Star Wars The Complete Saga (Blu-ray) Official AVSForum Review - Page 2

I wish they would of have Isolated Scores track. :-(

I received my Complete Saga set on Saturday afternoon, just in time for my Saturday night movie viewing. I previewed each of the films to get an idea of the quality, and was happily surprised by how good each one looked and sounded.

I too, remember my first Star Wars movie experience, which was while I was vacationing in Florida with my parents. All summer we had heard about this incredible movie, and finally caught up to it. Ralph's comments were similar to my reaction: when the music blasted John Williams' heroic theme, and the Space Cruiser rumbled by, it was one "wow moment" after another.

I may be a minority on this forum, but while watching these films again on blu-ray, I'm experiencing the same "wow" reactions. I think they all look fantastic, and the sound is (pun intended) out-of-this-world incredible. So many scenes and sounds have caused me to say out loud, "Woah!" or "Oh, yeah!", that I feel like a kid again watching these movies for the first time.

And isn't that what all this is supposed to be about, anyway? Fun! I'm having a great amount of fun watching these movies. I don't care that George Lucas "tinkered" and I'm not looking for things to criticize. I'm just enjoying the fact that these six films, among my favorites of all time (yes, all six), now look and sound better than ever, and I can watch them in the comfort of my home in high definition. That's what makes life in the early twenty-first century so grand!

Have only watched the OT so far, but agree with your thoughts there Ralph. The audio is truly fantastic for films of this age, but no match for the better/best modern audio tracks.

Looking forward to viewing the PT most likely this weekend. AotC was always my favorite from an audio perspective with the PM a very close second. RotS though was a clear step down (which makes sense since it was not mixed by the same individual who mixed 1 and 2) from the first 2 from a mix perspective. Sounds like the blus are the same way, but curious to hear these. Cant wait to hear 1 and 2 especially!

Nice work as always though and thanks!

Can you check if they have ICT?

My HDTV is older and doesn't support HDCP (it has a DVI input though). I cannot seem to get the Star Wars movies in 1080i (my TV doesn't support 1080p). I tried another bluray disc (Star Wars Clone Wars movie, my only other bluray) and it worked in 1080i. I don't have other blurays to try (I rent them sometimes and I never experienced this issue before)

What luster? Sorry, I don't get it. These are mildly entertaining B movies (at least the 1st 3) that were never really taken seriously when released. Yes, they helped establish a genre, but lets face it: the scripts and the acting are pretty bad. I guess I'm not enough of a nostalgia buff, or I was never that impressed with them at the time. If I'd been younger when they came out, maybe I'd see them differently now.

Nerd Rage!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I'm not buying it because is George Lucas jack$%$!!!

You are entitled to your opinion but you sound ignorant to say they were never really taken seriously when released. The original trilogy changed science fiction movies forever.

B movies?


okay.

lol.

Great review Ralph love the star wars complete saga on blu-ray disc the look and sound great.

Noooooooo! Call me wierd but I LOVE that intro. I will miss it oh so much


B movies - heh. I am not aware of any B movie that has come anywhere close to grossing as much as Star Wars - or 99% of A movies for that matter. Most A movies don't have near the toys, costumes, video games, books, pop culture references etc that Star Wars does as well

If you don't like them - thats fine - but to call them B movies is more than a little disingenuous

I watched TPM last night and while not terrible, the DNR is excessive but the AQ is ridiculously awesome!!! Also, Jar-Jar Binks is one of the most annoying characters in film. WOW!

That'll show him! I'm sure he'll weep heartily the next time he's swimming in his money. You really need to take the view that I did. The Star Wars OT (holy trinity) is like Michael Jackson's original face. Gone forever, only to exist in our hearts and memories, and on the bright side each year brings an exciting new look.

Thanks for the review Ralph. Much appreciated as always.

The only thing missing are the 3-4 hour lines wrapping around the corner waiting to see it a 2nd...3rd....dare I say 4th time?

Um, lots of luck with that return.

You obviously haven't been to my house

Seems like it was only yesterday that i first saw this movie the very first time. I saw it in Anaheim.

I thought there was some sort of accident because the amount of people that was there and the ridiculous line was just insane.

