Topic: Maybe I should have bought them sooner...

[Blair]

Not that I have plans of buying them now, but a set of old bookmarks and some curiosity lead me to these:

Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope (Two-Disc Widescreen Enhanced and Original Theatrical Versions) (1977)
Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980 & 2004 Versions, Widescreen Edition) (1980)
Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983 & 2004 Versions, Two-Disc Widescreen Edition) (1983)

Even though they had an SRP of $30, they were selling for around $20 each on Amazon when I was first pointed to them. I didn't buy them because I figured, in the end, I would likely never really want them (these specifically having the original theatrical releases else I could care less.) Most of my DVDs over the years have been gifts or bought through gift cards. I've never paid for many because there is always so much to watch again and again that I never saw a reason to stockpile.

Now the DVDs are selling for a combined $180, and I ask myself (even though I still don't want them so badly... again, it was just curiosity) why didn't I buy them back then? Sure the theatrical releases are laserdisc copies, no remastering (but how do you remaster something and keep the "flaws in tact" like people want?) and non-anamorphic (this last one doesn't matter given I watch on my computer and can adjust for this,) but they are, nonetheless, the original versions.


(I see a boxed set of these being sold used for $100 on another site. Hmmm....  )

Thoughts?



(On furthering the topic, do any of you ever have situations like this?)

[Mustrum_Ridcully]

I'm not that much of a StarWars-nerd myself (anymore).

Having watched the BluRay versions I have to say, that I wouldn't have noticed many differences if the REAL nerds wouldn't have pointed me to them.

If you want to pick those up as investment, I'm not sure if that's a too good idea.
Disney has just spent about 4 Billion Dollars to be allowed to make StarWars 7.
I would bet my left arm that for refinancing this a new Release of the Original 3 episodes (in their original look) is on it's way. Otherwise you wouldn't get the people that bought the last BluRay-release to Double-Dip.

[Blair]

I actually did make a comment over at DVDP about how I would love to see Disney release the originals which would probably make Lucas freak out. "My precious new versions, upstaged by this piece of crap that hardcore fans have been asking for the 15 years! Noooooo!"

Personally, I don't see them doing it, but I'd still love it.

In terms of not noticing the changes, from a "nerd" standpoint it's beyond obvious. Running along with a white wall as your backdrop as the good guys are being chasing by troopers changed to a through-glass outdoor scene with flying cars, replacing Sebastian Shaw (the original human face of Darth Vader) at the end of Return of the Jedi with that of Hayden Christensen (prequels pre-Vader) in the newer releases, adding scenes, editing scenes, adding and editing dialog, and removing "flaws" that were in part the movie magic that made the impossible possible from a movie of that time.

I believe that if Star Wars was first released in the 2000s, it wouldn't be nearly as big of a deal, and that it comes largely from us nerds praising the originals.

[Kathy]

Holy crap - I just checked and I own those!

...And I don't really know or care about differences. 

[DJ Doena]

...And I don't really know or care about differences. 

Blasphemy!

[Blair]

Karsten

[Dragonfire]

For shame Kathy, for shame.  You must watch and study until you can find every little difference..and then write a series of angry blog posts on how the changes suck.   

I don't have the movies on Blu-ray, but I can see myself getting them eventually.  I like the originals more than the prequels, though I did manage to enjoy them overall too.  I have noticed some of the changes.  For the most part, they haven't bothered me too much.  I do think it was beyond stupid to put in the young Anakin at the end of Return of the Jedi.  That didn't make any sense at all.  Yoda and Ben didn't revert to younger versions of themselves, so there was no freaking reason for Anakin to have done that.

[Achim]

I am not strong enough a fan to be upset by the changes he made to the originals. He clearly lost credibility by doing the hack jobs the prequels are. So, I bought the 9-disc Blu-ray set and will probably be done with that for a long time. 6 discs and 3 coasters was quite a good deal.

Somehow I doubt that Disney will release the originals in their, ahem, original form. If he really wants them to remain locked away he probably put a clause into the contract to that extent; or he simply kept the negatives... (which supposedly don't exist anymore anyway).