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back to article Star Wars: The Complete Saga Blu-ray disc set

Cards on the table: I’m not a Star Wars obsessive. I have precious little interest in the prequel trilogy. Indeed, I prefer the high velocity chutzpah of the Clone Wars animated series. And I don’t own any Hayden Christensen action figures either, although there may be a Slave Leia in my sock drawer. Star Wars: The Complete …

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  1. Thomas 4
    FAIL

    Is this a good review?

    Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo.

    Unofrtunately, while the reviewer is not a Star Wars obsessive, a lot of the people that are going to be interested in the boxset *are* and what the review misses is that a lot of key scenes have been altered.

    The one that has turned into an internet meme is the fact that now Vader pointlessly shouts "Nooooooooooooooooooooooooo" before tossing Emperor Palaptine down the well, the unnecessary scene in A New Hope featuring an appalling CGI Jabba confronting Han in Mos Eisley, the removal of the "yub-nub" song from Return of the Jedi, placing Hayden Christainsen in the line up at the end of Return of the Jedi, the whole "Han shot first" thing.....the list goes on.

    "I have altered the Original Trilogy. Pray I don't alter it any further." - George Lucas.

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    1. Windrose
      Reply Icon
      WTF?

      Yeah, it's good.

      Can the BS. We *know* the stories. The review of a Blu-ray copy of Star Wars should, and do, focus on the image quality and sound.

      The rest is subjective crap. Take it to some obsessed fanboi site with people who actually BELIEVE themselves when they claim they saw who shot first and how it coloured their perception of Han.

      P'nally I'm going to *enjoy* my boxed set this weekend. Noone requires YOU to do so. Go frame-step the DVDs and post a long blog entry about how TERRIBLY abused your favourite movies have been. Sheesh.

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      1. Jedit Silver badge
        Reply Icon
        Thumb Down

        You clearly haven't seen Vader's "No"

        If you had, you would realise that it wrecks the scene. As originally presented, Vader's emotional dilemma is made obvious through Dave Prowse's body language. Vocalising it strips away any requirement for subtlety of characterisation. Nothing plotwise has changed, but in terms of quality of presentation it's the sonic equivalent of taking a flying scene from Superman and putting the wires back in.

        (BTW, you don't have to be an "obsessed fanboi" to believe that Han originally shot first, because it's blatantly fucking obvious that he did.)

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        1. Huntsman
          Reply Icon
          Gimp

          Prowse?

          Wasn't it Bob Anderson playing Vader when he chucked Palpatine down the shaft...

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      2. Destroy All Monsters Silver badge
        Reply Icon
        Alien

        22 downvotes!

        Let a lesson to you this be!

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      3. Stef 4
        Reply Icon
        FAIL

        @ Windrose

        "people who actually BELIEVE themselves when they claim they saw who shot first"

        Are you on crack? Do you have any idea what you are talking about?

        Original: Han shoots Greedo under the table. There is no "shoots first" because there is no second shot. Han just guns him down, using his left had as a distraction while he unholsters with his right.

        Current version: A wide shot of a badly animated Han Solo action figure sitting opposite a badly animated Greedo action figure. Greed then shoots at Han from 2 feet away, and for some reason, despite the gun pointing directly at Han's head, the gun shoots almost sideways hitting the corner of the room, allowing a jerky Han to shoot Greedo. It looks like Greedo is now actually aiming at Han's left hand distraction.

        Pathetic. It looks like a Robot Chicken Star Wars special (which are great by the way).

        I look forward to a 'remastered' Citizen Kane as the snow globe falls to the floor, then shoots off at 90 degrees to take out a Taliban terrorist who is trying to crash a hijacked Rosebud into the Statue of Liberty. That might be the kind of thing you like Windrose, but please don't inflict it on the rest of us.

        I'll be buying the BluRays as I want the films in excellent quality. I'll just have to live with 1967 era Doctor Who special effects of Greedo shooting, and Han standing on Jabba's tail.

