From the Star Wars Home Video Library #15: Original Trilogy on DVD, Part 2 (2006)
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- Опубліковано 12 жов 2013
- This episode of From the Star Wars Home Video Library focuses upon the third release (2006) of the Original Trilogy on DVD, this time with the "unaltered" editions on bonus discs. (Yes, I again say 16x9 when talking about a standard TV, rather than saying it correctly. This is addressed in a later video.)
- Розваги
What's really strange about my copy of the OT on DVD is that I have the 2006 copies of the movies with the 2004 widescreen box and bonus disc, so my parents probably just went to some store that packaged all of those parts together for convenience. That's probably the ideal way to own these movies on DVD.
I think what they did with inserting the original crawl from that 70mm theatrical print source was a nice touch, primarily due to the fact that there had never been a home video release of the film that didn't have the A New Hope subtitle and episode number. The Limited Edition is the only official (aside from 16mm/35mm/70mm theatrical prints, both in mono and stereo) release i know of to include the opening as it appeared when the film premiered in theaters back in 1977, and all of the re releases prior to 1981 when that addition was made. The funny thing about this little detail is they could have just as easily straight ported the Definitive Collection masters as is. It seems they decided on that splice in order to market it as something as close to the original version as they could with the laserdisc source they had.
I actually like the "unaltered" versions. When I was four my parents took me to see Star Wars at the drive in theater. Believe it or not but the picture reminds me of how it looked back then.
"Full screen sucks" you said it bro. Totally agree.
Thanks. I'm just getting through these for the first time. Enjoying the heck out of them so far.
The first time the letterboxed format of the bonus discs bugged me was when I streamed ESB with my Livejournal friends (we were marathoning the unaltered OT, and my comp was having issues when I was supposed to stream ANH so one of my friends streamed that version) because it was just one small rectangle.
Then when I was watching ESB on my portable DVD player the black line bugged me a little, not enough to avoid watching it again, but it does suck that Lucasfilm decided to not give them a proper widescreen release. Thankfully the TV in my room can zoom in on the image so I can watch my 1995 THX widescreen set without much black. If I could remember where I put my DVD player's AV cords I'd plug that in and watch the unaltered discs on there.
Hey, there was an additional oddity with the 2006 bonus disc and individual Star Wars dvd's. Sometime around 2008 or so, there started being individual sales of the 2004/2005 dvd cases. (which meant that a barcode sticker had to be put on with the packaging as there was not one on the actual case art)
But it still included the bonus dvd from 2006, despite not having any indication that this was a multi disc set. Only the sticker on the outer plastic that also appeared on the 2006 dvds (includes digitally remastered plus original theatrical version) was a clue that this 2004 disc had the other disc included.
That was 2006. In 2008 they released the 2 disc sets in a box set. 2 discs per case.
My Tv automatically zooms in without me having to push a button.
This was the first Star Wars film I saw in theaters back when it was re-released in 3D in 2012 the year where Star Wars was celebrating it's 25th anniversary
And by that I meant The Phantom Menace (the ONLY film to be re-released in 3D)
You're the man dude! Thank you!
The original unaltered versions on these releases may be sourced from the 1993/1995 THX non anamorphic Laserdisc transfers, but they represent the only time that there has been a release of anything even remotely resembling the films as they were in theaters in the digital era. I got these because i primarily experienced the trilogy in original form as a child on VHS with my dad and as such i simply cannot bring myself to watch the Special Editions, so the bonus discs despite their flaws are still where i go to experience the films unaffected by the post 1997 changes. At least i have a widescreen TV set that allows me to alter the screen ratio and get around the letterboxed 16:9 image.
All in all, these are decent if you want something close to the films as they were pre Special Edition.
That's what I mean. To show on the screen, it has to fill that space with something, so it is just black bars by default.
The worst part about the 2006 version is that the films are not anamorphic, but the menu screens on those discs are anamorphic.
I bought the 2 disc sets cause I liked to own each film individually, not cause i'm crazy about the unaltered editions. Except that I welcome only some of the changes Lucas made, not all of them.
I really like that collectors tin with the 3 movies. But I don't know what made them wanna have it open on both sides. XD Nice Video!
Hi, in this video (and in others) you refer to standard def TV aspect ratio as 16:9, when in fact they are 4:3.
Widescreen TVs are 16:9.
Thanks. That's something I noticed a long while back, but it is addressed in a later episode, given that it just wasn't practical to go back through every episode where that radio may have been mentioned to edit and reupload. Rest assured that it *is* addressed and corrected later.
Great video...very informative..I want that steel case box set...Hope this guy knows about the Despecialized Editions!
