Top 5 Frustrating Fox Star Wars U.S. Home Video Decisions (From the Star Wars Home Video Library)

[@Hadam10Rose]

Revenge of the Sith was the reason my family got a DVD player. It really ticked my dad off, I remember him complaining at the circuit city while we waited in line to buy the player and disc. The cashier actually told him that they had the combo players, just not in store. So I had ep 3 for a week, but couldn't watch it. Ah, memories.

[@jefffan171]

Great video, good rant. The two that spring to my mind for flusters of we never got releases are the mentioned, episode 2 & 3 on Laserdisc. Which were released long after the death of the format. The no episode 9 Big Sleeve Blu-Ray packs after episodes 7&8. And the briefly mentioned lack of any 3d releases at all on blu-ray. Albeit a standalone or "bonus" disc edition. Look forward to the next one. Like button on standby Nathan

[@ChronoRadio]

For the 3D topic, see the previous Top 5 video on Disney (rather than Fox) frustrations. I will be addressing Big Sleeve Editions at some point alongside a couple of other notable non-U.S. releases. I just need to decide on how to frame that particular topic, probably something like cool releases the U.S. never received or something. (BSEs wouldn't have worked for this video anyway, since this was about U.S. releases, and it was Fox, not Disney.)

[@swccmty]

Im from México and I have the ROTS on VHS and yes, i feel fullfilled

[@ChronoRadio]

Even Mexico had a VHS release of ROTS? I hadn't ever bothered to look around other Western Hemisphere locations. I guess it makes sense, though, since Mexico had Beta still at least as long as 1995's releases. I should've assumed VHS would have lasted longer in Mexico also.

[@swccmty]

@@ChronoRadio how can i share with you pics???

[@JamesLawner]

I'd like to see a video on unreleased Star Wars home video items, like no proper complete series set for Rebels, Clone Wars 2003 (as well as a blu-ray release for that series), Droids/Ewoks, and even Star Wars: Detours

[@Thecatdrums3]

I Hate that the US never got the 5.1 audio of the theatrical cut of the phantom menace since the vhs only had the stereo audio I heard in theaters which is nostalgic but knowing Lucas I’m sure the one in the extended phantom menace cut on dvd is tweaked somehow.

[@jefffan171]

The only theatrical 5.1EX release was the Japanese Laserdisc. Which is one of the greatest mixes of the whole format. If u ask anyone who has heard that mix it is one of the most bombastic soundtracks ever on Laserdisc. The DVD and Blu-Ray extended editions were remixed for "Home use" meaning the treble is rolled off slightly using the THX comb filter and the range between loud and soft is shortened to make it more comfortable. But when you hear the pod race and the Lightsaber battle in Dual of the fates on that disc..! It's still to this day my preferred way to watch it and if you can pick up the right gear? It has an added 7.1 mix via THX/DOLBY SURROUND EX mix as used in theatres.

[@frhardesty]

@@jefffan171 You mean it had 6.1, not 7.1

[@jefffan171]

@@frhardestyYes, you're correct :-) can't believe I forgot. Thank you. It was 6.1 ish??? I guess? well in a non discreet way I guess? As it was a solid 5.1 with the (pardon the punn) a Phantom centre channel information for decoding and spat out over the two speakers positioned along the back wall. If I remember correctly, 7.1 Dolby discreetly came along with Toy Story 3? But might be wrong? 😀 but either case, thank you

[@frhardesty]

@@jefffan171 I believe 6.1 consisted of two front speakers, two surround speakers, one front center, one back center, and one sub. Many receivers with 7.1 designated either the back left or the back right channel with the label "single" that you would use if you only had or wanted one back speaker (center back).

[@ChronoRadio]

This is the moment you guys lose me. I really need to get better at paying attention to home video audio firsts and whatnot. That's something in my notes to circle back to as one of the last topics to make sure to check for A Saga on Home Video, 2nd Edition. I'm just not as up on audio availability. (It could be because my own hearing can be "meh," and we've only just in the last few years finally gotten a 5.1 setup in our bedroom.)

[@andrewgilbertson5672]

I suspect this is more in the 'things that weren't released' upcoming video, but I was always bummed that the 1997 SEs didn't make it to DVD. It means that without going into a defunct format, they are the only 'major' version (well, barring a true release of the originals, but at least we have an approximation of those) that isn't available to watch nowadays. Which is just irritating from a completionist perspective. (And honestly, minus the Luke-scream, it may be my preferred version of ESB; the wonderful new Cloud City and matte-lines/transparency improvements on Hoth, but without the prequel tie-in versions of Palpatine and Fett; just the way I like it.)

