[Note: this article discusses the 2004 four disc boxed set, however it should be noted that the 2005 set was simply a re-release of the previous set with different packaging, and missing the fourth "bonus materials disc" of extras. A three new sets being sold from Sept. 12-Dec. 31, 2006, also billed as "Limited Edition" will be each two discs: disc 1 will be the 2004 cut of the movie and disc 2 will be a "bonus disc" with the theatrical version of that movie as it existed in 1993, plus some LEGO Star Wars II xbox promotions).. The info here on the 2004 Editions covers the changes from the 1997 Special Editions that most are already familiar with.]

I figured I'd repost that list I began for the sake of information for those considering purchasing the DVD's or curious about the changes.

If anyone finds anything else confirmed (or a correction), feel free to post it. Let's not clutter up the thread with complaints about the trilogy or arguments about what should have been made or questions about what is or is not different (such posts will be deleted). But just post confirmed changes please!

Essentially the 2004 Star Wars Trilogy DVD Box Set is the 1997 Special Editions it even says so in the ending credits for each film, see below...

http://strategy.jediknight.net/1997.jpg)

...with the following changes....


Updated: 11-29-2005

[Added 11-29-2005, the only real changes posted in about a year!] The opening text that reads "A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away..." has been changed in all three movies to match that of The Phantom Menace and Attack of the Clones. The original text was in a slightly different font style and was blue, rather than teal.

As a side note: The opening crawl for A New Hope has actually changed many times over the years (adding "Episode IV: A New Hope," brightening it up and making it yellow more like Empire Strikes Back, etc).

Cleaned up film. Basically the film quality is very sharp and nice looking in all three films, albeit somewhat dark in places (noticable in ANH especially).

Touched Up Colors: In places it appears that colors have been touched up or retimed. Blues and greens are much brighter than before. Examples are R2D2 who appears very bright blue (perhaps to match scenes where he was recolored from black for blue screen shots such as those in space. Yoda's skin is noticeably more green. The second "sun" in the Tatooine sunset shot of ANH is also a bright reddish hue. Additionally a lot of the old film grain has been removed (for better or for worse) to give it a more "digital video" look, like Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith. Some of the restoration process has goofed up lightsabers colors and made Carrie Fisher's makeup look "caked on" as others have pointed out.
The gray colored shirts of the Rebel soldiers in ANH now appear more blue in certain shots, and even Stormtrooper armor appears to have a slight tint, depending on the shot. Fleshtones, especially on Tatooine appear more orange, and more "flushed" (pink) on Hoth in ESB.

Update: A few shots of R2D2 have definately been "enhanced" (thanks to DVDAnswers.com for the tip. The "blue" parts of R2's head have been modified to try to make up for the "black look" that occured when doing the shots of him out in space on top of a ship. Since R2's head has blue elements, with a blue screen effect these elements would appear black. Despite the fixes, there are a couple of shots where R2 still has black panels. Just watch the various sequences with him in space in the films and you'll see.

A New Hope

Visual Changes:

Lightsabers have been modified here and there, though not always consistently. One of the major things of note is that Obi-Wan's ANH saber and Luke's ROTJ saber were bigger before (fatter in the center and tapering off at the end)... but now have been made thinner and straighter. For some reason Luke's saber in ANH is green in every single shot, except for the shot where he is taking practice swings in Ben's house, and in the scene where he blocks shots from the remote (on the falcon) with the helmet over his face. In those two scenes its blue/white again. But in the rest it's clearly green. Here's some examples:

http://strategy.jediknight.net/greensaber1.jpg)

Actually in the shots with the helmet his saber is both green AND blue. The color changes as it overlaps his body vs. the background in many frames.

For comparison's sake, Luke's saber in those shots in the original version was white with a very faint hint of blue. Over the years the tint faded away to nothing or took on a greenish tint. Their restoration process did the rest!

In Vader/Obi-Wan duel the sabers look nice and bright (more like prequel sabers, which of course were based on the ROTJ saber blade design). Keep in mind in the original saber fight, Vader's blade looked more like a red-orange neon rod (with no outer glow), and Ben's looked like a fluffy blue painted blade (like the one Luke takes practice swings with earlier). In ANH in general the blades cast white light onto the faces of the actors because of the effects technique used (discarded in later films). You can still see evidence of the effect here.

In the scene where Obi-Wan's saber "Fizzles out" where we could see the metal rod prop underneath, well, you can still see it, but now there's a little 'photoshop' looking white halo around it, so it's somewhat less noticable. But for a few frames it's definately visible as a prop, rather than the familiar glowy saber. In a later shot, we can see that Vader's saber is also a prop rod that they forgot to color in, even in this edition.

Also during the duel there are odd yellow/green "blobs" (flashes) when their sabers collide. These are actually present in the original film, but made much more obvious due to the restoration process.

Finally, some have claimed that the "framerate" of the duel has been sped up slightly, to make for a faster fight. I can't tell any difference, honestly.

http://strategy.jediknight.net/anhsabers1.jpg)

When Vader is looking over the empty robes of Obi-Wan and the door is closing in front of him (as Luke and the others escape) his saber is glowing red (rather than being white like it was in the SE and original).

Modified Death Star hangar.See the below shots. The Death Star's hangar has been modified slightly, with details to give it a closer appearance to that of the second Death Star in ROTJ (not exactly, but closer).

Old:
http://strategy.jediknight.net/dshangarold.jpg)
New:
http://strategy.jediknight.net/dshangarnew.jpg)

Dianoga in the garbage masher scene. The eyeball stalk has been modified to look more reptilian (green eye with vertical pupil) and it now blinks to make it have a bit more life.