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      4. Glyn 2
        Reply Icon

        hmm

        "Can the BS. We *know* the stories. The review of a Blu-ray copy of Star Wars should, and do, focus on the image quality and sound."

        So when you read a review of a new film you ignore the stuff about character, plot, effects, etc.etc.etc. and instead want to know if the reviewer had a comfy seat in the cinema, didn't have someone with large hair in front of them and could hear over the sound of people eating crisps????

        The point of a film review should be the film. Every DVD/bluray magazine review cares more about the sound and picture quality and extras which you'll watch once, rather than the actual film itself...the object of the exercise.

        "The rest is subjective crap"

        That's what a review is, well done

        Also, you know the story but in the future there will be people born who won't know the story and they'll watch the didgeredoo playing obi-wan kenobi and wonder why it was ever popular.

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    2. Anonymous Coward
      Reply Icon
      Gimp

      Badly rendered though Jabba may be...

      ... in Mos Eisley but that scene was originally in the script. (albeit an actual person playing Jabba).

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      1. Sooty
        Reply Icon
        Gimp

        @m0rt

        Yes the scene was in the script originally, but when it was taken out Jabba's dialogue was given to Greedo.

        In the 'new' version Greedo tells Han a load of stuff from Jabba, then when he goes outside straight afterwards, Jabba repeats it all again himself.

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        1. Not That Andrew
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          Mushroom

          @Sooty

          Just because it was in the original script doesn't mean it's any good. As the last 3 movies shot clearly show George Lucas desperately needs someone to say "that's crap", "It will be better if you do it this way" and "ARE YOU INSANE!".

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    3. Shonko Kid
      Reply Icon
      FAIL

      Han shot first

      Is this the version where there's an extra scene at the beginning of ANH, where we see Greedo planting bombs, murdering school kids, abusing every known narcotic, and pimping out a whole bunch of those green dancing girls. All shortly before his ill-fated meeting with all-round-good-guy Han. Who was therefore totally justified in practically shooting him on sight, and as Han sits back with a wry smile on his face, we see that it was in fact Bin Laden in disguise!!!11!!

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  2. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Never underestimate George Lucas

    "Buy it safe in the knowledge that you’ll never have to fork out for these movies ever again "

    I read somewhere there is a 3D (not *actual* 3D of course, post production 3D) version in the works...

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  3. ksks
    Thumb Down

    Buy another copy, only an idiot will.

    Watching the changes lucus makes to each version on each re-re-re-re-release hurts.

    Why cant you leave them alone.

    You watch they will remake the original ones soon, and cast Macaulay Culkin as Luke Skywalker or something. And Jar Jar bloody binks will be central to the story or some such lame crap.

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  4. Lamont Cranston

    "actually see the model being brought to its knees by a judicious prod of a stick"

    Take that, suspension of disbelief!

    I suppose I should be pleased that they've not redone all the effects as CGI.

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    1. Jim 59
      Reply Icon

      Crusry special effects

      I find it easier to believe in the old Airfix effects than the modern CGI rendered.

      5 0
  5. bolccg
    FAIL

    "heck, he’s had enough time to make his mind up "

    You'd think so, wouldn't you? But apparently not.

    Perhaps make it look a bit better to suit modern tech George, but stop messing around with the rest of it.

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  6. El Zed

    Buy it, you will?

    No, no I frigging wont...Your Jedi mind tricks will not work on me, Lucas...

    11 1
  7. Christian Berger

    No, it's not

    It's missing the second movie, the "Star Wars Holiday Special".

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  8. jolly
    Facepalm

    "Buy it safe in the knowledge that you’ll never have to fork out for these movies ever again – or at least until the original version of A New Hope gets the green light…"

    Or until we're all watching tellies capable of 2160p or 4320p - then they can sell us the same old stuff all over again <yawn/>

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    1. Glyn 2
      Reply Icon

      It won't be the same old stuff, he'll have "re-imagined" it again by then

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  9. stu 4
    Stop

    won't have to purchase again ?

    er... star wars 3d has been green lighted.

