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Star Wars Trilogy [VHS]
 
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Star Wars Trilogy [VHS] (1980)

Mark Hamill (Actor), Carrie Fisher (Actor), George Lucas (Director) | Rated: PG | Format: VHS Tape
4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (480 customer reviews) |

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Product Details

  • Actors: Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisher, Harrison Ford
  • Directors: George Lucas
  • Format: Box set, Closed-captioned, Color, NTSC, THX
  • Language: English
  • Rated: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
  • Number of tapes: 3
  • Studio: 20th Century Fox
  • VHS Release Date: November 21, 2000
  • Run Time: 386 minutes
  • Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (480 customer reviews)
  • ASIN: B00004XPP0
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #47,805 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

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Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

The Star Wars trilogy had the rare distinction of becoming more than just a series of movies, but a cultural phenomenon, a life-defining event for its generation. On its surface, George Lucas's original 1977 film is a rollicking and humorous space fantasy that owes debts to more influences than one can count on two hands, but filmgoers became entranced by its basic struggle of good vs. evil "a long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away," its dazzling special effects, and a mythology of Jedi Knights, the Force, and droids.

In the first film, Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill) gets to live out every boy's dream: ditch the farm and rescue a princess (Carrie Fisher). Accompanied by the roguish Han Solo (Harrison Ford, the only principal who was able to cross over into stardom) and trained by Jedi master Obi-Wan Kenobi (Alec Guinness), Luke finds himself involved in a galactic war against the Empire and the menacing Darth Vader (David Prowse, voiced by James Earl Jones). The following film, The Empire Strikes Back (1980), takes a darker turn as the tiny rebellion faces an overwhelming onslaught. Directed by Irvin Kershner instead of Lucas, Empire is on the short list of Best Sequels Ever, marked by fantastic settings (the ice planet, the cloud city), the teachings of Yoda, a dash of grown-up romance, and a now-classic "revelation" ending. The final film of the trilogy, Return of the Jedi (1983, directed by Richard Marquand), is the most uneven. While the visual effects had taken quantum leaps over the years, resulting in thrilling speeder chases and space dogfights, the story is an uneasy mix of serious themes (Luke's maturation as a Jedi, the end of the Empire-rebellion showdown) and the cuddly teddy bears known as the Ewoks.

Years later, George Lucas transformed his films into "special editions" by adding new scenes and special effects, which were greeted mostly by shrugs from fans. They were perfectly happy with the films they had grown up with (who cares if Greedo shot first?), and thus disappointed by Lucas's decision to make the special editions the only versions available. --David Horiuchi

Additional features

This three-tape set contains the "Special Edition" versions of Star Wars, The Empire Strikes Back, and Return of the Jedi. There is also a 10-minute featurette on the making of the next film in the series, Episode II, which is scheduled to arrive in theaters in the summer of 2002.

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews
998 of 1,065 people found the following review helpful
By Danny
Format:DVD
What you'll get here are the 2-disc limited editions of the original trilogy in a handy-dandy box. What are the limited editions? Two disc packages that contain the recent special editions and a "bonus disc" for each film that contains the respective originals. And by originals, I mean the complete un-altered films the way audiences saw them back in 1977, 1980 and 1983. Even the added-in-'81 "A New Hope" in the title crawl of the first film is no longer there. It is simply STAR WARS. Simply put: these are the versions audiences (who were born before the 90s) fell in love with. These are the versions that made Star Wars a phenomenon. The versions that are worth a damn. Does anyone seriously know ANYBODY who prefers the special editions to the originals?

Unfortunately, these are still the same old non-anamorphic transfers. They look great (and are light years better than my fullscreen VHS tapes), but how much effort does it take to enhance these films for widescreen televisions? It's not messing with the legacy or "raping childhoods." It's simply updating the format for 2008. Even two years ago, when these editions were first released, letterbox was outdated. Get with the program, Georgie. These are not simply programs on a bonus disc. They're the films that made you a trillionaire. And they're the films everybody who buys this set wants.

Also unfortunate is that they're not including the bonus disc from the 2004 set of the special editions. However, if I had to choose between that set and this one, I'd go with this one all the way. Special features are nice, but it's the movies that count. I'd rather have bare-bones editions of the original trilogy than all the bells and whistles of the special edtions.
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97 of 103 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
This box contains the previously released "limited edition" 2-disc sets, now in 3 slim-line cases, which means you get STAR WARS, THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK, and RETURN OF THE JEDI in both the original theatrical versions (for the first time on DVD!) and the re-worked "special editions" from the mid 90's.