"Aurabesh" style text for the Tractor beam that Obi-Wan deactivates.

When Alderaan blows up you can see a bit more detail (due to the restoration), so it looks like the Death Star beam is a trail of pulses (not just a thick green beam) and the planet has a slight "glow" around the lower edge right before it blows up, like a soap bubble (many people have seen this as visual evidence of Alderaan's planetary shield reacting to the shot). There also appears to be a strange blue "aura" around the debris that wasn't apparent before. Additionally the explosion itself (with the "shock wave" ring) are white in color (compare to the Death Star explosion which is more orange/red by comparision).

Death Star explosion color has changed. Or rather, been removed. The explosion itself is dulled in color and the "shockwave" is actually white. There is also a noticable blue "fog" around the outer edge of the debris. I'm inclined to chalk this up as a gaffe (the white color) because the ROTJ Death Star explosion is more red/orange (like the Alderaan blast). The blue haze looks like a blue-screen artifact that was accidentally restored, when it shouldn't have been.

When Luke is watching the setting of Tatooine's twin suns there are some clouds to match the pov shot (as reported on another site). I'm not too sure about this scene, as many sites claim the clouds have been modified, but I can't really tell. The lower sun is much brighter orange than before, but this could just be due to the restoration/colormatching process.

Update: Looking at the shots again it appears that a bit of "cloud" in the lower right corner has been digitally removed, so that the entire circle of the lower sun can be seen more clearly, in addition to it being brighter orange/red.

Greedo and Han Solo shoot at the same time.

It looks a little odd, but somewhat better than the SE. Greedo's shot misses Han's face by inches, Han flinches and ducks his head a little bit more realistically. Greedo's shot bounces off the wall and goes wild this time, while Han pumps TWO shots into Greedo in rapid succession.
Update: I'm told that Han shoots Greedo twice in the SE as well, but the rest of the stuff is different. Ie: Greedo's shot hits the wall and doesn't leave a mark instead of bouncing off, etc.

Jabba looks better than in the pictures!:

The pictures of Jabba in his scene don't do him justice. You can see the wetness on his eyeballs and in his nostrils. He looks almost like a rubber puppet, although his mouth is more expressive than the ROTJ puppet ever was and while he doesn't quite look 'himself', he's much better overall than in the SE (which was less animated and looked like it was made of clay, with sad, glassy looking eyes).

Entry into Mos Eisely:

With the new detail, the "Rontos" (dinosaurs) look rather fake, as they all have these big blurs on them. I don't know if this was done intentionally but it kind of stands out. The first shots of the Landspeeder zooming over the sand and heading into the city looks a little better (new, more detailed models are used) and less like a cgi "toy."

I can't tell if the Ronto passing by (as Luke and Obi-Wan encounter the mind-tricked Stormtroopers asking about the Droids) moves by quicker this time or not, but we get a long shot of that brightly colored astromech droid passing, it's really distracting. In the SE I remember thinking the passing Ronto was more distracting...

Update: Now that I look at it again I think the scene is really the same as the SE. It's just different to me because of the higher level of detail/color.

Cellblock AA-22 on the Death Star has been extended. By this I mean that the hallway with the "light at the end of the tunnel" seen when an Imperial Officer is shot when Han, Luke & Chewie break in after the "prisoner transfer" ruse. It is seen in several more shots later when Princess Leia is with them and they are fighting off Stormtroopers. Basically the matte painting was replaced digitally with one that looks more realistic and makes the cell block appear to be much larger, with the "light" seeming much farther away.

Sound:

Watch the scene right before Alderaan is blown up when Tarkin is talking to Princess Leia on the Death Star. Leia's lines sound like they have the treble boosted, almost like they are being played off a tape recorder. Tarkin's line "a military target? then name the system!" sounds a bit weird, like it was spliced together from two recordings at different levels.

As digitalbits.com pointed out during the attack on the Death Star the X-Wing engines are really loud and tend to drown out the music in the background. I don't have the original handy for comparison though, but supposedly before you could hear the music louder.

I tried both 5.1 and 2.0 soundtracks and the "change" still exists both places. Note: I am listening to the movie either over a pair of cheap headphones or on a two speaker+woofer setup (Cambridge Soundworks, on a Soundblaster Live! card) on my pc. If you have a better stereo system I would think the audio problems would be even more noticable...

According to DVDAnswers.com, the French language track preserves the original "Force Theme" that was present in previous versions. I've verified this myself. The English (2.0 and 5.1) and Spanish tracks lack this fanfare, but the French version has it. Looks like a gaffe that LucasFilm is blowing smoke about, claiming it was a "creative decision!"

Overall, while the sound has been "cleaned up" in places the treble used for dialouge seems too high on certain voices (leaving an audible "hiss" while they speak).

When the Stormtrooper bangs his head on the blast door in the scene where Threepio and R2D2 are "discovered" by the Imperials (while Luke & Co. are in the garbage masher), there is a "bonk" sound with the impact. ;)

C3PO says "We've stopped!" right before his usual "Wake up... wake up!" line to R2D2 while they are both being transported on the Jawa Sandcrawler.

While the Stormtroopers are walking around inside the Falcon, in the Death Star hangar, you can now hear one of them say "There's noone here."

According to DVDAnswers.com in the seen where the Imperial Officer is asking why "TK-421" isn't at his post (right before the "bad transmitter" line) there is some barely audible static, to indicate the damaged helmet (likely from when the officer inside was killed by Han Solo to get his uniform).

