Star Wars (1977)

 Star Wars

I spent a fair amount of time figuring out which versions of the Original Trilogy to watch for this. My first choice was the 4KXX releases, for maximum originality. I'm normally more of a Harmy guy, but it'd be fun to try something new, and presumably more authentic. But that wouldn't actually be authentic to the early 1991 Heir to the Empire release time period viewing experience. VHS/Laserdisc being much lower quality, and Lucas having already making minor changes (EPISODE IV was added in 1981). So I spent some time digging around for what would be the correct release version for 1991. There's a handful of pretty questionable VHS releases (I'm not dedicated enough to watch a pan and scan):

I sure don't miss only getting to watch 2/3 of the movie, or having stuff stretched/squished weird.

    There were zero official widescreen/letterbox tape releases until 1992 (and even that was a fancy big box collector set), meaning they were fair game for Last Command (maybe Dark Force Rising, I didn't find an exact release date for them) but not Heir. I'm pretty sure the VHS "Faces" Definitive Collection were the first releases we owned when I was a kid. I remember it being a pretty big deal at the time. They talked about them on whatever morning show my mom watched (I think it was The Today Show). I don't think I realized how much better than the prior widely available releases were.

I fast-forwarded this so many times

    I had to smile a little bit when the answer to, "What was the best "official" way to watch Star Wars at home in 1991?" was actually the same as it was when I was in 2010, doing May the 4th rewatches in my buddy's apartment. The 1980s Laserdisc releases. In a way, they still are. While there were a few different editions (with minor color corrections and things like that) the Laserdisc releases would be the template for the final non-Special Edition release, the 2004 DVDs.

    Disney, do you even want my money anymore?

    

Me: figuring out which release is based on which transfer and when it released in which country.

    So, which version of Star Wars are you watching for your slightly-early May the Fourth/slightly-late Heir to the Empire release prep in 1991? Or, more likely, just killing a rainy Saturday with a movie you liked. I think these are the three most likely options:

1. Letterboxed Laserdisc: You're into tech and/or movies, and have some cash to spend on them. And, most likely, are Japanese. 

2. Full Screen VHS: You like Star Wars enough to buy it, but you're not wealthy/techy enough to buy anything other than whatever they've got at your local video/department store.

    But official doesn't mean best, or even most common. Just like the Laserdisc was the best "official" way of for two decades, the best way to watch Star Wars today is the same way most people were probably watching it in 1991:

Really going heavy on the AV content this week.

    Now, time/medium shifting was largely declared not-piracy in a surprisingly consumer-friendly decision, but I hadn't watched that video in a while.

    If you were watching Star Wars (or most other movies) at home in 1991, there's a good chance you were watching a recording (or, possibly, a recording of a recording of a recording) that someone made when they rented the tape or (better for those sweet retro commercials) off the TV. You bugged your parents to let you use the VCR to tape it when CBS/NBC played it one night. Or you had a "video guy" (ours was my uncle, who provided us with the infamous "No Pants" workprint of the 2003 Hulk movie) who hooked you up. 

    3. Homemade VHS: You like having on demand access to Star Wars, but were five years old, or didn't want to spend money on what you could get for free.

    And today, the best way to watch Star Wars isn't to buy a Blu-ray, or watch whatever version is on Disney+. It's to go download get your pick of the Harmys or 4KXXs (or one of the less popular, but still better, fan projects).

    For Star Wars I decided to do 4K77, since I haven't watched it before. I'll probably be back on Harmy for Empire and Jedi since it's more easily available, and I like the slight cleanup he does over the super original grittiness.

Episode____

So, how's the original hold up? Still pretty great, in my opinion. I think it's still the best Star Wars movie. I don't think it's too controversial to say the OT is better than either of the other two, and I think ANH is really the best of the three. Empire and Jedi both have some scenes that really drag (Dagobah and most of the Muppet adjacent scenes respectively). I doubt you could cut five minutes total from ANH across the whole thing.

More than anything, I think the highlight of the original is how well it drip feeds little bits of information. It avoids getting too info-dumpy (there's a couple on Tatooine, but they don't overstay their welcome). Mostly it's a combination of bold imagery and what one of my friends called "whimsical asides".

Take the opening scene. Darth Vader doesn't need a rambly introduction, he's just a big scary dude in black armor. Princess Leia doesn't go out of the way to say who she is, she's just a mysterious woman in a classier outfit. There's a couple references to the Empire and the Senate, name drops for Kessel, etc. It all does a great job of keeping the movie moving while layering little bit on little bit of information so it's always easy to understand, but teasing more details to come.