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Star Wars Saga on Blu-ray


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That must've been death having to wait a WEEK after it's been out on the shelf...just 'cuz the mail sucks! But congrats on official ownership!

 

I've seen it more than a couple of dozen times already - it really takes a few viewings to really grasp all the 'planted seeds' of the 'potentially' epic myth-building that Disney hoped to accomplish.

 

The quality of the transfer is top-notch - the difference shooting on film made is apparent.

 

 

A whole blu ray disc dedicated to special features and it all felt like bite-size segments of a larger piece. The main doc felt thorough, but you can tell there's a massive doc just sitting on the side-lines. Definite room for more - but I honestly feel that even Disney doesn't have all the answers, as to 'where it's all going', yet - I've read that shooting on Ep VIII was put on hold due to massive rewrites.

 

Edited by Little Nemo McFly
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Oh, man - I just heard...Kenny Baker / the actor most known for playing R2-D2....expired after a long illness.

 

August 24, 1934 - August 13, 2016

 

81 years - RIP, old man. He seemed to enjoy sitting in that soup can, swiveling that head to n' fro' and shakin' around inside trying to convey excitement or fear. LOL - thanks! (shrugs) I dug it.

 

kenny-baker-bw-750x420.jpg

 

ripkennybaker.jpg

 

R2-D2-kenny-baker-00_1.jpg?b59002

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I've been listening to the legacy of the force and whatever series is after that on audiobook but mostly because they are more like a radio drama (sound effects music etc) than your typical audiobook. It's had it's highs I think (Caedus was interesting if nothing else) but for the most part - you're right. There's a lot of fanfiction in there. Even if Lucas did have to 'approve' a lot of it (he really didn't he just set rules for them which towards the end he through out, which is why they dropped a fucking moon on Chewie.) I think we're better off with what we have moving forward.

 

Also, would recommend https://www.amazon.com/How-Star-Wars-Conquered-Universe/dp/0465049893 even if the author is a little pretentious.

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The Old Republic settings with Naga Sadow and Revan just seem too well put together to completely abandon. Hated how Korriban became Moraband for no other reason than Lucas decided "it sounded better;" asshole, just wanted to put his own brand on things and screw with fans because of his ego. The writers and animators of the show even said it was Korriban, just re-named; "the planet's original name having been lost to history."

 

I get it. It's Lucas' baby, but he sold out and made it a franchise for money and royalties and it has far outgrown him and it's LONG past time he could have put his foot down for the sake of continuity; he didn't care, he wanted the money. And guess what? The property did a damn good job of keeping things straight while Georgie Boy was off counting his cash. Again; it outgrew him, he needed to let it go.

 

The galling part is that they could have kept almost all of it and kept going but didn't because they were to lazy to come up with "new" stories and want to "refine" what's already been done and cash in on a rehash changing minor but defining details while still keeping the basic plot so it's their version and no one else's even while it's the same damn thing just re-named.

Edited by Drifter
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Yeah - it got to the point where it really felt like Lucas just straight-up resented the fans. Little 'fuck you's here n' there. I'm sure he regrets selling it.

 

I too, feel the pain of the loss of the EU - big time - but, I do get the need to wipe the slate clean to move forward. I wasn't into post-Jedi stuff, anyway - guess that helps. When the Prequels began to roll out and started contradicting EU - I loved how they tried their best to still maintain some form of continuity as it was all being re-written. There was genuine effort to keep the whole thing together - there always has been, that was part of the allure of the always expanding universe - despite the inevitable contradictions that come w/ 40 years of stories.

 

I agree, I think they're just going to re-tell and re-sell a lot of what already was in the EU, w/ minor tweaks n' such.

 

The EU is what kept Star Wars alive after Lucas abandoned it - Shadows of the Empire needs to be a cg movie! How 'bout a direct to video cg KoTR movie? The EU was greatness - the Star Wars universe is brilliant.

 

LOL - I just find it fascinating that EU fans are harassing Disney for more 'Legends' EU stories - to the point of buying a billboard! LOL - that kinda hardcore fanboy-ing is just too awesome! (shrugs) At least they're not flipping cars.

 

I dunno - I think continuing to grow the 'Legends' universe would be wasted creative effort - but, I wouldn't be surprised if some 'alternate tales' thing one day shows up.

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D'oh, I forgot about this thread; I should've posted about my Blu-Ray viewing of Episodes I-III in here.

 

Dig that EU vid, Nemo. Nice find. I was never an EU guy. I bought the Dark Empire TPB as a souvenir when I visited Disney World as a kid and read that. I want to say I read a book about Luke starting back up the Jedi Order after ROTJ sometime in the 90s, too. Mostly I knew about the EU stories and characters from conversations with my friends that were way into the EU. Those talks were always enough, the original movies were always the real draw to Star Wars for me. Part of the draw to Star Wars is the fantasy aspect, the mythological qualities Lucas weaved into the original films. I never had a hankering to know how X-Wings worked or such. I always satiated that techno-curiosity side with my Star Trek fandom.