The echo effects attached to the dialouge (and probably other sound effects as well) in the scene where Luke & Leia are trapped behind the door overlooking the "gulf" (that they have to swing across) have been improved to sound more realistic.

In the scene right after Red Leader fires his unsuccessful shot ("impacted on the surface") on the Death Star exhaust port, and he's being chased by Vader's ship, a line of dialouge was inserted in the SE: "He's on your tail!" The line is now removed.

The "Kraytr Dragon Call" that Obi-Wan makes to scare off the Tuskens who are attacking Luke sounds different. Now it's more of a whooping sound in addition to the first part being the same (hard to explain). It doesn't sound like a beast roar anymore, rather like some alien bird. The "old roar" was actually a slightly modified version of the Dewback roar, incidentally (which could have been rationalized in-universe, but nevermind).


In the SE, the Stormtrooper rifles had a "shotgun" sound effect to them. Now it's just the simple "squeaky laser" effect we're used to (don't know how else to explain it). Note: I'm not expert on firearm sounds, but some people claim that the SE guns sounded like .44 Magnums (check the scene where Leia is firing at the trooper across the gulf).

-------------------------------------
Empire Strikes Back:

Visual Changes:

Vader's saber looks a bit pink in several scenes. Like the scene where he has Luke on the ground and is pointing his saber blade at him (forcing him to crawl towards the carbonite pit). The core is pink and there's a bit of a pink glow around the saber. It's odd because in ANH his saber is basically red. In a couple of scenes Vader's saber appears orange (notably when he "jumps" at Luke during their lightsaber battle and for a moment when he locks sabers with Luke during the "cave vision" on Dagobah.

Some saber trivia: I've noticed that in publicity stills from the movies (especially ROTJ) they use painted sabers. I figure this is natural because they would be painting a still rather than the frames in the film using a screencap. So the sabers look more "artsy" in the stills than in regular screencaps (where the sabers actually tend to look crummy). The new colors used for Vader (and later Luke's in ROTJ) match up with these "painted still" colors. Vader's is pink with a red outer glow, and Luke's is yellow/green with a green outer glow. This is in contrast to the original films where each of them had white cores with red and green glows respectively (Vader's saber always had less of a glow than the others). In ANH Vaders saber is basically like a red neon rod in appearance, and Obi-Wan's has a "fluffy" blue/white appearance. In the prequels we have developed a standardized form that is a takeoff on the ROTJ idea of the white core and color "bleeding off" of it in a halo effect.

The effects in the DVD's are inconsistent. Sometimes we get the "prequel style" saber, other times we get the "publicity still painted" style saber.

Ian McDiarmid's scene:
He replaces the hologram of the Woman with the superimposed monkey (or lemur, I forget which) eyes. The hologram looks pretty freaky, like a zombie or washed up goth rocker, and Palpatine looks like he took his meds this time. The only thing is his eyes are pretty yellow, while the rest of him is blue (like the hologram color). The Dialouge is altered, with the following lines (new parts in bold):

Palpy: We have a new enemy, the young rebel who destroyed the Death Star. [Deleted: Vader saying "Yes my Master."] I have no doubt this boy is the offspring of Anakin Skywalker.

Vader: How is that possible?

Palpy: Search your feelings Lord Vader, you will know it to be true.

The old line of Palpy's was "We have a new enemy, Luke Skywalker." and the rest of those lines weren't there.
Vader's line "Yes, my Master" is removed from Palpatine's set of lines at the top. Additionally, Palpatine says "Yes" only once, before "He could be a great asset." whereas the previous actor said it twice.

The rest of the dialouge in this version is the same as before.

http://strategy.jediknight.net/ianesb.jpg)

A subtle change, but in a scene where Vader is on the right side of the screen with his back to us, and two Imperial officers are talking on his right/our left (one of them a very young one) the rank insignias are correct. In earlier versions they were flipped (on the wrong sides of their uniforms). It looks like at least two shots like this were fixed, but there could be more of them...

Han Solo's "Jacket" removed: In a couple of closeup frames when Han is being readied for the carbonite treatment he appears to be wearing his trademark black vest (instead of just the off-white shirt). From behind-the-scenes footage, it's clear that the "jacket" was just a trick of shadows playing off his otherwise white shirt in the scene. In any case, in the 2004 Edition these areas have been color matched to the rest of his shirt so there's no trace of a "jacket."


Sound:

Luke no longer screams when he jumps off the balcony away from Vader. He's just silent (though you can see his mouth open as if he were yelling) and the music plays. This removes the scream that was added in the SE (the Original version has no scream), which was just the Emperor's scream from ROTJ.

Boba Fett's few lines (all four of them) are redubbed with the actor who played Jango Fett in AOTC.

In scenes showing Boba Fett's ship, Slave-1, the engine sound effects have been altered to sound like the those of Jango's ship from AOTC (apparently the same ship, some 26 years ago). (Special thanks to DVDAnswers for this one!).

----------------------------------
Return of the Jedi:

Visual Changes:

The Rancor looks MUCH better. Not only are the bad matte lines cleaned up from the SE but the rancor model is color corrected so it actually looks like it fits with the rest of the scene. No more blue tint to Luke as he runs in front of the beast either.

