Blu-ray: 'Star Wars: The Complete Saga' - Version 3.0

Here's what's in the Blu-ray debut, what's not, and what's the big deal

By SeanAx Sep 18, 2011 2:43AM

Long ago in a galaxy far, far away, I gave up my indignation over George Lucas screwing up "Star Wars" and sequels/prequels by re-editing scenes, adding special effects and rewriting small but central parts of the original experience. That doesn't mean I like it – I've kept my lo-fi, non-anamorphic DVD edition of the original "Star Wars," just so I can preserve a copy of the experience I first had way back in 1977 without the CGI noodling in the margins of the Mos Eisley spaceport and other scenes – just that I'm tired of complaining about it.

See an MSN Exclusive Clip from the supplements, featuring George Lucas discussing the origins of Boba Fett, below.

So in "Star Wars: The Complete Saga" (Fox), I can confirm that Greedo doesn't noticeably shoot first (it's pretty much simultaneous by now) and Muppet Yoda has NOT been replaced by a CGI version, that all those distracting CGI embellishments to the original "Star Wars" (aka "A New Hope") are still there and still distracting, that Vader doesn't scream "Noooooooooooooooo!" so much as growl "Nooo!" at the end of "Return of the Jedi," and that I still don't care about Episodes I-III.

With that out of the way, we get to the question that the collectors have: is it worth the upgrade? And the answer is pretty simple: if you want the highest quality of presentation for a high-definition system, then yeah, this is a definite step up in video clarity and audio muscle. It's possible that it could be better, as Lucas is using digital source material created for its DVD debut, but it looks good to me.

If you are more concerned with the integrity of the original films, however, you might as well hang on to those unrestored editions on DVD. Those are hardly state of the art (Lucas made sure of that back in 2006 by presenting them in non-anamorphic editions -- an unnecessary slight to his loyal fan base) but they are the original theatrical versions, which Lucas is apparently uninterested in making available on Blu-ray.

And in terms of supplements, Lucasfilm has dropped some of the more substantial documentaries from the earlier DVD editions (notably the superb two-and-a-half-hour "Empire of Dreams: The Story of the Star Wars Trilogy" but also some terrific shorter featurettes) and added a few new ones, including the 2007 "Star Warriors" (more time than you'd ever want to spend with fandom's answer to Civil War reenactors), 90 minutes of spoofs, and "A Conversation with the Masters: The Empire Strikes Back 30 Years Later," a 25-minute interview featurette with Lucas, director Irvin Kershner, screenwriter Lawrence Kasdan and composer John Williams discussing the challenge of creating the second film in the series. In addition to the commentary tracks of the DVD releases, there is a second commentary for each film constructed from archival interviews.

But watching the films again with all this increased detail simply reminds me how much I like that roughed-up texture of the props and sets and miniatures of the original "Star Wars," that physical quality of the original trilogy that fades away in the digital dazzle off the later prequels. I'm sure there's a generation out there who doesn't really care about that tactile dimension but to me it's part of what makes those films such a blast. They may not be perfect, but creativity that met the challenges of special effects in the pre-digital age is part of what makes them such beloved films.

For more in-depth and technically savvy reviews, I direct you to Home Theater Forum, The Digital Bits and High-Def Digest, and for reviews from the British release, identical to the American but for the physical packaging (the case itself), see my earlier posting on Videodrone here.

See an exclusive clip from the supplements, followed by a detailed listing of the contents of each disc, after the jump.

The Supplements:

DISC ONE – STAR WARS: EPISODE I THE PHANTOM MENACE

Audio Commentary with George Lucas, Rick McCallum, Ben Burtt, Rob Coleman, John Knoll, Dennis Muren and Scott Squires