Editorial Reviews:
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Was George Lucas's Star Wars Trilogy, the most anticipated DVD release ever, worth the wait? You bet. It's a must-have for any home theater, looking great, sounding great, and supplemented by generous bonus features. The Movies
The Star Wars Trilogy had the rare distinction of becoming a cultural phenomenon, a defining event for its generation. On its surface, George Lucas's story is a rollicking and humorous space fantasy that owes debts to more influences than one can count on two hands, but filmgoers became entranced by its basic struggle of good vs. evil "a long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away," its dazzling special effects, and a mythology of Jedi knights, the Force, and droids. Over the course of three films--A New Hope (1977), The Empire Strikes Back (1980), and Return of the Jedi (1983)--Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill), Princess Leia (Carrie Fisher), and the roguish Han Solo (Harrison Ford) join the Rebel alliance in a galactic war against the Empire, the menacing Darth Vader (David Prowse, voiced by James Earl Jones), and eventually the all-powerful Emperor (Ian McDiarmid). Empire is generally considered the best of the films and Jedi the most uneven, but all three are vastly superior to the more technologically impressive prequels that followed, Episode I, The Phantom Menace (1999) and Episode II, Attack of the Clones (2002). How Are the Picture and Sound?
Thanks to a new digital transfer, you've never seen C-3PO glow so golden, and Darth Vader's helmet is as black as the Dark Side.
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In a word, spectacular. Thanks to a new digital transfer, you've never seen C-3PO glow so golden, and Darth Vader's helmet is as black as the Dark Side. And at the climactic scene of A New Hope, see if the Dolby 5.1 EX sound doesn't knock you back in your chair. Other audio options are Dolby 2.0 Surround in English, Spanish, and French. (Sorry, DTS fans, but previous Star Wars DVDs didn't have DTS either.) There have been a few quibbles with the audio on A New Hope, however. A few seconds of Peter Cushing's dialogue ("Then name the system!") are distorted, and the music (but not the sound effects) is reversed in the rear channels. For example, in the final scene, the brass is in the front right channel but the back left channel (from the viewer's perspective), and the strings are in the left front and back right. The result feels like the instruments are crossing through the viewer.What's Been Changed?
The rumors are true: Lucas made more changes to the films for their DVD debut. Hayden Christensen (Anakin Skywalker) has been added to a scene in Jedi, Ian McDiarmid (the Emperor) replaces Clive Revill with slightly revised lines in Empire, Temuera Morrison has rerecorded Boba Fett's minimal dialogue, and some other small details have been altered. Yes, these changes mean that the Star Wars films are no longer the ones you saw 20 years ago, but these brief changes hardly affect the films, and they do make sense in the overall continuity of the two trilogies. It's not like a digitized Ewan McGregor has replaced Alec Guiness's scenes, and the infamous changes made for the 1997 special-edition versions were much more intrusive (of course, those are in the DVD versions as well). How Are the Bonus Features?
Toplining is Empire of Dreams: The Story of the Star Wars Trilogy, a 150-minute documentary incorporating not only the usual making-of nuts and bolts but also the political workings of the movie studios and the difficulties Lucas had getting his vision to the screen (for example, after resigning from the Directors' Guild, he lost his first choice for director of Jedi: Steven Spielberg). It's a little adulatory, but it has plenty to interest any fan. The three substantial featurettes are "The Characters of Star Wars" (19 min.), which discusses the development of the characters we all know and love, "The Birth of the Lightsaber" (15 min.), about the creation and evolution of a Jedi's ultimate weapon, and "The Force Is with Them: The Legacy of Star Wars" (15 min.), in which filmmakers such as Peter Jackson, Ridley Scott, and James Cameron talk about how they and the industry were affected by the films and Lucas's technological developments in visual effects, sound, and computer animation. The bonus features are excellent and along the same lines as those created for The Phantom Menace and Attack of the Clones. Each film has a commentary track, recorded by Lucas, Ben Burtt (sound design), Dennis Muren (visual effects), and Carrie Fisher, with Irvin Kershner joining in on the film he directed, The Empire Strikes Back. Recorded separately and skillfully edited together (with supertitles to identify who is speaking), the tracks lack the energy of group commentaries, but they're enjoyable and informative, with a nice mix of overall vision (Lucas), technical details (Burtt, Muren, Kershner), and actor's perspective (Fisher). Interestingly, they discuss some of the 1997 changes (Mos Eisley creatures, the new Jabba the Hutt scene) but not those made for the DVDs. There's also a sampler of the Xbox game Star Wars: Battlefront, which lets the player reenact classic film scenarios (blast Ewoks in the battle of Endor!); trailers and TV spots from the films' many releases; and a nine-minute preview of the last film in the series, Episode III, Revenge of the Sith (here identified by an earlier working title, The Return of Darth Vader). Small extra touches include anamorphic widescreen motion menus with dialogue, original poster artwork on the discs, and a whopping 50 chapter stops for each film. "The Force Is Strong with This One"
The Star Wars Trilogy is an outstanding DVD set that lives up to the anticipation. There will always be resentment that the original versions of the films are not available as well, but George Lucas maintains that these are the versions he always wanted to make. If fans are able to put this debate aside, they can enjoy the adventures of Luke, Leia, and Han for years to come. --David Horiuchi Description
Includes:
* Episode IV, A New Hope
Commentary by George Lucas, Ben Burtt, Dennis Muren, and Carrie Fisher
* Episode V, The Empire Strikes Back
Commentary by George Lucas, Irvin Kershner, Ben Burtt, Dennis Muren, and Carrie Fisher
