sith shoot in front of a blue screen, giving Return of the Jedi dialgoue in Return of the Jedi costume, as directed by George Lucas.

So that said.. I'm just kind of curious.

And yeah, he did look kind of like Big Fat Nosferatu without the hood.
I wonder if all British vampires look that way.

Actually that scene was the new deal they did for ESB when they edited him in for the 2004 DVD sets.

If it was from ESB why was he quoting (according to DanSh1138) ROTJ dialogue?

DanSh1138, why don't you post a screen grab from the scene you're talking about. I think that would help to clarify things a wee bit.

ROTJ Emperor > ROTS Emperor

I looked through "Becoming Sidious" last night and couldn't find that scene whatsoever. The only thing close was when he was in that same costume prepping for his scene with Hayden as Vader, just shooting the shit with George. Got a specific time in that clip where it shows that?

I just rewatched it on the web and maybe I was wrong. Cause I see the line of dialogue but not when he's against blue screen.. maybe it was on another doc or maybe I just was confused. Was the costume he is wearing at the end of RotS the same as the end of RotJ? I pulled screen caps but not sure how to post them.

Sorry for the false alarm

http://www.thedigitalbits.com/rumormill.html#022307

2/23/07

You know that mega-bombad 9-disc Ultimate Star Wars Saga box set that's been in the works for a few years now? The one that was expected to be released later this year to celebrate the 30th Anniversary? Yeah... maybe not so much anymore. We've been hearing from multiple sources now that the folks up at Lucasburg were surprised enough at the lackluster sales of last year's Star Wars Trilogy DVD re-run ("Now with Han shoots first!") that they're afraid they might have gone to the Sarlacc Pit one too many times, so to speak. There's talk apparently that the box set could get delayed a year or two to amp up demand for the films on disc again. Don't know how serious this all is, but that's the word that's blowing in the wind.

I just don't get Team Lucas anymore. They release the same DVDs we all already own last year and try to pull the "Hey, we're doing you all a favor by giving you the special non-anamorphic, zero-effort original versions as a bonus item!" and then they're actually flummoxed when they don't sell. What the REST of us know, is that they didn't sell because they were crap, and because everyone is waiting for the damn box set.

Not only that but most people aside from the fan boys probably could care less. Especially when most "kids" nowadays want the super-uber special effects edition. You would think Lucas and company would put a little more research into things like this before they start on something like that.

Either way, I'm sure that a some point they DVD's will get released and everyone will live happily ever after

Eh, I honestly don't believe it... I'm sure the box set will get released this year. I'll still wait to see what Lucasfilm says during Celebration IV in a few months.

This rumor makes little sense. Just after the release of last year's DVDs was announced, Lucas was saying in interviews stuff like "Now we'll see, if anyone actually wants the original versions". It seems to me like he wasn't expecting to sell them in as large numbers as the 2004 DVD edition.

What (or who), during the year or two, will amp up the demand for the box set? Will the 2008 Clone Wars cartoon create a demand for a box set? Or could the real reason be that they are waiting to see who wins the next-gen DVD war, Blue-Ray or HD-DVD before investing in the new box set endeavor?

And if the box set doesn't come out this year then the question remains, what have the Lucasfilm DVD team been working since end of December 2005 since they released vol 2 of the Clone Wars? Have they been laid off? Doubt it. They've been working on something. Right?

I agree with Raveers that it will still come out this year. I can't imagine it not coming out when they have a chance to tie its release to something that will (likely) be as big as TFU. It'll happen.

Young Indiana Jones box set with the 100 historical documentaries to be released early next year in the midst of Indy 4 hype.

Well that makes sense, but in theory, could they have been working on the full SW Saga box set, and begin working on the Young Indiana Jones box set for the rest of this year and the beginning of the next?

This post from Bill Hunt (the digital bits.com)

2/23/07

Well... we've got some new info that may crash your Astro droid's OS. And no, we aren't out punking Padawans with this.

You know that mega-bombad 9-disc Ultimate Star Wars Saga box set that's been in the works for a few years now? The one that was expected to be released later this year to celebrate the 30th Anniversary? Yeah... maybe not so much anymore. We've been hearing from multiple sources now that the folks up at Lucasburg were surprised enough at the lackluster sales of last year's Star Wars Trilogy DVD re-run ("Now with Han shoots first!") that they're afraid they might have gone to the Sarlacc Pit one too many times, so to speak. There's talk apparently that the box set could get delayed a year or two to amp up demand for the films on disc again. Don't know how serious this all is, but that's the word that's blowing in the wind.

I just don't get Team Lucas anymore. They release the same DVDs we all already own last year and try to pull the "Hey, we're doing you all a favor by giving you the special non-anamorphic, zero-effort original versions as a bonus item!" and then they're actually flummoxed when they don't sell. What the REST of us know, is that they didn't sell because they were crap, and because everyone is waiting for the damn box set.

