I FINALLY got around to watching the extra features on the Star Wars DVD box set.

I'm usually not big on DVD extras unless I:

1. REALLY LOVE the movie
2. Bored and have nothing better to do.

Most DVDs are so full of "extras" now days, it's almost impossible to watch all of them, and ALOT of it is either quite boring, or just filler, to jack up the price of a 90 minute feature film.

One of the problems I had with the Star Wars Special Edition VHS box set, is that right at the begining of A New Hope is this rather long drawn out 30 minute featurette featuring George with all the vigor of an accountant and a hanfull of special FX guys explaining WHAT they did to the movie, WHY they did it...blah blah blah.

Watching it once was mildly amusing, but after that initial moment, it got old in a hurry.

Problem with the VCR, is that you have only one option to get through this. Fast Forward button. Usually, I fast forward through this 30 minute nonsense, and wind up blasting right past the opening scrawl and onto the decks of the rebel blockade runner. After a while, I just stopped watching it all together.

The Phantom Menace DVD had some interesting moments, such as watching Rick McCallum curse as he observes his Tattoine set burried in the sand after a nasty sand storm in Tunesia, or watching the excitement of Jake Lloyd after he signs on to do the film.

Attack of the Clones DVD had the worst set of extras I have ever seen on a DVD. Most of it comprised of some less than boring "deleted scenes" which unlike alot of DVDs, brings new meaning to the term "Deleted Scenes" watching the mindless banter between Padme, Annakin, and Padme's parents is the most gawd awful boring thing I have ever seen in a Star Wars film. Wow. The only redeming extra feature on THIS DVD is the commentary feature, which has George and his gang kind of playfully joking along as the movie plays out, and they never take themselves to seriously, and it's good to listen to, if you have not yet already.

NOW on the OT, they FINALLY did it right. Instead of having all this junk on every DVD, they took ALL the extra stuff, and put it on one seperate DVD. Now the other night, my parents requested me to bring the DVD set over, and they agreed on watching The Empire Strikes Back which is MY favorite, but I guess they really wanted to watch it. Well, after dinner, they were cleaning up and what not, and I decided to pop in the bonus material DVD and see what was on it, since I thought nobody was really paying attention. The Empire of Dreams featurette, Literally tore them away from what they were doing, and got them glued to the TV set. Honestly I had no idea that this featurette was 236 minutes long, I did not even look when I turned it on. Man it was so cool. Basically, it takes you through the early years of George Lucas, and HOW he sacrificed himself to make Star Wars into what it is today. As a kid growing up with these films, you never heard these things. You never heard how George took his script to Alan Ladd Junior, who ran Fox studios, you never heard how he got divorced before the completion of ROTJ, or how he got fined for technicalities after The Empire Strikes Back was released. The most touching moment, is when Lucas himself claims: "To gain my creative freedom, I became that which I hated, I became a corporate leader. Something about that really got to me, and made me gain a little more respect than I had for him already. Plus, Mark Hammil is SOOO funny and charming in this featurate, you learn to like him a little more than you did even in the late 70's

Anyways, the bonus DVD had ALOT of great features, which seperates this from all the other Star Wars DVDs, and I HAVE to say that after watching all the TV spots, I felt like a kid again, going to see a Star Wars Movie for the first time all over again.

What a moment that was.

Thanks George,

Sincerley,

Darth Groovy :cool:

yeah Empire of Dreams is a great documentary.

they actually showed an edited 2-hour version on the biography channel before the OT was released on DVD. so i was really glad when i heard they were putting it on the bonus disc and that it would be the full 3 1/2 hour version.
watching it makes you really appreciate what GL has done.

I like DVD's with extras since the only movies I buy for myself on DVD (I've gotten a few as gifts of course) are movies I really really like and plan to watch more than once. ;)

The extras give me some insight into the story and background and how it was made, that's cool. Even if I only watch the extras once, I like having them.


As to the Star Wars OT box set, yes, the extras were fantasic. However I couldn't help but thinking, after I'd watched them all (except the Episode III spoilers) "that's it?"

I was hoping they'd have included the deleted scenes in higher quality video (for now you can see them on the Behind the Magic CD-Rom in all their pixelated glory, at least for ANH) from all three movies.

Hey, Lucas did it for the previous DVD's.

Plus there were the technical goof ups that tarnished an otherwise polished presentation (like the lack of the original theatrical cuts of the trilogy, Luke's color changing lightsaber, Vader's pink or orange saber, the lack of the fanfare in the English audio tracks when the X-Wings make their DS trench run, the audio hiss when Princess Leia talks to Tarkin, and even the one some folks like to make fun of me for pointing out: the bad looking saber clash in ROTJ!, etc.).

Yeah it sounds picky. Look I love that Lucas made these great movies, and I think he deserved the fame and fortune he got from them too. Great job George. But I think with the past precedents of the Prequel DVD's, and the great reputation of the OT, this DVD set deserved a little more work polishing it up for release.

He'll likely just give us another new revamped version in a couple of years and we'll all rush out and buy it. The man's a marketing genius. He'll be laughing all the way to the bank once again...