Star Wars Trilogy Episodes I-III (Blu-ray + DVD)

Star Wars: The Complete Saga (Episodes I-VI) [Blu-ray]I'm a first-generation Star Wars fan since 1977, having seen the original versions of the original three films in the theater one time each as a child, then falling in love with them all over again on VHS in 1987. And I've been a huge fan ever since. The Star Wars Saga is the ultimate epic space opera and film series.This isn't actually a review of the movies most of you reading this will have seen one or more versions of dozens of times, although this review will discuss some of the changes made to the films.I actually own the six-film Star Wars Saga blu-ray set linked above, and I reviewed that. The movie discs in this product are 3 of the same discs from the larger Saga set, so I thought I would edit that review down to only discuss the prequel trilogy discs themselves and post it here. This is meant to be an overview with personal observations and select commentary thrown in.DISC PHYSICAL QUALITIESThe discs themselves are heavy-duty, yet smooth and well-coated with scratch resistance - the best available in retail products I've seen. The discs themselves do not have any images - they are light grey with blue trimmings. The discs have the previously used logos of STAR WARS with the episode subtitle underneath, both on top of the episode number in the form of a large Roman numeral.THE FILM DISCSThis is as good a place as any to mention that there are two audio commentary tracks for each of the films of blu-ray. There are the same ones from the previous DVD versions of these films, and then new commentaries compiled from "archival interviews with cast and crew". I don't enjoy listening to commentaries while watching adventure films, but I will force myself to listen to the new tracks once (as I did for the original DVD commentaries).As I have only had one frame of reference for viewing the blu-ray films, I thought I should first specify what that is, in case my experiences are in any way relative to my equipment and viewing conditions. This may mean more to you than it does to me. My blu-ray player is a Sony BDP-S350. My HD TV is a Sony Bravia KDL-40V4100, a flat-screen LCD with a diagonal of a little over a meter. My blu-ray player and TV are both almost 3 years old. My line of vision is exactly 90° to the plane of the TV screen, and my eyes and ears are at a height equal to about 1/3 up from the bottom edge of the screen. I'm sitting such that the distance of my head to the TV screen is a little more than the width of the Death Star's thermal exhaust port.The Films on Blu-rayAll three films sound and look awesome in HD! Even Revenge of the Sith, which had the least room for improvement, is substantially better. All three films sound and look awesome in HD! I fully appreciate all the effort that had to go into improving the resolution of over 6 hours of high-quality sci-fi entertainment, frame-by-frame. Coruscant from space is breathtakingly gorgeous!There is one significant exception in the HD upgrade. A very logical and fitting artistic choice was made in the rendering of the holograms of characters. Throughout the all six movies, it looks like the holograms were not upgraded to HD, now looking somewhat pixilated compared to the surrounding "reality" they are projected into. This of course is easily explained in-universe as they are just not high-resolution transmissions, and I feel this actually works to improve the illusion of the entire scene seeming real. The holograms are now an intentional vestige of the analogue age, left behind to honor the origin and evolution of the Star Wars films themselves which began as motion picture projections but have now become the ultra-realistic-looking digital media. A very nice touch. And the hologram effects also seems more unified between the two trilogies now.)A significant improvement that the HD upgrade also provides is a solution to a common criticism I have ran into since 1999. Over the years I have heard many Star Wars fans express that the addition of GC characters and objects into the films seems unrealistic, in not only the updated versions of the classic trilogy but even the prequels. Ironically, these fans seem to have no trouble accepting the un-reality of rubber muppet characters, but CG is somehow unacceptable in their vision of the Star Wars universe. Well, now muppets, rubber masks, human actors and CG characters can all exist in visual harmony together, thanks to the wonders of HD. The increase in resolution seems to have unified the apparent realities of them all. Now the real-world elements of the scenes have been "raised" to the same level of visual reality of the CG elements, resulting in the CG elements seeming to much more naturally blend in with their surroundings. This adds in a whole new level of visual realism to the films, perhaps being the greatest achievement of these new blu-ray versions of the films.Now I'll go into more detail about some of the blu-ray enhancements and changes specific to each film.Episode I: The Phantom MenaceThe effect for the Jedi Knights speeding away from the droidekas on the Trade Federation ship has been improved. The original effects error of the two-headed pod race announcer's hand passing through his vest was fixed.The big change that even the die hard purists don't seem to mind so much is the complete and utter removal of that awful imitation Yoda muppet. The TPM muppet bore a vague resemblance to the original muppet from the sequels, but I thought that the TMP muppet could at most pass for Yoda's crazy spice-addicted brother. I know some fans that feel the CG Yoda model from AotC and RotS was not as good as the original muppet, but even they would agree that the prequel CG model looks a lot more like the original muppet than the TMP muppet did. And in blu-ray the CG Yoda in all 3 prequels looks more realistic now, so I'm very happy with this change.Episodes II: Attack of the Clones & Episodes II: Revenge of the SithThese mostly only had minute editorial tweaks like the exact transition between scenes, moving a couple reaction shots and dialogue lines to a slightly different part of a scene. The only really somewhat significant change is adding a line of dialogue in AotC where Anakin is having a nightmare about his mother while staying on Naboo. Shmi Skywalker's voice is now heard pleading for Anakin's help with the echo effect (signifying it is a thought or dream in Anakin's mind). It does accomplish the addition of a little more urgency to the drama of the film.FINAL WORDSYou may not agree with all the opinions I expressed here, but if you are reading this then you must be a Star Wars fan of some kind on some level. If so, then do yourself a favor and watch all six films on blu-ray at least once, even if you have no intention of ever owning them. You'll see much more than I could possibly ever hope to describe in words. And if you wish to criticize the blu-ray versions after viewing them, at least you'll then have an educated opinion for doing so.In my first viewing of Star Wars: The Complete Saga, the rich Star Wars multiverse has deepened in a way I couldn't have even imagined before seeing the films on blu-ray. While still not perfect, my favorite films have just gotten an incredible amount better. As impossible as it previously seemed, I'm somehow now even more of a Star Wars fan than I was before. But this blu-ray release has also reminded me that EVERY version of any Star Wars film is awesome!If you have any questions, please feel free the ask. If you have also seen the blu-rays and want to comment on them with respect to my review, please also feel free. May the Force be with you.

