Blu-Ray Harvest – Episode II: Rerelease Of The Jedi

TORONTO: I AM COMING FOR YOU! TCAF is this weekend!
I will be at table 222 (with Topatoco) on the 2nd floor Saturday 5/7 and Sunday 5/8. I will have books 1 and 2 (and I will draw dumb things in them for you), stickers, buttons, prints (probably a “The Doctor Is In” print), and maybe a couple of shirts.

The Doctor Is In T-Shirt

“The Doctor Is In” shirt based off the “You’re The Last of The Time Lords, Charlie Brown” comic is here!

Sharksplode.com - Geeky Nerdy T-Shirts, Funny Tee ShirtsAlternate Title: He Is Your Remaster Now

Part 1 of this comic is HERE and was published almost exactly one year ago.

It’s the forth of May. Outdoor f… lightsaber battles start today. The street date for Star Wars: The Complete Essential Masterclass Compendium Edition on Blu-ray has been set for mid September, which means (like Josh) many of you will be purchasing Star Wars for the 4th or 5th time. Let’s count’em up: There was the laser disc set, the VHS special editions, the DVD of 1,2 and 3, the Super special edition DVD’s of the classic trilogy (4, 5 and 6), the unaltered original trilogy DVD’s (in which the un-fucked with films were considered “bonus material”), The Prequel Trilogy and Original Trilogy box sets (the “all new box art” only versions mentioned in the comic above), and The Complete Saga on Blu-Ray (with the promise of 3D to come). I think “buying Star Wars again” is the “buying The White Album” for our generation.

This new set has over 40 hours of bonus material, much of which has never been seen before. I think it was Rick McCallum that said something like “we keep finding daylies and alternate takes you people have never seen, so we keep adding them in, blah blah, whatever.” It seems less like they are actually discovering new footage and behind the scenes footage and more like they are seeing evidence of its existence on the Periodic Table of Star Wars. It’s like they look at the holes on the table and start postulating which “making of’s” and bits of b-roll have the precise atomic mass to site between a 6 hour documentary about Anthony Daniels getting into his brass unitard, and a behind the scenes vignette called “Who Really Shot First? Who Really Cares Anymore?”

COMMENTERS: Are you going to buy Star Wars again? Why or why not? What other formats might future generations enjoy Star Wars on [read the alt-text]? Why else may be included? More features, more documentaries, more films?

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39 Comments

  1. I can't bear to watch any more interviews with Lucas, especially newer ones where he's just trying to give himself a metaphorical blowjob.

    • The footage of Lucas giving himself an *actual* blowjob will be in the next rerererererererererelease.

  2. Oh man, you have alt-text now. My OCD is going to require me to go back and re- read everything to make sure I didn't miss any jokes!

    Note: this isn't a bad thing.

  3. I think this time around, I'll be passing on the Blu-Ray releases.
    Most of the added features have been out in some form or other for many a decade or so, with only two really new documentaries that have not aired on TV or as part of the History Channel.
    As for the added scenes, well, the cave scene new beginning for Jedi looked very CG, even from the dodgy footage from Celebration V, and even Mark Hamill has been quoted to have said he has no memory of ever filming such a scene. So, a lot of the "missing" scenes have been created for Lucas to do another cash-grab.

    And, as for the whole 3D nonsense… I'll pass even further. What can there be in Phantom Menace that could be improved with 3D. Then again, a complete reshoot of the entire movie, could be a start.

    Honestly, I think I've hit Star Wars burn-out, and it could be some time before I get the hunger to watch any of the movies or animated series.

    • What could be improved in Phantom Plotline with 3D? The only reason to watch the whole steaming mess in the first place – the pod race!!

      Don't have a blu-ray player myself, although I did buy the Super OMG Special release on DVD specifically for the fact that it has the original unfucked-with film as a "bonus feature". Rather than upgrading yet again, I think I'll just hold out for the direct-neural-interface version – plug a cable into my brainjack, and let it play directly into my sensory receptors…

  4. I've only ever bought the "unaltered original version" DVDs (with the originals as the bonus features). Those are the only ones I'll watch – I feel dirty otherwise.

    • But the sound really is better in the altered versions. They need to release the VHS versions on DVD and Blueray. Those were the best compromise of sound and not crappy additions.

