Okay. So we just bought the boxed set of Star Wars DVDs. (Actually, we preordered them 3 weeks ago, but didn't get them until Friday. UPS shipping sucks. Anyways, they changed a lot of things, right? Well, they changed more than you read about on IGN or similar web sites.
Here's a list of the things I caught. Extras, if you will.
A New Hope
- Feel the widescreen love. Oooh baby. The scrolling text at the beginning is fantastic. You can actually read it. Plus, you see a lot more than you did on the VHS releases. More droids, more stormtroopers, more Tatooine.
- COLOR. The plants in the Skywalker courtyard has actual, GREEN plants. R2D2's panels are wickedly blue. Skin tones, hair colors all stand out more. Plus, Tatooine is in MULTIPLE shades of brown! Now it looks geologically interesting.
- Subtitles. Mmm hmm.
- Multiple audio options. C3PO sounds like himself in French, but Darth Vader sounds like a wuss. They still have his funny synthesizer speak, but it's just not deep enough. He sounds better in spanish.
Empire Strikes Back
- More color. They did a fantastic job, really. Yoda is more green, he doesn't just look like he's nauseous.
- Boba Fett's voice. Not the original, they had the Episode 2 guy redo those lines. I don't particularly like it. Oh well.
- The Emperor (when talking to Darth Vader over holonet) is different. They changed the actor and the conversation. Bad play. The actor looks really fake and made up, not just decaying. He looks PMS-y, all bloated and unhappy. Plus, you can see his eyes. I liked the mystery of the face disguiding hood. My least favorite change so far.
Thoughts
What kinds of things could you knit in Star Wars? Bantha? Wookie fur? I want a bantha sweater. Wookie fur might not stick together well enough, it looks like human hair.
How much RAM does R2D2 have? What kind of video card? Does he have an InCom processor, so that he's more compatible with Luke's X -wing?
I'll finish up my review when I see Return of the Jedi. I watched the old trailers and teasers, and I can see where people would be mad because Lucas changed the movies. The nostalgia alone...these are not the movies my parents went to see. The DVD release, these are not the movies I saw in theaters. But I gotta admit, some of the new changes are bloody cool. Like the color. And the captions. Now I know that Yoda was cooking root leaf for Luke.
In knitting news...I cleaned off the guest bed so that I could do some blocking. Futon + beach towel = not bad blocking board. Until the cat sleeps on it. RIGHT IN THE MIDDLE OF MY PONCHO.
When I was cleaning off the bed, I freed my Yoda action figures from their plastic cave. I figure, I'll get more enjoyment out of them if they're out in the open, and I'm not doing something stupid like saving them to sell. I wouldn't have the heart to part with them. Welcome, Yodas!
*added later* Yes, I did have the DVD and the VHS going at the same time. I just hit the TV/Video button and play/pause buttons and rewind/fast forward A LOT.