9.27.2004

[Multimedia] Star Wars Trilogy DVD / THX-1138 Director's Cut

I purchased the Star Wars Trilogy DVD and received THX-1138 DVD for cheap when buying they as a package deal. Here is my review:

THX-1138: I loved it. I enjoy dystopia movies and I felt this movie was adequately creepy, depressing and technically well done. Robert Duval did an excellent acting job.

Star Wars DVD: Eventhough I have accused Lucas of raping my childhood, in deep and serious reflections, Star Wars was a large part of my life since watching it for the first time at the Kanabec County Fair in the Mora fairgrounds back in 1981. I remember fondly when my Grandmother took me to see Return of the Jedi at Har Mar theaters in 1983. To the christmas of 1982 when I received the Millenium Falcon as a Xmas gift. I was an introverted child who lived in the middle of no where, my friends were often the action figures I played with. Star Wars is a deep part of my nerd-meme as much as Star Trek, Dr Who and Blake 7. I feel the DVDs were worth the purchase because they really have been redone with better effects, crisper images and improved sound. Some criticisms remain:

1) Han and Greedo shoot at the same time now. While not as cool as when he shoots first and in cold blood, it is better than Greedo shooting first.

2) The Jabba scene looks a little better than the 1997 version, but they should have done him as either a hologram or kept that scene out. He still looks CGI (as do the Gungans).

3) The 'Weeeesaaaa Freeeeee!' scene of Naboo during the celebration scene in Jedi wasn't really needed. Seriously, less Gungans = better.

4) The original theatrical movies with the set would have been nice. But after reflection I will give Lucas his dues, they are his intellectual property, he owns them, if this is really the penultimate of his artistic vision for Star Wars so be it. Just apologize for the damn Gungans and we can call it good.

What I liked:

1) The hours and hours of production footage, cut scenes and such in the documentaries. But I love this stuff, I watched the 12 hours of the LotR documentaries too. I wish they would have put in the Ice Creature in the Hoth base scene or the Anchorhead meeting of Luke and Biggs, that would have been cool.

2) Sound is much, much improved. And the digital clarity has allowed me to appreciate even more some of the minuatae to detail.

3) Episode 3 preview was interesting, even though short on details. I am waiting to see how he fixes (if he fixes) the continuity issues between EP 1-3 and 4-6.

Oh well. I know one person is chomping at the bit to flame me for having purchased this set.

3 comments:

AnonymousCog said...

THX-1138 is an awesome negative utopia. I found it as interesting as 1984 and Farenheit 451

AllThingsSpring said...

Oh well. I know one person is chomping at the bit to flame me for having purchased this set.

--That would be me, and as promised, my posting...

I purchased the Star Wars Trilogy DVD and received THX-1138 DVD for cheap when buying they as a package deal. Here is my review:

THX-1138: I loved it. I enjoy dystopia movies and I felt this movie was adequately creepy, depressing and technically well done. Robert Duval did an excellent acting job.

--I actually dislike THX-1138 for a number of reasons, none of which I'll go into here. Lucas' student film version is alright, mostly because it is much shorter.

Star Wars DVD: Eventhough I have accused Lucas of raping my childhood,

--Rewriting and revising at least.

in deep and serious reflections, Star Wars was a large part of my life since watching it for the first time at the Kanabec County Fair in the Mora fairgrounds back in 1981. I remember fondly when my Grandmother took me to see Return of the Jedi at Har Mar theaters in 1983. To the christmas of 1982 when I received the Millenium Falcon as a Xmas gift.

--Ah yes, the era of $100 plastic toys that cost less than a buck to make had just begun. I think they hit their peak with the G.I. Joe Aircraft Carrier. I fave fond memories of the land speeder and snow speeder myself. Star Wars was probably my first true introduction to marketing (not to mention toy marketing), and for that, I will forever have a touch of bile in the back of my throat.

I was an introverted child who lived in the middle of no where, my friends were often the action figures I played with. Star Wars is a deep part of my nerd-meme as much as Star Trek, Dr Who and Blake 7.

--I had slightly different nerd influences, but no self-respecting nerd growing up in the late 70's/early 80's can likely say that Star Wars was not an influence of major proportion.

