Star Wars! pt. two

Now, here's where the bottom falls out. Did you realize there were originally three different sound mixes for Star Wars when it came out in 1977? One was mono, one was dolby stereo, and one was six channel (70mm version). Did you know the '77 mono version has a different actress voicing Aunt Beru (pitched lower) than the versions commonly available on video through the years, and that neither voice belongs to the actress who portrayed Aunt Beru? Did you know that "Episode IV: A NEW HOPE" was not part of the title crawl in 1977, and was not added until the 1981 re-release? Do you even care?

Well, I do, I hate to say. I find it fascinating in the same way I find different cuts or versions of any film fascinating, but then there's the Star Wars geek in me to rachet it up another notch. Apparently, a lot of people agree with me. Dissatisfied with the twice-removed Star Wars DVDs Lucas has released, many people are making "archival preservations" of the original theatrical versions of the original trilogy. I've known about the cheap Hong Kong bootlegs for years, but this phenomenon of "archival preservation" is new to me (I've been into it for about a week). This involves more than just recording a VHS or Laserdisc to the DVD burner and calling it a day. This involves sophisticated capturing, comb filtering, editing, sound-picture sync, etc. It's way gonzo. Most of the people who do this have extensive DVD creation experience. Some are even professionals.

There have been three distinct versions of the first three Star Wars films (perhaps four for Star Wars): the original theatrical versions, the 1997 special editions, and the 2004 DVD versions. The 2004 DVDs closely track the 1997 versions, but have enough distinct differences to warrant a separate classification. For one thing, "Ghost Anakin" at the end of Return of the Jedi has been changed from the older Sebastian Shaw to the younger Hayden Christiansen. This seemingly arbitrary artistic choice has added much to the inconsistencies of how Jedis die in the films, inconsistencies which may or may not be resolved in Episode III. Why should Anakin be rewarded by the Force for years of killing Jedis and wreaking havoc with great hair and a perfect bone structure of his youth, while Obi-Wan Kenobi and Yoda have to spend eternity as creaky old people? Why did Obi-Wan Kenobi and Yoda disappear, while Darth Vader/Anakin and Qui-Gon Jinn's corporeal forms remained (only to be burned at the funeral pyre)? Did Qui-Gon do something to be undeserving of disppearing?

Other changes are just as arbitrary, if less controversial. They've changed the dragon scream Obi-Wan uses to scare away the sandpeople from a midrange croak to a high-frequency whistle. (Again, who cares? Well, I do, inasmuch as why go to the expense of changing a sound I'd known for all these years? The original sound is burned in my mind. This is what happens when you watch Star Wars a lot as a kid. My friend Wes and I both noticed that we could hear the isolated Star Wars scores and tell exactly where they were at which point in any of the movies. I'm sure I could undergo hypnosis and perfectly recite all three films). They've also gone in and digitally altered the forced perspective of the corridor right before the trash compactor scene to make it look more realistic. Geez, that was really distracting me all this time.

Other changes are restorative. Case in point: in the original theatrical cut of The Empire Strikes Back, after Luke's hand was cut off and he found out Vader was his father, he threw himself off the bridge to get away from Vader. Some said there was a sense of noblity, of self-sacrifice. In 1997, a long, drawn-out scream was added that annoyed people almost as much as Greedo shooting first. The 2004 DVD release removed it again. Speaking of Greedo, that scene has been tweaked too, with them now firing near-simultaneously.

Here are some websites that detail the changes between old and new. They are:

Star Wars: http://www.dvdanswers.com/index.php?r=0&s=8&c=28
Empire: http://www.dvdanswers.com/index.php?s=8&c=29&n=1&burl
ROTJ: http://www.dvdanswers.com/index.php?c=7867673&s=8

These rationale for these changes are at times odd and hard to track. Some of them, like the 2004's replacing of Boba Fett's voice with Jango Fett's (to indicate that Boba Fett is a clone) are a result of Lucas having to alter the original movies to tie up some loose threads and plot inconsistencies created by the prequels. Odds are that the next time the original films are re-released (either HD DVD or the rumored 3-D versions) there'll be more changes. And this is fine. I mean, they are Lucas's films, he can do what he wants with them. However, he'd be stupid not to take advantage of the market for the original theatrical versions, like Spielberg did with the DVD release of E.T., one disc for the 2002 version, and one for the original theatrical. I am interested in the original theatrical versions of Star Wars, not only because I grew up with those versions, but also because I disagree aesthetically with the Special Editions.

So, Lucas released the 2004 DVDs, and said that fans would have to find old copies of VHS tapes and laserdiscs to own the original versions. However, the DVD releases look far better than the old laserdiscs and VHS. So, many people online are trying to produce their own best possible versions of the original trilogy, some starting from the VHS or laserdiscs and improving the image, or starting from the DVDs and subtracting the Special Edition "improvements." As you can imagine, this is producing a melange of restoration efforts. One person's acceptable technological advance is another person's artistic sacrilege. I mean, I saw a 7-page thread on whether or not to leave the matte lines around the ships in the spacefight scenes.

