Star Wars coming to Blu-ray!

No big surprises with this announcement.
Now it's time for me to get the OT on LD.

 

You WILL be surprised. Lucas considers these releases the final versions of the films. No further work will ever be done. Details will be announced soon. FYI, the footage in the teaser trailer is not from the Blu-Rays. Lucasfilm has been working on improvements (sound, color correction, digital effects, etc.) since late-2004. An employee who has been on-board since 2005 said the CG now looks seamless in each film. Encodes and authoring have yet to be done.

 

Maybe he meant shooting indoors with faster film, thus grainier, as opposed to desert stuff that could be shot on slower film.

 

May it be true.

 

So does this mean that this will be different than the HD transfer that's already been shown on TV?

 

Oh and $5 says that they re-did Vader's unmasking scene at the end of Return of the Jedi so that it's Hayden Christensen in makeup.

 

Ugh, I think I'm going to throw up...

 

Please, NO!

 

Seriously though, there's bound to be some more changes for the blu-ray release, just like when they first came out on DVD. Just prepare yourselves!

 

Harrison Ford has been replaced by Shia LaBeouf.

 

Mon Mothma has been replaced by Natalie Portman with no explanation whatsoever.

 

I fear an entirely CGI Yoda in ESB and ROTJ...

 

Twisted AND evil.

 

Blasphamy! Puppet Yoda was REAL. He was a real thing on a set being interacted with, which CGI Yoda is just another pixel on Lucas' bedpost. Can he not see that his madness is destroying all that was once good about these films?!?!?!?!?!?!

 

Jabba the Hutt has been replaced with Michael Moore.

 

Let's hope Georgie isn't reading this thread!

 

The burnt remains of Uncle Owen and Aunt Beru are replaced with non-burnt people laying on the ground looking peaceful.

 

Lucas already stated he'll never release the unaltered original trilogy again. My faces LD from the 90's even has a sticker that says that release was the last chance to own the unaltered trilogy. George Lucas sucks.

 

I heard they'd be replaced by Mick Jagger and Keith Richards (but with make-up to make them look more alive).

 

How does the original non-anamorphic trilogy look on DVD when upscaled?

 

The mastering we did in February, March, and April of 2004 were all 2K transfers, so they hold up fine for HD. I assume all they needed to do was to cut in the fixed shots (at least for Jedi and the original Star Wars), and I don't think there's going to be more than 100 of those. But you never know.

So the best answer is, I'm not certain what they're going to use, but I assume that most of it will be the 2004 transfer.

There was some discussion about that, but the theory was that Vader's years of using the dark side of the force "aged him prematurely." (This was also shown in Episode 2 with the Emperor.) It is odd to consider that the Anakin Skywalker under the mask should only be about 44 years old; this is debated at length in the Secret History of Star Wars book.

 

For anyone who may be looking to track down the 'unaltered' trilogy on LaserDisc, here is info on the "Faces" versions referenced in this thread. There are also Japanese equivalents but I don't believe they offer any upgrade in either pic or sound quality.

http://www.lddb.com/laserdisc/11011/8763-85/Star-Wars:-A-New-Hope-(1977)
http://www.lddb.com/laserdisc/11013/8764-85/Star-Wars:-The-Empire-Strikes-Back-(1980)
http://www.lddb.com/laserdisc/11014/8765-85/Star-Wars:-Return-of-the-Jedi-(1983)

 

I hope they redo the color grading and correct the mistakes because the original Star Wars was pretty weird. Low gamma, too much magenta overall... Luke's lightsaber suddenly green (!!!) in the Falcon...