Saber visual changes. Luke's saber looks less bright and Vader's is more pink. Basically Luke's saber has a pale yellow/green core and Vader's has a pink core. The scene where their two sabers clash in front of the Emperor looks REALLY crappy now (the way the sabers interlock looks like a pre-visual animatic). Most of the time it can be ignored but that scene really looks worse than it ever did and is quite distracting.

http://strategy.jediknight.net/crapsabers.jpg)

For info on a possible fix for the odd looking saber lock, check out this poste:

http://www.lucasforums.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=138353)

Naughty bits: This will sound like a perverted fanboy thing, but many people know about this, so here goes. Remember the scene where Oola (the Twi'Lek dancer that Jabba feeds to the Rancor?) is getting pulled towards Jabba by her "chain" and her right breast pops out of her outfit? Well in the SE her nipple was supposedly digitally removed. In this version you can see it again (don't expect anything pornographic, since the scene is so blurry anyway you don't get much of a view). Additionally with the extra detail you can see her nipples through her outfit after she falls into the rancor pit (before she screams and it cuts away). George! ;P


As reported we see Naboo in the ending celebration, after Tatooine. We see cgi gungans standing on rooftops and one of them yells something that sounds like "wesa free!!" (or "mesa free!") Sounds like Jar Jar but it could be any Gungan.

When Vader's mask comes off, Shaw's black bushy eyebrows are gone. Supposedly his eyes have been recolored to match Hayden's, but I can't tell without the SE in front of me to compare.

Hayden Christiansen appears as a Jedi ghost instead of Sebastian Shaw. So we get a 21 year old Anakin instead of one in his 70's. He looks at the camera (similar glance to that creepy look he gives Padme when she says "don't look at me like that" in AOTC) at the end and it looks kinda weird. It looks like they pasted his just his head on the body over Shaw's.

http://strategy.jediknight.net/haydenghost.jpg)

Jedi Temple and Senate Building added to the ending celebration on Coruscant scene, replacing some generic buildings in the background.

http://strategy.jediknight.net/senate.jpg)
Galactic Senate Building: the small rounded building on the right in the distance.

http://strategy.jediknight.net/jeditemple.jpg)
Jedi Temple Building: the set of small "towers" around a central tower on the left side, as the camera pans to the left, in the part where the statue of the Emperor is toppling over.



More will be added if/when they are discovered...

Special thanks to Sam Davatchi's site, Digitalbits, JediNet, DVDAnswers, DaMovieMan's site, and members of this forum for a great many of these!

The below section might be expanded into another list in the future if I have the time/desire:

Older versions of the changed scenes still viewable on the DVD's (on the "Bonus Materials" 4th disc):

There may be more, but these can be found either in the "Empire of Dreams" documentary or the shorter programs.

- Boba Fett's old voice for 2/3rds of his lines ("What if he doesn't survive" "Put Captain Solo in the Cargo Hold")

- Sebastian Shaw as Anakin's ghost

- The older (Special Edition) "saber lock" in front of Palpatine (with the white saber cores)

- Death Star/Alderaan explosions without the 'rings'


So if anybody out there wants to cut together a "people's edition" (like the fan-cut 'Phantom Edit' of TPM) for their own private personal use, this helps a bit. ; )

Edit: Corrected a few things.

Thanks for all that Kurgan, You've convinced me to buy it, sounds good.

AH! Pop up adds!!!!!!!:mad:

Nice pics there

You're welcome. If it was helpful to even one person, it was worth the effort. ; )

Here's a link to Sam Davatchi's Page. It shows IN PICTURES what I described in words, and it really is a very nice presentation (he gets a few more cosmetic changes that I missed too like the suns setting in ANH).

It especially demonstrates the Lightsaber inconsistencies:

http://perso.club-internet.fr/willow/Index.html)

Covers all three movies, even THX! Check it out...

Here is a site taht contains many of the modifications that were made - there are also come pics to compare the original version with the new one - you can really see the general cleanup that was made: http://free.hostdepartment.com/s/starwarstrilogydvd/main.html)

Originally posted by Darth333
Here is a site taht contains many of the modifications that were made - there are also come pics to compare the original version with the new one - you can really see the general cleanup that was made: http://free.hostdepartment.com/s/starwarstrilogydvd/main.html)

A good site, though some of that info needs to be updated... ALL of the "rumored" changes in the rumored sections have so far been proven false (well except for the thing about "matte paintings looking more realistic" which is a matter of opinion but I don't notice any difference and Palpy's "lightning being fixed" which may or may not be just due to the film restoration process).

Yes, Vagabond, Luke's saber is green in most of ANH but blue throughout ESB. As far as color gaffes I noticed a couple of frames where Vader's saber was actually orange in ESB!

Updated the list with some more changes!

Edit: I see THAT site has been updated too, kudos to them!

*******

Okay, I found a great article by Chris Gould of DVDAnswers.com that covers a lot more changes that aren't in my list, including Audio changes (down the page).

I'll have to add these later, but don't have time right now.

Check it out, below!

http://www.dvdanswers.com/sw1.html)

I look forward to reading his takes on ESB & ROTJ.

*******
10/20/04

Updated some things. I've run to the limit of images I can put into a single post, so here's the Naboo shot that was added into the end celebration of ROTJ. It actually appears to be a shot taken from Episode I and reversed (thanks to JediNet for spotting this), with a crowd and some gungans digitally inserted to replace the battledroids and Trade Federation tanks in the original shot.

http://strategy.jediknight.net/naboo.jpg)


Update:

Chris Gould of DVDAnswers has posted his analysis of ESB changes and the main post has been updated accordingly!

http://www.dvdanswers.com/esb1.html)

Cool. Can't wait to see this, I'll probably buy the Trilogy next week :cool:

Chris Gould completed his trilogy of Star Wars Changes with part 3 (ROTJ):

http://www.dvdanswers.com/index.php?r=0&s=8&c=7867673&n=1&burl=)

Nothing really new here that I haven't covered, but still interesting to read.

