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Audience Rating: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested) Binding: VHS Tape EAN: 0024543007432 Format: Box set, Closed-captioned, Color, NTSC Label: 20th Century Fox Manufacturer: 20th Century Fox Number Of Items: 3 Publisher: 20th Century Fox Release Date: November 21, 2000 Running Time: 386 minutes Sales Rank: 154 Studio: 20th Century Fox Theatrical Release Date: May 21, 1980
Amazon.com essential video: The Star Wars trilogy had the rare distinction of becoming more than just a series of movies, but a cultural phenomenon, a life-defining event for its generation. On its surface, George Lucas's original 1977 film 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.
In the first film, Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill) gets to live out every boy's dream: ditch the farm and rescue a princess (Carrie Fisher). Accompanied by the roguish Han Solo (Harrison Ford, the only principal who was able to cross over into stardom) and trained by Jedi master Obi-Wan Kenobi (Alec Guinness), Luke finds himself involved in a galactic war against the Empire and the menacing Darth Vader (David Prowse, voiced by James Earl Jones). The following film, The Empire Strikes Back (1980), takes a darker turn as the tiny rebellion faces an overwhelming onslaught. Directed by Irvin Kershner instead of Lucas, Empire is on the short list of Best Sequels Ever, marked by fantastic settings (the ice planet, the cloud city), the teachings of Yoda, a dash of grown-up romance, and a now-classic "revelation" ending. The final film of the trilogy, Return of the Jedi (1983, directed by Richard Marquand), is the most uneven. While the visual effects had taken quantum leaps over the years, resulting in thrilling speeder chases and space dogfights, the story is an uneasy mix of serious themes (Luke's maturation as a Jedi, the end of the Empire-rebellion showdown) and the cuddly teddy bears known as the Ewoks.
Years later, George Lucas transformed his films into "special editions" by adding new scenes and special effects, which were greeted mostly by shrugs from fans. They were perfectly happy with the films they had grown up with (who cares if Greedo shot first?), and thus disappointed by Lucas's decision to make the special editions the only versions available. --David Horiuchi
Customer Reviews
Average Rating:
Rating: - Everybody's favourite space fairytale
With Episode 2 currently in the theaters, and many people complaining about how shallow that movie is, and how unbelievable the story and how much better the original trilogy was etc, I think it's time to make a comment. First of all, Star Wars movies have NEVER,EVER,EVER had a good story. They're basically about the age-old tale of good vs. evil, set in various locations in a galaxy far far away. The plot is usually full of holes, the whole thing often depends on extreme coincidences and every Imperial superweapon has a verious obvious flaw that any apprentice engineer could have found in five ... Read More
Rating: - The Original Movie, but it looks Horrible
Once again, Mr. Lucas has delivered crap and we are supposed grateful. With this set you get both movies, the main movie is the re-worked edition with all the silly additions, like the cartoon Jaba talking to Han; and the bonus disk is the old 1977 edition without all that crap. The "Special" Edition looks great and sounds great. The old "Un-Special" Edition looks and sounds horrible, its widescreen, but it looks like someone copied it from a vhs version. I was quite sad when I shove this in my DVD to watch just to get a really bad (I mean REALLY bad) copy of my favorite movie. So if you already ... Read More
Rating: - This is why I waited
What do you look for in a STAR WARS DVD?
I have some friends who several years ago were visiting China and saw that the STAR WARS Trilogy was available there on DVD. This was almost a year before it was available in the United States. My friends didn't care that it came with Chinese subtitles. They just wanted STAR WARS on DVD and couldn't wait for a U.S. edition.
Likewise, there were many people like myself who simply wanted just the original movies that we saw in theaters as kids -- the original movies on DVD. If George Lucas wanted to throw in an extra special edition ... Read More
Rating: - MOST OVER-RATED MOVIE EVER!!!!
THIS IS THE MOST OVER-RATED MOVIE OF ALL TIME! WHY DO PEOPLE STILL WATCH THIS GARBAGE!? IT'S TERRIBLE!! I CAN THINK OF AT LEAST TWENTY MOVIES FROM THE SEVENTIES THAT WERE BETTER THAN THIS! STAR TREK IS BETTER THAN STAR WARS AND STAR TREK IS AWFUL!!! DUNE WAS BETTER THAN THIS!!! THE MATRIX IS EQUALLY AS TERRIBLE AS THIS! TARKOFSKY'S "SOLARIS" IS LESS DATED THAN THESE STUPID MOVIES! GEORGE LUCAS DIDN'T EVEN DIRECT OR PRODUCE THE LAST TWO SEQUALS SO WHERE DOES HE GET OFF THINKING HE CAN ADD A BUNCH OF CGI CHARACTERS IN A MOVIE THAT CAME OUT IN THE EIGHTIES!!!?
Rating: - Do i really need a title? is that really necessary?
Look i just wanted to rate this product. it was great. i shouldn't have waited so long to buy it but then i had the VHS version till about a few months ago. the DVD set has an awesome bonus disc that contains a documentary about the struggles George Lucas had just making star wars happen. Theres only one difference i noticed in the film between the VHS version and the DVD versions and thats Hayden Christensen, His inclusion does make sense i suppose but it still feels out of place. the rest is gold.
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