Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope

Fourth 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.

Entry 1 can be found here: Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace
Entry 2 can be found here: Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones
Entry 3 can be found here: Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith

Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope changed the face of cinema when it opened in theaters in May of 1977. Of course at that time there was no "Episode IV - A New Hope" in the title. With no continuity to get lost in or prequels or sequels to worry about audiences were able to sit back and enjoy a cinematic game changer.

The Blu-ray contains the latest Special Edition version of A New Hope. This is different than the 1997 theatrical Special Edition and the 2004 Special Edition DVD release. It's kind of a bummer to not have the original theatrical version on Blu-ray but George Lucas did say that when it hit video in the mid 90s that it would be the last time that it was available. Turns out he lied though, as the 2006 Limited Edition DVD release included the unaltered original version as a bonus feature. It's likely that one day we'll get a hi-def version of A New Hope but for now we will have to make do with the Special Edition.

So what was different about this version of the Special Edition as compared to the others? Some digital rocks here, some altered sound effects there and Greedo not quite shooting first. Watching the movie I basically found myself frustrated more than anything else by the updated effects that took me out of the movie. Overall though the film is still as enjoyable as ever, and I'd say that this version of A New Hope is the best Special Edition yet. Here's wondering to what changes will be made for the next release?

Picture and sound were both fine here and minus the added effects the film still looks like a film that was made in the 1970s. Pretty much as stated in reviews for the previous movies in this set this is the best that the film has ever looked on home video.

Like the earlier films in the set the special features provide a glimpse into the creation of the movie. At this point I'd say that the DVD releases of these films provided a much more in-depth look at how much effort goes into making a Star Wars movie. The initial 2004 DVD release of the original trilogy films included the excellent Empire of Dreams: The Story of the Star Wars Trilogy documentary. And while that is not included here we do get some archival TV specials. Overall that gives the original trilogy a boost in terms of extras over the prequels.

Two commentary tracks are included on the main A New Hope disc. The first is carried over from the original 2004 DVD release and features George Lucas, Ben Burtt, Dennis Muren, and Carrie Fisher. The second is new for this Blu-ray release and is made up of archival interviews with the cast and crew. Just like the tracks on the prequels each commentator is identified by an on-screen subtitle. I have yet to listen to any of the new tracks from this release but assume that they will provide a lot of information and possibly make up for the loss of the DVD bonus features.

The remaining special features are found on the 8th and 9th discs in the set. These discs include all of the non-commentary features for the original films. Features to a specific sequence or location are in their own section. For A New Hope the locations/sequences are Tatooine, The Death Star and The Battle of Yavin

Each sequence/location has the same layout and feature headings: Interviews, Deleted Scenes, The Collection and Concept Art Gallery.

Once again the Interviews don't really offer anything too revelatory. As stated earlier the excellent Empire of Dreams documentary is missed. It thoroughly covered the making of the original trilogy and can't really be replaced by a series of short interviews. Each interview runs about 3-5 minutes.

Jumping to the Deleted Scenes on Tatooine we get: "Tosche Station", "Old Woman on Tatooine", "Aunt Beru's Blue Milk", "The Search for R2-D2", "Cantina Rough Cut" and "Stormtrooper Search". Aboard the Death Star we find: "Dart Vadar Widens the Search". And finally The Battle of Yavin includes: "Alternate Biggs and Luke reunion". The deleted scenes are what got lots of fans excited when the Blu-ray set was announced. Like the prequels the scenes are rough (with some in black and white) and do not contain final effects and in some cases have no sound. Most are worth watching but you can also see why they were cut. "Cantina Rough Cut is interesting as Han is with a female companion for part of the scene.

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. So far this is my favorite feature on the set.

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 of the special features for each sequence/location separately or the "Play All" feature will lump all of the interviews, deleted scenes, etc. from all of the original trilogy films together for a seamless viewing experience.

Disc 9 contains documentaries and spoofs related to the original trilogy and we get two additional A New Hope features: "The Making of Star Wars" and "Anatomy of a Dewback".

"The Making of Star Wars" is a TV special from 1977. It runs 48 minutes and is a lot of fun. It doesn't include any information that we don't already know but it's great to see people talk about the film before it had reached "legendary" status. Sure it was a global phenomenon but it wasn't the huge franchise that it is today.

"Anatomy of a Dewback" dates back to 1997 and runs 26 minutes. It covers one sequence from the Special Edition and details everything involved with making the new sequence a reality. Far from essential it is still cool to have.

Join me next time for a look at Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back.