Star Wars: The Complete Saga (2015 Reissue) Blu-ray review

-
20th Century Fox Home Entertainment
On October 13, 2015, 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment re-issued “Star Wars: The Complete Saga,” a nine-disc box set that collects the six films of George Lucas’s epic space-fantasy series set “a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away” on Blu-ray discs (BDs). This set, which also includes three BDs of bonus materials culled from Lucasfilm’s archive, has the same content as Fox’s 2011 “Complete Saga” collection. The only major differences are the packaging and, in some sets, the artwork on the BD labels.



Considering that Fox has re-issued “Star Wars”-themed box sets countless times since the days when videotape was the dominant home video format, it’s obvious that the studio hopes to capitalize on renewed interest in the nearly 40-year-old franchise as a result of Disney/Lucasfilm’s “Star Wars: The Force Awakens.” “Star Wars: The Complete Saga” was dropped a month before Fox introduced the Limited Edition Steelbook BDs for each of the six Episodes released by the studio between 1977 and 2005.

The Content


“Experience the spectacular adventure of ‘Star Wars: The Complete Saga’ in a way only Blu-ray can deliver. This incredible collection unites all six movies in stunning high definition with the purest digital sound in the galaxy. With more than 40 hours of thrilling special features including three bonus discs, you can journey deep into the ‘Star Wars’ universe. Feel the Force of ‘Star Wars: The Complete Saga’ on Blu-ray!” – from the package blurb.

The 2015 version of “Star Wars: The Complete Saga” is essentially identical to Fox’s first Blu-ray box set. The first six discs contain the George Lucas-approved 2011 editions of “The Phantom Menace,” “Attack of the Clones,” “Revenge of the Sith,” “A New Hope,” “The Empire Strikes Back,” and “Return of the Jedi.” Contrary to the wishes of many “Star Wars” fans, Fox and Lucasfilm did not include the original 1977-1983 theatrical release editions of Episodes IV-VI in this set. They also decided not to create any new extra features or port over any of the bonus materials from the 2001-2005 DVD releases.

For new fans who did not get the original “Star Wars: The Complete Saga” set in 2011, here’s a quick rundown of the special features in the 2015 edition:

·        Audio Commentary for Each Movie with George Lucas and Crew
·        Never-Before-Released Audio Commentary for Each Movie from Archival Interviews with Cast and Crew
·        Bonus Discs 1 &2
·        New Star Wars Archives Content Includes:
·        45 Deleted/Extended Scenes
·        Cast & Crew Interviews
·        Props, Maquette and Costume Turnarounds
·        Matte Paintings and Concept Art
·        Bonus Disc 3
·        In-Depth Documentaries and Featurettes:
·        “The Making of Star Wars” - 1977
·        “The Empire Strikes Back: SPFX” - 1980
·        “Classic Creatures: Return of the Jedi” - 1983
·        “Anatomy of a Dewback” - 1997
·        “Star Warriors” - 2007
·        “Star Wars Tech” - 2007
·        “A Conversation with the Masters: The Empire Strikes Back 30 Years Later” - 2010
·        “Star Wars Spoofs” (Including Weird Al Yankovich's “The Saga Begins”)


The Packaging

The major difference between the 2011 and 2015 versions of “Star Wars: The Complete Saga” is, unsurprisingly, cosmetic. 20th Century Home Entertainment chose to feature Darth Vader on the cover art which graces both the slipcover and multi-disc jewel case packaging. The illustration depicts Vader holding his red-bladed lightsaber in his right hand as he strides menacingly forward. Though this cover art is not as striking as the Anakin/Luke Skywalker-on-Tatooine illustration used on the 2011 box set, it is still nicely done and fits Lucas’s concept of the two trilogies’ Tragedy of Anakin Skywalker theme.

The other minor variation from the 2011 set is that the Guide to the Galaxy booklet that lists the films and extra features now has a Death Star II (from “Return of the Jedi”) motif.

The Bottom Line

Although 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment did not give this boxed set new special features or include the original theatrical editions of “A New Hope,” “The Empire Strikes Back,” and “Return of the Jedi,” its marketing strategy has been successful.

Fox’s success with this reissue may baffle those fans who demanded – without much luck – that George Lucas would include the pre-Special Edition versions of the original trilogy along with the enhanced “official editions.” To be sure, some of the changes Lucasfilm added to the films – including previously unseen rocks in front of the cave where R2-D2 hides during the Sandpeople attack in “A New Hope” – are baffling and unnecessary, and many viewers have noted that there are flaws in the color palette.

Nevertheless, “Star Wars: The Complete Saga” is still a worthy addition to any home video library. True, most fans who already have the 2011 box set don’t need the 2015 re-issue unless they want a backup set. However, new fans who are learning about that galaxy far, far away via J.J. Abrams’ “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” will probably love this set. It contains the complete heroes’ journey taken by both Anakin and Luke Skywalker in Episodes I-VI, and the bonus features showcase the creative effort that went into the making of the original “Star Wars” saga.

