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Star Wars Saga gets 3D Love in 2012


Zor Primus

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George Lucas just can’t stop tinkering with the Star Wars movies, and now he’s poised to unleash his latest retooling of that saga from a long time ago in a galaxy — a 3-D galaxy, this time — far, far away. Unfortunately, the original and perhaps best of the Star Wars epics won’t be the first to make the 3-D leap.

Nope, expect "Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace" to be the first of the classic six-movie series to go the 3-D way, according to a post on the official Star Wars website. The 3-D "Phantom Menace" is slated to arrive on an undetermined date in 2012, with the Hollywood Reporter chiming in that the rest of the saga will follow in chronological order on an annual basis, "depending on how the first re-release does."

"Phantom Menace" was, of course, the film that introduced the universally despised Jar Jar Binks to a legion of appalled Star Wars fans. OK, maybe that’s not fair — I do have one friend who claims to love Jar Jar (you know who you are). Let’s just call him "widely" despised, and move on.

Lucasfilm hasn’t officially stated whether it’ll be the original Star Wars movies or the "special edition" versions — think Greedo shooting first — but given the fact that the upcoming Blu-ray versions of Star Wars will be the special editions, and only the special editions, I wouldn’t count on seeing Han Solo taking a 3D-enhanced preemptive shot at Greedo anytime soon.

The 3-D conversion process will be "a matter of taking the time and getting it right," said Industrial Light & Magic’s John Knoll in the official website's post. "It takes a critical and artistic eye along with an incredible attention to detail to be successful. It is not something that you can rush if you want to expect good results."

Well, it may indeed be awhile before we see the original "Star Wars" in 3D — perhaps as long as five years, if the movies are in fact released annually and in order starting in 2012.

Of course, one advantage of waiting so long for the best Star Wars films (well, the best as far as I’m concerned, anyway) is that there will be more 3-D movie screens available, as the Hollywood Reporter points out. As of now, only about 2,500 3-D screens are available in U.S. movie theaters, according to the online trade journal, but that number is reportedly rising by 500 a month.

But by the time, say, "The Empire Strikes Back" (my personal favorite) rolls around in 3-D — presumably in 2016, at the earliest — will the 3-D craze (or this latest 3-D craze, I should say) have long since died out? After all, releasing a movie in 3-D doesn’t make for a guaranteed hit anymore, and moviegoers (including me) are rapidly tiring of jacked-up 3-D ticket prices.

Then again, maybe we’ll make an exception for Luke, Han, Leia and Darth. But are Jar Jar and Qui-Gon Jinn (who?) really worth the $15-plus price of a 3-D movie ticket?

You tell me.

So who is going to make the deposit into Uncle George's piggy bank again?

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Ehhh, no. I loved the original trilogy (some of the movies more than others, but I enjoyed all three), but I'm tired of these constant rehashes just to wring every last cent out of the series. 3D won't add anything new to the films, and even if it did... things tend to go horribly, horribly wrong when Lucas adds 'something new'.

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Blah. I'm already sick of 3-D. I could probably be convinced to see the original trilogy in 3-D, just for the fun of seeing them in a real theatre again, but I'll pass on the prequels.

As for making the prequels more palatable, well, that's a matter of taste, ain't it? IMHO, that would require at least massive re-editing, additional ADR, possible re-casting and re-shooting... yeah, don't think Lucas would put in enough effort to meet what I'd be looking for to make the prequels any better. B))

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This is something I can easily ignore. Even if I was interested in this it would be very hard to get excited about considering how drawn out the project is. We wouldn't be seeing Return of the Jedi until 2017, and by then Lucas will probably be ready to roll out the next revision.

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how did I just know this was going to happen, it's like I'm psychic or something.

What Lucas needs to do is go hire Weta and have them Completely redo the movie; like ~90% all new material. just replace everything with CGI; sets, vehicles, characters, EVERYTHING. And while there at it, they could take the time to modernize the film (aliens less goofy, more modern looking ships, new score etc). finally, re-release it in IMAX and 3D.

Edited by anime52k8
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okaaay, not subject related, but seeing gubaba's and anime52k8's avatars in sequence... :wacko:

on topic, i'll probably just settle for the blurays (even if they are unfortunately the "special" editions) next year and then stop. but maybe i'll reconsider if by the time the original trilogy is due out we have hologram TV sets, or at least 3D TVs without glasses

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So in twenty years time when the 3D versions of these films are the only ones available, when the public demands the release of the originals Lucas is going to claim that he "lost" them...

Taksraven

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You know what would be funny? If the only thing 3D in any of the films, are the little communication holograms :) With that said, As soon as I have my bluray set next year, I don't care what trendy kick Lucas goes on with the movies, 3D, smellavision (and I thought they smelled bad on the outside), the bluray should be the definative version for quite a while.

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I still have the non-special edition widescreen laserdiscs. Low resolution and composite video, but it's the best way to watch the Max Rebo Band play Lapti Nek unless they finally released it on DVD. I seem to remember something a while back about some kind of halfway version.

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They did release it actually, there's a special edition DVD box set that has I believe a transfer of the Laserdisc version. I have the boxset. It's the only way I can watch the original trilogy on DVD without all the extra stuff they added.

P11476970.jpg

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Is this for real, jarjar actually falls?? come on, this is too good to be true, obviously he doesn't die, or...

No, it's a cut scene and he jumps into the river and swims to shore just as the ship starts falling.

If you look closely, you see him disappear "inside" the ship. Where does he go? Cowering on the floor mats? The dialogue implies otherwise.

Anyhow - 3D is overblown. Go read Roger Ebert's 9 reasons why I hate 3D and you should too: http://www.newsweek.com/2010/04/30/why-i-hate-3-d-and-you-should-too.html

(movie critic opinions aside, there's a couple of very important technical and biological reasons in there)

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They did release it actually, there's a special edition DVD box set that has I believe a transfer of the Laserdisc version. I have the boxset. It's the only way I can watch the original trilogy on DVD without all the extra stuff they added.

P11476970.jpg

I`m pretty sure that transfer is 4:3

I`m also pretty sure that the only way you can own the original versions (or at least the `80s rerelease versions) is to get the Laserdisc set which I plan to finally do if the blu ray set doesn`t include widescreen prints of the originals.

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Can we have the hand size thing explained to us relative noobs again. I have heard of it before....

Taksraven

There was an old argument that went on here a few years back when someone noticed Hayden Christensen's hands were small when in Vader's armor. The mayhem ensued thereafter...

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Seriously though, one way that Lucas could have improved the prequel trilogy (but can't now) would have been if he let Darth Maul survive the end of the Phantom Menace and become a recurring villain for the rest of the prequel trilogy.

Darth Maul was wasted as a good potential villain and he was more intimidating than anybody else that they set up as an enemy in the prequel trilogy.

Taksraven

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