Man... Star Wars fans are the biggest assholes in the universe

[OB1]

I'm serious, Star Wars fanboys are more annoying than Trekkies, id fanboys, and general video game fanboys put together. At least from what I've seen. Anywhere you go you'll see people bitching to no end about how George Lucas "raped my childhood!", hates his fans (even if that were true who could blame him?), is satan, etc. etc. The Star Wars trilogy is coming out on DVD soon and you can't go to any message board without seeing people bitch and moan for a hundred pages about how terrible they think certain things are (even though all the changes are improvements over the SE). I really don't understand that mentality. If you hate the movies so much why the fuck are you wasting so much of your free time complaining about them? And none of them agree on most of the same stuff, they each want their own personal version of Star Wars to be made. It's maddening. Most of the time it's just complaining for the sake of complaining (like how in a couple of scenes on the dvds ILM didn't update some lightsaber shots... WHICH RUINS THE ENTIRE SAGA!).

Complaining isn't always bad, but when there's absolutely no balance and all you can do is complain then you need to shut the fuck up and stop posting on message boards. I complain about Nintendo stuff all of the time, but I praise them for various things even more frequently. They're dumb for being anti-online, but holy crap do their games kick ass, etc. To conclude my bitching about people bitching, fanboys are idiots. Especially SW ones.

[Great Rumbler]

It would have been nice if the original version had come with the box set, but I'll still be buying it anyway. And I'll enjoy it immensely.

[OB1]

Would you actually watch the original versions though? Sure it would be nice to have them for archival purposes, but we'll probably get 'em in 2007.

[Great Rumbler]

I probably wouldn't watch them more than once, and that'd be just to see how the two versions were different.

[OB1]

Yeah...

[Great Rumbler]

Hopefully some place around here will be selling it for about $40.

[OB1]

Best Buy.

[Great Rumbler]

I may have to make a special trip out there and get it. *begins saving money*

[OB1]

Or just order it online.

[Dark Lord Neo]

I was reading that they changed the infamouse Han shoots scene again, now they draw at the same time, but the other guy gets his shot of a little earlier. I don't really care, if Lucas wanted to change it it was his decision to make, and the justification that he gave made sense. He said that he wanted to change it so that Han looked like he was just a scoundral, rather than a cold blooded murderer.

[Dark Lord Neo]

Here is a list of some confirmed changes

Episode IV: A New Hope


Lots of matte lines removed. The space under Luke's speeder looks much more realistic.

R2D2's blue parts are much cleaner and more consistent.

The 1997 animation added to the entrance to Mos Eisley is much smoother.

Greedo and Han shoot at the same time, and Han's dodge is far more realistic.

Jabba has been retexturized and looks considerably better. Han still walks on his tail, but it's much smoother.

The lettering on various Death Star panels are written in Aurebesh rather than English.

The matte-painted hall in Leia's detention block looks much more realistic.

Lightsabers look much better. Colors are far brighter and the blades are more defined.

Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back


The battle of Hoth is enhanced with a ground battle between the Rebel soldiers and stormtroopers

Ian McDiarmid has refilmed scenes as the Emperor instead of that near-fossil they had.

The conversations between Vader and Palpatine has a few new lines. Palpatine knows that Luke is Vader's son.

Light sabers are again fixed, making them more consistent.

Temuera Morrison does the voice of Boba Fett

Luke's inane scream when he jumps to escape Vader on Cloud City is gone. And there was much rejoicing.

Episode VI: Return of the Jedi

Like the other two, the light sabers are fixed.

The Rancor looks considerably better, with its matte lines removed.

When Vader's helmet is removed, his eyebrows are gone and his eyes are recolored to match Hayden's.

Celebrations on Naboo, Coruscant and one other planet, where a statue is toppled right before we see the celebration with the ewoks.

Perhaps this was in the 1997 special editions, but in the various background shots of the new Death Star, its appearance changes and you can see progress as the station takes shape.

Hayden Christensen replaces Sebastian Shaw as Anakin's ghost. Lucas explains this in the commentary, which is spoilerish for Episode III.

[Great Rumbler]

Ian McDiarmid has refilmed scenes as the Emperor instead of that near-fossil they had.

I'd heard rumors about this one before. It's a good change, I think.

Luke's inane scream when he jumps to escape Vader on Cloud City is gone. And there was much rejoicing.

Yay! Out of all the changes that Lucas made that was one of the worst! It sounded horrible! I'm really glad it's being changed.