* Episode VI, Return of the Jedi
Commentary by George Lucas, Ben Burtt, Dennis Muren, and Carrie Fisher * "Empire of Dreams: The Story of the Star Wars Trilogy," the most comprehensive feature-length documentary ever produced on the Star Wars saga, and never-before-seen footage from the making of all three films
* Featurettes: The Legendary Creatures of Star Wars, The Birth of the Lightsaber, The Legacy of Star Wars
* Teasers, trailers, TV spots, still galleries
* Playable Xbox demo of the new Lucasarts game Star Wars Battlefront
* The making of the Episode III videogame
* Exclusive preview of Star Wars: Episode III
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Customer Reviews
3 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
 great set changes to dvd are all good., May 19, 2023
Ill admit some of the changes in the special edition weren't great namely greedo firing first and the new songs in return of the jedi. but this dvd only serves to make the films look a little better and have better continuity. Greedo fires first looks a lot better and the timing is more like they fire at the same time. Jabba and the speeder looks way bettter in a new hope this time. the emperor and boba fett are played by who they should be played by in empire strikes back. and anakin appears as he appeared before he ceased to exist. how could anakin have grown older. as obi wan says anakin ceased to exist when he became vader. ill admit it would be nice to have the originals as a bonus feature like on the alien quadrilogy discs, or at least have a comparison feature so you can see the original scenes that were changed like on Star Trek the motion picture, but the fact is the dvd makes all good changes, so stop whining about it.
7 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
 The true "Original Trilogy" on DVD . . . , May 19, 2023
. . . cannot be found in this set. Just google "original trilogy," sign the petition, and read the forums to find out more. Though the set offered here may have nicer sound and a cleaner picture, "not all that glitters is gold." Please don't support this attempt by George Lucas to rewrite history and destroy our true memories.
7 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
 Still love it even with the changes..., May 17, 2023
I don't really have a strong desire to go into the whole Star Wars debate. Yes, I think George Lucas could make a great deal of fans happy (and a great deal of money) to release the original untampered movies on DVD. No, I don't necessarily think that putting Hayden Christensen in Jedi was the worst thing he could have done...before you "BOO! HISS!" me, think about it...what was the last face Anakin wore just before he came to be Darth Vader? He didn't look like Sebastian Shaw, he looked like Hayden Christensen. I think there's a certain logic to it, wherein they revert to the way they were at their strongest point of being Jedi, and where was Anakin the strongest but at the end, just before he became Darth Vader? I know hardcore fans won't necessarily agree, but I can see why they did it that way....Obi-Wan was strongest with the force just before Darth Vader struck him down, and Yoda...well, Yoda looks like Yoda. I am just thrilled that I could go out and finally buy these movies on DVD to share with my sweet 3 year old son, who is already turning into a huge Star Wars fan. I'll take what I can get, and whereas movies go, remastered or not, it's still one of the greatest.
5 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
a long time ago....., May 15, 2023
yep you know the story, played with the toys, taken the lunch to school in the lunch box etc. yet the fans have been crying out for a dvd release for years.
and for me and the fans mr lucas I say a big THANK YOU :) but why did you have to tinker, don't get me wrong the some of the graphics are an improvement and add to the story its just some some part just don't work, PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE give the fans what they want in the next box set (yes you know all six will be comeing out one day) allow the users to select what version they wish to watch personnaly I miss the old ewok tune and would love to have the origial tattoni back, jabbas part really feels out of place and slows the pace of the movie.
other than that this is one cracking transfer, my old laserdisk was put to shame. all in all 4 stars
15 of 20 people found the following review helpful:
SOME CHANGES I LIKED SOME I DIDN'T. HERE'S A FEW FROM EACH, May 15, 2023
Lets start with improved picture quality and sharp edge lightsabers. This is a good thing. Only a fool would tell you otherwise. Having Jabba the Hutt appear in A NEW HOPE was a good idea. How he looked was a bad idea. Adding the extra creatures around the desert and village? This is good. The Death Star explosion is more dynamic. This is good. THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK;changing "You're lucky you don't taste very good" to "It's a good thing you got out of there" is bad,very bad... Using Ian Mcdiarmid for The Emperor hologram? Definately a good thing. RETURN OF THE JEDI New song at Jabba's palace sucked. Hokey Lord of the Ring sounding music at end? Bad. Even though the original Ewok music was a little embarrassing at least it seemed more fitting with the scene. Removing eyebrows and changing eye color of Anakin for unmasking? Good idea. Using Hayden Christensen as Anakin's ghost? Bad idea. The best idea would have been is to take Sebastian Shaw, keep him bald, clear up his scars, and have him in a black cloak. Getting this DVD box set? Good idea. Whining like babies and telling others not to buy the set because it doesn't meet with your approval? Bad, selfishly bad. REVENGE OF THE SITH will eventually come to DVD initially three ways. Alone, in the Eps 1-3 pack, and of course the giant all six movie pack. This doesn't include additional special editions. You know there will be even more changes. I hope no one has a stroke or massive heart attack. After all they're only movies. For the stubborn diehards follow the advice of other reviewers. Buy the Original VHS versions and transfer them to dvds yourself. I had no idea that George Lucas was on your payroll.
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Based on 1932 reviews.