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    1. Anonymous Coward
      Reply Icon
      Anonymous Coward

      Yes, but no one's going to buy it.

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  10. Anonymous Coward
    Joke

    You forgot to mention what matters most here...

    Who shot first on BluRay, Solo or Greedo ? :-)

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    1. Windrose
      Reply Icon

      Optional

      ... no-one actually CARE.

      If having Han calmly blast a bounty-hunter, then stand up and toss payment on the bar with a casual apology for the mess isn't enough to label him, erhm, "TOTALLY BADASS" ... no hope left for those folks.

      The rest of us view a movie, a story, in terms of the totality, not one specific frame out of 170,000 odd ones.

      No icon, 'cause there's not a single one for "Beam me out of this place, NOW!".

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      1. defiler
        Reply Icon

        Greedo shooting first

        Han's a bad-ass smuggler. Greedo is a bounty-hunter, where bad-assery is more or less a prerequisite. At that range, if either of them pulls the trigger, the other guy is going down.

        It's a tense negotiation, with Han being held at gunpoint. Finally, with the gun pointing straight at Han, Greedo fires and takes half the plaster off the wall. What the fuck? Did he bend his blaster or something? He's supposed to be a bad-ass, but he can't shoot an adult human at a range of about 4 feet! That's so ham-fisted, he could make a knuckle sandwich sound quite appealing.

        That's the bit that makes no sense. If there was a scuffle, lurching to feet, table thrown over, and *then* Greedo missed, it would be understandable. But to change history to make a shady character look like a nice guy is just stupid. You might as well have had Joseph Stalin in the editing suite...

        Han's a bastard. He shot first to make sure he didn't shoot last. He's a smuggler, not a nice guy. That's who he's supposed to be. Put it back.

        17 0
        1. JEDIDIAH
          Reply Icon
          Linux

          Lucas is badly out of touch.

          There is nothing inherently bad or evil about "firing first" when someone is pointing a gun at you.

          Let me repeat that:

          Someone is pointing a gun at you.

          You know what that is in real life? That's assult with a deadly weapon. You're well justified in firing first if you can in most jurisdictions. It's just nothing to get excited about. The change comes off like a senile liberal not fully understanding the context of the scene (his own scene).

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        2. Archimedes_Circle
          Reply Icon
          Holmes

          Whenever I watched it, it looked like he moved out of the way. How he moved out from a laser's path I was never sure about. I just assumed han solo was a ninja as well.

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          1. Jedit Silver badge
            Reply Icon
            Boffin

            Blaster bolts don't move at light speed

            If they did, they'd be visible as a beam rather than a bolt.

            I believe there's some handwaving explanation about them actually being vaguely plasma based, or something similar.

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      2. Anonymous Coward
        Reply Icon
        Paris Hilton

        Nope. Some people do "CARES"

        I'm not a SW fanboy, but I do know that certain things alter the substance of the film. In the original version, Han shoots first after the guy threatens him, which is kinda cool but actually reasonable.

        I mean wouldn't you?

        Their conversation goes something like:

        Greedo: Jabba will take your ship as payment

        Han: Over my dead body

        Greedo (pointing the gun at him): That's the idea. I've been waiting for this a long time...

        Waiting for the guy to shoot him after the above exchange makes Han a pathetic pu$$y.

        I think that's Lame and detracts from the film in a pretty real way.

        Paris because people like her also don't care...

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      3. schnide
        Reply Icon
        Thumb Up

        Here's a thought.

        If it doesn't matter who shot first, there was no need for Lucas to change it. TA-DA!

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  11. ted209
    Stop

    Not the original trilogy...

    Doesn't it at least deserve a mention that these are not the original theatrical versions?

    12 0
  12. jake Silver badge

    No, not the complete set ...

    Still three more stories to go.

    Supposedly.

    But whatever. Waste your money as you see fit. No skin off my teeth.

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    1. Martin
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      Headmaster

      Pedant alert...

      No skin off my nose - doesn't bother me

      Missed by the skin of my teeth - damn close.

