Star Wars
Again? Yes. Even though no other movie has been released as many times on video as Star Wars (except for its sequels, The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi), George Lucas and the folks at 20th Century Fox have actually released a slightly different film this time. This video followed the mega-successful 20th-anniversary theatrical rerelease, in which Lucas personally remastered the image and sound quality of his baby. Other revisions are more obvious, if hardly radical. Lucas enhanced several special effects with updated computer technology--most noticeable are the explosions and removal of matte lines during the Death Star battle finale. And the creatures that populate Mos Eisley's spaceport--though meticulous--are aesthetically superior improvements. The inclusion of extra scenes (originally outtakes), however, is not an improvement. Both the meeting between Jabba the Hutt and Han Solo, and Luke talking with his childhood pal Biggs, do nothing to enhance character development or theme, and serve only as distractions that preoccupy the waiting viewer. And, really couldn't Lucas find something better to do with his time than mess around with a national treasure? As for the video, this boasts both visual and sound enhancements. But since Star Wars has been available with these tweaks numerous times before, the decision whether to purchase this latest new version depends on how badly you want to see Lucas's cosmetic surgery. --Dave McCoy The Empire Strikes Back
The middle film in George Lucas's enormously popular Star Wars science fiction trilogy is a darker, more somber entry, considered by many fans as the best in the series. Gone is the jaunty swashbuckling of the first film; the rebellion led by Princess Leia (Carrie Fisher) suffers before the superior forces of the Empire, young hero Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill) faces his first defeats as he attempts to harness the Force under the tutelage of Jedi master Yoda (voiced by Frank Oz), and cocky Han Solo (Harrison Ford) is betrayed by former ally Lando Calrissian (Billy Dee Williams). In the tradition of the great serials, this film is left with a hefty cliffhanger. The leap in special effects technology in the three years since Star Wars results in an amazing array of effects, including a breathtaking chase through an asteroid field and a dazzling, utopian Cloud City, where Luke faces the black-clad villain Darth Vader (David Prowse, voice of James Earl Jones) in a futuristic sword fight and learns the secret of his Jedi father. Veteran director Irvin Kershner (The Eyes of Laura Mars, Never Say Never Again) took the directorial reins from creator and producer Lucas and invested the light-speed adventure with deeper characters and a more emphatic sense of danger. The special edition expands Luke's encounter with the Abominable Snowman-esque wampa and establishes the creature as a tangibly more terrifying beast, in addition to refining many of the existing effects. The trilogy is concluded in Return of the Jedi. --Sean Axmaker Return of the Jedi
The high-energy, special-effects-laden conclusion to George Lucas's ambitious Star Wars trilogy delivers the final confrontation between Luke Skywalker (a more confident and mature Mark Hamill) and his nemesis-father, Darth Vader (David Prowse, voice of James Earl Jones), as the rebel alliance makes its last stand against the evil Empire. The film opens with an impressive set piece in the cave of the monstrous Jabba the Hut, who holds both Han Solo (Harrison Ford) and Princess Leia (Carrie Fisher) for his decadent pleasure until Skywalker comes to the rescue. The final battle pits an enormous armada of rebel ships against the rebuilt Death Star, the planet-killing weapon of the first film, while guerrilla forces battle Empire soldiers on the planet below with the help of a cuddly army of pint-sized, teddy-bear-like creatures known as Ewoks (Lucas's one concession to merchandising) and Skywalker confronts Vader and the emperor on the Deathstar. Director Richard Marquand invests the tale with plenty of humor and a vigorous sense of adventure without losing the seriousness of Skywalker's mission. The special edition adds, among other effects, more creatures and a bouncy song-and-dance number to the Jabba the Hut scenes, and an extended celebration that literally encompasses the galaxy at the film's jubilant conclusion. --Sean Axmaker
| ACTORS: | Fisher, Ford, Harrison Ford |
| CATEGORY: | Video |
| THEATRICAL RELEASE DATE: | 25 May, 1983 |
| MANUFACTURER: | 20th Century Fox |
| MPAA RATING: | PG (Parental Guidance Suggested) |
| FEATURES: | Box set, Closed-captioned, Color, Letterboxed, Widescreen, NTSC |
| TYPE: | Horror / Sci-Fi / Fantasy, Movie, Science Fiction |
| MEDIA: | VHS Tape |
| # OF MEDIA: | 3 |
| UPC: | 024543010401 |
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Star Wars Trilogy (Widescreen Edition) reviews by customers
 Looks great, changes suck
Don't get me wrong, I have many Directors' Cuts in my DVD collection, many I really like and enjoy seeing orginal vision, extras scenes (Brazil, Blade Runner, Lord of the Rings) but then there's the ones that should have been left alone. (Abyss, Star Wars) I'm not complaining about the special editions because I take offense at my precious Star Wars being changed from how I remember seeing it 100 times when I was a kid. As a filmmaker I take offense to Lucas making changes that look bad, change characters and are just down right stupid. There is actually changes I like. I love the extended Wampa scene in Empire. I like seeing the windows in Cloud City. So let's take a look:
Star Wars: Mos Eisley scenes just look bad. Jabba doesn't look like Jabba. Han firing first, you just changed his whole character. Han is a badass. He would fire first. He spends most of the film looking out for himself. It's great to see the arc of going from self-centered jerk to someone who actually cares. I'm tired of directors getting older and wimpier. I'm surprised that he didn't CG the guns out of everyones hands. And if you're 'fixing' all this stuff why is Luke's saber still white/yellow on board the Falcon? The attack on the Death Star was great and I actually like that.
