ROTTEN TOMATOES: "Limited Edition" Star Wars Covers

"Limited Edition" Star Wars Covers

by Scott Weinberg | May 18, 2006

Last week it was announced that the original, unedited, and allegedly grungy-looking "Star Wars" trilogy would make its Limited Edition DVD debut. Today we get a look at what the DVD covers will look like, plus we also get the news that the DVDs will not come with anamorphic (16x9) transfers, which isn't great news.

Click right here to see the DVD covers over at the official "Star Wars" website, and then (if you feel like it) click right here to see what "anamorphic widescreen" means.

The new DVDs, which are being released individually, hit the shelves on September 12th. Each package comes with the "Special" Edition and the plain ol' "Star Wars" adventure you remember from 1977, 1980, and 1983 ... for better or for worse.

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(1-14 of 14 posts) | Reply

AllHallows writes:
on May 18 2006 06:58 AM

If Lucas likes his movies so technically advanced; then why even put out full screen versions of the movies? It doesn't really make sense.

(Reply to this)

brave.sir.rob writes:
on May 18 2006 08:33 AM

Wow, that cover art is pretty much awful. Glad to see that Photoshop wiz-kid that gave us the Serenity cover art is still getting work.

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ck100 writes:
on May 18 2006 08:49 AM

Releasing the original, unaltered S.W. trilogy on DVD without anamorhpic enhancement is simply inexcusable. If there is a legitimate reason for this and Lucasfilm made an honest attempt to make them anamorhpic, then I'll give them benefit of the doubt. Otherwise, this just feels more like a cheap, shoddy, marketing ploy of Lucas to make people shut up about complaining how the original, unaltered DVD is not out yet (It already was a marketing ploy anyways). I'm sure that new S.W. DVD's are on the horizon given that Lucas wants to make 3-D versions and that next year is the 30th anniversary of Star Wars.

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nogard64 writes:
on May 18 2006 09:13 AM

[b]this is a joke right??[/b]
I went from really really wanting to get it, to wanting nothing to do with this. George Lucus is really pissing me off! How about we stop bashing Micheal Bay and Brett Ratner on RT and start with George, I'm serisous T.O.ed now!

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aconline writes:
on May 18 2006 09:15 AM

Good call on next year being the 30th anniversary. Next year will be the 6-movie collection. Then, two years later, the 6-movie remastered collection and so on. Back when VHS was still "IT" Lucas would introduce a new box for the trilogy about every 2 years. My friend is an avid fan, so he had the trilogy 4 times on vhs. This is just the beginning of Lucas's attempt to make his followers buy the dvd 4 times. I also agree with AllHallows about the full screen. Who buys fullscreen dvds? Let alone Star Wars. The cover is passable. I am not saying it is awesome, but is it really that bad?

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sparetime writes:
on May 18 2006 09:37 AM

um, I just clicked on the cover art thing up top, and it shows both wide screen & full screen covers...

is the wide screen version not what you were all wanting?

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cgcbooks writes:
on May 18 2006 12:11 PM

May Star Wars please just go away and never come back in my lifetime. It is the most overrated piece of crap I have ever seen.

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SozeStrangelove writes:
on May 18 2006 02:49 PM

[b]?[/b]
Is it me, or have I seen those covers before?

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Darklighter writes:
on May 18 2006 02:59 PM

I wanted the unaltered DVDs but was not thrilled with buying another set of SW DVDs. Now I'm definately not getting them seeing as I have a widescreen TV and there's no anamorphic.
I bet they'll release yet another set a few months later that is anamorphic just to make people buy three sets. And after that we'll get the 3-D DVDs (hopefully Hi-Def) so we have four sets. And after that GL will mess with all six movies, adding CG yoda and such, so we'll have five sets. Yay!

(Reply to this)

taran72 writes:
on May 18 2006 03:08 PM

In reply to this comment (#836092)
Amen. I am so sick of Lucas milking this franchise. Either just go and hide yourself away in your ILM studio or DO SOMETHING DIFFERENT. He's turned into a marketing guy - and most of you probably feel the same as I do about marketing guys.

(Reply to this)

Ashron writes:
on May 18 2006 03:54 PM

I am a marketing guy (or at least work with a marketing company) and even I feel this is way too much. This poor horse is dead and even the bones have turned to dust now. I'll stick with the copies I have on laser disc and the current DVDs and that is plenty. The only edition I might consider buying is when (not if) they come out with HD version. Even then, I would only want Eps 4-6.

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vader_of_vjun writes:
on May 19 2006 12:06 AM

The covers are based on some of the original posters.

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CenoBiteMe2000 writes:
on May 19 2006 07:40 PM

[b]What the dilly with FS?[/b]
It should be a crime to release Full Screen versions of films, especially if the WS versions are anamorphic (as opposed to letterboxed). That said, I'm glad Puke-Us-Film is releasing the original cuts in all their imperfect glory. I want to see the Death Star go up in a fireball, Han shoot first and Mos Eisley sans Jabba! Thumbs down on the DVD covers, however-- I was hoping for the original early VHS/marquee artwork. *groan*

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mstiefan writes:
on May 19 2006 08:18 PM

[b]OK, people[/b]
Lets think about what widescreen videos looked like before widescreen TV's and dvd's, such as the Original VHS box set that came out around the re-release. We had a square TV with a "letterboxed" rectangle of a picture. We get the entire picture width. Nothing is cut away. The image does not fill the TV, but a rectangular picture does not fit in a square TV, does it?

Fast forward to today. DVD's have "anamorphic widescreen" and widescreen TV's. THis means that the rectangular image fills the rectagular screen. If you still have a square TV, however, you still may get black bars on the top and bottom, because it stretches and almost distorts the image.

This is what I'm saying. The image on these DVD's will be like the image on the VHS editions, and it won't be full screen unless you buy the full screen (pan and scan) version.

I want you all to settle down. I'm sorry that the movie won't fill every nook and cranny of your 56 inch plasma widescreen, but you are still getting the complete movie.

I have two versions, the original vhs and the three tape special edition set. Do I want another? We'll see. ALL I know is VHS sound just isn't good, even if you directly hook audio cables from a VCR into a stereo system. It would also be great to not have to fast-forward through the annoying Leonard Maltin - George Lucas interview. I've seen it once, don't need to see it every time. Oh, that and the ads for the special edition. Its 2006, they came out 9 years ago. Don't need ads again.

(Reply to this)

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