Star Wars Blu-Rays Will Be Worth it Just For Carrie Fisher's Commentary

carrie_fisher_leia300.jpgOnly George Lucas could make an event out of a press release, as he did today when Lucasfilm announced what you can look forward to on its Star Wars: The Complete Saga Blu-ray release -- four months from now. But there's value in that $140, nine-disc set!

To wit, roughly six hours of Carrie Fisher commentary on A New Hope, The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi. This could be great. The rest, enh. They can lard this with 90 minutes of Star Wars spoofs, but we still can't get an official release of the long-lost Christmas special? What a gyp.

The release goes like this:

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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

Audio Commentary with George Lucas, Rick McCallum, Ben Burtt, Rob Coleman, John Knoll, Dennis Muren and Scott Squires

Audio Commentary from Archival Interviews with Cast and Crew

DISC TWO - STAR WARS: EPISODE II ATTACK OF THE CLONES

Audio Commentary with George Lucas, Rick McCallum, Ben Burtt, Rob Coleman, Pablo Helman, John Knoll and Ben Snow

Audio Commentary from Archival Interviews with Cast and Crew

DISC THREE - STAR WARS: EPISODE III REVENGE OF THE SITH

Audio Commentary with George Lucas, Rick McCallum, Rob Coleman, John Knoll and Roger Guyett

Audio Commentary from Archival Interviews with Cast and Crew

DISC FOUR - STAR WARS: EPISODE IV A NEW HOPE

Audio Commentary with George Lucas, Carrie Fisher, Ben Burtt and Dennis Muren

Audio Commentary from Archival Interviews with Cast and Crew

DISC FIVE - STAR WARS: EPISODE V THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK

Audio Commentary with George Lucas, Irvin Kershner, Carrie Fisher, Ben Burtt and Dennis Muren

Audio Commentary from Archival Interviews with Cast and Crew

DISC SIX - STAR WARS: EPISODE VI RETURN OF THE JEDI

Audio Commentary with George Lucas, Carrie Fisher, Ben Burtt and Dennis Muren

Audio Commentary from Archival Interviews with Cast and Crew

DISC SEVEN - NEW! STAR WARS ARCHIVES: EPISODES I-III

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

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

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.

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.

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!

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.

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!

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.

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.

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."

[via The Digital Bits]



Comments

  • busterbluth says:

    Didn't Lucas destroy all the copies he could find of the Christmas Special? You can download it somewhere, but he's NEVER gonna release it.
    The discs of deleted scenes sound pretty good to me and I'm fairly jaded about Star Wars at this point.

  • ILDC says:

    You take both VanAirsdale and Lucas too seriously.

  • busterbluth says:

    Nah. But I do promise I won't do that with you.

  • Zippy says:

    Carrie Fisher's commentary tracks are already available on the DVDs.

  • Hollyfeld says:

    Star Wars spoofs? Seriously? Is that supposed to be for the 3 people left in the world who don't know what YouTube is?
    Seeing the classic trilogy in HD will be nice, and the deleted scenes from the classic trilogy could be interesting, but this set is lame.
    @Buster - the Holiday Special is great, campy fun. The animated part is superb and seeing Fisher and Hamill all glassy-eyed and stoned as fuck is pretty funny.