The score undoubtedly has been re-transferred to digital for the new DVD edition. The current practice in film post production almost mandates this because of the exclusive use of digital audio workstations. That does not however guarantee how the new transfer will sound one way or the other.

On the reissues of "Superman", "Grease", and "The Exorcist" that I remastered the music score for, I went to great lengths to use the best original elements and to clean up the sound so that they would sound as close to current standards as possible. It isn't hard to do.

I recently watched all the Godfathers in one day, and it was pretty cool. Its nice to be able to quickly recall something that is tied into a previous movie...

Granted most series have little to do with the previous one, but still...

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This post has been brought to you by curegeorg, thanks for reading.

Well, I just finished watching episode 6 (Return of the Jedi) and was somewhat disturbed by what I heard. Towards the end of the movie I expected to hear that familiar music when Ewoks and rebel soldiers celebrate the victory which brings me some fond memories from 1983 when I saw it in the theater. Instead, it’s been replaced by a different music. How could George Lucas do this? I can understand his intent to add digital images to enhance the story but to completely take out something as good as that music is a disservice in my opinion. What should’ve been replaced is the opening title music of episode 4 (A New Hope) with a newer recording since the audio quality was so bad in it compare to all other episodes.

As far as audio goes I would say this trilogy DVD set is a disappointment.

That's what happens when they don't hire me to work on a reissue.

And I have a feeling there's more he did in the other episodes.

Why not do some work on the first two movies? Those could use some big improvment. Why not superimpose the original Anakin over Hayden? Why not concentrate on making Episode 3 good right now? It's due out like next May isn't it? The first two made a lot of money, but they weren't heralded as being that good.

There's so much stuff that he did just because he can and not because he should.

i just watched the trilogy, and i thought it was great. sound was good (a little over bassy at some moments) and the video quality (even on the versions that i ripped) was good as well. actually id have to say the video quality was superb at most instances, even on the discs i ripped.

now, i have never been a diehard star wars fan, so i cant comment on the differences between the original, and frankly i dont care what they are. i thought the three movies were well done, and the only issue i have is that the explosions were sometimes disproportionate. i thought that the death star explosion scenes should be some of the loudest scenes in the movie (besides the planet exploding...), but there were much louder scenes/explosions. i recall one explosion of one of those imperial walking weapons (whatever the name is... :-) ), being much louder than the death star explosions. the 2nd death star explosion was more disappointing.

i guess for true star wars fanatics, the movies delve away from the originals, but lucas wasnt trying to merely remaster the originals, he was trying to improve them. somewhere i read/saw that lucas views movies as an ongoing process, which i kind of like, because why wouldnt you want to improve on something if you could. the original is tried and tested, and im sure there were issues that he had with it, that he messed up the first time around, so now he can change it how he wants it. if you own something its yours to do what you want to it, and i appreciate the better quality video and presumably better audio.

that being said, i still thx is overrated, but at least an attempt at standardization to give a reference point to quality...

i look forward to watching the series again, this time to see how well he can build the story backwards from the originals...

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This post has been brought to you by curegeorg, thanks for reading.

JT - the bulk of Lucas's time is currently focused on Episode III, which is due out next May - most of the work on these DVD's was done by ILM and Lowry Digital, with Lucas providing direction and reviewing it along the way. As for I and II, both received some minor adjusting when they went to DVD, and will likely see a few more tweaks in a couple years when the full six-movie set Lucas has been intent on is put together. Because these movies are newer and were made with a much wider range of resources, they seem to have started out closer to the vision Lucas had for them, so they will likely receive fewer and less pronounced changes.

My father teaches metals in an art college, and one lesson that he often finds students struggling with is when to set a piece of work down down and call it "finished" - not only can stopping too soon leave rough solder joints, jagged cuts, or unpolished surfaces, but working too long can take a piece to a point where it is over-worked and effectively ruined (too many added details that detract from the desired effect, for example). Part of the problem for students (or any artist) is the fact that they are the only ones who can decide when the point of completion is reached - there's no right or wrong answer. In Lucas's case, he always felt that the movies he released to theaters over 20 years ago fell short of that point, and in the process of gearing up for and producing the prequels he's taken the opportunity to pick up those "unfinished" pieces of work and push them closer to his goal. In some places, I think the movies have benefited from the work, and I have no doubt that many of the changes provide him a greater sense of satisfaction. There are also places where I think his recent work moves into that hazy and dangerous area of doing too much and taking it past the point of completion, although I get the impression from interviews and from some of the creative decisions in the prequels (particularly Episode I) that Lucas feels differently (damnit). From a purely technical standpoint, the DVD set is great, and I've been enjoying it. Artistically, there are places where I find myself scratching my head or shrugging, but I've still been able to sit back and enjoy the movies for the most part. There are things that I really wish had not been tampered with as well as a few special effects sequences that I think are deserving of preservation in some form (even if not in the movie itself) out of respect for the work that went into them, but that is Lucas's prerogative - whatever our opinion might be of his artistic decisions. Alas.

Since none of us can do much about it, though, I guess grumbling about it amongst ourselves is about all we have to fall back on. Grumble...

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I think any artist can benefit from criticism to some degree. One of the most difficult tasks in creative work such as art, architecture, film, music, literature and …etc, is to be able to criticize one’s own work. I know it from my own practice. Who knows, if enough voices are herd by Mr. Lucas regarding this trilogy DVD, it may sway him one way or the other. But he will never know if no one speaks up.

If anyone finds a link to send opinions to Mr. Lucas, please share it with us.

We can also not buy things we don't really like. I think too many people just buy things to buy something. The industry really looks at what sells and tries to do more of that. They may buy it on a boredom night or whatever, but it adds to the movie's revenue and makes it look better.