The Week In Geek: Star Wars “May The 4th Be With You”
If you are one of those geeks, the kind that are sick to death of Star Wars and can live your whole life without ever hearing that Twentieth Century Fox fanfare music again, or seeing that “...a long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away” on your television screen, then you may wish to skip this week’s Week In Geek. In honor of May the 4th, the internet-dubbed “Star Wars” day, and the official announcement of Star Wars on Blu Ray, this will be an all Star Wars column. Also, to be honest, there wasn’t a hell of a lot of big news this week anyway. So thanks George Lucas, you big Muppet you.
This week, on May the 4th of course, Lucasfilm anounced the specs and details for the long awaited Star Wars: The Complete Saga on Blu-Ray. Considering that Blu Ray is probably the last physical media format that any of us will ever know, Old Man George has promised to make this the ultimate set for Star Wars geeks. But is it really the ultimate? Before we get into the specs announced for this new “ultimate” set, Let’s get into the history of Star Wars on home video, or at least MY history with the saga on video, and just how much money I’ve shelled out to Lucas for the same movies over and over and over again.
“….A Long Time Ago…..”
I’ve bought the Star Wars Trilogy more than any other movie or movie series. The first time I got them was back in the 80’s. This was when most movies that were not Disney films were priced at $100 a pop, before Blockbuster Video pushed throught the idea of VHS to own for most movies. But Star Wars was the exception, priced to own even back in the day. Very few people had movie libraries back then, but if you did, you had the Holy Trilogy on your shelf. The movies were in horrible pan and scan, way before average people knew what widescreen was, and most who did know bitched about the “black bars” on their tv screens. I played these tapes to death, and the VCR even chewed up the tapes a few times. I always remember that the picture got all shitty right around the time the rebel fleet takes off from Yavin IV for the Death Star, because that’s where the VCR ate it one time.
Eventually, I became a true film geek, and soon after high school got my first laserdisc player. Back then, the only way to get movies that were in widescreen, in decent quality and with any special features was to get a laserdisc player. Yeah, it sucked to have to flip the discs over, but for the love of movies, it was worth it. An average laserdisc cost at least $40, and most had half the amount of features that your average DVD that goes for $5 at Target does today. *sigh* It was a dark time. But I didn’t know it…all I knew was that I could now have Star Wars in an awesome collector’s edition, a big black box set with all three movies (and in widescreen! squee!) with commentaries with Lucas, the special effects team, and a whole series of images and art and even a tour of the Skywalker Ranch archives, shot on beautiful video tape. Trust me, back in 1995, this set was the shit. It was also $200 fucking dollars.
The the special editions of the movies came in 1997, and I bought the movies again, this time only on VHS though. DVD had just come out, and I knew that was the next big format and laserdisc was about to become obsolete. Yeah, I hated Greedo shooting first too, and digital Jabba didn’t really look like Jabba, but damn, the other shit looked cool. In a little over ten years, I’d bought this series three times.
And then came the long wait; as DVD became the dominant format, and a true film geek’s wet dream, the Star Wars Trilogy was missing on the format until 2004. When it finally came out, the movies were tweaked again from their 1997 editions (Greedo still shot first, but Jabba looked better, and Hayden Christiansen was now a ghost in Return of the Jedi) But other than that, the movies looked good on digital…. really good. In 2007, Lucas capitulated to the fanbase and gave us the unaltered original movies. Well, sort of, they were really just the old 90’s laserdisc transfers slapped onto DVD’s in non anamorphic widescreen. This time they came in a tin with cool retro art. And with a stupid grin on face, I got this release as well.
So in short, in a little less than twenty years, I’d bought the series FIVE times. And with the arrival of the Blu Ray set this Fall, it will be six times. I happily accept my fate as George Lucas’ bitch
Here is the official list of what is to be included in this set, so you may wanna check that out before going further.
Read all that? Awesome.
