First in a series of posts that will offer a review of the newly released Star Wars: The Complete Saga on Blu-ray. I'll be avoiding detailed plot rundowns as I assume that most reading have seen the movies. If you haven't be warned that these reviews may contain spoilers.
Star Wars: Episode 1 - The Phantom Menace was released in theaters 16 years after the last entry in the series, Return of the Jedi, and 2 years after the Special Edition re-releases. Needless to say many fans could not wait.
Super fans waited in line months in advance to insure that they would be the first to see what was sure to be another epic Star Wars adventure at its first public midnight screenings. I didn't see one of those midnight screenings though. I saw it later that day at a 10am screening. Like many I was underwhelmed. Busy, full of gimmick characters and questionable plot points The Phantom Menace let many people down. I was definitely disappointed but still found plenty to enjoy when I saw it again a few weeks later.
When picking up the Complete Saga Blu-ray set I decided that for the first time I would watch the movies in sequential order instead of in the order that they were released. As packaged the 6 movies are each on their own disc with 3 bonus discs holding most of the extras. For review purposes I will address the special features for each movie as part of that movie's write up.
I picked up the DVD release of The Phantom Menace in 2001 and have watched it a handful of times so this Blu-ray release wasn't my first trip back to the film since '99. In a way though it was like seeing the film for the first time. I always forget how great Blu-ray is until I am actually sitting there watching a nice Blu-ray transfer. I have read that The Phatom Menace is the weakest looking Blu-ray of the 3 prequels and if that is the case than I can not wait to see how the others look. Simply put the movie looks great on my 46" plasma. I picked up details that I likely hadn't noticed since viewing the movie in theaters in '99.
For most though seeing a movie that they don't care for in HD doesn't make it a better movie. Watching the Blu-ray though I found the movie to be quite enjoyable. The final battle between Qui-Gon, Obi-Wan and Darth Maul stands as a top 10 Star Wars saga moment for me. Granted Darth Maul is made to look a fool in the moments before his death but everything leading up to it in that battle is spectacular.
At this point I should note that the prequels have not been excepted from George Lucas' tampering. He made small tweaks to the prequel films on DVD and the Blu-ray releases are no different. The only change that I noticed here was the addition of a digital Yoda replacing the puppet from the theatrical and DVD releases of the film. The puppet Yoda never looked right to me in The Phantom Menace and the digital version creates a consistent look for Yoda in the 3 prequels so this is a welcome change. (And don't worry folks, the puppet Yoda remains in the original trilogy... for now).
The Phantom Menace might have dropped the ball in many ways from a storytelling perspective but visually it delivers. Everything from the character design and costumes to the spacecrafts and sets have a level of detail that shows great care went into their design. And the special features included in the Blu-ray set highlight much of that work.
Two commentary tracks are included on the main Phantom Menace disc. The first is carried over from the original 2001 DVD release and features George Lucas, Rick McCallum, Ben Burtt, Rob Coleman, John Knoll, Dennis Murren and Scott Squires. The second is new for this Blu-ray release and is made up of archival interviews with the cast and crew. I have yet to listen to the new commentary but did turn it on real quick and was happy to see that each commentator is identified by an on-screen subtitle. This makes tracking who is talking much easier when there are many participants.
The remaining special features are found on the 7th disc in the set. This disc includes all of the non-commentary features for the prequels. The special features for each of the 6 films are laid out the same way. Features to a specific planet are in there own section. For The Phantom Menace the planets are Naboo, Tatooine and Coruscant.
Each planet has the same layout and feature headings: Interviews, Deleted Scenes, The Collection and Concept Art Gallery.
I'll start by saying that the Interviews are a bit of a letdown. The original DVD included an hour long documentary and a 12 part web documentary series that gave a pretty in depth look at the making of the film. Neither is included here. I appreciate being spared redundant features but the docs are missed. They thoroughly covered the making of the film and can't really be replaced by a series of short interviews. The interviews do seem current though with the exception of a few archival pieces so I guess that makes them worthwhile. Each interview runs about 3-5 minutes.
The Deleted Scenes are brand new for this Blu-ray and do not include the 7 that were featured on the original DVD. Naboo includes: "Trash Talking Robots", "The Battle is Over" and "Anakin's Return". Tatooine includes: "Battle on the Boarding Ramp" and "Podrace Wager". Finally Coruscant includes: "Bal Organa of Alderaan". All of the deleted scenes are brief and pretty crude looking with unfinished effects. "The Battle is Over" and "Bal Organa of Alderaan" stand out because of the actors involved. Dominic West relays some redundant information that explains its deletion in "The Battle is Over" and an actor who isn't Jimmy Smits (who would later play Bal) plays Bal Organa in "Bal Organa of Alderaan".
The Collection is made up of key costumes, characters and spacecraft. Each includes a 3D fly around feature that really gives the opportunity to check out the detail. Select pieces also include video commentary that go into the creative process behind their creation.
Finally Concept Art Gallery provides pre-production artwork for select characters, costumes and spacecraft. Concept art is always interesting in that many times it greatly differs from what eventually ended up on screen.
As previously mentioned you can access all special features individually on each planet. A "Play All" feature is included and it lumps all of the interviews, deleted scenes, etc. from all 3 planets together for a seamless viewing experience.
The disc also includes an Archive Fly Through. This lasts a few minutes and is basically a camera touring a Lucas Film Warehouse that features many Star Wars props. There are lots of goodies to be found here and it was one of the highlights of the disc for me.
I doubt that anyone will really buy the Complete Saga Blu-ray set for the prequel special features, but there are quite a few here that illustrate the amazing amount of work that is required when making a Star Wars movie.
Join me next time for a look at Star Wars: Episode 2 - Attack of the Clones.
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