      • Yeah, the Laserdisc had the best unaltered picture for a while, but the audio was only 2 channel if I remember correctly. Of course the VHS could only have been stereo as well. Some fan needs to cut together the best audio with the best unaltered picture.

    • No way. Then it would be staring at you every day of your life until you smashed it. You would have to smash it on the first day.

  7. Besides watching bits and pieces of the original trilogy on tv my first experience with the movies was when they re-released them in theaters. Never actually owned a copy of any of the movies, dodged a bullet there.

    That middle panel really made me laugh, well played sir.

  8. I've hit Star Wars burnout so hard that I get cranky every time someone mentions anything about Lucas-verse. Unless it's in a satirical vein.

    I'm even considering selling off all of the merchandise I own, but I'm too cynical to believe anyone else would want these collectibles.

  9. I'll just wait until 2 Lions Team rips the Blu-Ray and converts them to a AVCHD disc. I don't think I would want the bonus material of George Lucas hogging himself.

  11. Poor Josh, he looks so beaten down in that last panel.

    I've got the special edition DVDs or some such, but I also had the VHS. I only got the DVDs because VCRs became obsolete. So long as my Blu-Ray player continues to play regular DVDs I ain't upgrading. Apparently I've never seen the true original films, but I think some of my friends are going to correct that on an upcoming weekend trip.

  13. I have no desire to own a blu-ray player, so this edition of the re-release is moot. Though Even with a blu-ray player in my possession, I wouldn't buy this stuff. Once I was finally able to get the original un-f'ed versions on DVD, I stopped buying the stuff. And I don't think I've opened the shrinkwrap on those…

    I used to watch the original trilogy once a year-ish, but once the new movies came out, it didn't feel the same anymore… :/

  14. I'll buy them, again, for the 5th time now.

    But that's not as bad as my Army of Darkness obsession. If I add up all of the formats/cuts I've bought of that movie over the years, it easily adds up to 10+.

    • With a commentary by Lucas and Bruce Vilanch. I've always wanted to hear a commentary track degenerate into a fist fight.
      #Battleoftheneckwaddles

  19. I never bought Star Wars the first time. Honestly, if all of geekdom knew just how much I despise 95% of all things Star Wars, you should kill me on site. (Heh, Dr. Who reference there)

    But I LOVE the NthOlogy. LOVE LOVE LOVE.
    I always feel the need to comment to commend good writing.

  20. Lucas must have a master plan that this all fits into like…..
    Burning out the masses on Star wars to the point that we refuse to watch it anymore so that some years down the line it can be "rediscovered" and they can start the process all over again.

  22. My partner and I got the last VHS release of the original trilogy in un-fucked-with form, making a winning bet that the DVD release would be somehow ruined. I'm sure I still have them around somewhere, but I don't even know where our DVD player ended up, much less our VCR.

    Then George Lucas did the kindest, most heartwarming thing he could have ever done for us. He made "Phantom Menace" a total piece of shit. In the space of substantially less than 2 hours and 13 minutes, I was completely cured of my Star Wars fandom. The only part of that evening I haven't blocked out was where a (long since ex-)coworker walked into the theater men's room behind me and gave me a not-so-little show. That was far, far more appropriate than what I saw on the big screen that fateful night.

  23. Not buying them. I don't own them and don't really like re-watching most stuff.

    I AM going to try to get to Toronto this weekend (I'm on call) to meet and support you and Jon Rosenberg, and drool near Jeph Jacques and try not to be stalker-y.

  26. Never bough a video but did sit through the first trilogy marathon way back when in one of the first IMAX theaters out there [bonus points for those who know it] but it was a real butt killer then and I doubt my butt would fit in those seats before the renovations.

    I did buy some memorabilia [still kickin myself on the first gen light-sabres] but my $$$ went to the first and second generation RPGs. The WotC first release materials were great – unfortunately corporate know how to kill a good thing so, no star wars gaming for me except when we break out the out of print stuff.

  27. No, what's next is a Pakistani CAMEL team flying Wright Brothers-esque whirlybirds into the Skywalker Ranchero compound and taking him out in his throat wattle with a rusty R2-D2 Kenner action figure from 1979 that wasn't kept in its original packaging….and then stealing everything related to the 6 films that's not nailed down.

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