Have you thought of going over all the different promotional store exclusive things that these dvd's were released with? Best Buy had a tin. Wal-Mart had a reprint of the comic books to accompany each movie, Circuit City had a lithograph I think and I forget what Target did.
Perfect, that's my understanding too.
I managed to snag episodes 4 and 5 at two different stores (5 at Game X Change in 2018 for $9.95 and 4 at FYE in 2020 for 12.99) in used condition. But the discs have been cleaned to look new. I'm happy for that, hoping to look for episode 6 to complete the 2006 dvd versions. Plus I have always loved looking for my favorite movies just for the thrill of the search.
Besides loving the Unaltered versions, the 2004 Special Edition is my favorite Special Edition, Besides the unnecessary tweaks, I do like the fixes, and they added the original mono dialogue in this version. Picture does look the best in the series, better upscaled on a Blu-Ray Player or DVD Upscaler.
If I may, I don't think it's that it "adds" the black bars onto the sides, but rather that the image itself being read from the DVD is actually in 4:3 ratio. So each frame of the video content is this "square" instead of a widescreen 16:9 rectangle, and that "square" is being displayed as such on the widescreen TV without stretching or distortion. Now, within that "square" is your anamorphic image with the built-in black bars on top and bottom, as you said.
Thank you for the info ! Just got the 2008 ot trilogy dvd , with the g.o.u.t films. & the thx widescreen 1995 vhs . now to see which has better quality .
Fullscreen does indeed suck. When i first got the special editions on video, the fullscreen completely cut out the sentinal-class landing craft, one of my favorite ships.
I prefer to have my original original trilogy on a Blu-Ray player on TV that zooms in, like Nathan himself. What I advise people to do is to get a Veon or JVC TV from NZ. They have the zoom function that I use.
The ones I got included the graphic novel for each one.
So, we're in a day in age where physical media is not being seen in every aisle of stores that offer it, mostly those titles are going straight to streaming services, and yes people want to own their favorite movies or TV shows on a physical media format and others do not care if they are on streaming or not. But what I have seen over the years, has been complete series sets of TV shows or movie series, like for instance, Shout Factory got two big slasher/horror icons to home media format, Friday the 13th with Paramount and New Line Cinema (with whom they cut a deal with, for this set to be released) to a complete series set, the only time that series ever got a release, never intended for the movies to be released separately, the same can be said for Halloween, Shout cut a deal with the many companies that did the many Halloween sequels, on a home media format. So, if Disney ever releases the original Theatrical versions on a home media format, it would be on a complete series set, probably for a limited time like the others. Just my assumption.
the one thing that bothers me about this release Nathan is that they removed the a new hope crawl that's the only thing and yea it would have been cool if we got them in anamorphic and them in pan and scan for the fullscreen version
Well, they removed the crawl for good reason. They were attempting to recreate the original theatrical presentation, which didn't include the crawl. Including it (even though it was coming from the 1993 masters) would have sort of defeated the point.
+JL leicher It's like Nate said above me, they wanted to market these releases as close to the original versions as possible for the purists who had been clamoring for the unaltered editions of the classic trilogy, and considering that the A New Hope subtitle and Episode IV number did not get added to the crawl of the original film until the theatrical re release in 1981 it just wouldn't have made sense to have it on there given the intention. Personally, i believe that was a nice touch on their part to include the original 1977 version of the crawl from that film print since up to that point there had never been a release on home video going from the first full versions on VHS, Beta, Laserdisc and CED back in 1982 to the time of the Limited Editions containing it without that subtitle and episode number barring the exceptions of theatrical prints in 16mm and 35mm both mono as well as stereo that he's mentioned on this show numerous times.
I bought the dvds from the 20th Century Fox site.
I actually own the 2006 sets along with the ones that came in the dvd + blu-ray combo pack.
Question Nathan, which versions of the OT do you prefer? I prefer the 2004 version if only because it doesn't have Vader doing the "Noooo" thing at the end of ROTJ. Breaks the suspense and Ben's "Kryat Dragon" yell is just awful and is coming from someone who generally doesn't mind the changes Lucas made.
Also I don't normally watch the bonus discs on my TV for the reason you mentioned but instead using the VLC Media Player where I can change the aspect ratio to 16:9. Sure it stretches the picture but you get used to it fairly quickly so not a deal-breaker for me.
I'd just crop it using VLC
I loved having them, but the problem with the transfer make them annoying.
