Andy, the original films were never released on LD with a Dolby Digital track. Only the SEs were. I would love to have the the original 6 track mix re-purposed to 5.1, the original Dolby Stereo mix and the mono mix on DVD, along with the original crawl. Give me that with a new 16x9 transfer and I'd be happy.

Neil

Neil S. Bulk wrote:Andy, the original films were never released on LD with a Dolby Digital track. Only the SEs were. I would love to have the the original 6 track mix re-purposed to 5.1, the original Dolby Stereo mix and the mono mix on DVD, along with the original crawl. Give me that with a new 16x9 transfer and I'd be happy.

Neil

Neil, cheers, indeed, I stand corrected. I thought that very last "Original Trilogy" THX release (the individual discs, not the 1993 box set) were 5.1, but they were Dolby Surround.

That said I still feel this set needs a 5.1 track. I just hope the discs are 16:9 enhanced, but there are rumors (take them for what they're worth) that the discs will be 4:3 widescreen and taken off the laserdisc masters...which I personally can't believe, but we'll see.

I wouldn't be surprised if they were 4x3. Jim Ward said in USA Today, "It is state of the art, as of 1993, and that's not as good as state of the art 2006...". 1993 is when the THX transfers were first released (they were reissued in 1995). They had new Dolby Stereo mixes in 1993 which would translate to 2.0, which has been announced. George Lucas has said, "The special edition, that's the one I wanted out there. The other movie, it's on VHS, if anybody wants it. ... I'm not going to spend the, we're talking millions of dollars here, the money and the time to refurbish that, because to me, it doesn't really exist anymore. It's like this is the movie I wanted it to be, and I'm sorry you saw half a completed film and fell in love with it.". So if he didn't want to sink time and money into them, just what are we getting?

So while I would absolutely love to have a new 16x9 transfer with all of the original sound mixes, and both crawls and the 1985 and 1993 re-mixes all on one disc, based on all of the evidence we have at this time, it seems like this is a half hearted bone being thrown to fans. Coming off of the 1993 digital master and going to DVD will still look better than the LD so it would be an upgrade to what's out there, but in 2006 it could be so much more.

Let's hope the right thing happens with this.

Neil

Neil S. Bulk wrote:I wouldn't be surprised if they were 4x3. Jim Ward said in USA Today, "It is state of the art, as of 1993, and that's not as good as state of the art 2006...". 1993 is when the THX transfers were first released (they were reissued in 1995). They had new Dolby Stereo mixes in 1993 which would translate to 2.0, which has been announced. George Lucas has said, "The special edition, that's the one I wanted out there. The other movie, it's on VHS, if anybody wants it. ... I'm not going to spend the, we're talking millions of dollars here, the money and the time to refurbish that, because to me, it doesn't really exist anymore. It's like this is the movie I wanted it to be, and I'm sorry you saw half a completed film and fell in love with it.". So if he didn't want to sink time and money into them, just what are we getting?

It's comments like these that have added fuel to my dislike and disrespect of Lucas since way back in the day. I feel like ranting here, but I'll leave it at this: his tepid, childish storytelling and boring directorial style certainly showed in EPISODES I-III. I'm glad the STAR WARS universe is closed. He has millions of dollars on top of billions- too bad he's so selfish.

So while I would absolutely love to have a new 16x9 transfer with all of the original sound mixes, and both crawls and the 1985 and 1993 re-mixes all on one disc, based on all of the evidence we have at this time, it seems like this is a half hearted bone being thrown to fans.

That's exactly how I feel as well Neil.

I remember reading in Video Watchdog many years ago about how there were different variants between the various STAR WARS prints -- even BEFORE the Special Edition came out! The author went through each one, showed where some dialogue had been changed, where an effect had been tweaked, etc., even between the first video release and those 1993 laserdisc masters. Certainly raises a lot of issues about what we'll be seeing...if by chance those specs are wrong and we end up with 5.1 and 16:9 then I'll be happy.

These days there's zero excuse for any movie not to be 16:9 enhanced. I mean, if Anchor Bay could release RHINESTONE in 16:9 there's no reason why STAR WARS can't.

And one other thing- if people hadn't have fallen in love with the original STAR WARS George would have no career. He certainly wouldn't have made any money off of THX-1138 which was awful. Boy this dude thinks he's the cat's meow. Thanks George.

Sorry Andy- this just blows my mind that this dude really feel this way. I just don't get it- no one fell in love with his "special editions"....UGH!