Star Wars Laserdisc

[ChadTower]

So, my kids and I got home from camping yesterday, and we were all wiped out.  We went to watch Empire Strikes back and found that we had some file corruption on our SAN.  I need to reacquire the original films.  I've seen a whole bunch of versions mentioned here that I've never heard about.  I don't keep track of these things, I guess.  What is the best version to grab for people who want to stream them on 32" LCDs that max at 1080i?

[Vigo]

If you are only looking for a new copy of Empire, I would just grab an official blu ray rip. The changes in Empire usually ranged from pointless and stupid, to actually tasteful but still pointless. Mostly useless film edits, using alternate takes for voices, etc.

If you are gonna grab the trilogy, I think torrenting Harmy's Despecialized Edition stuff is worthwhile, and it should plenty good quality on a 32". If you can get version 2.1 of Star War Despecialized, go for it. I can only find 2.1 on what looks like a Tonganese website, and it is a RAR divided into about 45 parts. I haven't been avidly downloading things on the internet for a few years, and am out of the loop of good places to get things since demonoid went down. 

[ChadTower]

Sweet, thanks.  I'll take a look for Harmy's pack.

[Vigo]

Oh, and just to clarify, a 2.1 version only exists for New Hope right now. Empire and Jedi are only 1.0. I am still old school about how they name this stuff, and to me the original is still just "Star Wars".

[ChadTower]

That's okay, I'm not super picky, I just want a decent version that isn't all CGIed up in weird ways.

[Gray_Area]

@Howard: I think your age and you being a programmer of the newer kind has you seeing people in certain lights that are rather....hip.  Audiophiles are people who are serious about sound; most are in some kind of technical field, and some of them have degrees in acoustics and ---steaming pile of meadow muffin---.

Now, I know digital is okay. On a guitar gear forum I frequent, I frequently hear phenomenal all digital recordings. Clear, spacious, lively - and the only instrument that is analog is the guitar. And perhaps the bass that they've actually done with guitar, and it sounds like a bass!  The drums are software, and they spend a lot of time tweaking the velocities and such to sound life-like, and they do. Some of these recordings are being done by people under 25!...in their bedrooms!!

Then again, while the linearity of digital is better than analog, the resolution is important. Then it's up to the person recording and mixing it, as it always has been.


I got the Harmy's De's a couple days ago, and was going to watch Star Wars last night - but saw the long-neglected folder of The Fugitive and was all, I'm watching that! Some tasty Harrison, either way.

[Xiaou2]

 

seeing people in certain lights

  Its called Labeling, and Judgement.  Howards all about this kind of stuff.   Just dont turn it around on him...

 As for terms like "Hipster",  I find it funny how people buy into these made up terms.   The terms were created by the TV media (ran by the slave masters) , and the Zombies eat it up.    People either try to define themselves to these terms.. and or rebel against them, adhering to some other term. Total Ego thing.

[Vigo]

As for terms like "Hipster",  I find it funny how people buy into these made up terms.   The terms were created by the TV media (ran by the slave masters) , and the Zombies eat it up.    People either try to define themselves to these terms.. and or rebel against them, adhering to some other term. Total Ego thing.

TV created hipsters? You need to take some sociology classes. Hipsters have been around long before TV, they just went by different names over the years.  Beatnik, Hippy, Bohemian....

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Counterculture


And now for some hipster jokes:

Why did the hipster drown?
He went ice skating before it was cool

Two hipsters walk into a bar. The first one did it before it was cool, and the second one did it ironically.

Why do hipsters hate the Mississippi river?
Because it is too mainstream.

Why do hipsters like the subway?
Because it is underground.

[ark_ader]

Did they release the version with Biggs and luke which is featured in the Making of Starwars CD, and the scene which shows Koo Stark?

And the extended Jabba scene (non animated) with Declan Mulholland.

[yotsuya]

hayden as a jedi ghost

I don't actually have an issue with this, as that was how he looked before he converted to the Dark Side (though you could argue that his last good act was as Vader killing the Emperor to save his son). Make sense to me.

[ChadTower]

I never liked the redemption of Anakin part of that story.  Yeah, he did one good thing at the very end, but that doesn't erase killing and enslaving millions of people over the prior 17-18 years.

[Vigo]

Heres somthing to think about, maybe being a ghost Jedi is a punishment for being evil at one point in your life. Perhaps Obi Wan and Yoda were really evil in the past. Would explain why Yoda was able to harness force lightning in the prequels. He was totally a little green dark jedi at one point. Obi Wan? Being that he lived as a hermet in a desert, he just couldn't "live off the land". I'm pretty sure he killed people for a living. Not many other ways to make money.

[Le Chuck]

I never liked the redemption of Anakin part of that story.  Yeah, he did one good thing at the very end, but that doesn't erase killing and enslaving millions of people over the prior 17-18 years.

Billions.  Just on Alderaan alone.  And countless Bothans.  Let's not forget the bothans.   

[ChadTower]

Vader didn't destroy Alderaan.  Tarkin did.  Wasn't Vader's style to use a superlaser on a planet.  He'd have gone down there and shanked every person on the planet individually.

[Le Chuck]

Semantics, Vader was there, he was complicit.   

[shponglefan]

I don't actually have an issue with this, as that was how he looked before he converted to the Dark Side (though you could argue that his last good act was as Vader killing the Emperor to save his son). Make sense to me.

Wouldn't have made sense to Luke though who would have no idea who that random, young guy was.  Not to mention anyone else who doesn't watch the prequels first.

[danny_galaga]

Has anyone mentioned Hitler yet?

[Malenko]

Its called Labeling, and Judgement.  Howards all about this kind of stuff.   Just dont turn it around on him...

I would say that its Howards age thats the problem... its his Ignorance, which is timeless.

Back on topic, I dont have or want the laser disc, I have all the DVDs I think I'll DL one of these "despecialized" editions and see what I think of it.

[shponglefan]

I finally watched the "despecialized" Star Wars (v 2.0 I believe it was).  Wow, what a revelation!  I was really impressed at how they kept the feel of the original by removing all the extra crap, but it was still in HD with a digital audio track.  The editing to remove all the CG stuff is pretty seamless, and I didn't notice any glaring mixtures of high-res vs low-res compositing (unlike in those RoTJ scenes I mentioned earlier).

I'm really hoping they do a 2.0 version of Empire and RoTJ.  It would be awesome.

[Gray_Area]

Has anyone mentioned Hitler yet?

Der's ma bouy.

I don't actually have an issue with this, as that was how he looked before he converted to the Dark Side (though you could argue that his last good act was as Vader killing the Emperor to save his son). Make sense to me.

Wouldn't have made sense to Luke though who would have no idea who that random, young guy was.  Not to mention anyone else who doesn't watch the prequels first.

He's the only one who can see them, yo. And each of them 'displayed' as they were when they died, so yeah of course Anakin has to be old!

BUT - it was the neo-Disney thing to do you know....because kids are ---smurfing--- stupid as sin these days, and it's just better marketing anyways.

[Gray_Area]

Saw Harmy's De Star Wars the other night. Very nice looking. The only issue I saw was in the scene with Luke and Three-P-oh as the sun is setting, there was some aliasing or something in the view. I think this might be the last time I watch this movie, though. It's just so terribly ridiculous in almost every way (I think by and large the effects are still great), the only thing I enjoy anymore is the acting/mannerisms.