I’ve Got a Bad Feeling About This…
First of all, let me apologize about being away from the blog for so long. I was down with pneumonia and not feeling up to writing about this. Also, I’ve been focused on getting a new podcast off the ground. It has nothing to do with Celluloid Heroes, but stay tuned.
If you recall my mentioning recently, the original, unedited versions of the first Star Wars trilogy are due to be released on DVD on September 12. That was supposed to be good news but sadly George Lucas has found a way to screw it up. The DVDs will contain nothing more than copies of the laserdisc versions released in 1993. This means that the images will not be anamorphically enhanced for widescreen televisions.
What does this mean and why is it bad?
No matter whether or nor a DVD picture is “full screen” (4:3) aspect ratio or widescreen (16:9), each frame contains exactly 720 by 480 pixels. If a DVD is encoded for widescreen televisions, this 720×480 pixel frame is meant to fill a 16 x 9 image (one that is 16 units wide for every nine units high. If this DVD is played on a standard 4:3 TV, the DVD adds black on the top and bottom to fill the screen. If a full screen DVD is played on a widescreen television, black spaces are inserted on the side.
A “widescreen” DVD that is not anamorphically enhanced (shown above) contains a 4:3 picture matted to show the widescreen image with black bars to fill the remainder of the screen. In effect more of the 480 lines are wasted showing “black space” and less is given over to the actual image. An anamorphic DVD is able to dedicate a greater percentage of the vertical resolution the picture and less to the black bars, as shown below.
Now, if you are one of the growing number of people with widescreen TVs, a non-anamorphic DVD means you are basically showing a 4:3 image with bars on the side as well as the letterboxing. In effect, the actual image with be in the center and much smaller and of lower resolution as you can see in the image below.
There are two options for dealing with this. One is to stretch the image horizontally, which would only serve to make Han Solo rather roly-poly. The other is to zoom in the image until it fits the full width of your screen. This, however, takes an already lower quality image and degrades it even further.
In short, non-anamorphic widescreen DVDs are severely degraded presentations, which is why they are almost unheard of these days.
Another reason I consider this unforgivable is that it’s another example of George Lucas showing contempt for the film that ultimately made him a billionaire. If it weren’t for the original 1977 version of Star Wars, George would not be the 800-pound gorilla of moviemaking that he has been for the last 30 years. If not for the 1977 version, Industrial Light and Magic would just be another effects shop. If not for the 1977 version, Skywalker Ranch would probably be condos or a Wal-Mart right now.
George Lucas, you have said that you consider the original 1977 Star Wars to be “half-finished.” Well, for a half-finished film, it did pretty well. A lot of people saw this half-finished movie many times over during its initial run, which I might add, ran for more than one year. George, you may consider the 2004 edition of this movie to be the definitive version and you may disdain the original as “unwatchable,” but for a great many of us, it was more than good enough. It was certainly good enough to make you a very rich man and for that reason, I believe that the original cuts of Star Wars, The Empire Strikes Back and The Return of the Jedi deserve a lot more respect than you are showing for them.
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That word doesn't mean what Paul thinks it means.
[...] DVD’s allow greater detail and less black bars on top and bottom of display basically. Here’s a simple explanation of it with the SW discs. Here’s a detailed explanation of everything about anamorphic and [...]
Paul, I am glad that you posted this. I was about to buy the unretouched Star Wars DVDs, but now I won’t even bother. My family still has the old VHS copies, and I will stick with these instead of wasting my money.
Many wise teachers have told me that revising an essay often makes it better. However, this principle does not translate to movies, at least in George Lucas’ case. I often cringe at the new CGI moments in the original trilogy. This is because for me the special effects are only part of the reason to love the series. The depth of the characters, the crisp storyline, and the mild comedic action scenes also make Star Wars and its original successors lovable. If Lucas truly loathes his first works, he doesn’t need to. I’m sure many other fans feel the same way that I do.
Can I also mention that I absolutely hated the addition of Hayden Christensen’s Anakin to the new Return of the Jedi? It was more cheesy than effective as a bridge for the prequels.