Hayden Christensen replaces Sebastian Shaw as Anakin's ghost. Lucas explains this in the commentary, which is spoilerish for Episode III.

That change makes sense too, but I bet Sebastian Shaw doesn't think so. :)

Overall I'd say most of the of the changes are definitely for the better and anyone that complains is just being stupid.

[OB1]

Lucas reveals why Hayden is at the end of RotJ in the commentary track. And yes it's an Episode III spoiler, so you may want to wait until next May before you listen to it. :)

[Dark Lord Neo]

I don't really understand why it would be a spoiler. The only reason that Lucas would do that that I can think of is that he considers Anakin and Vader to be two completly different individuals and shows this by using a young Anakin instead of one who would be about the age that Vader was

[OB1]

[Great Rumbler]

That's not really that big of a spoiler.

[OB1]

Well people are so sensitive to these things.

[Great Rumbler]

I found a good place to get Star Wars on DVD. My local Gamestop is selling the box set for $30 when you trade in any 3 DVDs. A good deal I think.

[OB1]

[Great Rumbler]

Make sure they're cheap, crappy DVDs.

I'll round up some of the ones that you can get at Wal-Mart for $5. :)

Or I could just stop at the Dollar Tree that it's in the same area and get three $1 DVDs. Oh yeah.

[OB1]

Yeah make sure you don't spend more than a couple of bucks on the DVDs. You can get the set for $41 at deepdiscountdvd.com. Free shipping.

[Great Rumbler]

Free, yes, but it takes like 2 weeks to ship it. I can't wait that long!

[OB1]

It takes a week to ship. And most of these e-tailers ship their new releases before the street date. You can also get it for $42 shipped free from amazon.com. If you order now it should arrive at your house a little before or a little after the street date.

[A Black Falcon]

Uh... why is there so much complaining? Looking at that list of confirmed changes, I don't see any of them as bad... actually they all seem to be improvements, over the SE certainly! Fixing continuity issues like Anakin/Vader, the voice of Boba Fett, the Emperor, etc are certainly good, as is improving those SE special effects... and a 'victory celebration' scene on Naboo too sounds nice.

Oh, and I hope that that's accurate about Greedo and Han shooting at the same time. That was emblematic of the problems with the SE and if they fix it like that it would show that this is a much better "SE" than the previous one... though I'm sure some people will be mad, it seems fine to me. And anyway, I own the original version on VHS...

[OB1]

They shoot at the same time now.

[Dark Jaguar]

Not sure ABF, but Penny Arcade hates it, or seems to...

Honestly, seems to me updating old films to SUPERIORIOSITY is a good thing. Honestly, I never did understand why some people consider colorizing old movies to be a bad thing (unless the movie was meant to be told in black and white... I'm sure some are). Art is meant to be updated over and over again until the artist dies. I think that's what normally happens anyway...

What ever happened to those "archive editions" I heard about? Silly sounding name, but weren't those supposed to be the end all be alls, or is this now that?

Edit: Okay, PA's archives are working again (weren't when I first posted this, for some odd reason), so here's that comic.

<img src="http://www.penny-arcade.com/images/2004/20040922l.jpg">

Eh, either this is them stating their own opinions, or is them sending the average Star Wars nerd's opinions back at them in comic form. They didn't say what they thought about it in their little news post except one of them thinks of the series as "neat" surrounding one movie that's actually good (I think that one is the one with the Empire... Strikes Back, that's CERTAINLY it, almost typed "Revenge of the Empire" or something...). That about sums up my thoughts. Star Wars is cool and all, but they aren't "move classics" that are used in film school to tell you how to make a truly great movie that will stand the test of time and move people deeply. And yes, that IS what defines what a truly epic movie is. A movie can still be fun though without being "epic".

....I think I may have made a lot of enemies...

[OB1]

PA doesn't hate it just because they made a funny comic about it. They also made a funny comic about ICO but they love that game.

And colorizing b&w movies is a terrible thing to do unless done by the creator of the movie. But it always looks bad since you're basically just painting over the greys.

In the case of Star Wars, it's Lucas' right to do whatever he pleases with them, and I haven't had a problem with 95% of the changes that he'd made. Charlie Chaplin revised his movies dozens of times, and even Leonardo Da Vinci updated the Mona Lisa.

[A Black Falcon]

Right, they are his movies and not the fans so he can do what he wants to them. Yes in some cases people can change their works for the worse, but I'd definitely agree that very little of what he's done to the films (in this (final?) version) is bad. About the only thing I really can think of is that I'd miss the song at the end of RoTJ...