Note: My changes are between the 1997 SE's and the 2004 Editions, his covers the "Originals" (1977-1983, or technically 1981-1983, since the 1977 Star Wars was altered a bit before it came to home video!) compared to the others.

When is Lucas gonna makeup his damned mind and quite screwing around with the movies....

He'll probably make still more changes when he releases the entire series (I-VI) in one set

Mmmm, always in motion, the future is...

Btw, here's a link to all three of DVDAnswer's articles, (complete!):

http://dvdanswers.com/index.php?r=0&g=info&s=8&k=return+of+the+jedi&x=0&y=0)

Tiny update, about Slave-I's engines in ESB.

Did I miss anything else? If I were to do an exhaustive list of all the changes from the theatrical/home video versions to the Special Edition, this thread would go on forever (and others have done a better job of it already than I probably could), but I think this about does it for the 2004 DVD changes!

Has anyone heard of this Faking It column? This "writer's" telling people how to fake their way through Star Wars. Check it out.

http://www.dose.ca/toronto/thrive/story.html?s_id=n8%2bryT9DdM6Hrtlwz9yrHl60vHsUZDjyupzW2%2fIlM%2fkUZQojMooHOA%3d%3d)

He's asking people to vote if EPIII is going to Rock or Suck :eek:


You should read this dude's thing man.

That link goes nowhere, sorry. Nothing there!

[Edit: It works now.]

Also, what does this have to do with the SW DVD Trilogy Changes?

Ian McDiarmid's scene:
He replaces the hologram of the Woman with the superimposed monkey (or lemur, I forget which) eyes. The hologram looks pretty freaky, like a zombie or washed up goth rocker, and Palpatine looks like he took his meds this time. The only thing is his eyes are pretty yellow, while the rest of him is blue (like the hologram color). The Dialouge is altered, with the following lines (new parts in bold):

I am very glad that they did this, for I always thought the hologram looked like a fish in that scene.

Saber visual changes. Lukes saber looks less bright and Vaders is more pink. Basically Luke's saber has a pale yellow/green core and Vader's has a pink core. The scene where their two sabers clash in front of the Emperor looks REALLY crappy now (the way the sabers interlock looks like a pre-visual animatic). Most of the time it can be ignored but that scene really looks worse than it ever did and is quite distracting.

http://strategy.jediknight.net/crapsabers.jpg)

That happend on my TV and PC.Then I play the DVD on my portable DVD-player and guess what.....THE SABERS WHERE BRIGHT LIKE THE ALWAYS ARE!The cores where brightly white, the don't had the weak look!

Basically it looks as if they darkened the scene considerably (perhaps with the aim of making the "Emperor's slugs" less noticable, though I've also heard that Lowry Digital used a kind of automated color timing system, which at least explains why the saber colors are so off, but possibly the contrast thing too).

So if you crank up your brightness/contrast, it makes the scene look much better, more how we all remember it being in the 1997 SE's and the original. Darken it up though, and you'll see the weirdness.

Basically when I was showing my DVD's to my sister and her boyfriend, we noticed that if you turn up the brightness to fix the sabers in ROTJ, it's TOO BRIGHT for ANH, because you can see the matte boxes around the fighters. Darken it up to hide the matte boxes in ANH, then in ROTJ it's too dark and the sabers look off. So tune your set up before viewing I guess. PowerDVD lets me set custom brightness/color settings for profiles, which saves time.

Too bad about some of the matte boxes in ROTJ though, that are blue or green... they can't be hidden! :P

I think my portable dvd-player must have something like auto-adjust because everything was also normal at ANH.

What is the Emperor's Slugs ? Thanks.

I think what he ment was his facial features.

That's how I understood it anyway.

I think my portable dvd-player must have something like auto-adjust because everything was also normal at ANH.

Perhaps it did. Who knows. I know of some TV sets that have auto-adjusting sound (lots of movies have super quiet and then super loud, I've noticed, which can be a major problem if you're just trying to sit and watch a movie without adjusting the controls constantly), so this doesn't sound far fetched.

The main area where you need the brightness lower in ANH is during the "TIE Fighter attack on the Falcon" scene. There is a distinct shot of a TIE Fighter crossing the scene (at least one, maybe more) that shows a big matte box around it, unless you've darkened things up enough.

The saber clash in ROTJ is the other issue (you need the brightness up). On the 2004 DVD's those are the only parts I've noticed. The rest of the matte boxes that are obvious in ROTJ really can't be fixed this way because they're of a different color than the background (blue or green against a black sky or dark gray of the Death Star II).

Anyway, that's a nice player if it can do that. I hope more players include such a feature in the future!

I just realized that if I put my face really close to my lcd monitor (it's one of those non-glare types, without the ultra-glossy screen you see becoming popular now) the saber clash looks okay. But once you pull your face back a reasonable 2-3 feet or more, the effect becomes obvious! ;)


Couple more pics for comparison (between the original versions and the DVD editions):

Note that the Emperor's lightning has NOT been enhanced, at least I can't tell any difference (except that the new version is darker and sharper), even if those frame captures are not identical.

http://strategy.jediknight.net/forcelightning.jpg)

http://strategy.jediknight.net/crapsabers2.jpg)

LoL! it definately looks like the default white color. Whoops... so that's two shots they missed completely (the other being a small part of the famous "Ben's saber fizzles out" scene).