Blu-ray Specifications for “Star Wars: The Complete Saga”

Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace
·        English: DTS-HD Master Audio 6.1 (48kHz, 24-bit)
·        French: DTS 5.1
·        French: Dolby Digital 5.1 (448 kbps)
·        Portuguese: Dolby Digital 5.1
·        Spanish: Dolby Digital 5.1 (448 kbps)
Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones
·        English: DTS-HD Master Audio 6.1 (48kHz, 24-bit)
·        French: Dolby Digital 5.1 (448 kbps)
·        French: DTS 5.1
·        Portuguese: Dolby Digital 5.1
·        Spanish: Dolby Digital 5.1 (448 kbps)
Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith
·        English: DTS-HD Master Audio 6.1 (48kHz, 24-bit)
·        Spanish: Dolby Digital 5.1 (448 kbps)
·        Portuguese: Dolby Digital 5.1
·        French: DTS 5.1
·        French: Dolby Digital 5.1 (448 kbps)
Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope
·        English: DTS-HD Master Audio 6.1 (48kHz, 24-bit)
·        French: DTS 5.1
·        Portuguese: Dolby Digital 5.1
·        Spanish: Dolby Digital 5.1 (448 kbps)
Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back
·        English: DTS-HD Master Audio 6.1 (48kHz, 24-bit)
·        French: DTS 5.1
·        Portuguese: Dolby Digital 5.1
·        Spanish: Dolby Digital 5.1 (448 kbps)
Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi
·        English: DTS-HD Master Audio 6.1 (48kHz, 24-bit)
·        French: DTS 5.1
·        Portuguese: Dolby Digital 5.1
·        Spanish: Dolby Digital 5.1 (448 kbps)
Subtitles
·        English SDH, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, Norwegian, Swedish
Discs
·        50GB Blu-ray Disc
·        Nine-disc set (9 BDs)
Packaging

·        Slipcover in original pressing
Playback

·        Region A


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

How many movies have been made based on Stephen King's 'It'?

-
Image
How many movies have been made based on Stephen King's It ? It  has been adapted twice for filmed audio-visual media. The first filmed version of  It was a TV limited series; the second was a duology of theatrically-released movies.  The first adaptation of Stephen King’s 1986 doorstop of a novel was a 1990 adaptation made as a two-part ABC miniseries for television. Among the cast members: Tim Reid, Harry Anderson, Annette O’Toole, John Ritter, and Richard Thomas. The miniseries also featured Tim Curry as the evil Pennywise the Clown. Adapted for television by director Tommy Lee Wallace and Lawrence D. Cohen (who also adapted King’s  Carrie  for director Brian De Palma in 1976),  It  was okay but a watered-down take on the scary novel about a group of friends who must face off against a monstrous entity known as “It” twice. Once as kids in 1960, then again as adults in 1990. (Like  11,22.63,  the TV version of It avoids the year ...
Read more

Talking About 'Band of Brothers' (HBO Miniseries): Why were there no black soldiers in the Band of Brothers TV miniseries?

-
Image
Band of Brothers,  sadly, reflects one of the sad realities of American society in the 1940s - racial segregation in the armed forces. Although there  were  a few all-Negro (as blacks were referred to in those days) units in the U.S. Army and the Army Air Forces that served with distinction in the European Theater of Operations, most black servicemen were assigned to non-combat units in Supply of Services and other support forces. Most of these soldiers were truck drivers, anti-aircraft gunners, barrage balloon handlers, engineers, stevedores, clerks, cooks, corpsmen, and so on. Only late in the war (fall of 1944 and winter/spring 1945) did large numbers of black infantrymen see combat against German forces, and even then they served in all-black units commanded by white officers. © 2001 Home Box Office, Dreamworks SKG, and Play-Tone Pictures The 101st Airborne Division was an all-American unit made up of individuals from many different groups - Easy Company’...
Read more

'The Boy in Striped Pajamas' movie review

-
Image
(C) 2008 Miramax, Heyday Films, BBC Films Writer-director Mark Herman’s 2008 film “The Boy in the Striped Pajamas” is a faithful but (necessarily) condensed adaptation of John Boyne’s 2007 novel about a German boy, Bruno (Asa Butterfield), who befriends Shmuel (Jack Scanlon), an eight-year-old inmate in a Nazi concentration camp during World War II.  Like Boyne’s novel, the film is not a definitive history of the Holocaust. It’s not as graphic or historically accurate as Steven Spielberg’s 1993 classic “Schindler’s List,” nor was it intended to be. (Indeed, Herman says in the behind-the-scenes featurette “Friendship Beyond the Fence” that he doesn’t consider “The Boy in the Striped Pajamas” to be a “Holocaust film.”) Set in the early 1940s at the height of Nazi Germany’s power, the film follows Bruno on a journey that takes him and his family from Berlin to German-occupied Poland. His father Ralf (David Thewlis) is a newly-promoted SS officer with a new posting: commandant...
Read more