Star Wars: Complete Saga

As promised a few days ago, Lucasfilm has made a major Star Wars announcement to coincide with May 4th, also known as "Star Wars Day." This morning, despite severe bandwidth problems, the company revealed the details of the complete Star Wars saga Blu-Ray box set.Bring home the adventure and share Star Wars with your whole family when STAR WARS: THE COMPLETE SAGA comes to Blu-ray Disc from Lucasfilm Ltd. and Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment! To be released beginning on September 12 internationally and on September 16 in North America, the nine-disc collection brings the wonder of the entire Saga direct to your living room, where you can revisit all of your favorite Star Wars moments in gorgeous high definition and with pristine, 6.1 DTS Surround Sound. Dive deeper into the universe with an unprecedented 40+ hours of special features, highlighted by never-before-seen content sourced from the Lucasfilm archives.Special Features:STAR WARS: THE COMPLETE SAGA ON BLU-RAY is presented in widescreen with 6.1 DTS Surround Sound. Special features include: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*Audio Commentary from Archival Interviews with Cast and CrewDISC TWO: STAR WARS: EPISODE II ATTACK OF THE CLONES*Audio Commentary with George Lucas, Rick McCallum, Ben Burtt, Rob Coleman, Pablo Helman, John Knoll and Ben Snow*Audio Commentary from Archival Interviews with Cast and CrewDISC THREE: STAR WARS: EPISODE III REVENGE OF THE SITH*Audio Commentary with George Lucas, Rick McCallum, Rob Coleman, John Knoll and Roger Guyett*Audio Commentary from Archival Interviews with Cast and CrewDISC FOUR: STAR WARS: EPISODE IV A NEW HOPE*Audio Commentary with George Lucas, Carrie Fisher, Ben Burtt and Dennis Muren*Audio Commentary from Archival Interviews with Cast and CrewDISC FIVE: STAR WARS: EPISODE V THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK*Audio Commentary with George Lucas, Irvin Kershner, Carrie Fisher, Ben Burtt and Dennis Muren*Audio Commentary from Archival Interviews with Cast and CrewDISC SIX: STAR WARS: EPISODE VI RETURN OF THE JEDI*Audio Commentary with George Lucas, Carrie Fisher, Ben Burtt and Dennis Muren*Audio Commentary from Archival Interviews with Cast and CrewDISC SEVEN: NEW! STAR WARS ARCHIVES: EPISODES I-III*Including: deleted, extended and alternate scenes; prop, maquette and costume turnarounds; matte paintings and concept art; supplementary interviews with cast and crew; a flythrough of the Lucasfilm Archives and moreDISC EIGHT: NEW! STAR WARS ARCHIVES: EPISODES IV-VI*Including: deleted, extended and alternate scenes; prop, maquette and costume turnarounds; matte paintings and concept art; supplementary interviews with cast and crew; and moreDISC NINE: THE STAR WARS DOCUMENTARIES*NEW! Star Warriors (2007, Color, Apx. 84 Minutes) - Some Star Wars fans want to collect action figures...these fans want to be action figures! A tribute to the 501st Legion, a global organization of Star Wars costume enthusiasts, this insightful documentary shows how the super-fan club promotes interest in the films through charity and volunteer work at fundraisers and high-profile special events around the world.*NEW! A Conversation with the Masters: The Empire Strikes Back 30 Years Later (2010, Color, Apx. 25 Minutes) - George Lucas, Irvin Kershner, Lawrence Kasdan and John Williams look back on the making of The Empire Strikes Back in this in-depth retrospective from Lucasfilm created to help commemorate the 30th anniversary of the movie. The masters discuss and reminisce about one of the most beloved films of all time.*NEW! Star Wars Spoofs (2011, Color, Apx. 91 Minutes) - The farce is strong with this one! Enjoy a hilarious collection of Star Wars spoofs and parodies that have been created over the years, including outrageous clips from Family Guy, The Simpsons, How I Met Your Mother and more -- and don't miss "Weird Al" Yankovic's one-of-a-kind music video tribute to The Phantom Menace!*The Making of Star Wars (1977, Color, Apx. 49 Minutes) - Learn the incredible behind-the-scenes story of how the original Star Wars movie was brought to the big screen in this fascinating documentary hosted by C-3PO and R2-D2. Includes interviews with George Lucas and appearances by Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford and Carrie Fisher.*The Empire Strikes Back: SPFX (1980, Color, Apx. 48 Minutes) - Learn the secrets of making movies in a galaxy far, far away. Hosted by Mark Hamill, this revealing documentary offers behind-the-scenes glimpses into the amazing special effects that transformed George Lucas' vision for Star Wars and The Empire Strikes Back into reality!*Classic Creatures: Return of the Jedi (1983, Color, Apx. 48 Minutes) - Go behind the scenes -- and into the costumes -- as production footage from Return of the Jedi is interspersed with vintage monster movie clips in this in-depth exploration of the painstaking techniques utilized by George Lucas to create the classic creatures and characters seen in the film. Hosted and narrated by Carrie Fisher and Billie Dee Williams.*Anatomy of a Dewback (1997, Color, Apx. 26 Minutes) - See how some of the special effects in Star Wars became even more special two decades later! George Lucas explains and demonstrates how his team transformed the original dewback creatures from immovable rubber puppets (in the original 1977 release) to seemingly living, breathing creatures for the Star Wars 1997 Special Edition update.*Star Wars Tech (2007, Color, Apx. 46 Minutes) - Exploring the technical aspects of Star Wars vehicles, weapons and gadgetry, Star Wars Tech consults leading scientists in the fields of physics, prosthetics, lasers, engineering and astronomy to examine the plausibility of Star Wars technology based on science as we know it today.*