In the course of my research on this fascinating phenomenon, I came across a few fan-produced DVDs.

1) Star Wars (The Mysterious Mysteries Edition) This DVD tried to reproduce the original theatrical experience of Star Wars, beginning with a computer re-created title crawl that does not feature the legend "Episode IV: A New Hope." (A glimpse of the original crawl was shown in the Empire of Dreams doc that came with the DVD set, but was not complete). The picture, grabbed from the Definitive Edition laserdisc set and tweaked, looks pretty good - not as rich as the official DVDs, but better than one would expect a grabbed copy to look. The DVD even includes special features - you can listen to the stereo mix, or an isolated John Williams score. There is also a gallery of Ralph McQuarrie's pre-production paintings, most done back when the movie was called The Star Wars, and Luke's last name was Starkiller.

2) Star Wars Rarities, Vol. One This is not a version of a movie, but, rather, a collection of related ephemera, including Siskel and Ebert's review of ROTJ, a collection of making-of-docs, Hardware Wars, and, most psychedlically, an episode of Donny and Marie featuring Kris Kristofferson as Han Solo, and a chorus line of Stormtroopers (!)

3) Empire Strike Back - Edit Droid collection Produced by the same folks who made the Mysterious Mysteries edition of Star Wars. Features an isolated score, and gallery.

4) The Star Wars Holiday Special - The Angrysun edition I was only two months old when this had its sole airing on CBS. My life was incomplete until I watched Bea Arthur dancing and singing in the cantina, fending off the advances of an alien Harvey Korman (who drinks through his head rather than his mouth). I'd purchased a version of this ultra-cheesy show, complete with the old TV commercials, two years ago, and have been trying to make it a holiday tradition since, much to the disgust of my sister Molly. This DVD removes the commercials, taking away most of the fun, but, as a special feature consolation prize, features over fifty Kenner Star Wars toy commercials, as well as the episode of the Muppet Show with Mark Hammil and C-3PO.

5) Deleted Magic By far my most favorite. A genius film editor has assembled an edit of Star Wars to illustrate its creative development. Original script dialogue flashes onscreen in subtitles, deleted scenes (like those with Biggs!) are edited back in, behind the scenes filming footage is woven in with the scene around it, and sequences are re-edited to follow how they appeared in script, or before reshoots. It's a very Godard-ian experience (for lack of a better term), as the film stops and another take, with unprocessed production audio, is done, only to have the film pick up again. There's even a little feature on the famous Wilhelm scream, showing how it's been used in all 3 Star Wars films (and the Holiday Special). I don't think I've done it justice. More info here. http://starwarz.com/deletedmagic/

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So, what would my ideal DVD set look like? (Yes, I've put thought into this. Hell, when I was 14, I put thought into what my own Star Wars toyline would look like. A Darth Vader figure with a removable helmet, for example - which Kenner/Hasbro actually did in the mid-to-late 90s). I'd want the original theatrical 1977 print with the option to hear the '77 mono, '77 Dolby Stereo, and '77 six-channel 70mm audio. I'd want all the deleted scenes/outtakes known to exist, with a good commentary track or two, perhaps a text-based "pop-up" trivia track. For more special features, I'd have a gallery of posters and production art, and a gallery of magazine covers, merch, etc. I'd like the contemporaneous Making of Star Wars to be on there, as well as any contemporary news stories, etc. on the Star Wars phenomenon. I'd also like to include, as an easter egg, the infamous Star Wars holiday special.

That is all. Man, I'm about geeked out.

Star Wars! pt. one

My free week is almost over. I've spent most of it readying my apartment for the new couch and love seat I bought Wednesday. You know you're an adult when new furniture is one of the most exciting things that's happened in your life in the last six months.

I've been gearing up for the new Star Wars movie next week. From what I've read on the Internet, Episode III will easily be the best of the prequel trilogy. I'm looking forward to seeing it. By no means am I bouncing-off-the-walls excited (and I'm not even that excited for Land of the Dead, which I am looking forward to more than Ep. III), but I am looking forward to it. I am mostly reminded of how much I like the Star Wars movies I grew up with. Feeling nostalgic for days of old, I accompanied my Mom to Toys'R'Us to look at the Ep. III toy line. Yeah, I know. Score another one against me for being a geek, but you don't understand. Back in the day I had every single Star Wars toy and action figure produced through the Return of the Jedi line (I had a few of the Power of the Force figures, but not all). I sold a lot of them as a Senior in high school to pay for a four-track multistudio, among other things. Though I loved the four-track, I sometimes regret what I did.

