Well thank you LUCASFILM! I am thrilled with their DVD releases and look forward to their next release whenever that may come for us. The recent release of the unaltered DVD set as bonus discs with the 2004 re-release in 2006 were wonderful.

There was quite a stir however in that they were not anamorphic transfers and were instead standard 4:3 Letterbox presentations. What does this mean? It means they were released in the same way the previous VHS and LASERDISC releases were released. Widescreen yet not anamorphic which means if you own a widescreen telelvision set and have it on 4:3 that there are black bars on the sides as well as the top and bottom .... JUST like the already released LASERDISCS and VHS sets in the past. In other words they look GREAT on a regular CATHODE RAY TUBE (CRT) TV SET that relies on basically the same technology used in the late 70s and early 80s.

I won't get into resolutions but i will post a simple link that will hopefully educate you as to what anamorphic, 4:3 letterbox, 16X9 (1.85:1), and 2.35:1 ratios mean. Please go here and see the images that show you what they are. http://gregl.net/videophile/anamorphic.htm and also here at Cnet a trusted site http://www.cnet.com/4520-7874_1-5108580-4.html

Probably the best visual example can be found HERE

I am not associated with the sites and it is not spam. It is however a very useful explanation to those who enjoy their FULL SCREEN sets that show why they have the wrong TV sets lolz. You really miss much of the movie and if you watch Star Wars there are several instances of FULL SCREEN viewers missing important things in the films. two that come to mind are for example in TESB when Luke flies out the big window on Bespin while fighting with Vader. You see him fly out and then you see him on the ledge pulling himself up ... well on the FULL SCREEN versions you never see his lightsaber on the ledge with him as you can in the correct presentation in widscreen where you see his lightsaber on the ledge. This has caused some FULL SCREEN viewers to miss it and then exclaim there is a film mistake because Luke miraculously has his saber again when he continues his fantastic battle with Lord Vader.

The other instances are many but I am just going from memory and only using two short examples... in the cantina where Han and VChewie are sitting at the table Obi-wan and Luke just left as the Stormtroopers approach and look them over you do not see the alien (I do not know his name) that looks like a ratlike thing off to the lefthand part of the screen but in the widescreen presentation you do. Things like this often cause people to exclaim that GL added things that were not there before and what have you.

Basically every format besides 4:3 FULL SCREEN gives you what the director originally intended for you to see when you went to the theater. Some HD channels show a 2.35:1 ratio format in a 1.85:1 ratio presentation and you lose a little of the original film but what it does is fiull up the entire screen on a 16x9 HD widescreen TV, normally there would be black bars at the top and bottom. This is the choice of the HD Channel provider that is broadcasting it. I can live with that when they do that.

I have gone through my various copies of Star Wars ranging from a 1983 4:3 FULL SCREEN presentation to the new Unaltered Bonus Discs included with the re-release of the 2004 DVD sets in 2006. I will list each versions using virtually the same spot in the film to show how nicely remastered the BONUS DISCS really are when compared to previous UNALTERED versions.

I will also include shots of the ALTERED 2004 / 2006 DVD sets that you may own in the Silver Widescreen box sets or as individual purchases in 2006 that came with either collector figures or graphic novels of the films .... I got the ones with the graphic novels and also own the Silver Box Set from 2004. Some folk were angry that they had to rebuy the set just to get the BONUS DISCS but quite honestly they are BONUS DISCS and it is perfectly fair to release them like this as a vehicle to resell the 2004 set for Christmas time. Lucasfilm IS a business you know and markets accordingly in this wonderful capitalist format we all use.

They are there to make money and NOT to give away free Star Wars dvds just because somehow you feel they owe you something.

Anyway now for the images ...

I use Intervideo's WinDVD7 which has an image capture device built into it. I like this feature and do several things like make my own desktop wallpapers or to make wicked cool blog entries like this!

In the first set of captures we have the same Greedo talking to Han in the Cantina part in the film, these are from the following 4 release versions.

The first is from the 1983 FOX VIDEO VHS FULL SCREEN

Now we have the 1995 FOX VIDEO VHS FULL SCREEN

This next one is from the 2006 UNALTERED WIDE SCREEN BONUS DISC

The final version I will show you is the 2004 ALTERED WIDE SCREEN (2004 SPECIAL EDITION)

The first comments I will give are that Lucasfilm has come a long way in video quality, the 1983 VHS is just horrible looking but does show it's age for sure. The 1977 theater versions were grainy and had things like hairs and scratches here and there. Most do not remember the films that way but they were. I saw Star Wars in MONO as well.

The second comment I will give is that if you look at the 2006 BONUS DISC image you will see the text of greedo speaking at the bottom of the screen rather than ON THE VIDEO IMAGE. This works for a CRT old fashioned type TV but on a widescreen HD TV because the image is 4:3 letterbox with the black bars at the sides and top and bottom of the picture users zoom to 16x9 to remove the black bars from the sides .... this also cuts off the text at the bottom of the screen so you cannot read it. HOWEVER if you have a movable screen like i do you can simply raise the image to the top of the screen which removes the top black bar and in the process doubles the bottom black bar thus creating enough room to see all of the text.

That however was a goof by Lucasfilm as they state they are "Theatrical versions" which clearly they are not because in the theaters we had the text ON THE SCREEN LIKE IN MY 1983 VHS AND 1995 VHS IMAGES. The same can be said for return Of The Jedi when Jabba speaks, in the theaters we had the text imposed on the video image itself and on these so called "Theatrical versions" released in 2006 as BONUS DISCS we do not get that. That being said though it is my ONLY complaint about these, yeah they could have been anamorphic for the HD widescreen tv users and honestly should have been.

The next series is of our wonderful Grand Moff Tarkin talking to Lord Vader on the Death Star

The first is from the 1983 FOX VIDEO VHS FULL SCREEN

Now we have the 1995 FOX VIDEO VHS FULL SCREEN

This next one is from the 2006 UNALTERED WIDE SCREEN BONUS DISC

The final version I will show you is the 2004 ALTERED WIDE SCREEN (2004 SPECIAL EDITION)

As you can see we really did get the best versions of the unaltered versions yet to date even if non-anamorphic and not the same Lowry Digital remaster as the 2004 altered Special Editions we can still be very happy with the newest Unaltered versions ... well at least I am because I can just throw my VHS sets into the Star Wars collection as nostalgia pieces and watch the DVDs.

There you have it, I hope you have enjoyed this blog entry and it has helped you to understand why FULL SCREEN really is FOOL SCREEN and that widescreen is the true format George Lucas used for the theaters and is the correct version to own. With the advent of HD widescreen tvs the future is that and someday soon FOOL SCREEN will be a thing of the past like black and white TVs and transister radios.

I am sure people will be able to buy CRT TVs for some time to come but they will slowly fall to the wayside much like VHS has. I have retired my VCR (VHS home recorder) and now use exclusively DVR which records onto the TV Tuner's hardrive and then I record things onto blank DVDs using a DVDR thingamahoozie.

Blank dvds are cheap now and we will also have to replace those with the new http://www.blu-ray.com/ and HD-DVD recordable media which will be very welcomed by me ... uh ... when they are not still at a bazillion dollars to own them. TRUE HD RECORDING BLISS!