My goodness. I'm currently Watching 4K77 on a blank Blu-Ray Disc that one of my friends burnt onto a Blu-Ray disc for free. But man, Watching the Mono Mix is a different experience I'd think I'd ever experience. Missing little dialogue excerpts here and there, C-3P0's Missing dialogue, "Close the blast doors!", Aunt Beru sounds completely different, even the Stormtroopers sound different. Even guns and ships sound different. And I might enjoy this better than the stereo Sound Mix.
Yup, the mono mix is great fun, especially after decades of the original audio burned into our minds.
I want that collector’s tin!
I bought those on Widescreen September 12th, 2006 Id like to buy the Full Screen but really it would just be a waste of money. You really should invest in the soundtracks too you can listen to them when you read Star Wars books. That's what I do. I miss the old square TV's don't throw those away! Use them until they burn out! Don't be wasteful!
Its nuts they still haven't released them, in some kind of criterion version.
The thx remastered editions on VHS was restored while the 2006 DVD was not. Also stereo sucks. Thus making the VHS still better? Am I wrong?
@Nathan Butler In your opinion which is better, taking a new sealed 1995 VHS trilogy and having it professionally transferred to DVD or buying the Special Edition trilogy with the original theatrical version with black boxes on the top and bottom and sides?
Download the Despecialized editions. They're awesome!!!
No matter how good your vcr or capture equipment is, you can't copy VHS and get better quality than dvd. The vhs and dvd came from the same master so copying them to dvd yourself is adding another step in the process.
Even capturing from the laserdiscs doesn't look as clear as the dvd's unless you have one of the high end players sold only in Japan that still go for over a thousand dollars on ebay. (Pioneer X0 or X9) Then it can look pretty close to dvd quality.
Also, note that the 1995 tapes or laserdiscs have the same black bar setup. They're are all letterboxed and not anamorphic widescreen. People made a big deal out of the 2006 dvd's not being 16x9 enhanced because by then it was common practice for every widescreen dvd to be made anamorphic. In the vhs and laserdisc era, letterbox was still normal.
What star wars video games do you own? I have TPM PS1, Clone Wars xbox, ROTS ps2, best of pc, battlefront ps4, Lego ii ps2, Lego complete wii.
I don't tend to collect them, since I sell off old systems as I get new ones usually. Right now in physical form, I believe I still have The Force Unleashed for PS3, Wii, and DS, and its Ultimate Edition for PS3; The Force Unleashed II for PS3 (Limited Edition), Wii, and DS; Lightsaber Duels for Wii; Jedi Alliance for DS; Republic Heroes for DS; Republic Heroes for PS3; Kinect Star Wars for Xbox 360; Battlefront 2 for PS4, and LEGO Star Wars: TFA for PS4. The rest are all digital these days pretty much.
The original "unaltered" films were not made in VHS or Laserdisc quality, they were filmed in 35mm. I know I'm being an ass, but a scan of the theatrical release doesn't take more than two weeks.
he basically just re released the laserdisc versions
Many TVs and set-top players can 'pull' a letterboxed image outward, but it's not standard. I didn't do my homework and would up with a TV that only has anamorphic settings.
I've found that the newer the TV these days, the less likely to allow zoom or to handle letterbox automatically. The sweet spot seem to be TVs from around 2005 - 2010 or so.
@@ChronoRadio I have a 4:3 set made in 2005 and this holds true, but since it's not 16:9 it doesn't help here.
For me, Full Screen is good in a way, generally speaking, Widescreen will always be better, but when I watch a Full Screen Movie or an old TV Show from about 20 or more years back, on my Blu-Ray player, which basically stretches the 4:3 picture to a 16:9 picture format, I happen to like the way it looks. DVDs to me still look good, especially upscaled on a Blu-Ray Player on my 70” 4K TV. It’s weird but, in That format, Full Screen looks a lot better than Widescreen does on its own TV. Pretty weird, but I like it.
Hello Nathan.!! Really enjoy your Star Wars Vids, in your opinion as I'm starting get into Star Wars home video collecting, which of the DVD versions are your favorite.? If you just had to pick one set, which one would you choose.? I am all about owning the original unaltered films too. Thanks my friend.! :)
+Quinn Spears For DVD, I prefer the two 2008 sets, but they're pretty expensive now.
+Nathan Butler hello Nathan.! Thank you for your your kind reply, I actually am lucky enough to own the 2004 box set, I also own now the 2006 limited edition sets and I also am extremely lucky enough to have the Best Buy tin from 2006 :), I really love that tin set especially. Would be cool to have the 2008 set of the originals. So I I think I have a good sent in the collection so far.! Cheers mate.!