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      1. Darryl
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        That's the way the cookie bounces

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    2. Andy Fletcher
      Reply Icon

      Still three more stories to go...

      Good bloody point - where are they? Hollywood are happy enough to do Shrek 15, so why not some new Star Wars.

      On topic - I'm not buying Star Wars again, again. I'm pretty sure I've coughed up 4 times already.

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  13. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    So I'm guessing that this only includes the versions of the original 3 films that Lucas pissed around with....

    At which point, no thanks.

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  14. Neil Porter
    Joke

    These aren't the blu-rays you're looking for...

    Am I the first to comment that? I suspect not.

    Of course, they *are* the blu-rays I'm looking for, yay!

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  15. Pavlov's obedient mutt
    Devil

    buy it, I wont

    having bought the VHS, the DVD, the DVD Directors cut - I think I've paid my dues.

    enough is enough

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  16. Dirk Vandenheuvel
    Thumb Down

    Buy it I certainly won't.

    I like my Star Wars untouched please.

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  17. Arctic fox
    Thumb Down

    I will certainly buy the original three on blu-ray, they are old favourites and.....

    ..................I love them. However, I will not part with a penny piece for the "prequels" - in fact you could not pay me to take them away.

    3 2
  18. jai

    bought it, i have

    just trying to convince the girlfriend that what she really wants to do on saturday is to sit down and watch all six movies in a row, back to back, with the only breaks allowed for going to the toilet and making cups of tea, and even then, only while the end credits of each film rolls by.

    am not having much luck with that so far, but there's still 2 days for me to convince her "these are the films you're looking for"...

    2 0
    1. Anonymous Coward
      Reply Icon
      Anonymous Coward

      Why are you taking a break...

      ... while SHE makes you cups of tea?

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    2. Martin
      Reply Icon
      Stop

      ...or alternatively....

      ...she has two days to realize that she has better things to do with her life than live it with someone whose idea of something good to do on a Saturday is watch all six Star Wars movies back to back?

      11 2
      1. Destroy All Monsters Silver badge
        Reply Icon
        Pint

        "she has two days to realize that she has better things to do"

        Keep the hope up you must!

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        1. hplasm
          Reply Icon
          Happy

          A test,

          this is, for her.

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  19. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    At least it's only Star Wars he's messing with

    Just think what a mess we'd get if George had had a hand in any other iconic movies.

    Casablanca - now in colour, with 3D effects and Rik has a cute animated sidekick!

    The Citizen Kane trilogy - Telling how Kane's long-lost son took over his newspaper Empire and struck back. (With a hilarious animated sidekick)

    The Third Man - was Jar-Jar!

    etc...

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    1. Martin
      Reply Icon
      Thumb Up

      Twelve Angry Men...

      "You don't want to find the defendant guilty...."

      "We don't want to find the defendant guilty."

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  20. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    I saw the original trilogy when I was 5

    I saw the original trilogy when I was 5. I thought it was brilliant.

    If I saw the new trilogies and the updated original trilogies when I was 5 I would also think they are brilliant.

    I don't know 1 person over the age of 60 who could give a monkeys about how much much George Lucas has changed the film they took their kids to see 36 years ago.

    These are children's films. Kids don't care who shot first, kids don't care that 30 years ago Darth Vader was silent at the end of RotJ, kids don't care that 35 years ago Obi Kenobi made a different noise to scare off sand people. They enjoy the ride.

    Kids think Pod Racers, Darth Maul and Lightsabre battles are cool, Jar Jar, Roger Roger Droids and C3P0 are funny.

    Did you know Ian McDermott wasn't the actor who played the Emperor in the theatrical release of Empire Strikes Back? Never heard 1 complaint about him being retro-fitted into subsequent releases of Empire.

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    1. Rattus Rattus
      Reply Icon

      You mean

      Ian McDiarmid, not McDermott. And nobody cares because you don't exactly get any kind of decent view of the Emperor in TES, and McDiarmid *was* the actor who played the Emperor, quite well too, in ROTJ.

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