Just a warning upfront: This article is made up of spoilers about the new Star Wars Blu-ray collection, so if you want to be surprised with your purchase, then don't say I didn't alert you!
For lots of fans they had their desires on Lucas finally giving the fans what they sought - an original new and uncut edition of the films together with the previously deleted scenes included. And to a certain extent that's what has transpired. But to a greater extent it's much more like Lucas is checking the loyalty of the fans of the Star Wars arena. Lucas is a visionary - there's no pondering that. He changed how movies were made and blazed a way that made sci-fi films feasible and lucrative for movie studios to produce. It's just that somewhere along his movie making trip he appears to have gotten utterly and entirely lost. And I want to share some examples of precisely how lost he is.
I'm a massive Star Wars lover. Huge! And for me a lot of the most seminal events in movie making past were the last few moments in Return of the Jedi that relied on hardly any dialogue and the incredible score of John Williams. The lightsaber duel involving Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader is just about the finest moments in motion picture history right up to the part where Vader finally sees the error of his ways and kills the Emperor - all without uttering a single word.
Now in this cut we have now Vader yelling "Noooooooo!" as unconvincingly as he did at the end of Revenge of the Sith (probably the most cringe worthy scenes outside of a Sex And the City movie). And he does this two times so we will be able to cringe two times as he feebly bellows (I know but that is how it sounds) "Nooooooooo!" A travesty people....a complete travesty.
When it comes to "Greedo shooting first" edit words fail me. It was bad enough that political correctness meant Greedo has got to shoot first but the CGI used here to make an effort to "correct" the previous footage is substandard at very best. Lucas isn't actually trying here and it really shows - the edit is sloppy and not persuasive at all and is evidence of why that scene should be brought back to its original take where Han takes Greedo out.
But there are other events to make up for this and my favorite amidst those is seeing Luke construct his own lightsaber right before they visit Jabba's palace to free Han Solo from his carbonite penitentiary. That left me with a big childish smile on my face that's still kinda lingering there. And that's the type of footage fans like me really, truly enjoy seeing. You may produce the same occasion for yourself with a Force FX lightsaber if you wanted to.
In summary the Blu-Ray collection is a mixed bag. There are some great deleted moments that enthusiasts have been hanging around a long time to see. Then there are a few CGI inclusions in existing footage that have you sitting there thinking "Ummmmm that really never mattered." There are also occasions like the Vader scene in which you need to find George Lucas and water board him to find out precisely why he thinks insulting his fans is a clever course of action.
The reality is that most enthusiasts are going to buy this boxed collection - much like all the others eh? And while you're at it look into the wide range of FX lightsabers too - treat yourself!
For lots of fans they had their desires on Lucas finally giving the fans what they sought - an original new and uncut edition of the films together with the previously deleted scenes included. And to a certain extent that's what has transpired. But to a greater extent it's much more like Lucas is checking the loyalty of the fans of the Star Wars arena. Lucas is a visionary - there's no pondering that. He changed how movies were made and blazed a way that made sci-fi films feasible and lucrative for movie studios to produce. It's just that somewhere along his movie making trip he appears to have gotten utterly and entirely lost. And I want to share some examples of precisely how lost he is.
I'm a massive Star Wars lover. Huge! And for me a lot of the most seminal events in movie making past were the last few moments in Return of the Jedi that relied on hardly any dialogue and the incredible score of John Williams. The lightsaber duel involving Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader is just about the finest moments in motion picture history right up to the part where Vader finally sees the error of his ways and kills the Emperor - all without uttering a single word.
Now in this cut we have now Vader yelling "Noooooooo!" as unconvincingly as he did at the end of Revenge of the Sith (probably the most cringe worthy scenes outside of a Sex And the City movie). And he does this two times so we will be able to cringe two times as he feebly bellows (I know but that is how it sounds) "Nooooooooo!" A travesty people....a complete travesty.
When it comes to "Greedo shooting first" edit words fail me. It was bad enough that political correctness meant Greedo has got to shoot first but the CGI used here to make an effort to "correct" the previous footage is substandard at very best. Lucas isn't actually trying here and it really shows - the edit is sloppy and not persuasive at all and is evidence of why that scene should be brought back to its original take where Han takes Greedo out.
But there are other events to make up for this and my favorite amidst those is seeing Luke construct his own lightsaber right before they visit Jabba's palace to free Han Solo from his carbonite penitentiary. That left me with a big childish smile on my face that's still kinda lingering there. And that's the type of footage fans like me really, truly enjoy seeing. You may produce the same occasion for yourself with a Force FX lightsaber if you wanted to.
In summary the Blu-Ray collection is a mixed bag. There are some great deleted moments that enthusiasts have been hanging around a long time to see. Then there are a few CGI inclusions in existing footage that have you sitting there thinking "Ummmmm that really never mattered." There are also occasions like the Vader scene in which you need to find George Lucas and water board him to find out precisely why he thinks insulting his fans is a clever course of action.
The reality is that most enthusiasts are going to buy this boxed collection - much like all the others eh? And while you're at it look into the wide range of FX lightsabers too - treat yourself!
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Are you looking for further information on FX lightsabers? There's an excellent Force FX lightsaber website at forcefxlightsaber.org.
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