[Great Rumbler]

I liked most of the changes made to the movies, except for stuff that looked/sounded terrible like Gredo shooting first or the scream as Luke fell down that shaft in Cloud City.

[Dark Jaguar]

Scream?

*suddenly, flashbacks of theater day*

Oh yeah! Luke did have a voiced over scream as he went tubular. That was so out of place I just assumed it was in the original and something they never fixed. So then, they actually went through the effort to ADD that? Well, that was stupid of them...

[A Black Falcon]

They got rid of the scream in this version and now they shoot at the same time...

[Dark Jaguar]

I didn't even mention shooting.

Seriously, I read above about all that, I STILL can't remember Han ever shooting an alien that looked like that. At first I thought it was during some escape (lord knows they do a lot of running away in these movies), but he was sitting down. Ya know, I BARELY remember the part where they meet Han, was that it? I suppose that scene was intended to show he's a badarse?

Still, honestly I don't really care about that. Han didn't do a good job of being a hardcore rebel for the rest of the whole trilogy, so having him kill one person in cold blood and then be a perfect gentleman for the rest of it doesn't really fit.

[Great Rumbler]

It happened right after they met Han in the cantina. Luke and Obiwan leave and Han goes back to sit with Chewbaca. They talk for a minute and then some stormtroopers come in to check on the previous disturbance [Obiwan cutting that guy's arm off]. Then, Han gets up and starts to go back to his ship when Gredo stops him. They talk for a while, Gredo threatens Han and Han blasts him. That's how it was in the original version. In the Special Edition, Gredo shot first and Han's head does this thing and then he shoots. In the latest version they both shoot at about the same time and Han's movement looks a lot smoother.

[Dark Jaguar]

I .... guess.

*plays sword of mana*

[Great Rumbler]

That's how it happened.

[Dark Jaguar]

*looks up* What? Unless this is about the MMORPG style subquests I'm finding all over this game, SHUT UP! *hands out flyers, and is excited about it*

[OB1]

Right, they are his movies and not the fans so he can do what he wants to them. Yes in some cases people can change their works for the worse, but I'd definitely agree that very little of what he's done to the films (in this (final?) version) is bad. About the only thing I really can think of is that I'd miss the song at the end of RoTJ...

These are definitely not the final versions. Expect more changes for the BD and HD-DVD releases in 2007/2008, and possibly again after that. And that includes the prequels.

The old ROTJ end theme was good but totally unfitting for the final moment of the Star Wars saga. The new theme and added scenes add more granduer and epicocity (yes it's a word... or is it?) to the end of Jedi.

[Great Rumbler]

Yeah, I like the special edition ending a lot better, because it showed that it wasn't just the Rebels and the Ewoks that were happy that the Empire was destroyed.

[OB1]

And the music itself became more "epic ending to an epic saga" than "sunday barbecue at Wicket's".

[Great Rumbler]

Yeah, the new ending theme fit a lot better.

[OB1]

Like a rocket!

[Great Rumbler]

:far-out:

[A Black Falcon]

These are definitely not the final versions. Expect more changes for the BD and HD-DVD releases in 2007/2008, and possibly again after that. And that includes the prequels.

Quite probable. But for now, this is the final versions. Though yeah, probably not final-final. :)

The song... yeah, the new ending does fit the end of the series better. But the old one was funny! ... and I like the Ewoks.

[OB1]

The six-chapter epic Star Wars saga should not end on a funny note.

And this is definitely not the final version. They didn't even have the time to fix all of the lightsaber effects, or put in the deleted scenes as a bonus feature. The original plan called for lots of changes but because of piracy and stuff Lucas pushed up the dvd release to this year. Originally he wanted to work on them for a while and have them released in 2006/2007. There will definitely be further changes in the future.

[A Black Falcon]

As long as there is profit to be made in the release, yes... one reason he gave for releasing it now was to get it out before DVDs lose their current monetary force, after all.

[OB1]

No, the reason he stated was mainly because of piracy issues.

And it's not about the money, otherwise the O-OT would also be out on dvd. He will make further changes because he wants to perfect his pictures.

[A Black Falcon]

That's what I said, piracy... as in, before piracy makes DVD a much less lucrative market.

[OB1]

It's as bad as it can get.

[A Black Falcon]

What do you mean? As more people get broadband movie piracy will increase more... it's already somewhat common, but it isn't a truly huge problem for the studios yet. In a few years it could be.

[OB1]

It's already a huge problem. It's about as bad as it can get in the U.S.