Since the beginning of the DVD format, one title has been demanded above all others. That title, of course, is the “Star Wars” trilogy.
There’s no real point in reviewing the movies themselves. By now, mostly everyone out there will have formed opinions about the “Star Wars” films. What is important about this release is how the films look after almost 30 years. Lucas sent his babies back for restoration to Lowry Digital, the same team that did the “Indiana Jones” films and “THX-1138.” Like those films, the restoration is nothing short of amazing.
At last, “Star Wars” can be seen in all its colorful glory, free from scratches and dust. The movies themselves aren’t all that colorful, but having the correct color tones helps show how the film really looks.
The soundtrack has also been hyped up and re-mastered to a full 5.1 surround. If anything, this is the area where the films show their age, at least with “A New Hope” (1977) and “The Empire Strikes Back” (1980). By the time “Return of the Jedi” came out in 1983, the sound mixing had improved so much that when it was remixed, the quality is comparable to any one of today’s films.
Of course, as is usual with Lucas, there have been changes made to these movies. None of the changes are too drastic in “A New Hope.” Most of them are enhancements of those already present in the Special Editions from 1997. Greedo still shoots first in his famous scene, but the action is a lot quicker with Han firing off only a split second after. Han’s whole body now moves to the side smoothly, creating a shot that looks like that’s how it originally was. It won’t please the purists, but for those of us that believe in the artist’s right to change his or her work, it looks much better now.
The other big change is the Jabba model is now based on the CG model in “The Phantom Menace.” The textures on his skin are more realistic, and he’s now as tall as Han, making it much more believable. “Empire Strikes Back” gets the improvement of having Ian McDiarmid as the Emperor instead of the monkey eye lady.
The most controversial change though is in “Return of the Jedi,” where Lucas has put in Hayden Christianson as the spirit of Anakin. Lucas does explain this change in the commentary, giving us a small spoiler to “Revenge of the Sith.” As hated as this will be by purists, the change does make sense in the logic of the “Star Wars” universe.
As for special features, each film comes with a commentary track featuring George Lucas, sound editor Ben Burtt, effects designer Dennis Muren and Princess Leia herself, Carrie Fisher. “Empire” has an extra guest in the form of director Irvin Kershner. The addition of him makes that track the best and illuminates why “Empire” is considered the greatest of the series.
The best part of the tracks, though, is the clear impression one gets that George Lucas is making the movies he wants to make. On the “Jedi” track, he discussed his decision for creating the Ewoks and how they came to be after he originally was going to use Wookies. He admits that he was afraid that old kids wouldn’t buy the Ewoks and that they probably weren’t the best thing to sell the movie, but that he went ahead and did it anyway. He’s always said he makes the movies for himself, and commentary like this is consistent with that idea.
For the sake of historical record, Lucas really should release the original versions of these films on a high quality format. Personally, I’d never watch them, as I agree that they feel unfinished and would now be inconsistent with some of the ideas brought about in the prequels, not to mention all the nice matt boxes that will remain around the ships. Spielberg has it right this time, though, as he released both versions of “E.T.” in one box, no less. Maybe someday he’ll talk Lucas into that with the “Star Wars” films.
