It's A Dirty Job, But Someone Had To Do It
By Michael Sullenger
Photography by Michael Sullenger

(LOS ANGELES, CA September 8, 2004) The much anticipated release of the revered Star Wars Original Trilogy in DVD format is finally here. After years of fans pleading and George Lucas unwilling, the classic films which launched a pop culture phenomenon sensation like never before can now be viewed in crisp detail, heard with superior Dolby 5.1 sound, and packed with an abundance of bonus material, many never before seen.

But make no mistake. As the old saying goes, this isn't your father's Star Wars. Heck, it isn't even the same Special Editions which caused such a commotion 7 years ago. Lucas was bit by the "creative vision" bug once again and took the opportunity to add and improve a few things with the latest technology.

Select print and online press  were invited to a special junket held at West Los Angeles' historical Silent Movie Theater, the last of its kind playing silent films on a regular basis. With "STAR WARS TRILOGY" displayed grandly on the marquee, the movie house sets the stage not for Buster Keaton or Keystone Cops this day, but for space cowboys, black costumed villains, and damsels in distress. So you see, it's the perfect setting after all.

THAT 70'S SHOW

The junket began with a breakfast reception in the theater's back terrace, where guests enjoyed a complimentary breakfast and refreshments while a couple of television sets played various Star Wars themed television commercials, Saturday Night Live skits, and segments from various sitcoms. Guests can also test out a  preview demo of the upcoming Lucas Arts game Battlefront in the very back.

Lucasfilm's Jim Ward kicked things off with a presentation on the vastly improved sound and visual quality of the new DVD's. The presentation was given in a 70's themed living room complete with shag carpet, mallard ducks, and formica wall panels. It was like you were back in 1977 again, only with a state of the art Dolby 5.1 Sound System and a 44" inch HD LCD flat panel display instead of a wood panel Curtis Mathes T.V. and Betamax.

The films were all cleaned to Lucasfilm specs and completely remastered. Lowry Digital was tasked with the arduous job of renovating the Trilogy to their former glory...and then some. John Lowry described the project as the "dirtiest and grimiest" his company has encountered (even dirtier than their earlier project, Citizen Kane). There were 10 million pieces of dirt in the ANH Tatooine desert sequence alone. And unlike the 1997 rereleases, the DVD's have an all new sound mix and true Dolby 5.1 sound.

Even the ground breaking special effects for each of the three films proved to be a hurdle for Lowry. "Optical effects reduce the quality considerably by adding at least two more film generations to the process," he explains. "In doing that, contrast comes up, the grain increases and the images are softer. The challenge is to match the opticals --- which are softer, grainier, dirtier, and with more flicker --- with shots that are immediately adjacent to them. A distinct change of picture quality takes the viewer away from the story, and that's  obviously not the intent of the director.

After Lowry's restoration was completed, the job of transferring the finished master and prepare it for DVD compression belonged to THX. "While the process we go through is focused on efficiency, it is designed with the artistic vision in mind," explained Rick Dean, Director of Technical Business development for THX.  

Select sequences from A New Hope (Tantive IV pursuit), The Empire Strikes Back (Hoth battle), and Return of the Jedi (Sarlaac Pit) were previewed to show the detail and almost three dimensional clarity of the visuals and earth shattering sounds of the Dolby 5.1. The visual quality was amazing, from the reflections on C-3PO's armor to the crisper detail of Jabba the Hutt, it was quite evident that fans will get their money's worth and more. 

EMPIRE OF DREAMS

We had a chance to sit down and chat with Kevin Burns, producer of the bonus 2.5 hour documentary Empire of Dreams, of which a shortened 1.5 hour program is set to air this weekend on A&E. "The full version will include more behind the scenes business stuff and special effects, while the A&E show will include all the interviews and screen tests," explains Burns.

Over 40 interviews of the original cast members and others like Peter Jackson, James Cameron and Walter Cronkite give a behind the scenes personal perspective on the most successful "independent" film series ever produced. Burns realized that he only had a limited window to interview many of the original cast members. Actor Peter Diamond, who played a Tusken Raider in A New Hope, passed away three weeks after his interview.

The four month project (of which two months were devoted solely for editing) sought to be the most comprehensive ever. Vintage Kenner enthusiasts will enjoy the segments chronicling the birth of the new toy line, which even includes a rare commercial featuring the Early Bird set found in the Fox archives. Burns was also able to obtain a clean copy of the notorious CBS Holiday Special in the archives and even petitioned Lucas to include it in the documentary. In the end, Lucas nixed the idea and Burns came to the realization that it wouldn't have really fit in the overall presentation anyway.

"But look for it maybe in a Director's Cut", joked Burns.

SPECIAL FEATURES AND MENUS

The menu system designed by Van Ling aims to impress with the goal of enabling the viewer to enjoy the full interactive experience of the DVD. One of three locations are randomly selected upon boot up: Hoth, Dagobah, and Bespin were demonstrated from Disc 2, The Empire Strikes Back. You can browse through chapter selections and options, including audio commentary from the filmmakers and actors.

Disc 1 (A New Hope) - Commentary by George Lucas, sound designer Ben Burtt, ILM's Dennis Muren, and Carrie Fisher
Disc 2 (The Empire Strikes Back) - Commentary by George Lucas, director Irvin Kershner, Ben Burtt, Dennis Muren, and Carrie Fisher
Disc 2 (Return of the Jedi) - Commentary by George Lucas, Ben Burtt, Dennis Muren, and Carrie Fisher

The bonus disk has the Millennium Falcon flying through an asteroid field and pans into the cockpit for the menu choices. It includes the Empire of Dreams documentary, The Birth of a Lightsaber, all the original trailers and TV spots, ALL the one sheet posters,  and even a playable demo of the XBox version for Battlefront.

Interactive exclusive DVD ROM content to StarWars.com can also be accessed. Van Ling added that one can select which location to boot up...but you'll have to find the secret code.

PANELS, IRV, AND MARK

The junket wrapped up with a Q&A panel with the DVD folks as well as special guests Irvin Kershner and Mark Hamill. 

A question was asked why the DVD didn't include deleted scenes. Ward explained that with all the tremendous amount of material and the final configuration already in place, deleted scenes didn't make the cut. Ward did say that if new technology demanded a re-release of the films, then deleted scenes will definitely be considered. 

"We only had 30 days for each movie." answered Lowry when asked what more he would have done if he could, and added that these transfers will last longer than the '97 versions. With an armada of 600 Power Mac G5 computers working on the project each holding 4 gigabytes of RAM each, Lowry was prepared for war on nearly 30 years worth of dirt and damage.

Finally, Jim Ward commented that Lucasfilm always has the option to re-release the films in theaters once again, but their preference would be for a full digital theatrical rollout.

Kershner was constantly praised for his work in Empire by the audience. He noted that the middle story of a trilogy arc is usually a preview of the third and that Empire was a tough project to crack, especially with the big battle scene, usually reserved for the grand finale, happening in the beginning. The self proclaimed Buddha collector reminisced about being caught in the middle of George Lucas' showdown with the Director's Guild (which is detailed in the documentary) and how Mark Hamill was one of the main reasons the Yoda character was seen as more than a puppet on a string.

Who knew Mark Hamill was such a great impressionist? He nailed George Lucas and Harrison Ford to a tee as he recollected his film shoot experience with the audience. Hamill told of the  original plan for 12 films and 4 trilogy arcs. Lucas even asked him during a shoot if he would be interested to be in Chapter 12 to reprise his role as an older Luke.

When Hamill asked the director when he expected to begin shooting, Lucas nonchalantly answered, "2011".

Here's to wishful thinking.