Last year I wrote an article about the things I would want on a Definitive Star Wars Saga Blu Ray. It seems some of those things WILL be included, and some will not. Or at least, so it seems so far. One of the things I really wanted for this ultimate set was all the vintage “Making Of” television specials for the original trilogy…and they are (almost) all here…1977’s The Making of Star Wars, 1980’s Empire SPFX and 1983’s Classic Creatures: Return of the Jedi in their entirety. Sweet. I also said I wanted new documentaries, and we are getting three. One, on the 501st Stormtrooper Legion, another a talk with the four key people behind the greatest film in the saga The Empire Strikes Back (Lucas, screenwriter Lawrence Kasdan, John Williams and director Irvin Kershner, shot not long before his death last year) and another 90 minute documentary on the sheer amount of Star Wars parodies in pop culture over the past 30+ years. Usually I hate stuff like that, but sometimes it seems the internet is built on Star Wars parodies. And there have been a lot of great ones, so this seems appropriate to me.
However, having an 84 minute doc on the 501 Legion is a bit excessive…yeah, I know they do charitable work and all, and this is a shot for those dedicated Star Wars fans to get their shot at being in an official Star Wars set, and that’s cool, but what about a doc on the whole merchandising phenom that is Star Wars? And what about the great History Channel documentary Star Wars: The Legacy Revealed? Any would have been better to a doc on Stormtrooper cos players.
Ok, now comes the real bitching. I’m not even gonna complain about the lack of the original cuts of the classic trilogy…I pretty much made my peace with that one a while ago. Lucas is never going to release decent looking versions of those. But I AM gonna bitch about other shit. I am a firm believer that when you make a new Blu Ray box set of anything, you port over any and all special features from the previous DVD releases. And then add more. The Star Trek movies box set from 2009 did this, as did the excellent Alien Anthology set that came out this past Christmas. And from what it seems from the outset anyway, Lucas has chosen not to do this. The great Empire of Dreams documentary from the 2004 DVD Box Set does not appear to be included, and none of the making of docs from the prequel Trilogy that appeared on the original DVD releases are also not listed. The Beginning documentary included with Episode 1 DVD was far superior to the actual movie, and I have a hard time believing there is not enough disc space for these. Yes, I still have all my original DVD’s, but that’s not the point. Part of the appeal of getting the new Blu Ray set is that I can get rid of those now and free up shelf space. I’m not going to judge too harshly just yet, as Discs 7 and 8 are labeled the “Star Wars Archives” and describe various things “and more.” The old DVD Documentaries, especially if they are in Standard Def, could be the “and more” they speak of. Guess we won’t know till Comic Con, when they assured that more will be revealed.
And then…there’s the cover art. The Complete Saga cover art is a painting of Anakin leaving his home in The Phantom Menace, juxtaposed with Luke Skywalker (from behind) looking at the famous Tatooine binary sunset from A New Hope. Nice concept, but the last thing ANY Star Wars fan wants to encapsulate the entire saga is a shot of little annoying snot Annie. I would have greatly preferred a much more simple image of the Tatooine Homestead, sans any people, with the binary sunset above. If there is any planet that encapsulates Star Wars, it is Tatooine after all, as it appears in five out of six movies. Or maybe with the droids instead of people, as they are also in every movie. Anything but baby Anakin.
In fact, the individual trilogy releases have much better cover art than The Complete Saga edition…yes, they are still photoshop, but unlike the photoshop atrocities that made up the covers for the 2004 DVD releases (seriously, pull them off your shelf and look at them…they really look awful) these look pretty cool. Obviously, a lot more thought went into the classic trilogy one than the prequel ones….who decided that Yoda was the central image of the prequels? And why include Jimmy Smits’ Bail Organa and not Christopher Lee’s Count Dooku? And not that I mind…but funny how Jar Jar is no where to be found on that cover. I mean, he’s in seemingly every damn frame of Episode 1, and yet, couldn’t make the box art? Again, not a complaint… just an observation.
Regardless of my bitching, I know that come Septermber 16th, I’ll happily buy Star Wars all over again in glorious High Def, and whatever it may be missing in terms of special features and what not, I’ll think back to when it cost me $200 dollars just to have the movies in widescreen, and I’ll sit back and smile at how much easier it is to be a geek nowadays.