Interestingly, New York Comic Con kicks off today, but it doesn't look like the Steve Sansweet dog and pony show is going to be there, or I'd say that people should raise the box set question with him. Hey... Stephen Colbert's going to be there in a couple hours though (3PM Eastern), so somebody ask him if we're ever going to get a Tek Jansen DVD.

Anyway, WonderCon happens in a couple weeks up in San Francisco, but I don't see that Sansweet will be there either. Probably the first place we'll get the real skinny straight from the minions will be at Star Wars Celebration IV here in L.A. in May. We'll see.

Ugh. I hate being the guy who has to bring you frustrating Star Wars DVD news, but it seems like it happens EVERY damn year. Please don't Force choke the messenger. I'm feeling a bit like Captain Needa these days...

Of course you know, many Bothans died to bring you this information

This was already posted in Raveer's Ultimate Box Set News & Rumors thread. However thanks for the effort.

The only way people will buy the Original Trilogy or the Prequel Trilogy on DVD again en masse is if there is new added content i.e Original Trilogy Deleted Scenes.

Thats in addition to what many want in a boxset: anamorphic discs of the Original Unaltered Trilogy and Prequel Trilogy Special Editions. Because I really don't see the digital effects work in the Prequel Trilogy or the 2004 discs having a shelf life longer than the 1997 Special Edition's effects.

From AICN's report on the GL event yesterday:



They've been working on this project for years. I'm sure they've also been working on the SW box set, but considering that they just re-released the OT six months ago and Indy 4 is coming next year, LFL is concentrating full time on the Indy franchise right now. We might see the SW box set when it's time to cross-promote another SW event, like the premiere of the Clone Wars CG show.

I think the effects in TPM hold up amazingly well. They look good and have aged well. Compare that to the SWSE's which looked dated two years later and it's obvious that the prequels will have better longevity. Nothing to worry about. Besides, all effects look dated after a while so who cares?

I agree. The only sequence I feel that isn't aging well is the Gungan/Droid battle but even in 99 that sequence was a little inconsistant FX wise. I've always felt TPM looked the most real, more like the OT. I'm not talking about designs but just the look of the film. I don't know if that is because it was shot on film and not digital but there seems to be a better blending of the practical/CG/model/miniature elements.

I don't think the SE's look so bad in comparison to the prequels. The CG models are noticably simpler but acceptable and work fine in motion. Only the original CG Jabba looked really bad, but they fixed that already and there's still this annoying fake animal walking by the camera in ANH.

The dinosaur walking in front of the landspeeder looks like absolute shit. It's been beaten to death, but both Greedo shooting first scenes look awful. The CGI morphing (or wtf ever they did) in 1997 especially looked worse than even the crappiest FX shots from the old versions.

Something about the CGI in the Gungan battle has always been inconsistant, like ILM just phoned it in when they came to doing that scene. There are a few jarring shots of tanks and shit that really stick out like a sore thumb. I like it as it is though. I wouldn't want to see the FX in the PT changed any more than I'd want to see the OT changed. Seeing the evolution of the visuals as the films have gone on is something I've enjoyed and I don't want to see them altered.



Err...George Lucas?

Well fuck me, when you're right you're right.

More so the fact that a battle of that scale really hadn't been done before, and they were learning as they went. You have to give credit to TPM for making huge leaps in terms of the VFX pipeline.

The Special Edition effects were really just an experiment on what would be possible with the potential prequel trilogy. When the special editions were released in theaters it was considered a huge gamble for Lucasfilm and for Fox, nobody really was sure of the kind of responses that it would get. ILM had just finished Jurassic Park and really were getting up to speed quickly on doing new Star Wars effects, a lot of software that they used was off the shelf. There is a great interview with Steve "Spaz" Williams on the process that I wish I had the link for and if anyone has it can they please link it? Spaz developed the musculature animation for Jurassic Park and then went on to do Spawn.

The Phantom Menace was really the first full blown Lucas movie since Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade and there was even a pretty big learning curve on that movie as well, with Jar Jar being a fully integrated CG character (as corny as he is, Jar Jar is quite a big technical achievement for ILM, it was just too bad that he didnt work so well in the narrative. I think the problem was that Jar Jar was a little TOO liberating, all of a sudden you could do a lot with a character and it ended up a little too cartoony) and from there ILM and Lucas really got the pipeline and workflow going that would only get better and better with each movie.

Lucas tends to view Star Wars as an opportunity to experiment with new things, the SEs were an experiment to test the waters and see if new Star Wars movies would be commercially viable, the Phantom Menace was an experiment with the amount of effects work, digital characters and "virtual editing", etc. Attack of the Clones was an experiment with digital cameras and pre-visualization.