Good catch...

I was watching ROTJ and noticed in the ending battle between Luke and Vader, that if you watch there shadows you can see the sticks there fighting with!
http://strategy.jediknight.net/fightingsticks1nr.jpg)

Okay guys, let's not get off track here. This thread is not the place to discuss possible future changes to Episode I, but rather the DVD changes to the 2004 Editions (which are also identical, btw, to the "Limited Edition" set being released this December to make more money off the Christmas shoppers!).

I have watched the ROTS DVD (not every single special feature mind you, but quite a few of them) and in the documentary "The Chosen One" in the part where Hayden Christiansen is talking about Anakin's character and he says "a wise man once said fear..." and then it quickly cuts into a shot of Yoda from Episode I saying "Fear is the past to the Dark Side. Fear leads to anger,...etc" and there you see they've replaced puppet Yoda with CG Yoda for that scene. Some fans are HOPING that this means TPM will be re-released on DVD with him replaced in the whole thing. That's pure speculation. LucasFilm has explicitly denied that CG Yoda will EVER be inserted into ESB or ROTJ at some future time.

Now that this has been put to rest, please discuss it on another thread. I'm deleted the off topic posts in the meantime... thanks.


PS: A tip to those of you posting DVD screencaps. If you're using PowerDVD (and probably similar for other programs like WinDVD) you can go into the Configuration options and change what the screen caps look like. The reason they appear distorted (squeezed) is because you're doing it base on the "original source" which is done that way because it's for anamorphic stretching of your screen. Instead set it to capture based on screen size, and then just watch the movie full screen when taking your shots. Then it won't look distorted. That assumes you have the widescreen version on your computer monitor of course...

I also resize my pics in a paint program in order that they don't throw off the page margins and force people to scroll sideways. ;)

I was watching ROTJ and noticed in the ending battle between Luke and Vader, that if you watch there shadows you can see the sticks there fighting with!
http://img124.imageshack.us/img124/1381/fightingsticks1nr.gif)

While that's certainly interesting, this thread really isn't about special effects gaffes, or oddities. These "lightsaber shadows" have been in the movie since the beginning and we know of no conscious effort to remove any of them in the new editions, so it's really irrelevant, sorry.

We see lightsaber shadows even in the prequels (a famous one occurs in ROTS), and it's widely regarded as a gaffe, but there you go. ;)

Here's another pic of Lightsaber inconsistencies in ANH 2004, that I forgot to post earlier:

http://strategy.jediknight.net/bluegreensabers1.jpg)

Compare to the Menu on the Bonus Disc (Disc #4 in the 2004 Set):

http://strategy.jediknight.net/bluesaber1.jpg)

I just noticed that somebody again forgot to color his lightsaber! :p
When Luke, Han, Chewie and Leia are returning to the Falcon in ANH, when they cut to the scene when the Stormies are looking to the battle between Ben and Vader, you can see that Vader's saber is just a white "walking stick"
http://strategy.jediknight.net/badrestoration8xn.jpg)
I watched the scene frame by frame and noticed that Vader is already ready to kill Ben, but whe still hear the lightsaber classing, and the next scene there still in combat!
http://img394.imageshack.us/img394/4787/pdvd05122ws.png)

Please re-read Kurgan's post right above you. This is not a thread to point out gaffes that have always been there, this is to discuss changes in the DVD's.

Please re-read Kurgan's post right above you. This is not a thread to point out gaffes that have always been there, this is to discuss changes in the DVD's.
Sorry.
On-topic: Are there actually changes on the LE 2005 DVD set (I know it are actually the 2004 SE's)?

Sorry.
On-topic: Are there actually changes on the LE 2005 DVD set (I know it are actually the 2004 SE's)?

I haven't picked up a copy (I didn't want to waste my money), but from all reports, they are identical to the previously released DVD set, except different packaging and losing the bonus disc for $10 off the original list price.

But I bet if you shop around you can find the 2004 set for the same price or cheaper than what the LE set is being sold at now. A lot of fans have also posted up high quality "new covers" to use for your Star Wars set, ranging anywhere from the Laser Disc covers, the definitive editions, the "faces" covers, the original movie posters, and new ones, etc.

In DVD circles we talk about the "double dip" wherein a company releases the same movie more than once on DVD but the second time with just slight improvements or slapping in some more extras. This isn't even a case of that, so really there's no reason to buy the new set if you own the old one unless you're dead set on owning two copies of the same movie with a different box.

So we get a 21 year old Anakin instead of one in his 70's.

Sorry, but the time difference between ROTS and ROTJ is not 50 years. Vader was in his 40's.

No kidding. Before Lucas clarified the chronology in 2001 (on the TPM DVD) we honestly didn't know how much time had "officially" passed between the time we see him as a child and the time he takes his mask off.

Before the prequels were made, it would have been reasonable to assume a 50 year gap (say, Anakin was a 20-something year old Jedi when the Empire was formed and he became Darth Vader, then about 50 years of Imperial rule before he kills the Emperor, that's what a lot of us fans imagined). So it's Lucas who's created this discrepency, so we're left to assume that somehow he appeared to age faster than normal somehow (much like the Lars family).

The trouble is, Obi-Wan is about the right age for where he is in the OT (only about 7 years off of Sir Alec Guinness) and Palpatine the same (he's in his 80's in the OT if we accept the 50 year old Senator in TPM).

I don't even care that this creates a slight discrepency with the EU, wherein we have a 60-something Boba Fett still jetting around looking for bounties and fighting (as far as I'm concerned he died on Tatooine, but I guess he's just really remarkable physically for his age).