Nonetheless once we were seated didn't really know what quite to expect but once the movie started rolling i was like sweet!! Thoroughly enjoyed this film and the rest of it's saga.

I did read that Georger had manipulated a few scenes which i thought was interesting.

I should have my copy anytime now.

Cheers

I am VERY happy with the final product. The PT looks fantastic and yes even TPM looked good IMO. I too am a rear breed as TPM is a personal favorite,for many reasons. I am so glad to have ALL six movies and the fantstic bonus disk in hand.

Good review, I watched some of the Empire Strikes Back (IMO the best SW) at Wal Mart yesterday and was blown away by the clarity of the picture and how vibrant the color is. If I decide to buy it will be the originals as I don't really care for the prequels.

On opening day I had the day off and was driving by a theater around noon and on the marquee in huge letters was STAR WARS I decided to give it a try. No one saw that movie more than once for the memorable dialog or great acting it was the effects and sound, nothing had been done like that before and that is what makes it a classic. I returned that night with some friends and waited in a very long line.

I have only watched TPM, but the audio is great, picture more than bearable. The race scenes had my son upstairs asking what was causing the floor to shake. Have been a fan for over 30+ years, and cant wait to move onto the rest of the episosdes. Having these films to share with my kids is awesome. Seeing their faces and listneing to their questions makes me think about what I was doing watching these in the theaters.

Also,
GREAT review Ralph! Thanks again.

I don't want "an exciting new look" each time Lucas re-releases these movies. Each new tinker is a minus point, and what he did to Vader's redemption at the end of Jedi is just colossally stupid and has become the proverbial straw that broke this fan's back. A new transfer and enhanced AQ aren't enough to make me suffer through what've become bastardized versions of the classic films I loved as s kid. Sooner or later an unauthorized HD transfer of the Original Trilogy will materialize, at which point all will become right with the universe.

Don't you mean "freedom will be restored to the galaxy...."?

I'm going to join in with a few of you here. I was 7 (but nowhere near my birthday) when Star Wars (it was not a new hope then) came out. It rocked my world. It changed everything for my friends- many of them saw it 10 or 20 times, my parents finally let me see it a second time. I was a Jawa for halloween. I built an X-wing from an appliance box. Nothing had ever been like Star Wars before.

OK the story was old (Hidden Fortress in some ways tells it better - R2D2 and C3PO can better show emotion as pesant solders) but nothing had ever been told in this way. It was limited by the technology of the day (you can see the cuts in the film when they come out to swap out light sabers that are off and on), but that is all part of the film.

I understand Lucas's desire to fix what he could not fix then, and some of it is no big deal - just fiddeling around - OK put a rock in front of R2 so that he has to use magic to get out of the cave and clip the Hoth pupateer's hand out of the shot - but Greedo NEVER shot. Han got the jump on him - and that sets up Han's character for the entire series. Han does not just have dumb luck - he is crafty and a survivor. A number of the CGI enhancements just never looked right - possibly because I didn't expect them.

Lucas made a masterpiece and should have left it at that - his chance to fix any mistakes was to make the next film better. He did that (once) and then, to me at least, proved that he had 2 great films in him and a really good business plan and the following films got worse, then a bit better, bet never back to where they started.

I have shown my 4 YO scenes from a couple of the films, but at this point he is too frightened of what might happen to watch the films. He does know the overall stories and plays Star Wars with his friends. I'm thinking of waiting until he is 7 and give him a new hope.

I was 13 as well when Star Wars came out. I ended up seeing it 11 times in the theater(plus once again when he released them with the special effects touched up). I snuck a tape recorder in 1 time and used to impress my friends in junior high by being able to recite any line verbatim. I will pick up this set...eventually, as I've seen every one of them a minimum of 3x and am in no rush to see any one in particular again. I'd like to see the price drop to around $60

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences took it seriously. It was nominated and won numerous Oscars, including the nomination for Best Picture.

The genre they helped establish is called "blockbuster".

LOL, Dolby must be pissed-off. Why did they go to DTSHDMA? I would think it was less expensive going w/ DTS.

Interesting how many of us were 7 in 77. Add another.

And yes....there is another. Include me too.

I've been wondering this myself... didn't Lucas help start Dolby? He at least had some sort of attachment to it, didn't he?