I think by the time Lucas got to Revenge of the Sith they had all of the kinks worked out from a technical and workflow standpoint and that movie still stands out to me as the best of the films since ESB, better than Return of the Jedi and better than the previous two prequel films.

Thats why I still hold out for the hope that ILM (and Lucas) takes what they've learned and developed with the prequels and continues to tweak the special edition cuts of ANH, ESB and ROTJ as well as going back into the prequels and giving us one final version of all 6 movies. As difficult as it is to see the shortcomings of the prequels from an acting and story standpoint, technically as much as I hate to say it they are much better executed and realized than any of the original movies. The original films had a stronger, more engaging storyline and overall a stronger cast in my opinion, and as a result they are a lot easier to connect with than the prequels.

If anyone has a link to that Spaz Williams interview I'd love to read it again!

You know this got me thinking...

I think some where along the lines communication was mixed up and people reported the Saga DVD box set being held off until next year when in reality it was for the announcement that the game The Forces Unleashed would be delayed.

So someone might have miscommunicated something along the line and I bet that they'll release the Saga DVD box set this year.

This whole "Box set coming out in 2007" was nothing but a sheep fantasy from Day 1. It's one of those things where enough people imagine/want it at once, they convince themselves that the rumors have an element of fact to them, then they get disappointed when their self-fulfilled prophecies don't come true.

Bill Hunt over at the Digital Bits is as guilty of this as anyone. He makes a rumor mill post about "no box set in 2007" and bitches for 5 minutes about why LFL won't release a box set of DVDs. Yet, when they do release the OUT on DVD, he hands it his "worst release of 2006" award.

Hypocracy, your table for one is now ready, Bill. I very much respect his opinion about the BD/HD format war, and all the information he posts about it. But when it comes to Star Wars, it's like someone sucked all of that logic and intelligence out of his brain and he becomes another one of the thousands of sad souls who looks at complaining about Star Wars on the Internet as sport.

http://www.ifmagazine.com/feature.asp?article=2020

• IFmagazine: It seems like every fall, there’s some kind of STAR WARS release on DVD. Any plans this fall for the 30th anniversary?

• Steve Sansweet: We have no plans for any DVD releases in the near term.

Well that sucks.

Seems like every time they say something like that, the exact opposite happens. I'll take that comment with a grain of salt. You can never really tell what will happen at the C4. Of course this is just my own opinion.

Amen....believing Sansweet is like believe McCallum on this stuff. If they see $$$ to be had, they'll do it. At least that's what I'm hoping.

The more I think about it you gents have a point there, especially Cryostar about believing Sansweet is like believing McCallum.

Since they've pushed the game Forces Unleashed back until first of next year they gotta release something now this year for the 30th Anniversary.

How about the Holiday Special on HDDVD?

Hell, I think people would settle for getting Uncle George to admit that he actually did the Holiday Special at all *cackle*

Like I said, it's all about Indy for the next year and a half.

Hmmm... well that's disappointing news but I figured that as soon as Force Unleashed got pushed to 2008 that there wasn't really anything else to link a new DVD release to.

It still doesn't really make sense that they arent doing anything for the 30th Anniversary on DVD from a licensing standpoint, I mean geez.. it would be super cheesy but even a repackaging of the existing DVDs in a 30th Anniversary package would make sense from a marketing standpoint because other than the toys and some books, there really isn't going to be much out there as far as I know for general consumer (I don't count statues and stuff as regular consumer stuff)... Rereleasing existing DVDs would be a double dip (actually a triple dip at this point) but studios do it all the time. Jaws I think has been released 3 times on DVD so far along with the Lord of the Rings movies.

I'd take anything with a grain of salt at this point though, even if Sansweet was being honest if he said "there are no plans to release new DVDs at this time" during the interview that can mean anything or that could mean "as of this interview there are no plans to release new DVDs" and if they are going to make an announcment they'd probably want to do it at C4 where alot of their buying demographic is going to be.

Indy IV is in preproduction so that wouldn't take up all of the resources of ILM at this point and there would be no reason for them to clear the deck and completely focus on just Indy IV as far as I can tell.

I guess the only time we'd really find out is at around the time of C4, so my guess would be that if we don't hear about it at C4 then it ain't happening this year.

Speaking of C4, is it just me or does it seem like there is really nothing happening??? Other than celebrity appearances and stuff?? The most exciting thing I'd be interested in going for would be to meet Ralph McQuarrie. Is anyone planning on going?? I'm in NYC but thinking about making the trip, since I am probably moving to LA in July anway, it would be an excuse to go apartment hunting.

I wish I was but I don't have the $$$ to stay 5 days out there.

They need one of those on the east coast.

Midwest was nice too. Prices were cheap on hotels, and it wasn't too far for anyone. In LA you isolate everyone on the East Coast. NY, you isolate everyone on the west coast. And the cost of living is so high on both coasts that you tend to isolate the midwest with cost over runs.

Can't lucas figure this out?