I purchased these mainly for the original theatrical versions and my comments relate to those versions only.

The Original Theatrical versions are in their original 2.35:1 Widescreen aspect, letterboxed within a 3x4 screen format - not anamorphic - which is clearly indicated on the packaging. You can view this "full-size" on your 16x9 TV by setting your DVD player's HDMI output to 3x4/pillar-box if necessary, and then setting your TV to "zoom" so that the screen is filled side to side with the picture. There will be slim black bars on the top and bottom, just as there are on anamorphic DVD's with a 2.35:1 aspect ratio.

Even with the zoom in effect, the picture is crystal clear and the color great. I'm using an upconvert DVD player with HDMI output (1080p), and a 50-inch plasma HD television. Some have said in reviews that the picture quality is poor, even "VHS quality", but that's totally false. I've read that the originals here were taken from the laser-disc masters done in the early 90's; well, they look great however they were sourced. The sound is Dolby 2.0 Stereo (as indicated on the package) and sounds excellent. I get some center-channel and sub-woofer action as well as the stereo music and sound-effects on my system.

If a blu-ray/HD version is ever issued, that will be great and an improvement; but this is the only way to get the original films on DVD at this time, and they look great, so this set is essential for fans who saw these movies in theatres when they were released between 1977 and 1983 and want to see them once again in their original glory.
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170 of 188 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
I see this box set is getting a lot of bad reviews so I thought I'd chime in.

Most people giving it one star are just mad that there is another boxset release. This doesn't bother me at all. I never bought the other boxsets because of all the CG that was added, those aren't the movies I love.

People are also upset that the originals aren't in anamorphic widescreen and are poor transfers. Yeah an anamorphic version would have been nice and maybe they could have been retransfered, but these movies look a lot better than my old VHS set. Most likely these movies look better now than they did in the crappy theatar I saw them in.

In conclusion, this is a very affordable way to get all the original versions of the original trilogy, plus you get all the touched up versions.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
As described
Product is as described. Case is slightly worn, but the discs work great. Each DVD case contains one disc with original version, and one disk with the updated version.
Published 11 days ago by Reveiew4you
Star wars trilogy
This was a great upgrade from my previous VHS tapes. The added scenes were awesome. It is fun introducing my children to the series. We enjoy watching them together.
Published 1 month ago by Jc
Too expensive and the quality can be a problem
I bought this Star Wars Original Trilogy set (which had the theatrical versions as a bonus disk) in 2006 at regular prices. Today Amazon is selling this set used at $93.99 + $3. Read more
Published 1 month ago by BB-15
An AMAZING box set
The good
-has the new updated versions as well as...
-has THE ORIGINAL MOVIES on the bonus disc just like they were first seen in theatres (the first movie just says... Read more
Published 2 months ago by Philly12
Great DVD set
I like how this DVD set has the original movies as well as the lucas tainted ones. I wish they were remastered but just having them is good enough.
Published 3 months ago by Thomas Y
And this is why George Lucas needs to hurry up and die.
I didn't buy the BluRays, I won't buy the 3-D BluRays that will be released after they've all played in theaters, and this DVD collection is another reason why I won't be buying... Read more
Published 3 months ago by Bradley Hartman
picture quality good not great.
a lot of people are complaining about the picture quality. I too agree that it is unfair that the ORIGINAL version of the trilogy is on here without being cleaned up at all. Read more
Published 4 months ago by Matthew
Return of the Unaltered Trilogy
I got this box set knowing that the dvd was non-anamorphic, But fortunately, If you're watching this on a computer or an HDMI TV, then you could zoom in to a better format (though... Read more
Published 4 months ago by Cbarbee
"I'm altering the deal. PRAY I don't alter it any further."
I've been praying a long time.

Until Mr. Lucas decides that the originals deserve better (UNALTERED) treatment, I won't be paying him one red cent of my money. Read more
Published 4 months ago by Peter von Harten (Author)
Make Digital Copy Discs for iTUNES please!
Dear Mr. Lucas, Murdoch and Bezos,
Please make Star Wars 1-6 on Digital Copy Discs available for purchase or download on Itunes Please. Read more
Published 4 months ago by I_hate_everything
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