Star Wars Blu-ray

My wife and I started watching the blu-rays last night. Started with Episode IV (we were tired, so we watched about half; the other half will be tonight, I suspect).

A few quick thoughts:

-It looks pretty!
-Did they re-touch the background during the initial space battle between the Rebel Blockade Runner and the Star Destroyer? I don't remember Tatooine's moons.
-I like the new background for the Lars Family Garage, with Luke's broken T-16 in the back.
-Jabba looks cool. A lot more detailed.
-The rock in front of Artoo and Obi-Wan's new Krayt cry (that sounds more like a person) didn't mother me at all.
-Greedo still shoots first, but it looks much closer to being simultaneous. To me, that adds some bad-a**ery back to Han. He didn't necessarily shoot first, but he couldn't have been able to predict that he'd be shot. He shot without knowing that he'd be shot at.
-Has anyone else noticed any issues with the sound? Specifically, I feel that the volumes of the sound effects, music, and dialogue are a little bit off. Like, some scenes the music drowns out the FX, or the FX drowns out dialogue. Maybe it's me though.

I'm impressed with everything.

Oh! And my favourite Easter Egg is still there! Let me explain:

You have to be aware of this to see it, cause it's so subtle, but in the Death Star control room, when Obi-Wan ventures off to take care of the Tractor Beam, he says something like "Luke, you have to protect the droids, or other worlds will suffer the same fate as Alderaan." And he pushes the button to open the door.

When they filmed that, George would say "freeze!" and Alec Guiness would stand perfectly still while they slowly opened the door. In post-production, they'd remove every other frame, and so it would look like the door is opening really fast.

Alec Guiness did very well and stayed perfectly still. Except for one thing: he blinked. And when you blink, your eyes go from a tired-looking state to a more alert-looking state.

So all of a sudden, if you look really close, you see his eyes dart open during the shot.

And it's still in there!!!!

I was told about that little gaff at a Sci-Fi convention by Anthony Daniels. He was telling fun Star Wars stories and that was one of his favourites.
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It was the year of fire… the year of destruction… the year we took back what was ours.
It was the year of rebirth… the year of great sadness… the year of pain… and the year of joy.
It was a new age. It was the end of history. It was the year everything changed.
The year is 2261.
The place: Babylon 5.

Knight Joined: 25 Jun 2011 Posts: 121

I walked through the toy section at Wal-Mart the other day. I think they must have dug out all their left over TPM and ATOC merchandice that had sat in a back room for the last decade.
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"Everyone gets a nasty surprise someday. I'd rather get it standing up than lying down."
-Anakin Solo

Tagging along on the hype, but you can hardly blame them.
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"Strong you are with the dark side, young one. But not that strong.
Still much to learn, you have. Surrender, you should."

"You're going to find that many of the truths we cling to depend greatly on our own point of view."

http://www.reedius.deviantart.com/

Knight Joined: 25 Jun 2011 Posts: 121

Great way to clean out inventory while making a buck.
_________________
"Everyone gets a nasty surprise someday. I'd rather get it standing up than lying down."
-Anakin Solo

Exactly. And God knows they need it in these times of economical crisis. Smile

_________________
"Strong you are with the dark side, young one. But not that strong.
Still much to learn, you have. Surrender, you should."

"You're going to find that many of the truths we cling to depend greatly on our own point of view."

http://www.reedius.deviantart.com/

Master Joined: 22 Dec 2010 Posts: 1796 Location: Carcosa

In the scene in which the Corellian Star Shuttle brings Chancellor Palpatine and the Jedi High Council to Naboo, when they shot it Samuel L. Jackson was apparently unavailable, because on the blu-ray if you watch closely in the background they're using his stand-in as Mace Windu. He looks more like D. B. Woodside than Samuel L. Jackson to me.

Knowing the Expanded Universe, that wasn't actually Mace Windu but another Jedi that looks just like him and wears the same robes as him, just like Stass Allie, Sar Labooda, and Agen Kolar.

Knight Joined: 07 Apr 2011 Posts: 211 Location: Ekkaia

You can see that guy in the DVD version also.

Master Joined: 22 Dec 2010 Posts: 1796 Location: Carcosa

Watching the Yoda vs Dooku fight from Attack of the Clones on blu-ray for the first time, I noticed another change. The chronology is slightly altered after the fight.

In the DVD cut (and, I presume, theatrical cut and so forth), after Yoda moves the pillar from over Anakin and Obi-Wan and drops it, it cuts to the exterior and the gunship with Padme and clone troopers arriving and shooting at Dooku's craft. Then it cuts to the interior, where Anakin regains consciousness and Yoda looks regretful. Then Yoda uses the Force to pick up his cane and Anakin and Obi-Wan stand up.

In the blu-ray cut, after Yoda drops the pillar, Anakin immediately regains consciousness and Yoda looks regretful, then it cuts to the exterior with Padme before returning to Yoda picking up his cane.

It's pretty minor and I imagine not a lot of people even noticed it, so I guess you could question why Lucas even changed it. I think the most noticeable effect of it is the score. The transitions aren't quite as smooth, I think.

Edit:

Another minor and pointless edit! In The Phantom Menace when Qui-Gon et al. are leaving Coruscant to return to Naboo, when Jar Jar shouts "Weesa going home!" and Anakin says "Come on, Artoo!," in all prior releases Artoo makes an excited series of beeps. This has been removed from the blu-ray.

Master Joined: 22 Dec 2010 Posts: 1796 Location: Carcosa

Did anyone like any of the deleted scenes?

Personally I like the lightsaber and sandstorm deleted scenes from Return of the Jedi, especially the Vader part of the lightsaber scene, which surprises me that Lucas didn't add it back in given his emphasis on Anakin's story. It's a trade off though because it takes away the surprise of Luke having a lightsaber at the Pit of Carkoon because we know he made one and put it in Artoo, but I guess that the scene does telegraph it since it keeps showing Artoo before Luke does his salute.

I like the sandstorm scene because it seems like Hamill was taking a somewhat different approach to the way he portrayed Luke than he ultimately did in the film (since it was the very first scene filmed). The dialogue was moved to the scene where Luke is in his X-Wing flying away from Tatooine and I guess that works but having him interact with Han and Leia in person is better, and Hamill's demeanor just makes Luke seem a lot more aloof and distant to them, like Obi-Wan. I could be reading it entirely wrong though and it could be because he had a fan blowing sand into his face or something.

I also like the cut scenes of Anakin and Obi-Wan's banter on the Invisible Hand. When they first get into the elevator after fighting the droideikas there's already battle droids in it and the look Hayden gives Ewan before they just hack them up is priceless, and then they imitate the droids "Roger!" "Roger!" which is awesome. And just prior to that they demonstrate Anakin is able to imitate Artoo's beeping sounds when they're discussing whether Artoo said to go up or down in the elevator.

I wish those scenes weren't cut from Revenge.

EUC Staff Joined: 09 Nov 2011 Posts: 1204 Location: Nirn

Master Joined: 22 Dec 2010 Posts: 1796 Location: Carcosa

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