Posted on 08/31/2011 10:02:37 PM PDT by nickcarraway
Darth Vader will lose a little more of his dignity in Star Wars original trilogy Blu-rays. Listen for yourself! George Lucas is not satisfied with turning the puppet Yoda in Star Wars: The Phantom Menace into a CG creation. Or just fixing some of the wonky lightsabre effects in the original trilogy. He's going a bit further.
Lucas had promised that fans would have a few new details here and there to notice in his newly remastered HD versions of his classic trilogy — and now the first details are leaking out. And fans are not happy. Some of the fans have gotten hold of the Blu-ray footage, and they're dissecting it at TheForce.net, the Blu-Ray.com forums and the DVDTalk forums. And a couple of changes to the soundtrack have already become apparent, at least if some recent leaks are to be believed.
UPDATE: Badass Digest says "a trusted source" confirms that these changes are real.
Most notably, "Vader now screams NOOOOOOOO when he throws the Emperor" in Return of the Jedi. And it sounds, quite frankly, kind of silly. Check out an mp3 of the new sound effect.
Update: One intrepid fan has synced this audio with the original video:
Second of all, when Obi-Wan scares off the Tusken Raiders from an unconscious Luke, we no longer hear Obi-Wan's famous "Krayyt Dragon" call, but instead it just sort of sounds like Walrus Man barfing. Check out an mp3 of the new version.
Update: Another intrepid fan has synced the leaked audio with the picture from a previous DVD release, via Slashfilm:
And then there's the new more realistic, blinking eyes on the Ewoks — see the clip at left featuring Wicket W. Warrick, which was sent to us by the same tipster who sent us the audio files of the new sound effects.
The fans are debating whether these leaks are real, with forum user JonYo writing:
Please, everyone remember that no matter how "reliable" certain sources are, the official release of the Blu Ray set is still a couple of weeks away, and until the final commercial release is in the hands of the public, anything leaked is suspect - including promotional material from Lucas. It's quite possible that we, the teeming masses of netnerds, are being messed with in regards to some of the "newly leaked" footage. The Ewok eyes, the crappy sabers, the various awkward screams...we're a highly excitable bunch right about now, and someone could very easily be having a laugh. Not saying this is the case, but it's quite possible.
Although user Gundark31 points out:
The leak came from China so the chances of this being legit is high.
In any case, with the new audio synced with the original video, it does seem to fit pretty well, and some fans even say they're okay with it once they see it in context.
What do you think — hoax or real? And is this new tinkering a huge deal-breaker, or just one more head-scratching Lucas decision? [Thanks Jon!]
shibumi: “Movies should be left as they were made in the beginning.”
I wouldn’t go that far. Lucas could learn a thing or two from Ridley Scott and Blade Runner. Read the comments from thrilled fans who have FIVE versions to pick from, including the original theatrical release:
Compare that to Lucas who simply refuses to give fans what we want (and is pretty snarky about it, too). Of course, he’s free to do whatever he wants with his movies, but he’s a jerk for not appreciating the fans and films that made him rich.
An honest Ringworld movie would be gold - or simply the Life and Times of Beowulf Shaeffer.
We’ll never get it though - not enough explosions.
I know we aren’t supposed to hate, but...
I’m getting to were I really, REALLY hate Luca$ :(
Having seen both, I must agree with your exception.
I just wish that Lucas had left David Prowse to do Vader’s voice instead of bringing in James Earl Jones. Prowse has a broad Bristol accent which would have made Vader an entirely different character. A Bristol accent might not mean much to our American friends, but if you imagine it to be pretty much how you’d expect a pirate to speak, you’ve got a reasonable idea!
“Oi foinds yer lack of faith disturbing me old lover. . . .”
:D
The real problem with Vader’s voice was not the JEJ dubbing. It was trying to believe that that voice belonged to Hayden Christensen.
Turning Christensen into a Bristol Pirate might have been easier to take.
Voice-over narration is always dicey, and Harrison Ford's flatline monotone simply didn't cut it. The best voice-over narration I've ever heard in film was Goodfellas. Ray Liotta especially did a magnificent job.
That said, just watched director's cut of Bladerunner the other day, and the movie is not holding up well for me. Maybe I've watched it too many times, but the movies I really love, I can watch an infinite number of times.
I think ALL the Star Wars movies are good enough for kids. Once you grow up, you start to notice all the flaws. Sort of like the old tv show Land of the Lost. (Ok, a little better than that, but the acting is about the same).
At least the Library of Congress has preserved Star Wars as it was in 1977. It may have The Empire Strikes Back as well.
I want to see a modern day series from the E E “Doc” Smith series, Triplanetary and the space opera “Lensmen”.
Done properly Lensmen could out do the Star Wars series.
These are classic cult sci-fi from the late 40’s and 50’s, arguably when it was in its golden years.
I will buy the BD Star Wars set, better is good even if they continue dubbing and remaking it for the next 100 years.
Almost reminds me of how Obama is where he is now, his handlers didn’t like his past so the blue screened him a new one.
Ewoks. That alone should have been justification to bring back DDT...
Maybe they could take Anakin’s “Yippee!” from the Phantom Menace and dub it into Luke’s post-amputation jump from the catwalk in Cloud City.
My wife bought a cheap copy of "Animal Farm" from Amazon.com and when it arrived the cover was a drawing of George W Bush sitting at a desk. That wasn't shown on the Amazon page when she bought it.
Still have the original trilogy (unaltered ) on laserdisc.
5 was excellent, 6 was close but had some major flaws. 4 is generally overrated because of its technical achievements.
Note that it's no coincidence that 5 was the only one where Lucas neither directed nor wrote the screenplay.
I loved that movie. It wasn’t until years later that I realized it was directed by a young Robert Zemeckis, who went on to much greater (if less wonderfully raunchy) things.
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