Special Features Announced And Cover Art Revealed For 'Star Wars: The Complete Saga' On Blu-Ray [Updated]
Update: Cover art for the three sets have been added.
Lucasfilm's impressive streak of disappointment continues today as they've officially announced the special features for the September 12 Blu-ray release of Star Wars: The Complete Saga. The nine-disc set, which features all six movies in the series, actually has a number of reportedly brand new features including individual archive discs dedicated to each trilogy and several new feature length documentaries. Sounds great, right? Well, the set also contains a lot of material from previous releases and is missing several great features from those same releases. Finally – not that we were expecting anything else, but dare to dream – the upcoming box contains strictly the special editions of the original trilogy. Read the full press release and list of special features after the jump.
Here's the full press release about the set announced today, May 4, as in "May the 4th be with you."
Bring home the adventure and share Star Wars™ with your whole family – when STAR WARS: THE COMPLETE SAGA comes to Blu-ray Disc from Lucasfilm Ltd. and Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment! To be released beginning on September 12 internationally and on September 16 in North America, the nine-disc collection brings the wonder of the entire Saga direct to your living room, where you can revisit all of your favorite Star Wars moments – in gorgeous high definition and with pristine, 6.1 DTS Surround Sound. Dive deeper into the universe with an unprecedented 40+ hours of special features, highlighted by never-before-seen content sourced from the Lucasfilm archives.
Special Features:STAR WARS: THE COMPLETE SAGA ON BLU-RAY is presented in widescreen with 6.1 DTS Surround Sound. Special features include:* DISC ONE – STAR WARS: EPISODE I THE PHANTOM MENACE
o Audio Commentary with George Lucas, Rick McCallum, Ben Burtt, Rob Coleman, John Knoll, Dennis Muren and Scott Squires
o Audio Commentary from Archival Interviews with Cast and Crew
* DISC TWO – STAR WARS: EPISODE II ATTACK OF THE CLONES
o Audio Commentary with George Lucas, Rick McCallum, Ben Burtt, Rob Coleman, Pablo Helman, John Knoll and Ben Snow
o Audio Commentary from Archival Interviews with Cast and Crew
* DISC THREE – STAR WARS: EPISODE III REVENGE OF THE SITH
o Audio Commentary with George Lucas, Rick McCallum, Rob Coleman, John Knoll and Roger Guyett
o Audio Commentary from Archival Interviews with Cast and Crew
* DISC FOUR – STAR WARS: EPISODE IV A NEW HOPE
o Audio Commentary with George Lucas, Carrie Fisher, Ben Burtt and Dennis Muren
o Audio Commentary from Archival Interviews with Cast and Crew
* DISC FIVE – STAR WARS: EPISODE V THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK
o Audio Commentary with George Lucas, Irvin Kershner, Carrie Fisher, Ben Burtt and Dennis Muren
o Audio Commentary from Archival Interviews with Cast and Crew
* DISC SIX – STAR WARS: EPISODE VI RETURN OF THE JEDI
o Audio Commentary with George Lucas, Carrie Fisher, Ben Burtt and Dennis Muren
o Audio Commentary from Archival Interviews with Cast and Crew
* DISC SEVEN – NEW! STAR WARS ARCHIVES: EPISODES I-III
o Including: deleted, extended and alternate scenes; prop, maquette and costume turnarounds; matte paintings and concept art; supplementary interviews with cast and crew; a flythrough of the Lucasfilm Archives and more
* DISC EIGHT – NEW! STAR WARS ARCHIVES: EPISODES IV-VI
o Including: deleted, extended and alternate scenes; prop, maquette and costume turnarounds; matte paintings and concept art; supplementary interviews with cast and crew; and more.
* DISC NINE – THE STAR WARS DOCUMENTARIES
o NEW! Star Warriors (2007, Color, Apx. 84 Minutes) – Some Star Wars fans want to collect action figures...these fans want to be action figures! A tribute to the 501st Legion, a global organization of Star Wars costume enthusiasts, this insightful documentary shows how the super-fan club promotes interest in the films through charity and volunteer work at fundraisers and high-profile special events around the world.
o NEW! A Conversation with the Masters: The Empire Strikes Back 30 Years Later (2010, Color, Apx. 25 Minutes) – George Lucas, Irvin Kershner, Lawrence Kasdan and John Williams look back on the making of The Empire Strikes Back in this in-depth retrospective from Lucasfilm created to help commemorate the 30th anniversary of the movie. The masters discuss and reminisce about one of the most beloved films of all time.o NEW! Star Wars Spoofs (2011, Color, Apx. 91 Minutes) – The farce is strong with this one! Enjoy a hilarious collection of Star Wars spoofs and parodies that have been created over the years, including outrageous clips from Family Guy, The Simpsons, How I Met Your Mother and more — and don't miss "Weird Al" Yankovic's one-of-a-kind music video tribute to The Phantom Menace!o The Making of Star Wars (1977, Color, Apx. 49 Minutes) – Learn the incredible behind-the-scenes story of how the original Star Wars movie was brought to the big screen in this fascinating documentary hosted by C-3PO and R2-D2. Includes interviews with George Lucas and appearances by Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford and Carrie Fisher.o The Empire Strikes Back: SPFX (1980, Color, Apx. 48 Minutes) – Learn the secrets of making movies in a galaxy far, far away. Hosted by Mark Hamill, this revealing documentary offers behind-the-scenes glimpses into the amazing special effects that transformed George Lucas' vision for Star Wars and The Empire Strikes Back into reality!o Classic Creatures: Return of the Jedi (1983, Color, Apx. 48 Minutes) – Go behind the scenes — and into the costumes — as production footage from Return of the Jedi is interspersed with vintage monster movie clips in this in-depth exploration of the painstaking techniques utilized by George Lucas to create the classic creatures and characters seen in the film. Hosted and narrated by Carrie Fisher and Billie Dee Williams.o Anatomy of a Dewback (1997, Color, Apx. 26 Minutes) – See how some of the special effects in Star Wars became even more special two decades later! George Lucas explains and demonstrates how his team transformed the original dewback creatures from immovable rubber puppets (in the original 1977 release) to seemingly living, breathing creatures for the Star Wars 1997 Special Edition update.o Star Wars Tech (2007, Color, Apx. 46 Minutes) – Exploring the technical aspects of Star Wars vehicles, weapons and gadgetry, Star Wars Tech consults leading scientists in the fields of physics, prosthetics, lasers, engineering and astronomy to examine the plausibility of Star Wars technology based on science as we know it today.
I don't think any of us were under the illusion that Lucasfilm would remaster the original trilogy for Blu-ray. I think that's simply wishful thinking at this point and, to be honest, I don't fault this set because of this. Let's put that aside.
What I do fault the set for is the fact that they have supposedly have enough new "archival footage" to fill an additional two discs. Where has this stuff been for the past several decades? Were they really just holding all of this back? Maybe yes, maybe no. More than likely, it's probably just new cuts of the already solid special features that were on the current DVD releases. Say what you want about the prequels, but their single disc DVD's are outstanding feature-wise. There are awesome documentaries on each – the highlight being "The Beginning" on the Phantom Menace DVD – and one can assume that the incredible wealth of material that's on each of those discs, not to mention the dedicated Bonus Features disc of the original trilogy DVD, have probably more or less been recycled here, sprinkled with different things, and packaged as "new."
And even if that's not the case, even if they are totally, 100% new, it's proof that Lucasfilm will never give fans a comprehensive, authoritative, definitive release of these films. Here it is, the first release of all six films in one box set and there are still questions. It's frustrating.
I love Star Wars but I'm very on the fence with this release. What do you all think?