It is star wars. what more can be said?The original DVD releases for each of the prequel trilogy episodes are of pretty high quality in themselves. But here, on Blu-Ray, the quality, picture and sound are just outstandingly amazing. There is no "digital noise" to be seen here, a problem which really bugged me with there previous releases: especially in the first episode, which had the most room for improvement regarding its quality. And even the third episode, which is of the highest quality standards, makes the original releases look like nothing. Allot of the color and hazing problems of the first two episodes (the third one didn't' need any fixing up in this area) have been fixed and updated and now look more vibrant and sharp than ever. Also, several CG mistakes have been fixed, such as the two-headed pod race announcer's hand going striate through his jacket. And several cool deleted scenes have been re-inserted, such as each of the pod racers from episode 1 being introduced by the announcer to the crowed. Other updates include several of the really puppet-looking aliens (like the terrible, cross eyed stone-faced puppet of Yoda) have been replaced by CG versions of them that look just awesome. And the sound quality...in one word, AMAZING! The sound has been balanced quite well, so that you won't need to be constantly turning up the volume significantly at the scenes with more dialogue and turning the volume down drastically at the really intense action scenes. And the sound effects have been greatly enhanced and are just so amazing that it's nearly mind boggling. Especially in the 2nd episode, which has, by far, the great sound effects of the whole saga. This film really deserves the highest honors on it's sound.The only real problem that I have had with this is the lack of bonus features, a factor that I also had a problem with in the other Blu-Ray + DVD release of the original trilogy. The only bonus features that are included here are two different commentaries for each movie: for each one of the movies, one commentary with George Lucas and the crew, and the other one being compiled from archival interviews with cast and crew. And while both of the Audio Commentary tracks are quite interesting, it just isn't enough. Now I know that the reason for this is because the makers want everybody to buy the more-expensive Complete Saga on Blu-ray release, which has three discs filled with bonus features. But I still think that this volume could really benefit with at least a few more bonus features (or at least make it an option to view the unaltered version of each film) that would give it a much greater value.On the physical qualities: the volume comes in a pretty nice slipcover that won't wrinkle or fall apart easily. The case is quite strong and will close up without any struggle and won't fly open if it's simply dropped. But it's still pretty easy to open it manually without any difficulties. It comes, as you probably already know, three Blu-Ray discs and three normal DVDs. The Blu-Ray discs are much thicker and more scratch resistant than normal DVDs, making them more protected if they should fall into the wrong hands (or, in other words, SMALL hands). They also don't bend easily and won't crack under any great pressure. The DVDs are just like normal DVDs, but as you might have figured out as to what I said above, the quality of the prequel trilogy films on them are of much higher quality than any previous DVD release of the prequel trilogy that I have seen.

The dvd case was packaged nicely, no damage, and it arrived quickly! These dvds will be greatly loved in our household.