When I first heard that Star Wars was coming to DVD I almost wet myself, and thats not somehting a grown man can admit to easily but its true. I watch Star Wars at least once a month and my videos were in dire need of replacement, and this was the answer.
To my suprise I got the DVD set for only £25 in a shop but was horrified to find some shops charging as much as £39.99, rip off! get them online its a lot cheaper.
Anyway to the movies. To my amazement George Lucas has updated the movies AGAIN! but this time he has really only tweaked the addititions made in the 97 Special Editions, and they look fantastic! I am going to give each film a short review about its changes as i'm sure you know what the films are like, so if you want to see the 'tweaks' for yourself do not read on and be safe in the knowledge that they are fantastic!
*****SPOILER WARNING!*******
Ep IV - A New Hope
This is of course the most dated looking of
the films, being the first one made but George has fixed some fatal flaws that now make it look like it 'fits' with Ep I & II or perhaps the other way round.
The first one you notice is the Greedo scene. He no longer shoots first!! I hated that scene when I first seen it in 97 and now its fixed. Greedo now shoots a split second after Han, as a 'Death Twitch', hence he misses.
The Jabba the Hutt scene, Jabba has been totally re-done, CGI has evolved so much since 97 and the scene no longer looks like its from a crap computer game. Jabba looks a lot darker, his skin is much more detailed and the 'Han stepping on tail' bit doesnt hurt him as much, he just shoots Han an angry look.
Secondly the lightsabers have all been fixed. Luke's no longer looks shoddy, it has well defined edges and the proper 'stroke' effect that we see in Ep V, VI, I, & II. Also Darth Vaders & Ben Kenobi's are also richer in colour and the glitches that made them lose colour or appear white have now been fixed and the colours stay throughout.
The rest is pretty much the same as the 97 edition, makes a great film and is the 2nd best in the original trilogy in my opinion.
Ep - V The Empire Strikes Back
Now this is the daddy of the original trilogy. It's timeless! Where Ep IV looks 70's-ish and Ep VI looks so 80's this one is in a league of its own, and I think George is trying to recreate it in Ep III, I hope!
One Major change is that Ian Mc Diarmid is finally in the film as the Emperor in the hologram suite. It makes the film feel like a big comfy sofa.
Two other minor changes are, Boba Fett's voice has been re-recorded by the actor who played Jango, after all Boba is a clone and Lukes girly scream as he falls from cloud city is gone!
Other than that the film is the same and contains all the darkness and evil of the Empire and the hope that good always brings.
One of the best!
Ep VI - Return of the Jedi
This is my least favourite of the three but still kicks ass.
Not too many changes in this one, just a sort of clean up job. Ben's ghost is a sharper deeper blue, the lasers, lightsabers have all been revamped. One thing though, i'm almost sure there was a scene in the 97 cinema release of the group returning to the Falcon in a dust storm just before leaving Tatooine but I cant remember seeing it in the DVD, is it my bad memory or am I imagining it? let me know what you think.
Anyway there is one major change that, to me, makes the final film go up a notch on the Star Wars -o- meter and that is with the death of Vader. When Luke removes his helmet his eyebrows are gone, which is a hint at what happens in Ep III and *drum roll* the ghost of Anakin has been replaced at the end with Hayden Christensen!!!!! For me this really made the new trilogy fit with the old but I can see how some people will have to be padantic and not like it. For me though I thought it was a nice touch.
Apart from that the film is the same
*****END OF SPOILERS******
Anyway, so there you have it. In my opinion the Star Wars Trilogy DVD is most definately worth the money, but not from high street shops! GO ONLINE!!! It brings it into the 21st Century and embraces the new trilogy, which I think are good but are only being made for cash. Who knows Ep III : Revenge of the Sith might just change my mind.
The DVD set makes you feel like your back in that cinema watching that Star Destroyer go overhead all over again!
If I have missed anything I apologise but I am now going home to watch it again.......
I will not fail you!! lol, Bye 
16.11.2006 22:12
great review
08.11.2004 15:44
I hate star Wars........steve
20.10.2004 14:12
I like that - plot spoiler - as if there is anyone on earth who hasnt seen the movies