So I need some advice. I have been thinking about trying to own all versions of the original Star Wars trilogy including the original unaltered trilogy, the special editions (which I already own), the 2004 DVD releases, and the blu-ray collection of the entire saga. This way I can watch any version with or without changes or with some changes or all. Now for the unaltered versions I've thought about getting the THX remastered VHS set but I heard that in the 2006 DVD releases along with the 2004 DVD Release disc there is a bonus disc which has the original unaltered version. But I also understand the quality is very poor having been transferred form a laserdisc release. So I was wondering since because it was transferred from laserdisc if the THX Remastered VHS's would actually look better. I just want to know which one I should get. I would still get the 2004 DVD collection but should I just get the original 2004 DVD release and The THX VHS set or get the 2006 DVD have both but with the bad quality.
Daniel Velker It will depend on the features and availability of your players. Do you have access to a laserdisc player? If so, go with the 1993 Definitive Collection. if not, the THX Remastered widescreen VHS release or the 2006/2008 DVD Bonus Discs are pretty close in quality. If your TV or player can zoom in and turn a letterboxed version into what amounts to a full widescreen picture, then go with either VHS or DVD, based on which you could zoom in on to eliminate the black "bars" on left and right. If using a standard definition TV, it won't matter much. For me, the biggest issue I've seen quality wise between the Bonus Discs and the VHS releases is the background hiss you often get with any VHS release vs. DVD. Does your sound system automatically compensate for that noise? If not, bonus discs may be the best bet. It's really a question of setup because of them all coming from the same master.
Nathan Butler Ok so I read your comment and I decided to go ahead and get the 2006 limited edition DVD's, so thanks for that advice. But I have two more questions I want to ask about something else.
1. I am already planning on getting the Complete Saga blu-ray set to give me my 2011 versions of the original trilogy and the prequels. Now I was also wondering about the DVD's of the prequels. The reason I am getting all these different versions of the original trilogy as I said is to watch any version with or without changes. But for the prequels I wanted to know if there were much major changes between the DVD's and the blu-rays. I understand there are some changes but is there anything too major where it would be worth owning both the the DVD's and Blu-Ray's of the prequels. If not I'll just get the blu ray set and be done prequel-wise.
2. My second question is in regards to the bonus disc that came in the 2004 DVD box set. I was thinking about buying it separately after I buy the limited edition DVD's but I wanted to know if the features on that bonus disc are on the blu-ray set. I went on to a site that listed features on both but I didn't see for example The Empire of Dreams documentary on the blu ray set. So does that mean that the features on the 2004 bonus disc are not on the blu ray set? If they are I won't be buying that bonus disc. But if not I will.
Thanks for taking your time to read this and hope to hear from you soon.
Daniel Velker For TPM and AOTC, there are minor tweaks, but not much. For ROTS it's only the restoration of the wipe/cut that was changed from theatrical to DVD and now back again on BD.
As for the Bonus Disc for 2004, the featuers are not on the BD set. For the most part, they are completely different.
Nathan Butler Ok I think I know what I want to get now. Thanks for all your help.
If it's mastered from the laserdisc, then it has been tweaked from the original, because letterbox is not the standard aspect ratio. Plus the motion blurring makes it look really bad...especially when you zoom in on your HD TV. Looked really bad. Not anything near as good as the THX laserdisc's or the fan made films like Harmy's or the new 35 mm that has been cleaned up, and put on 4K.
Besides the original unaltered versions and the lego Star Wars II game demo/trailer I heard that there is other bonus materal on those bonus discs. Can you confirm this for me? Because I don't own the 2006 editions.
Not true. The both discs in the 2008 and 2006 Original Trilogy sets are identical, and the only content on the Bonus Disc is the unaltered version of the films and the Lego Star Wars II Xbox demo with accompanying trailer. That's all. (And yes, to be 100% certain, since I hadn't looked at these again since recording that video a while back, I looked at them again, and this is the case.)
Nathan Butler Thank you that's all I needed to know.
And by the way i do have the original trilogy on dvd. But I have the 2004 DVD Set in Full Screen. And I had always wanted to get these versions on DVD in Widescreen but they are ridiculously overpriced on ebay. Can you explain why the 2006 releases are this overpriced?
Matthew Flores It seems to be a matter of them not being available anymore. I often find that while demand seems to be higher overall for widescreen than for fullscreen, but since that was true in 2006 as well, prices tend to often be higher for fullscreen that widescreen on Ebay. So you're in good shape in looking for WS in this case. The whole "everyone bought this version in the, so the OTHER one is more pricey now on Ebay" thing also applies to the 2008 sets, since they were just repackaged 2006 DVDs that most people already had.