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Can I rant for a minute (This is gonna be way more than a minute, FYI.) about how Disney/Lucasfilm are handling these Blu-ray releases of the new Star Wars films?

 

I really do not like how Disney is helping lead the way in regressing the Blu-ray market back to the dark days of DVD multi-edition releases with their first two Star Wars releases. Anyone Remember back in the day dark days of DVD when everyone bitched about how New Line handled the LOTR releases on DVD and gouged fans by making them buy multiple versions of the same damn movie? Well, it seemed like that era of multiple versions went away for a bit there with Blu-ray. When Lucasfilm finally released the complete saga (Episodes 1-6) on Blu-ray in 2011, it was fucking spectacular. It had never before released deleted scenes, commentaries on all the films, full length documentaries, and SW parodies from shows like Robot Chicken and Family Guy. This release had a total of three Blu-ray discs loaded with extra features. (That's an important thing to note, the special features being on actual Blu-ray discs, because a lot of these bonus disc's now will only have the special features on a DVD, even if you're buying the Blu-ray version.)

 

Now with on demand and streaming, sales are down on DVD & Blu-ray. So the studios are migrating back to their old tricks and even some frustrating new ones where they only put certain special features on discs sold by certain retailers; we've all seen the "Best Buy exclusive" and "Target exclusive" versions. Packaging is another thing, like for Rogue One Wal-Mart had "exclusive packaging" that also came with trading cards or something, but the content was the same on all Blu-ray versions they sold. I'm okay with that when these versions are released simultaneously. It’s simply yet another choice for the consumer. No harm, no foul. It's this division of content that sucks. Honestly, that content separation amongst retailers really didn't bother me as a consumer until they started doing it with Star Wars. Over the past 8 to 10 years my desire, and ability in so far as lack of time, to sit down and watch a film again in its entirety with a commentary has greatly dwindled. So when Target, Best Buy, and Wal-Mart have different featurettes with 5 to 10 minutes of behind the scenes footage of JJ Abrams’ Star Trek it wasn’t going to stress me out. No big deal for me. Until, that is, it happened with Episode VII.

 

When Lucasfilm/Disney released the “Collector’s Edition” of TFA on blu-ray almost a year after the standard version came out with a slew of additional bonus features such as commentaries, behind the scenes featurettes, and deleted scenes I got pissed. This is the version that should have been made available to fans 8 months prior! And even if they want to put out a "special edition" versus a "standard addition," then release them at the same fucking time so fans can make the decision without having to wait eight months for an alternate choice! This practice has happened with other films (Blade Runner) and other franchises (Alien) but it really pisses me off with Star Wars in particular because Star Wars fans are loyal as hell and buy a shit ton of merchandise already. Does Disney really (Really?) need to do this with these films? The answer is, of course, no. It's just a shitty money grab by Disney/Lucasfilm.

 

Now, to play devil's advocate, one could say Disney is a business; it's in their job description to increase the bottom line for investors, if the market is there then blah, blah, blah, bull fucking shit. Disney is a trusted brand, and it has succeeded in large part by presenting the best product possible to its customers. Usually, Disney is outstanding in this manner when it comes to home releases of their films. Past Pixar, Marvel Studio, and Disney classic films released on Blu-ray are often packed with special features, and even the initial release of these films is often at a reasonable price. (For the sake of argument I'd say a current "reasonable" price point for a new Blu-ray release is $22, but honestly it should be $19 or less.)

 

And this is why the handling of the Star Wars films is so frustrating because Disney does not (currently) do this with any of their other films or franchises. They're not doing this with their Pixar films or Marvel films. However they know how loyal Star Wars fans are and they have no problem at all fleecing them with these multiple editions with varying content. It's fucking Sith level fuckery, this is. A good example of how Disney will usually release multiple editions of a Blu-ray is Finding Dory. Disney put out two versions of Finding Dory on Blu-ray, one with 3-D and one without. Both versions had the same bonus features and were released on the same day. So consumers were able to make a choice. Consumers didn't have to do research to see which retailer had which special features or worry about another, better, version being released months later. But that's not at all that's not how TFA or R1 were handled. I guarantee there will be a “collector’s edition” of Rogue One released come November. And then Disney will likely repeat the process again with the other three SW films they have in the works. Total fuckery.

/rant

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the original movies were always the real draw to Star Wars for me. Part of the draw to Star Wars is the fantasy aspect, the mythological qualities Lucas weaved into the original films. I never had a hankering to know how X-Wings worked or such. I always satiated that techno-curiosity side with my Star Trek fandom.