My crack about the 70's thing was just to point out that actor Sebastian Shaw, who plays Vader unmasked in ROTJ is still shown when Luke takes the mask off. He's a 70-something year old man. Then his "ghost" appears and he's 21 year old Hayden. Originally he just appeared as himself, just with his hair back and without all the scarring and facial injuries (and we presume his spiritual body mimics how his earthly body would have looked restored at his age).

If Lucas just wanted to show Anakin "healed" he should have taken Hayden and put him into "middle age" makeup to look like a dignified man in his 40's. Instead it's clear he just decided to make him look like Anakin did right before he officially turned to the Dark Side in Episode III, complete with the hairstyle he had back then, etc (only difference is he has his right forearm back and no evidence of that facial scar, though it's hard to see exactly). So Obi-Wan and Yoda just appear how they looked at their deaths, since neither turned to the Dark Side. Lucas's own explanation on the ROTJ DVD is rather vague, but I'm guessing this is what he meant by it, now having seen Episode III.

After wathing Moth3r's laserdisc transfer of ANH, I noticed that they re-mixed Vader's voice to match his voice in ESB and ROTJ, and that serveral "radio" lines in the Battle of Yavin are also re-mixed (please correct me if they already did this for the SE).

After wathing Moth3r's laserdisc transfer of ANH, I noticed that they re-mixed Vader's voice to match his voice in ESB and ROTJ, and that serveral "radio" lines in the Battle of Yavin are also re-mixed (please correct me if they already did this for the SE).


To be perfectly frank, the sound changes are a nightmare and so I spent only a little time with very obvious stuff. The same can be said of others who've compared the various versions.

So let's not get too off topic, but let me say that I spent time describing the differences between the Special Editions (I really mean the home releases of the 1997 SE's) and the 2004 DVD's. If I spent time talking about the original editions or the various incarnations released pre-1997 the thread would be a lot longer and more confusing.

The thing is, for the most part the sound changes were most radical for the 1995 "THX Enhanced" trilogy (aka the "Faces" set). They had alternate lines and remixed sound, etc. The original Star Wars (pre-ANH) was Mono, with a stereo mix being created later (I forget exactly when, perhaps after Aunt Beru's voice was re-dubbed). Fan edits or bootlegs are problematic to use as models because the creator of said edit still makes a creative decision on what sound mix(es) to use for their transfer. Comparing video is one thing, comparing sound is quite another. So if you were going to go that route I would use the VHS or Laser Discs themselves to compare, not a fan created version that might have been spliced together from different cuts and soundtracks.

Obviously the soundtracks for the Special Editions had to be changed again, not only to account for the new music segments in ROTJ, but also for the extended scenes and shots with the cues and such in each of the movies. The timing was again thrown off undoubtably for ESB with the new Emperor/Vader dialouge scene, and in Jedi with the fly by of Naboo. There was even a glitch in the theatrical version of ROTJ SE that was corrected in the home release (they forgot a credit IIRC) with the music again having to have been made to match I'm sure.

Plus sound changes are more difficult to illustrate in a forum thread unless you provide examples, and since I really don't have time or desire to grab sound clips from the SE's and 2004 editions to compare, it probably won't be happening unless somebody else does all the work. Sorry! ;)

To be perfectly frank, the sound changes are a nightmare and so I spent only a little time with very obvious stuff. The same can be said of others who've compared the various versions.

So let's not get too off topic, but let me say that I spent time describing the differences between the Special Editions (I really mean the home releases of the 1997 SE's) and the 2004 DVD's. If I spent time talking about the original editions or the various incarnations released pre-1997 the thread would be a lot longer and more confusing.

The thing is, for the most part the sound changes were most radical for the 1995 "THX Enhanced" trilogy (aka the "Faces" set). They had alternate lines and remixed sound, etc. The original Star Wars (pre-ANH) was Mono, with a stereo mix being created later (I forget exactly when, perhaps after Aunt Beru's voice was re-dubbed). Fan edits or bootlegs are problematic to use as models because the creator of said edit still makes a creative decision on what sound mix(es) to use for their transfer. Comparing video is one thing, comparing sound is quite another. So if you were going to go that route I would use the VHS or Laser Discs themselves to compare, not a fan created version that might have been spliced together from different cuts and soundtracks.

Oh, sorry, but I know you can trust Moth3r, he used the original mono mix from 1977 and video from the 1993 Definitive Collection.

What is the Emperor's Slugs ? Thanks.
(Sorry for the double post)
http://www.cinenet.net/~agrapha/StarNet/Newstuff/emperor.jpg)
The spot in black is what people call the head slug. For some reason that spot between his cloak and his head is darker (and quite noticable) as compared to the rest of the image.

He asked a question, fair enough, but can we PLEASE stop cluttering up this thread with off topic posts?

If this keeps up I'll have to split off all the posts about glitches in the classic trilogy, trivia about Star Wars gaffes, changes between other versions of the trilogy, criticism of the changes or fan creations into another thread.

To repeat, this thread is exclusively for the purpose of listing and illustrating the changes from the 1997 Special Editions to the 2004 DVD Editions.

Thanks. If you want to start another thread on one of the other unrelated topics, feel free, and I can move the off topic posts in this thread to there.

PS: To clarify what I said about the sound changes, the only ones I was aware of, I listed in the opening posts. I'm not going to bother with changes made before the SE's.

why oh why did they not change the entire Executer crashing into the deathstar scene in Jedi? that scene looks awful totally clumsy. a good bit of CGI there would have been welcome.