[@ChronoRadio]

"Give me my Monkey Woman Palpatine!" ;)

[@trentoninnewjersey]

So you prefer the OG Palpatine? For me it’s really off putting to see a different actor and voice actor for Palpatine in the og version of 5 compared to episode 6

[@ChaseMC215]

A pet peeve I have that can be considered as frustrating is that for the Complete Saga, the THX trailers are mismatched. For the prequel trilogy, you got Amazing Life, which was slowly being phased out by 2010 in favor for Broadway 2010, and the original trilogy had Broadway 2010, not Amazing Life, and it was released in 2011, no one gave a shit about Amazing Life after 2009 hence why Titanic on Blu-Ray had Broadway 2010 and Avatar only showed Amazing Life at the end of the film because even that film was like "We had enough", as Avatar was the last mainline 20th Century Fox film to use the 2008 trailer. Another frustration is that the 2000's VCD release of the original trilogy from Malaysia and Singapore didn't have Broadway despite the THX logo being on the packaging.

[@andrewattenboroughtwothumb4697]

great collection Nathan and I just recently picked up the us version of the complete saga on blu ray from eBay and 1997 vhs special editions and 3D force awakens and last Jedi and rise of skywalker and rogue one uk

[@reelkonversationswithryank4945]

My biggest complaint at the time was that the THX Remastered Edition was not available in widescreen letterbox on VHS. I'm not sure if the LaserDiscs were in Widescreen but I never had a laser disc player so it never mattered to me. The next edition in VHS was the Special Edition which was available in Full Screen (Pan and Scan) and Widescreen (Letterbox) editions. Why couldn't they have done that for the earlier one? It wasn't common, but it was available for other masterpieces of the era like Dances With Wolves.

[@ChronoRadio]

Assuming you are talking about the United States, you are mistaken. There were actually two different 1995 THX remastered VHS releases that were letterboxed widescreen. One was a top loader, and the other was a side loader. The full screen “brick“ version was far more common, but two widescreen VHS versions did exist that year.

[@reelkonversationswithryank4945]

@@ChronoRadio - Thanks for the info. I could never find them at the time and I scoured the stores. Maybe because I'm in Canada but usually those releases were North American as opposed to US only. Do you recall what episodes of your series cover those widescreen editions? And if those WERE available in Widescreen, THAT is the version I wish had been included in the Trilogy 2-packs with the Special Edition and "GOUT" but in Anamorphic Widescreen instead of Letterbox. I felt like those "clean ups" were really just technical things like making the Snowspeeders non-translucent (or completely opaque) which actually improved the films and were nothing that anyone really complained about.

[@ChronoRadio]

Looks like it was way back in the (awful-looking) episodes 10 and 10.1.

[@reelkonversationswithryank4945]

@@ChronoRadio - Thanks, Nathan. I re-watched those 2 and now remember seeing them at the time and being disappointed that I hadn't known they existed. I had obviously blocked it from my mind, lol. Thanks for jogging my memory.

[@PiperSparkles]

@@reelkonversationswithryank4945 The non-anamorphic transfers on the 2-disc "GOUT" DVD sets WERE the exact same video transfers that appeared on the THX Letterbox VHS set from 1995. The THX set you originally referred to did NOT include any of the digital re-compositing or dirt cleanup that first appeared in the Special Edition. THX is basically just a label they slap on things to give you the perception of top of the line quality. If you pop in one of those 1995 tapes in now, I think you will see that you are remembering them with rose tinted glasses. Believe me, I literally just watched them. The effects fixes you speak of were not there. All that was done on those was color correction and sound sweetening.

[@matthewgaudet4064]

Biggest problem with the Definitive Collection Us release is laser rot. My first issue Japanese version isn't effected. As for the CAV Star Wars and Empire they don't have digital audio, and like you said they never released return of the jedi.

[@ChronoRadio]

I've been fairly lucky with lack of rot, except on the very, very edge of my UK 1984 TESB original release. But I don't have a PAL player, so it wasn't a big concern thankfully.

[@jeffconn]

The Ewok movies release on DVD. A single double sided disc, which sucks in and of itself. It's easy to get fingerprints on the playing surface and to mix up which movie is on what side. No extras. Only option for subtitles is English. Only option for audio is English 2.0 Stereo. The insert correctly calls Caravan of Courage Side A and Battle for Endor Side B. On the disc (with its tiny print damn near impossible to read), Caravan is Side B and Battle is Side A.