 

Yeah, same here - as far as the draw. It's those broad mythological themes. Part of the beauty of Star Wars is the fact that you can get something out of it that someone else might not. Someone's take away might be the cool aliens and ships - to some, it's the 'everything I learned in life, I learned from Star Wars'. LOL - depending on how you tilt your head - Star Wars can be looked at in so many different ways.

 

For me, since I was a kid - it was Luke choosing the 'alternative path'. He was being pushed / manipulated by everybody to kill - Obi-Wan, Yoda, the Emperor, Vader - but, he chose Option B.

 

When Luke tossed his lightsaber and told the Emperor that he had failed...to me, he was telling everyone to go 'fuck themselves'. 'I ain't killing nobody.'

 

(Nevermind he tried to shoot Jabba the Hutt in the head @ the beginning of Jedi)

 

"I can't kill my own father." "Then the Emperor has already won." Seriously?!

 

I really do not like how Disney is helping lead the way in regressing the Blu-ray market back to the dark days of DVD multi-edition releases with their first two Star Wars releases.

 

Totally agree. I got the standard edition - the 3-disc edition.

 

Which means - I essentially bought: the Rogue One feature itself on blu, a DVD copy of the feature, a digital copy of the feature and a second blu ray disc...totally dedicated to special features. A disc for special features is fine, but it's only about an hour. Informative...something I want, but stuff that could easily fit on the same disc as the blu ray feature. It all felt like physical padding, justifying the price.

 

I have to pay for an unwanted DVD copy, a completely unnecessary second blu ray disc and a digital copy. AND I know - a better / more complete edition is eventually coming. Yeah, I felt cheated on TFA and on this, too. Felt like the ol' double-dipping days of DVD.

 

I waited nearly a year to buy Days of Future Past on blu - 'cuz I knew that Rogue Cut was coming. They waited nearly a year to put that out. That was a wait.

 

What the Star Wars camp is doing - I hate so hard. BUT - I get it. I can see the Sequel Trilogy Box Set..."w/ over 11 hours of never-before-seen footage". Makes me wanna just...not pay...until that box-set comes out. Shit, I held out on each Hobbit blu release for their inevitable Extended Edition. But, this isn't a more 'complete' movie you're missing out on - it's that 'closer look' at the process and the world, they know fans salivate at.

 

I'm beginning to see these Star Wars releases now as a 'theatrical release' and an 'extended edition'. Peter Jackson knew fans just waited for the Extended Edition - but, routinely put out 2 editions, months apart anyway. Fuckery, indeed. Glad the Marvel releases were spared from multiple editions.

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  • 2 weeks later...

 

^ It's so totally happening. They probably should've gone w/ a Obi-solo flick first...before they went w/ the 'young Han Solo'...thing. Maybe even Boba Fett's solo flick. Young Solo is kinda like...'really?' Ewan back as an older Obi-Wan doing...I don't know what...sounds waaay more exciting than a 'young Han Solo movie'.

 

Maybe the spin-off films should be kinda like Rogue One - just focused on entirely new characters...bring in classic characters as cameos. Where can they take an older Obi solo film? Can't face Vader..."When I left you, I was but the learner..." Maybe some journey to protect a village or something? Ah dunno - I can't think of anything.

 

Obi-Wan is legend in Star Wars Land - and cinema, in general. If done right (a super-solid story), it could be a super-epic film.

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Yeah, same here - as far as the draw. It's those broad mythological themes...

 

Yeah, it's been said many, many times before--Star Wars isn't science fiction, it's science fantasy. I hope these new films don't continue to head in the direction of sci-fi. The trailer for TLJ hints that's not the case with Episode VIII, but only time will tell.

What the Star Wars camp is doing - I hate so hard. BUT - I get it. I can see the Sequel Trilogy Box Set..."w/ over 11 hours of never-before-seen footage". Makes me wanna just...not pay...until that box-set comes out. Shit, I held out on each Hobbit blu release for their inevitable Extended Edition. But, this isn't a more 'complete' movie you're missing out on - it's that 'closer look' at the process and the world, they know fans salivate at.

 

I'm beginning to see these Star Wars releases now as a 'theatrical release' and an 'extended edition'. Peter Jackson knew fans just waited for the Extended Edition - but, routinely put out 2 editions, months apart anyway. Fuckery, indeed. Glad the Marvel releases were spared from multiple editions.

Nah, I can't say I "get it" for the exact reasons I mentioned prior and the sentiment you echoed in your last sentence. Disney knows how to do a proper DVD/BR release right the first time, but they just choose to fuck w/ SW fans for that extra money grab. It's fucking shameful.
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