Also why change Vader's line in ESB from "Bring my shuttle" to " Alert my stardestroyer to prepare for my arrival" what was a cool scene with great music was lost to totally pointless superficial scene. why do we need to see Vader's shuttle? we know he got to his star destroyer!!

I noticed in the 2004 version of RotJ, when it shows Anakin's spirit, he's wearing brown jedi robes and not the black ones he has before he is Darth Vader. Just liked to point that out.

That's not really a change. The only thing that's changed in that scene is pasting on Hayden's face in the 2004 edition. His robes were always the same. But now interestingly enough he's wearing a "v-neck" instead of a turtle-neck, if that makes any sense (of course it doesn't). ;)

And as I said before, let's not clutter up the thread with complaints about the changes, feel free to start another thread about that...

Just a quick post to let people know about some recent developments:

In 2005, a "new" release of the Star Wars Trilogy was issued with new box artwork, however it was IDENTICAL to the 2004 set, except it was missing the fourth "Bonus Materials" disc, and thus priced slightly lower than the 2004 set was originally.

So currently there is only ONE version of the classic trilogy officially available on DVD, the 2004 editions.

At the end of this year, a new set will be released for a LIMITED TIME ONLY, according to Lucas, which will consist of three "packs" each "pack" contains two discs:

Disc 1: 2004 Edition of the film. Disc 2: "Theatrical edition" of the film, as a bonus.

So you'll have one pack for ANH, one pack for ESB and one pack for ROTJ. Each "pack" is suggested at a retail price of $30 (meaning it would cost $90 for the whole set, as opposed to the $60 that was charged for the four disc set two years ago, but many speculate that places like Wal-Mart will knock the price down anyway in the first week so it won't be that expensive, especially to clear the product since it's a limited release).

Now there has been much speculation, but it is now widely believed that the "Theatrical editions" on these discs will be how the movies looked in 1993, with no extra enhancements, remastering or restoration. This has upset many fans who were hoping for something of better quality than what we've already seen on Laserdisc and VHS for the 14 years before the Special Editions, but that's all we know so far. Also, they will NON-anamorphic widescreen. This too has upset many fans who are letting their feelings be known through various venues.

But in any case, it looks like there are no plans at present to alter the Classic Trilogy further, except to turn them into "3-D" movies in 2007 for a special theatrical anniversary release. Presumably the 2004 editions will be used for this (meaning it would be the first time the 2004 editions would be shown in theaters).

OMFG !!
I'm absolutely horrified at these 'additions', sure they look better but like the SE version these changes make this a NEW project, and NOT the restored original film.

I Have the first release films on VHS and have put them on DVD for myself, and was looking forward to this particular release, but GL has done it again, and I may pass on this one, again. Or maybe I could but only the bonus material ??

Just FYI, the 2005 and 2006 editions are the same as the 2004 editions.

But the 2006 "limited editions" (September 12 to December 31, 2006) will include both the 2004 editions AND the 1993 "theatrical" (actually home video) cuts, in Dolby 2.0 and non-anamorphic widescreen. Amazon.com is listing each of the new sets (each is a two disc pack related to each movie) at a price of less than 18$ (plus tax, and with free shipping on orders over 25$).

Edit: Actually there will be extras. Every bonus disc will include an Xbox (only) demo of "LEGO Star Wars II: Original Trilogy" and a trailer for said game. So if you buy all three sets, presumably you'll have three copies of the demo/trailer.

A new DVD set is being RUMORED for May 2007 possibly with new changes to several of the films, but we have really no idea at this point what that exactly entails, beyond CG Yoda in Episode I (though apparently it will be billed as an "ultimate collection" of all six movies).

You can order the bonus DVD (from the 2004 set) seperately, for fairly cheap.

See here: http://www.amazon.com/Star-Wars-Trilogy-Bonus-Disc/dp/B000FAGGWQ/sr=8-6/qid=1157234165/ref=sr_1_6/102-0545278-0321705?ie=UTF8&s=dvd)

That's all you're really missing by not buying the 2004 set that won't be featured in other sets. Actually, if the prices on Amazon.com are to be believed, you are only paying about $4 more if you bought all three 2 disc Limited Edition packs released this month, instead of the four disc set from two years ago.

Btw, Amazon.com seems to be offering a pretty good deal if you buy all three "Limited Edition" 2006 sets from them, if that is your plan. It's $53.61+tax (free shipping on orders of $25). Much cheaper than ordering them from LucasArts/Lucasfilm, so if you read this in time Cancel your pre-order and switch it to Amazon, you'll have enough cash left over to buy another DVD.. ;)

Just to add to this, "DvdAnswers.com" a great site that helped a lot when creating this thread, has changed its url to "DvdActive.com" http://www.dvdactive.com)

Go there and look up "Star Wars" and you'll see they have extensively revamped their articles on the Star Wars DVD releases. They have two reviews for each movie, plus reviews of the 2006 editions compared to the 2004 and comparing with the 1997 Special Editions. They even have an article detailing the changes made to the prequels (all three were altered from their original theatrical releases before coming to dvd, though Episode III only changes the transition from one shot, and the one shown in select digital theaters of AOTC matches the DVD version while it differed from the IMAX cut and the film version, the latter of which most theater viewers saw in 2002).

Also, there's a nice thread about the 2006 dvd release (which is still available, btw, even though the "limited release" timeframe has long passed):

http://www.lucasforums.com/showthread.php?p=2340428)