I feel the DVDs were worth the purchase because they really have been redone with better effects,

--Perhaps I'm just old-school, but I kind of like some of the novel, if imperfect effects used in that era of scince fiction films. I guess if I have one major problem with this whole second Special Edition, its that Lucas is futzing with stuff that wasn't really broken. Its like the current CGI porn fetish. I actually prefered the era of latex masks and practical effects.

crisper images and improved sound. Some criticisms remain:

1) Han and Greedo shoot at the same time now. While not as cool as when he shoots first and in cold blood, it is better than Greedo shooting first.

--HAN SHOOTS FIRST. Seriously, its what made a major part of his character. He wasn't just a nice PC character. Ruthless men can be good guys too.

2) The Jabba scene looks a little better than the 1997 version, but they should have done him as either a hologram or kept that scene out. He still looks CGI (as do the Gungans).

--The fact that there are even Gungans IN ep 4 tells me this was a major hosejob.

3) The 'Weeeesaaaa Freeeeee!' scene of Naboo during the celebration scene in Jedi wasn't really needed. Seriously, less Gungans = better.

--I could have done without the whole Ewok celebration myself. In fact, I could have done without most of the Ewoks in general. It was like a half-decent film-triolgy got invaded by teddy bears. My understanding was that the original idea was to have it be Wookies at the end, not Ewoks.

4) The original theatrical movies with the set would have been nice.

--For me, this was the whole sell-point. It is one thing for a director to mess with his twenty year old films and do a director's cut with old footage, but to then completely eliminate the original version from what could have been the absolute pinacle of collectable DVD sets is unforgivable. When Lucas released the films, he gave up some level of control over them to the public consciousness. He made a snapshot in the life of the film, and his continued messing with what was not broke and refusal to even include the original version tells me that Lucas is a much less mature filmmaker than I gave him credit for. I think Penny Arcade got it right:
http://www.penny-arcade.com/view.php3?date=2004-09-22&res=l

--I refuse to buy this set because it doesn't contain the original cuts. If it had, I would have stood in line to buy it. But instead, I consider the 'Difinitve Edition Laserdisc' versions to be the best there is.

But after reflection I will give Lucas his dues, they are his intellectual property, he owns them,

--I call bs. No artist gets to retain total control over their work once it is released into the public for consumption. Is he well within his rights to do it this way: you bet. Is he out of his mind? Yepper. To disavow what was (and is) considered one of the biggest icons of the 1970's and shovel a derivative and lesser product on his fans is just tacky and an insult to all those that enjoyed his movies. It would have taken so little effort on his part, and he refused.

if this is really the penultimate of his artistic vision for Star Wars so be it. Just apologize for the damn Gungans and we can call it good.

What I liked:

1) The hours and hours of production footage, cut scenes and such in the documentaries. But I love this stuff, I watched the 12 hours of the LotR documentaries too. I wish they would have put in the Ice Creature in the Hoth base scene or the Anchorhead meeting of Luke and Biggs, that would have been cool.

2) Sound is much, much improved. And the digital clarity has allowed me to appreciate even more some of the minuatae to detail.

--Anything that highlights the sound and music (I think John Williams' score had as much to do with the success of Star Wars as anything Lucas did or did not do...) is a good thing.

3) Episode 3 preview was interesting, even though short on details. I am waiting to see how he fixes (if he fixes) the continuity issues between EP 1-3 and 4-6.

--As for the sextet of films as a whole, I have to say that Episode 4 was a good movie (accidentally), Episode 5 a good movie (on purpose), and everything since then has been crap. Even Jedi is almost unwatchable. Like a lot of film series, in my mind I just write out any sequels that didn't deserve recognition. Everything that came after Empire Strike Back told me that Lucas just doesn't know what he's doing.

--So what we are left with is basically 4 hours of enjoyable footage, butchered by a CGI-on-the-brain mad revisionist who was a talented producer but a mediocre director at best, succeeding, perhaps accidentally, to produce something that was more, much more, than the sum of its parts. And what bothers me the most is that Lucas doesn't even seem to understand WHY it was more than the sum of its parts. Most of all, to release this set without the original cuts and to tell your fans that such version is basically dead to you is one more nail in the coffin for any lingering respect I had for George Lucas. It is better to burn out than to fade away, and the entire Staw Wars project has faded into mush.

Pernox said...

http://www.dvdverdict.com/reviews/starwarstrilogy.php