Back to Toys'R'Us - we've been hearing a lot about how dark the film is with Lucas telling us not to take little kids, it'll be PG-13, etc. However, the marketing produces a startling synaptic disconnect. Yoda on TV using Jedi mind tricks to steal a Diet Pepsi, Darth Vader recruiting M&Ms into the Empire. I'm not one of those geeks who thinks this is somehow "disrespectful" to the "seriousness" of Episode III, but I do think to a certain extent that it undermines the suspension of disbelief crucial to the success of any moviegoing experience. It's like the advertising is conditioning the film's audience to become emotionally detached from the story before the movie even opens. Case in point: there are toys, cute little toys, depicting Anakin's scarred visage post-Obi-Wan-lava-planet duel for sale at Toys'R'Us amid the toy lightsabers, collectible card games, and ridiculously overpriced Star Wars versions of Risk, Monopoly, and Stratego. One of these toys is a Lego set (!) of the Darth Vader operating table ("Lord Vader, rise!") that features swappable Anakin and Darth Vader heads. Another is a doll with changable heads, one of which resembles Ralph Fiennes in the English Patient. What the hell? And all of this beneath a 10 foot by 8 foot cardboard display of a Darth Vader mask engulfed in flames (which, I'm sure would've scared the living daylights out of me when I was a kid).

But they don't make them like they used too. The Star Wars toys we had as kids were simple; these are exaggerated in their design. However, I was still interested in buying something. I'd heard that they were doing reproductions of some of the original action figures (cool!) This is only partly true. They have reproduced the front of the cardstock packaging for the old action figures (With the same movie stills, etc.), but coupled it with the modern, overarticulated versions of classic star wars figures. What's strange is that these toys come in a plastic keep case already to ensure that the tab used to hang the card is never punched out! This is symptomatic of the very thing that drove me out of collecting toys and comics in the first place (well, that and actually wanting girls to talk to me): forced collectibility. Isn't collectibility just supposed to happen? Instead, we've got companies purposefully manufacturing limited runs, encouraging the vicious pack-rat mentality of "the collector." Then there's the number one nostalgia-killer: money. Those "classic" Star Wars action figures were $9.99. Needless to say, I left Toys'R'Us empty-handed (and un-emasculated).

Molly Thinks I'm A Geek

She says, "Gee Austin, Thanks for explaining my emotions," and then glares as I transcribe what she said.

I just got my first law school grade. I got a B in Civ Pro II. Cartwheel time. I know it may not sound impressive, but that class was pretty difficult. Hopefully, the rest of the law school grades will go this well.

It's Over Now!

I had my last final today: Property. I wrote one of those detail-light essays that will either help me or hurt me, depending on my level of accuracy. It was a closed book test. Hopefully that will work to my advantage when it comes to the grading curve.

"Damn Austin, why are you such a grade grubber" you might query. Well, let me tell you why. There are a few things I'd like to do in law school. First and foremost, I'd like to particpate in a law journal. TU has three; the two I'm interested in are The Tulsa Law Review and The Journal of International and Comparative Law. You can be invited to join with a GPA of 3.2 or better; if you have a GPA of 2.5 or better, you can write on. They go by the first year average.

The second part of this pickle is my scholarship, which pays roughly two-thirds of my private school tuition. A 3.0 GPA is needed to keep this.

So, depending on how this semester goes, I can be on a journal and keep my scholarship, be on a journal, or simply stew resentfully in the lower half of my class. I don't feel all would be lost. I did really well in my legal writing class and will be TA to my writing prof next year. So that's something good to put on a transcript. The worst part of all this, though, is having to wait until June for my grades. It's not so bad until the first grade comes in and you're caught in a maelstrom as your GPA violently yo-yos with each revealed grade.

But I don't have to worry about that now. Tonight, and for the next week or so, I have fun.

BTW, George, if you're reading this, please give me a call.

What?

I'm now finished with three of my four law school finals. Property is Friday. It's closed book, so that leaves me two days to study for it.

All told, things haven't been too bad. I get a little nervous right before an exam. I was especially nervous yesterday before my Constitutional Law final. Prof. Entzeroth is a great teacher, but she has a notoriously difficult curve for her first-year law school classes. Several friends of mine went to the library (where such information is avaiable) and returned with horror stories of the Con Law curve. I sank into a nervousness that wasn't abated until the test started. Last semester, her Civil Procedure test was ridiculously easy. So much, so, that I finished fifteen minutes early and felt I'd aced it. Much to my relief, the Con Law test was quite difficult, at least on the face of the questions.

I may yet end up being a victim of the curve, but at least the test is over.

Kubrick: Part Two

Full Metal Jacket - Looked and sounded great. I watched the scene in the head with Vince, Matthew, and R. Lee. "Easy Leonard. Go easy, man."