Why would even the most common 2006 DVDs be pricey on Ebay compared to what one might expect? I'd argue that it's those bonus discs with the unaltered films. People aren't buying them to get the repackaged first discs that were the same as 2004 and 2005, but just for those bonus discs.
I feel your pain on the costs. I spent a lot more money than I'd intended when I got into this home video collecting hobby a few years back.
Does it look weird when you put the 20th century fox dvds (that are numerical with the black background and brown lettering) with the disney dvds together?
Presumably. I typically don't store them together, though. I have separate sections in my shelves for each of the Disney era films since there are so many variants.
i know its 6 years after this video but how can i find unaltered editions??
Legitimate ones? Assuming you mean on a recent format, you'd need to grab the DVDs from 2006 or the trilogy set from 2008, though those aren't truly "unaltered," just close. Plenty on eBay.
@@ChronoRadio thank you
I have the full screen copy of the limited edition dvds, and mine do not have the side bars. Is mine a bootleg?
You're talking about the bonus discs with the "unaltered" version, right? That could depend on what kind of TV you have. It may be one that automatically zooms in on letterbox, which is rare but can happen. Feel free to take a picture or two and send them my way, and I can verify for you: nathan@starwarsfanworks.com
Yes I was talking about the bonus disc. Thanks for the help.
The letterbox works if you „zoom“ on your remote... although you better have the subtitles memorized, because they‘ll only show on the bottom of the black bar.
The 2006 GOUT DVD looks more like low-budget releases of The Definitive Collection badly compressed on an official DVD release. (3:45)
So the 2006 "unaltered" edition DVDs are not remastered in THX?? So the 1995 THX VHS boxsets are worth holding onto even if you own the 2006 "unaltered" DVDs just so you can have a THX remastered edition of the original trilogy before the 1997 changes?
The 2006 unaltered edition DVDs are THX remastered. They are based on the very first time the THX remastered version could be purchased, the 1993 Definitive Collection laserdiscs. Those same masters were used to put out the 1995 THX Remastered Edition on VHS and Laserdisc, but those were just essentially the Definitive Collection without any of the bonus content.
Oh ok I see thats what I thought because around 3:50 in the video you mention it not being THX remastered so it kinda got me confused. So the only difference between the 2006 unaltered edition DVDs and the 1995 THX vhs set is the lack of the ANH subtitle in the crawl? BTW these vids are super informative and I've been binge watching the whole playlist..great stuff!
Yup, that's basically it, unless you want the Leonard Maltin interviews. Glad you're digging the series. Eventually you'll run into me talking about the book I would be writing on the subject, which actually released in May of this year for the 40th anniversary. It's a little more detailed.
?? 16:9 TV's ARE widescreen. I think you mean 4:3 TV's.
Correct. I got my terminology backward for a few of these 2013 episodes.
How many DVD sets were ever released that had the unaltered versions?
Miguel Sandoval If you mean actual boxed sets, then one, the blue and black one from 2008. That was WS only. In 2006, they released those discs for the first time in FS and WS, but you have to buy them individually unless you bought all 3 at once at Best Buy and got that collector's tin that made them a "set" even if they weren't sold as one technically. Those were the only times, though: 2006 and 2008. If you want FS (ugh), then only 2006.
But it's important to clarify the bonus unaltered disc is letterbox widescreen either way. The special edition version is the only one that was fullscreen or widescreen.
I can live with these versions on DVD. The 2006 GOUT disc with the repackaged 2004 DVD Special Edition. At least with this set it has the better Jabba The Hut CGI, certainly better than the whatever the hell was in the 1997 version (even though I hate that scene, because it was almost exactly word-for-word with the Greedo scene), and at least it does not have that cringe worthy NOOOO from Vader at the end of Episode VI.
I found the collector's tin on Amazon new for $20. I'm a little skeptical that it might be bootleg, but do you think it's worth the chance?
I haven't seen that tin bootlegged, I don't think, so the tin at least is probably legitimate. The prices have somewhat settled down for those over the last few years.
@@ChronoRadio ah, cool! I may check it out then
Fullscreen sucks. Widescreen amazing. Cinemascope even better. I don't really care if it's enhanced for Widescreen TVs or not, I can just zoom it in and that's it I just want a Widescreen.
George Lucas made the tin box like that just to prank the fans into thinking they broke the tin.
It would've been 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment, not Lucas, but the point is well taken. It just feels wrong when you compare it to the ones in other regions that only opened from the front.
I hate letterbox and I have the 2008 set. I have 2 TV's though ad 1 of them is a letterbox tv.
I really like Letterbox. Just not on a Widescreen TV though. Letterbox was made for Full screen TVs.