OK, so I lied... a little. Way back in April, I noted that it had been since way back in November that I had blogged. I vowed to blog more, but I failed my save vs. (the_universe - this_blog). In other words, life has been so fun for me that I just haven't had much chance to get on here and talk about it.
See, I've been very busy with family stuff, especially since it has been the summer, and my kiddos and my wife were on summer break. That means lots of time spent doing cool, fun, kiddo things with them. This is a good thing, BTW.
Still, in keeping with some level of geekdadliness, I have continued to mix as much gaming, fantasy, sci-fi, etc as possible into many of our activities. So just recently I decided it was time (why did I wait so long?!?!?) to introduce my son to some real Star Wars. See, he started getting interested in the animated Clone Wars stuff, which is pretty sweet in its own right, but I wanted to make sure he experienced the really-REALLY cool stuff.
So I got out the "original theatrical version" DVD of the beloved '77 gem:
Yeah, yeah... I know... there are numerous "original" versions which have been released, and this DVD one certainly isn't exactly the way we saw it back in the day. But, as far as I know, it's the best we have as far as DVD format goes.
Because of this, and for better aspect-ratio purposes, I almost took 'em back to the VHS world. Maybe next time:
Certainly, it is pretty easy to fall into the trap of just watching the newer edited versions, which seem to be on SpikeTV every other week. However, my conscious just wouldn't be happy with that move. So we went back (pretty darn close) to the way I saw it, in a tiny two-screen cinema in my hometown, back in... err... '77.
You bet yer shaggy bantha-butt that my kiddos will know, without a doubt, that "Han shot first." Greedo's a punk!
Similar to good ol' Luke Starkiller... err, Skywalker, my son skipped right past that silly "Jedi Youngling" stage. Lame title, anyway.
Darth Bobby - "The circle is now complete." 
3 comments:
I'm with you on the "theatrical release version of Star Wars" mojo. I finally obtained both versions of "Episode IV" on DVD this summer. A friend suggested that I throw out the disk of the digital enhanced version. I haven't done that yet but I haven't watched the new dvd of the theatrical release yet either. Now for the silly, hard headed part; to this day I don't understand why it is called Episode IV? (I claim ignorance of the prequel movies.)
Ya'know I wouldn't throw out any SW disc. In fact I have the Holiday Special, which is insane... but me and the kiddos are gonna watch that soon. My son keeps asking about it, so why not.
This *finally* released on DVD original theatrical version is still hosed. Lucas just won't give the fans what they really want. It's sorta his way of saying "see? - my new one is better!" - but he's still wrong.
The Ep IV thing is funny, right? Of course now I guess it all works, and makes sense to call it that, but try explaining the whole deal to a 4 year old and a 6 year old. Fun! Kinda like this: "You mean the first-first movie or the first-fourth movie?"
BTW, they added the "Episode IV: A New Hope" to the crawl waaaaaaaaaay back in what?.. dare I say "back in '81?" ;^]
Really? A New Hope crawl didn't have the Episode IV until 1981? Goodness, I guess having seen it so much I just assumed it had always been there. Ha, ha.
Memory circuits acting up on me, I reckon.
My nephew has a hard time telling the difference between Stormtroopers and the Clone Troopers. He is 4 year old though, keep that in mind. He loves the CGI animated series but doesn't understand when his dad or I tell him that the Stormtroopers are bad guys. :)
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