Having not seen any....of course I have and unless you've been living in the kessel spice mines, so have you.The picture and sound are excellent, people seem divided, with some saying the first three aren't as good looking as the last three and vica verca. I think they all look pretty darn good, but don't expect anything you haven't seen before, as these are basically the same films you know and love/hate.I even found I enjoyed The Phantom Menace, you can too if you block Jar Jar out when he's on screen. I wish the Lucas team had taken out his awful lines like "exqueeze me" and "meeza in big doo doo". Poo jokes were never what Star Wars was about, it was mainly adult themes in a sci-fi setting where we followed and routed for a brilliant band of brothers...and Sister.I haven't watched all the extras, but the making of A New Hope is good fun and shows the quality of these films before remastering. It makes you glad they have been labour of love for Lucas and that he's kept them up to date and looking great, although some of the Phantom Menace CGI can look a bit ropey in places, but only for brief moments. Also, the New Hope making of doc was made before Episode 5 and 6 were written. It's great to listen to Harrison and Mark Hamil argue over who should get the princess. Mark even says Leia would be a complete doosh to not go for Luke. Oh if only they knew what Lucas had up his sleeve.The Spoofs extra was a complete let down. It's just a bunch of clips from shows like saturday night live, some ads and a few other bits, none of which were all that funny. They really missed a trick on this one because there are some genuinely funny spoofs out there like 'Pink 5' and 'Chad Vader'.Now - THE CONTROVERSYBasically, the changes are all very very minor and don't change the films much at all. The net nerds will stomp their feet and claim their childhood has been soiled, but well balanced people who love Star Wars but have a life outside of it, will enjoy seeing Star Wars with a few fresh treats. Obi Wan's dragon call, which has been changed to an old man screaming was slated in many pre-release posts. It actually made me jump and was pretty eerie(I knew it was coming too), so I feel it was better than the sound it replaced. The Cantina has been changed, basically sped up so you have no clue who shoots first. Han does dodge but it really is so quick that unless you watch slowed down versions on youtube you won't really notice. I honsetly think all the changes I've seen so far are very good.I watched the original originals on VHS recently and they are poor beyond belief. They have a claustrophobic feel because all of the backgrounds are not fleshed out with CGI as with the newer releases. There's also goofs and gafs galore. I suggest most of the people complaining they want the Original Originals haven't watched them recently. 90% of what lucas has done makes the newer versions so much better. Nothing's perfect, so the 10% I don't love, like the song in Jabbas palace, I can ignore. It really is that easy.Walt Disney first envisaged 'living' cinema in which a film is changed over time so that audiences can happily watch the same story with new twists over their life times. Lucas is the only person doing this and for me it makes watching a film i've seen a hundred times fun all over again.Our perception changes wildly as we get older and many of the films you loved as a kid don't cut it anymore. Goonies for one looks pretty tragic now and parts don't even make sense, like the dubloon that marks the entrance to Willie's cave. Unless you stood in the exact perfect spot on the clifftop the kids decided to stop their bikes and use it, it wouldn't work because the perspective would be out. I still like Goonies, but realise that with adult eyes the cracks are more visible than ever. It's the same with Star Wars. The changes being made keep them fresh and the controversial changes are so fleeting and minor they don't really take anything from the overall story. Literally, for the 12+hour running time, there is a couple of minutes of changes you could even start quibbling over. The rest give new depth and flesh out the Star Wars universe so that it really has become a living breathing place.Star Wars on blu ray is an absolute treat and half...bring on 3D and I look forward to seeing the new new new changes. Hopefully some of the deleted scenes can be touched up and added in.

This Star Wars Blu-Ray set is pretty much perfect. The films look incredibly crisp and the audio is fantastic. The bonus features are insightful and much of the material presented here was new to me despite owning the films on VHS and DVD in the past.As for the films themselves, I love the original trilogy, and none of the changes made to the most modern versions of these films can change that. Would I ike to see the original versions available on Blu Ray? You bet I would. However, many of the changes made to the films as a presented on this set are actually improvements on the originals and I am happy with how the films exist at present.The sequel trilogy is a mixed bag and I find my view on these films changing over time. With the latest viewing I actually found myself enjoying The Phantom Menace a lot more than I remember. Attack Of The Clones fares much worse and, I think, hasn't stood the test of time particularly well. The crisp nature of the Blu Ray format really shows off just how much of this film relies on green screen locations and everything about the film feels unnatural and has an unreal quality to it. As such, my most recent viewing felt like a bit of a slog and I found it difficult to re-connect to any of the characters. The popular wisdom is that Revenge Of The Sith is the best of the bunch and I tend to agree. While the quality of acting and directing is questionable, it has the most coherent plot and it progresses at quite a clip.The packaging is minimal but this is a welcome change from the previous DVD collection which took up an unnecessarily large amount of space on my storage shelf.All in all, this is the perfect set for anyone looking to add the first six Star Wars films to their Blu Ray collection.