Star Wars Trilogy Episodes IV-VI (Blu-ray + DVD)

An item that was in great condition and works well.

Many Sci Fi buffs tend to treat the Star Wars trilogy like it was the second coming. It was a ground breaking effort on the part of George Lucas but not exactly a world shaking revolution.These films put to death the theory that all science fiction films must be "B" grade. They were big budget, hi tech, well directed films with some excellent performances. Star Wars launched the successful careers of so many people that they are impossible to list.The first film, "Star Wars", takes us through Luke Skywalker's discovery of his destiny. He finds an old Jedi Knight, Ben (Obi-Wan) Kenobi, who takes it on himself to train Luke in the ways of the force. Unfortunately Ben and Luke get drafted by Princess Leia in an attempt to save her and oppose the evil emperor and his second in command, Lord Darth Vader. They are aided by a smuggler/pilot, Han Solo and his copilot Chewbacca in the fastest ship in the cosmos, the Millennium Falcon. Some heavy duty action is had by all when Leia is rescued, (losing Ben in the process) and the emperor's death star is destroyed with only moments to spare before the rebel base was to be obliterated.The second film, "The Empire Strikes Back", disappointed me at the time because of its open ended finish. I have since forgiven it for this. As with the first film, the second starts by skipping some of the intervening background material. So, we are left to catch up to the plot by ourselves. We find Luke Han and Leia in a new rebel base on a frozen planet. During an isolated scene where Luke is captured by a snow beast we find that his Jedi powers have developed a little more and that the friendship between he and Han has grown even stronger. But not to the point where their rivalry over Leia has abated.The empire locates the rebel base and they all have to turn tail and run. Yes, we discover that the destruction of the death star at the end of the last film was nowhere near the end of the empire. Everyone bugs out in an orderly fashion except Luke who heads off to find a new master, by following the instructions of the now spectral Obi-Wan. Han, Chewy and Leia find that the Falcon is in need of repair and have to limp to the nearest port of call.Luke finds the memorable Jedi Master Yoda, and starts his training. Meanwhile the falcon's crew is in trouble after Han's friend, Lando Calrissian, involuntarily betrays them to Darth Vader, resulting in Han being frozen in carbonite. So it's Luke to the rescue. The problem is that this was Darth's plan all along. Thus we get to see Luke, fencing with Darth. Luke loses his hand but gains a Father. Both against his will.The final film, "Return of the Jedi", was excellent, except for the ridiculously cutesy Ewoks. We have to do another leap forward to catch the plot which has moved to the point where all of Han's friends are involved in an attempt at his rescue. Han has been sold, as a wall decoration, to Jaba the Hut, a type of Mafia boss in the shape of a giant, fat, salamanda. Luke arrives and impresses the hell out of everyone with his new Jedi powers. With a little help he saves everyone and the movie moves on.The empire is building another death star and the rebels have a plan to destroy it. Of course Han, Luke, Leia, etc. are all critical to the success of this plan. They must land on a tropical moon to disable the force field that protects the half built deathstar. In the process, Luke is voluntarily captured and tries to turn Darth, his Father, away from evil. We get to see another great dual between the two of them. This time the emperor is on the side lines cheering them on whilst trying to turn Luke to the dark side of the force. Luke is made of sterner stuff than that though.Meanwhile the rest of the gang have run into the improbable Ewoks. Fuzzy, teddy bear like people who seem unable to walk without waddling. Strangely they turn out to be useful allies, in the capacity of scouts, diversions and pesky warriors. The force field is eventually brought down and the rebels attack only to find that the death star is not nonfunctional after all. If it wasn't for Darth Vader turning against the emperor at the last minute, in order to save Luke, all would have been lost.Many people have been awaiting more movies in the series. A number of good follow up books have been written, Timothy Zahn's efforts are especially good. However, Lucus has decided to go back in time and produce some prequels. We will see a young version of Obi-Wan as the hero. It should be good.