Barry Lyndon - Looked and sounded great. Watched the duel scene. I noticed that when Barry Lyndon is hobbling to his carriage after his leg is amputated, you don't see his face; obviously, it's a double. I wonder if Kubrick's blocking of the scene would have changed if this was made in the era of Captain Dan an' Forest Gump.

Spartacus - Looked and sounded OK. I briefly chaptered through. The special features button only brought up a trailer for the movie. Is there supposed to be more?

Paths of Glory - Timothy Carey!!! Looked and sounded great. No special features.

Lolita - Theatrical trailer was disabled. Picture looked and sounded OK.

Dr. Strangelove - I couldn't detect any flaws with the presentation. I briefly checked out the docs in the special features section. The announcer's voice is very annoying. Of course, I had to watch Slim straddle the bomb.

That's all. I hope to spend some time with this set when finals are over.

Stanley Kubrick!

About a week or so ago, I ordered the Hong Kong version of the Stanley Kubrick Collection DVD set for $19.99 (plus 3.99 s/h) off of eBay. A knock came on the door about an hour ago, and I knew I had to take a quick break to review the set.

It's patterned after the American version of the collection, but instead of being a large box with individual cases for the DVDs, it's about as wide as a two-DVD set. It has a slipcover with a plastic keepcase. Inside the individual DVDs are kept in a cheap 10-sleeve folder (as the set contains 11 DVDs, there were two to one sleeve - for shame!)

The set is Region 0 and contains Kanji markings on the set and individual DVDs. I noticed that the Dobly notice on the DVDs misspelled Dolby Laboratories as "Dolby Ladoratories." This, and the low price, and the region 0...I don't have to read between the lines.

The set consists of the same nine titles as the USA set:

-Lolita
-Dr. Strangelove
-2001: A Space Odyssey
-A Clockwork Orange
-Barry Lyndon
-The Shining
-Full Metal Jacket
-Eyes Wide Shut
-the documentary Stanley Kubrick: A Life in Pictures

and adds
-Paths of Glory
-Spartacus

I quickly popped each DVD into my computer and spent about two-to-three minutes with each title.

Overall impressions: Pretty decent for the price, but not as good as the American set, I'd wager. Some of the DVDs suffered from pixelation or fuzziness at points (like a good laserdisc or VHS, but not quite DVD quality), and some menu items seemed disabled. I already have 2001, Clockwork Orange, and The Shining on individual DVD. I had considered divesting myself of the titles if the box set versions were of comparable quality. As of now, it looks like I'll be keeping both.

A quick summary of my impressions:

A Clockwork Orange - This had a bizarre menu filled with green smoke. I had to press the Root Menu button to access the main menu. Looked much the same as the American DVD menu, with The Ninth as the background music. The button for the theatrical trailer was disabled. I chaptered around and the movie looked OK. Strangely, it was in 1:85 instead of the full-frame Kubrick preferred for the released DVD.

The Shining - Menu was OK. In the extras menu, I pulled up the Making of The Shining doc that Vivian Kubrick made. The picture quality was great, but it only lasted 1:39 before it timed back to the main menu! I checked again, and it seems only the first chapter of the doc made it to this DVD. Chaptered around the movie, and there were some issues with audio not coming up, but the picture looked great.

2001: A Space Odyssey - Same menu as what I'd known. Theatrical trailer was the same. Disappointingly , the movie started after the opening music, with the yellow on black MGM logo looking severly pixelated. The intermission music was still present. The picture looked pretty good.

Stanley Kubrick: A Life in Pictures - I taped this off of MoreMax ages ago. It looks about the same, but, unlike the MoreMax presentation, the interviews and archival photos were framed in 1:85, while the clips from full-frame movies played full-frame. Strange. Is the DVD on the American set like this?

Eyes Wide Shut - The interviews with Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman were disabled on the Special Features menu. Picture and sound were pretty good. Eyes Wide Shut holds a special place in my heart as its the only Kubrick feature I've seen in the theatre. Randy, George, and I saw it together at the Dickinson Starworld 20 at 103rd & Memorial in Tulsa in the summer of 1999. Randy and I met in 1996 at the beginning of Freshman year, and I remember that all the way back then there was buzz for this film. Funnily enough, the lone set photo that leaked was a picture of a door.

Back to 1999 - after Kubrick's death, there was some controversy over the insertion of CGI-created cloaked figures blocking graphic scenes during the orgy sequence. This was done to get an R in America, and I remember hearing that the international cut lacked these figures. Sure enough, this DVD is the international cut, and there are no CGI figures. I can't say which version I prefer. Certainly the uncensored version is more visceral, which I imagine was what Kubrick intended. Nonetheless, it's interesting to own.