Empire: like the Wampa, like Cloud City. Luke screaming in terror when he purposefully throws himself off the platform?!? Talk about changing character. Thank God he took it back out in the Special Special edition.
Jedi: I was so mad when I started watching this I turned it off and didn't finish it for a year. That crappy computer animated rap scene with the band was bad enough, but Bobba Fett hanging out like a cowboy in a saloon and giving the dancing girl a little knock on the chin. What!? Soooo bad. Not to mention the technical slap in the face George gives to everyone who busted their hump creating puppets and perfroming in the orginal. It doesn't even visually blend with the look of the original film. I'm not that bothered by Hayden inserted other than the fact that it's a reminder of how bad the new movies are. Not that I'm a fan of Ewoks or the yub-yub celebration but the new ending is even worse not to mention that it once again doesn't match the look of the film.
The transfers look great, but these just serves to demonstrate how bad the new ones look and how out of place the CG looks in comparison. The orginals may have been using 'antiquated' techniques but a REAL model of a starship and a REAL puppet of Yoda, look REAL on film. Yoda isn't even identifiable as Yoda in the new films.
 Entertaining movies, but what was my Empire thinking?
Dear rebel scum (or new Republic, whatever),
I was watching Episode 4 (New Hope) the other day and realized how close (as usual) the good old Empire came to ending that impetuous rebellion once and for all. I think it boils down to bad planning. The example? Look no further than the climax of said New Hope: the Death Star is moving into position to attack/blow the crap out of Yavin, where the insidious Rebels are residing. But, oh! the Empire must first get the Death Star around this red planet which is blocking their shot. Wait, read that again with emphases (more than one emphasis) on 'planet' and 'blocking their shot'. Could the Empire have concocted their own demise any more efficiently? I mean come on, they have the friggin' DeathStar (tm), which is made to what? Blow up planets, not go around them. It's like asking Cris Carer to throw the ball to himself to get the touchdown, when what he should really be doing is just catching the ball and catching touchdowns.
See what I'm getting at? Maybe we could've used the Death Star to blow up the red planet, therein saving time in navigating it, and then we would have a clear shot at the rebel planet. Were we saving our shots for a later time or something? I think the rebellion, though rather childlike in nature, was a pretty big deal at the time, and one of the imperial officers even informed Tarkin of the potential danger in the attack patterns of the uneducated rebel pilots. But nooooo, Lucas had to make our military leaders Arrogant and Headstrong and the Bad Guys. I mean, honestly, the movie was all believable up to this point, and guess what? The Empire gets creamed for being dumb, not because the rebels were lucky. See, if the Empire does the smart thing and blows up two planets instead of one, we wouldn't even be having this conversation. No; we would all be under the rule of Darth Vader (who we all know would have usurped the Emperor anyway, let's not kid ourselves), who by the way would also have been better off if the rebels got creamed, because then he would never have gotten in touch with his softer side when 'getting to know' his kids, who would have been destroyed with the rest of the pest-like rebels.
I do like Episode V, however, as I have a starring role in it, and it ends pretty well too with us bagging Han Solo and Luke's right hand. I generally like to end the series there, as it all goes to crap in Episode VI, what with Vader switching sides, the Emperor 'falling' down a giant hole, and oh, those fuzzbucket Ewoks, who help (why?) the impotent rebels to blow up our shield generator (which is what I was so gloriously doing to the rebels' generator in Ep.V). Really, things came back to bite us rather quickly after that first Death Star, which goes to show that if there's something really important to be done (say, blow up the neanderthal rebel base on Yavin), you should have your top man, for instance, me, making the important decisions. Never you mind where I was at the time of the first DStar exploding (definitely NOT crashlanded and marooned on Yavin, for example), the point is I would have made an excellent Grand Moff, but now all I get to rule over is the kiddie pool in the backyard. It's no Death Star, but that Imperial March really carries well across freshly mown grass and the doghouse. In case you're wondering, I did not die at Balmorra, I simply survived like Gloria Gaynor, and now I 'get jiggy wit it' like Will Smith, despite losing my legs when they blew up my AT-AT at Hoth. Oh how I miss you sweet AT-AT, and how I curse you Rebellion! Long live the Empire!
General Maximilian Veers
POINTLESS!!!
I LOVE THE STAR WARS MOVIE'S BUT HERE'S A THOUGHT. WHY DOESN'T GEORGE LUCAS (PR WHOMEVER) RELEASE A SET WITH THE ENTIRE SERIES INCLUDING THE PHANTOM MENNACE, ATTACK OF THE CLONES AND REVENGE OF THE SITH???
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