[@ChronoRadio]

That might have made the list if I was going for more like 10. I have few problems with the Ewok releases, though missteps for Ewoks and Droids material together might make enough for a separate video. If I were going to be most frustrated by one of that trio of DVD releases, though, it would've had to be for either animated one, given that they cut and revised content to merge them into "films" (and shuffled episodes like mad for Ewoks). Compared to its two confederates, the Ewok telemovie DVD got off light.

[@jeffconn]

@@ChronoRadio i have the Ewoks cartoons on DVD, and yeah, the repackaged "movies" REALLY suck. I can't tell you how much i LOATHE double sided DVDs though. And would it have been so hard to at least toss in a commercial for the original airing or trailer for one of the foreign theatrical releases?

[@justinmiddleton8818]

@JeffConn @Nathan Butler It really sucks that Droids and Ewoks haven't been released in their entirety here. Even though i think Season 2 of Ewoks is god awful and barely watch it compared to the first season i'd still get it for completion purposes. Those film editions (moreso Ewoks than Droids because the latter at least presented two of the arcs with only scenes trimmed here and there to fit the movie format, while the former were four episodes slapped together with no logical reason why they were put in such random order) and would definitely prefer to have full releases of the individual episodes themselves.

[@thebetamaxman8905]

i would like to see all your beta and laserdisc star wars stuff

[@ChronoRadio]

It’s all on the channel.

[@benharrison7855]

Question about the original laser discs with edited films, Did the studio get the approval from Lucas to do so or was he not informed at all?

[@ChronoRadio]

It would've been a decision that required some kind of approval, but whether that was Lucas, Lucasfilm, or just Fox itself is unclear, but probably just the latter, since they had the physical distribution rights and could dictate format.

[@benharrison7855]

@@ChronoRadio I seriously doubt George would ever approve of such an edit of his work. But to some degree he’s kinda a perfectionist!

[@zacharyjochumsen9677]

Nathan what about frustrating wb relse choices regarding the. Clone wars realsed ov er the years

[@ChronoRadio]

Not sure if there are enough to really make a list, but I'm considering it.

[@john-evanbear8783]

To be fair, most people have moved on from VHS by the time ROTS was released.

[@trentoninnewjersey]

Yes we understand why it wasn’t released on vhs in the US, but it still sucks. Unrelated but imagine if they marketed ROTS as the last film to come out on vhs ever, that would be kinda clever imo because that would be their way of acknowledging that everyone had moved on while still allowing fans to complete the saga with all 6 films

[@wadmodderschalton5763]

The GOUT DVDs looks like a low-budget rerelease of the original unaltered releases of Star Wars Episode IV, V & VI, but making it look like it was sourced from those crappy bootleg LaserDisc transfers from the late-1990s to early-2000s. (22:25, 24:10, 26:10, 28:22)

[@ChronoRadio]

Well, to be fair, these are also sourced from a LaserDisc, so...

[@Takeshi357]

Honestly I think this has been memed to hell and it isn't even accurate. The 2006 DVDs are sourced from the same masters as the 1993 Laserdiscs, not the laserdiscs themselves (that'd be ridiculous) so they're closer to a generation _up_ from those discs due to component nature of DVD reproducing that source material better, so they do actually have a bit more detail than the Laserdiscs. There's a comparison on the OT website that demonstrates as much. I think the biggest, or at least the most legitimate, gripe people have with them, apart from being the 1993 remasters and thus having all their flaws as well, is that they only come with lossy digital stereo tracks. The actual sound mix might not be the original theatrical stereo, it's enough of a facsimile of them for most serious fans to still give them a pass.

[@meowza3k]

I'd really say the Definitive Lasers were one of the greatest home video releases of all time. I didn't like the "commentary" on them though. The comments were very sporadic audio snippets lifted from the behind the scenes (video)extras.

[@ChronoRadio]

Still, they were a first for a Star Wars release (the commentaries that is), paving the way for what would come later.

[@Takeshi357]

I think the booklet is supposed to come with a list of all said audio snippets too? I think the idea is that you're not supposed to listen to it all in one sitting, but to just skip to the relevant chapters.

[@sunsetvlogs5500]

What does a HD transfer actually look like on dvd

[@ChronoRadio]

Like any other DVD really. You’re just going from a 1080 master that is then scaled down to 480 for the DVD. That’s how pretty much all of the DVDs have worked for these films, given that the masters were typically 1080p until 4K.