General		Extras
Category	Drama	Theatrical Trailer(s)	None
Rating		Other Trailer(s)	None
Year Released	1999	Commentary Tracks	None
Running Time	130 Minutes	Other Extras	None
RSDL/Flipper	Not applicable	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Movie
Region	Not applicable	Director	George Lucas
Studio Distributor	Lucasfilm Limited 20th Century Fox	Starring	Liam Neeson Ewan McGregor Natalie Portman Jake Lloyd Ian McDiarmid
Case	VHS
RRP	$29.95	Music	John Williams

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	None	MPEG	None
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	2.35:1	Dolby Digital	None
16x9 Enhancement		Soundtrack Languages	2.0
Theatrical Aspect Ratio	2.35:1	Miscellaneous
Macrovision	Yes	Smoking	No
Subtitles	None	Annoying Product Placement	No
		Action In or After Credits	No

    A general note, here: the reason this review exists is to say two things to the millions of suckers who bought this film on VHS. The first is a big thank-you for giving George Lucas justification for restricting the greatest film made last year to a medium that looks like shit even on the first play. I really hope that you are proud of yourselves. The second is a friendly reminder that you have been ripped off, and I hope you feel every inch of it, now that you've bought Lucas' rhetoric against buying the pirated DVD from Hong Kong. Through the kindness of a friend working at a video distribution outlet who wishes to remain anonymous, I was able to sit down and view this VHS presentation of a film I enjoyed so much that I nearly saw it thirty times at the cinema. If I had known that Lucas was going to treat me like this in return, I would have saved my money and done something more satisfying with it, like travel to the middle of nowhere and live in isolation for the rest of the year.

    It sounds a heck of a lot more interesting than what eventually came out after several critical and ominous scenes were left out of the final theatrical cut of this movie, doesn't it? In case you are wondering, here is a list of the scenes that appeared in the novelization and, quite probably the final draft of the script, that never made it into the final film:

• An early pod race sequence in which Anakin crashes his pod and exchanges some terse words with Watto, after which he is sent into the Dune Sea to haggle for parts with a group of Jawas with C-3PO in tow. There are many exchanges and scenes early on in the novel that may or may not be in some drafts of the screenplay that better establish the character of Anakin.
• Shortly after the haggling is finished, Anakin stops to assist an injured Tusken Raider and stays with him overnight, during which time a group of fellow Tusken Raiders come to collect their kin.
• A better conversation between Darth Sidious and Daultay Dofine. After Dofine finishes stating to the Sith Lord that they daren't go up against the Jedi, Sidious says "Are you saying you would rather go up against me, Dofine? I am amused." in the novel form of the story.
• A moment in which Obi-Wan sees Jar Jar Binks for the first time, who in turn is eating some clams quite calmly near the banks of the river. There is also a much longer exchange after Qui-Gon meets Binks for the first time, involving damage to Obi-Wan's lightsaber that was sustained as a result of being submerged underwater.
• An extended dialogue between Queen Amidala (in disguise, of course) and Anakin Skywalker. Anakin states to Amidala that he foresees them getting married, to which Amidala states that he is just a little boy. Anakin's response to this is one of the most ominous lines: "I won't always be."
• A young Greedo confronts Anakin after the race and accuses him of cheating. Anakin responds to this by furiously attacking Greedo, and earning a lecture about the dark side of the Force from Qui-Gon as a result.
• Various dialogue throughout the film, but especially as the battle of Naboo begins, that establishes Darth Maul as a more autonomous character.

Video

    The colour saturation is probably the second-worst aspect of this transfer, with a dull, lifeless, and muted look to scenery that was deliberately designed to be larger than life and leave you with your jaw open. The first shot we see of the Naboo landscape (the Theed Palace with the waterfalls around it) can leave you with the impression that you're looking at a badly produced twenty-year-old B-grade fantasy film, it looked so awful because of the limited resolution. The inherently poor resolution of VHS also makes the lightsaber glow effects look like a mess of bleeding pixels rather than a smooth line of laser, as it does to many effects of this variety. VHS artefacts are by far the worst aspect of this transfer, and given that this loaned-out video tape showed a massive line of horizontal static less than thirty seconds into the film in spite of having been played only once, it makes Lucas look all the more like an idiot with his claims of being interested in bringing his work to the best possible presentation. Film-to-video artefacts consisted of shimmering in the edges of any chrome objects regardless of whether the camera was moving or not. Film artefacts were the only good part of the transfer, with the reel-change markings that were found in the original theatrical exhibition having been taken out.

Audio

    The king of film scoring, the high and mighty John Williams, is back, although you'd never know it from this shocking transfer. Like the other three episodes in the series, Williams relies heavily on a Wagnerian compositional technique called letitmotif, which essentially translates into the marriage of specific pieces of music to certain characters or events. The Anakin Skywalker theme is a great example of this technique, with faint echoes of The Imperial March being thrown in to provide the viewer with a sense that there is already a trace of Darth Vader crawling around inside young Anakin. During A New Hope, the first episode in the Star Wars saga to be filmed, Lucas and Williams co-operate in making a scene with music so perfectly synthesized that it is impossible to believe that one existed before the other. They succeed in doing this again with the duel between Gui-Gon, Obi-Wan, and Darth Maul, with the pieces of music that were edited together to make up The Duel Of The Fates being out in full force. John Williams is a film score composer without equal, and it is a pity that the surround presence of the film severely hobbles his creative power...

    The surround presence of this cassette is dire, and makes a blatant joke out of both the THX certification and the Dolby Digital label on the cover artwork. All too often, the frequencies are limited by the analogue media to the point where the dialogue is just barely audible above the sound effects. While this was slightly problematic in the theatrical exhibition, it is a major cause for concern during many scenes in the home video version. The limited frequency response also makes it extremely hard to hear the subtle nuances of the aforementioned score music, with such things as the Sanskrit chants of the choir simply being lost under the other ambient sounds. The subwoofer tried hard to integrate itself with the rest of the soundtrack and support the onscreen action, but it mostly just produced an indistinct rumble.

    The video quality is dire, even by VHS standards. When I saw a line of static go through the picture less than thirty seconds into the first play, I knew I was in for a disappointing ride.

    This is an audio transfer of a film containing some of the most dazzling duelling sequences in the history of filmmaking, accompanied by score music by the greatest man in the game. You'd never know it from this staggeringly limited transfer.

    Extras? One word: bribery.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall

© Dean McIntosh (my bio sucks... read it anyway)
April 11, 2000.