I just got my Blu Rays of episodes 4-6 and started my weekend by watching Empire Strikes Back.Firstly, my system:Mitsubishi 1080p projector on a 120" screen.Denon receiver with Dolby Tru HD and DTS HDAtlantic Technology Speakers 5.1PS3Picture quality: Amazing! No graininess with great color balance. Original aspect ratio. I've seen the DVDs (including the issue that contains the original theatrical release - that was not in anamorphic wide screen, but original!), the laser discs (both new release and the mega box set that has each movie spanning 3 discs!) and of course the VHS versions that were originally pan and scan. Of course, the Blu Ray's picture quality cannot be matched by previous technologies. I don't know how else to describe the picture, except that it looks like it was filmed using recent technologies, not 35 mm film stock from the 1970s. If you see some other Blu Ray transfers from the '70s and '80s, you'll notice a significant deterioration and graininess that's typical of the low quality film stock from those decades. Take a look, for example, at the Blu Ray transfer of Ghostbusters and you'll see exactly what I'm talking about! This experience, however, was just awesome.Sound quality: The people that invented THX were, of course, going to do an awesome job and they did not disappoint. These movies are presented in DTS HD - which I feel sounds better than Dolby Tru HD (that's not included). Dolby Digital and DTS standard audio tracks are also on the disks, but why have a Blu Ray player if you can't enjoy the HD audio!?! I think the sound outdid the picture quality! There was a perfect sound emersion with excellent use of the surround channels. Not just gimmicky noises that most other movies employ, this experience really made you feel like you were in the middle of all the action. If you have a well calibrated 5.1 setup, pay close attention to the rainy sequence with Luke and Yoda in Empire; rain is coming down all around you! Simply beautiful! During the asteroid sequence, the surround channels are used with extreme precision; as ships come from the background or fade into the background, you feel it. The .1 aspect? The sub woofers are perfectly balanced throughout the movie. Again, never a gimmicky use of this most important channel. The subs rumble with great precision, just like the surrounds. The battle on Hoth was simply perfect with regard to the use of surrounds and sub. I never had to adjust the volume to adjust from dialog to action sequences - that was the whole point of Lucas' original mission with THX balancing. You should hear the dialog when it's time to hear it and the action sounds shouldn't overpower the rest of the movie. I often find myself lowering volume during crazy action sequences and raising the volume to hear dialog in lesser quality sound mixes...even from modern productions. Not with this movie, the balance was just perfect. This will become a new reference standard for testing sound systems!Regarding Lucas meddling with the originals? I don't really care. Mostly because I think Empire Strikes Back is the best one of all 6 and he really didn't mess with this one much! There are some CGI flight sequences that don't take anything away from the movie, in fact, I think they add to it. Thank you George!!! Star Wars, of course has crazy meddling, with Jaba and new creatures...just too distracting. And I never really liked Return of the Jedi - I thought it was very cheesy with the Ewoks. So if you're like me and want to relive the best movie ever (in my opinion), then these Blu Rays can't be beat.Worth every penny, even if it's just to watch Empire Strikes Back. Beware though, this box set only includes the 3 movies and no bonuses material. The movies do have audio commentary, but no other special features. I'm ok with that - I think you can enjoy "the making of" stuff only so many times before it gets boring.

So the big question is, if the original trilogy is in theit unaltered states ie. those films that were released in 1977,1980 & 1983? The answer is a resounding YES, but at a "cost". This is the only way, on dvd, to enjoy the trilogy in the way they were seen in theatres all those years ago, unless you have them in laserdisc format. All three movies are the original theatrical versions, the audio is Dolby 2.0 surround in english, french & spanish, subtitles are in english only, & are all presented in 4x3 letterbox format (aspect ration 2.35:1). The sources that these dvds were struck, appears to be from an unremastered version of each movie, there appears to be minor specks & "print damage" which is present, but does not distract from the viewing enjoyment. This boxset also includes the 2004 versions (ie 2.0) of each movie with the new alterations in widescreen format for 16x9 TVs, the sound is Dolby 5.1 Surround EX & 2.0 in english, french & spanish in 2.0 Dolby Surround, with english subtitles only. There are a few Special Features available, one commentary on each movie, dvd-rom links, & LEGO Star Wars II Video Games XBOX demo & trailer. Enjoyable & recommended for all fans of the Original Trilogy!!!