Differences between different media formats: VHS, DVD, BD, and 3-D.
Yes, George Lucas is still updating his own space opera saga. In fact, he's doing so many changes, that it's hard to keep track of them! Never fear, I'm here to help you out! Let's start with the first movie, shall we?
The 20th Century Fox Logo
On the left is the logo they used in 1999, both on the VHS, the DVD, &, sadly, the BD (Blu-Ray) releases. Hey, at least the 3-D re-release FINALLY got the new updated Fox logo, which is the one on the right! (Now doesn't that look better?) But, that didn't last long though, because it went bye-bye in the year 2015 leaving just the Lucasfilm logo (see below). Oh well!
The Lucasfilm Logo in 3-D
Okay, okay, I know what you all are thinking. How could I have possibly gotten a picture of the new 3-D logo if it was only shown in theaters? Well, truth is, I didn't. I just had to find a picture close to it, which is the picture on the right. The logo supposedly does its usual sparkle & color change from emerald green, to silver, & finally, gold, but now, it slowly pops out at the audience! Now is that cool or what?!
Opening Crawl
On the left is the old opening crawl to the movie, in which it appears in the VHS & the DVD releases. On the right is the new opening crawl, in which it appears in the BD release onwards. I know it doesn't look like anything has changed, but if you look close enough, you'll see that it's composited against the star field, as well as the change of the relative position of the text. It now looks a lot like the crawls of Episode's II & III!
Jedi Force Speed
I know, I know, you can only see the lightsabers in the left picture. It appears in the VHS & DVD releases. Well, now you don't see them.... & now you do! They're still blurry, but at least you can see their bodies now! The picture on the right appears both in the BD release onwards. The new effect can also be seen while the jedi are running down the corridor.
Hey, Look at Our New Viewscreen!
Take a look at this! They're the exact same shot (sort of), & yet they're very different. The one on the left (which, BTW, is used in the VHS & the DVD releases) has Viceroy Nute Gunray (Silas Carson) & Rune Haako witnessing the Jedi being pursued by the droideka (or, more commonly, destroyers). It's the same in the picture on the right (which, BTW, is used in the BD release onwards), but now it's a wide shot, & features a brand-new view screen, which, in my opinion, looks a LOT better! Don't you think?
More Podracers!
This is just one of the many extensions of the introductions for the champions. This is, BTW, Mawhonic (top) & his GPE-3130 Podracer, while on the bottom is Clegg Holdfast & his Volvec KT9 Wasp Podracer. If you want to see the full podracing, stay away from the VHS!
XXXXXX- Sebulba
There's a brief moment where Sebulba (Lewis MacLeod) jumps up onto his Podracer & sends kisses to the audience. Too bad this doesn't appear in the VHS release, whereas it appears in the DVD release onwards!
Hidden Warwick Davis Cameo
Okay, remember when I said that you should stay away from the VHS release? Well, I take that back! Sort of! Warwick Davis (you know, the guy who plays Wicket Wystri Warrick the ewok in Return of the Jedi) makes a brief cameo appearance as Weazel in this picture, right smack dab next to Watto (Andy Secombe), who is cheering on Sebulba, which you can hear right here. It's a HUMONGOUS shame that they had to cut that little scene out of the movie, as heard right here! It didn't even make it back in the 3-D re-release, or the 2015 release, which sucks big time, because it would've been a great sight to see Mr. Davis before he makes his full appearance in Episode VI! It can be viewed in a deleted scene AND Mr. Davis can briefly be seen in other shots during the podrace. I do miss this little segment though, because basically Watto is saying "Hey, look who I've got sitting next to me! It's WARWICK DAVIS!!" LOL.
Be Safe.- Shmi Skywalker
This is another reason to stay away from the VHS! Shmi (Pernilla August) tells her son to (^), in which he promises it. Good motherly care!
Get Ready....Get Set....GO! GO! GO!
In the DVD release onwards, the podracers starting up runs a little longer. More time for starting up your engines!
Popcorn! Get Your Popcorn Here!
Okay, okay, I know this shot of a tradesman isn't selling popcorn! But at least he gets a chance to be seen in the DVD release onward, that's a good thing, right?!
HEY! GET OUT OF MY WAY!
Okay, now we come to lap 2 of the podrace, which is a bit longer than laps 1 & 3. Here we see Gasgano & his Ord Pedrovia Podracer trying to block Anakin's path around him. Well, that's too bad! Anakin (Jake Lloyd) barrel-rolls over him and zooms on!
Skywalker's Spinning Out of Control!
Oh, no! Anakin's right gas line has detached from his pod, & now he's LITERALLY spinning out of control! Heaven help the poor guy! This looks like it's going to hit you, so watch out! ;)
Regain Control
Wow! This kid really IS special! He's using that magnetic wand to take back that gas line! I'd watch my head if I were you, because from the look of this picture, he looks like he'll conk you on the head there if you watch it in 3-D! ;) They altered the picture in the 3-D version so that it not only pops out at you, but looks sharper. WOW!
Why is My Hand Behind My Sleeve?
So for about 6 frames there's a little rendering error where Fode & Beed's hand intersected with their clothing, in the left picture. It was one of those 'blink you'll miss it' moments. This remained unchanged until the BD came along and fixed it, in the picture on the right.
But although they fixed THAT little error, there's yet another error that appears earlier in the movie where part of Qui-Gon's (Liam Neeson) clothing intersects with Jar-Jar Binks' (Ahmed Best) ears! Whoops! I guess they missed that one! It's a shame that THIS one wasn't corrected in the 3-D re-release! It's understandable since it's hard to make out: see if YOU can find it yourself.
A 2nd Moon
Well, what do you think of that? The left picture has just 1 moon, while the picture on the right has 2 moons! Did they add another moon ? It may seem like it, but actually, the BD shows 8% more of the picture. Now wasn't that nice?
An Air Taxi Trip
On the way to Senator Palpatine's (Ian McDiarmid) office, we get a little tour of Coruscant in an air taxi. From this place..........
.....to this place.....
.....to this place.....
..........& to, finally, this place. It was originally a deleted scene, but I guess George wanted people to see more of Coruscant than just that. That was nice of him, don't you think?
Senator Palpatine's Office
Unbelievably, they cut this shot out of the future releases! Why the heck did they do that?! It looks so good!
Yoda's New Look
Now we come to the biggest alteration of the BD! They've replaced the Yoda (Frank Oz) puppet (left) with the all-too-familiar older- looking CGI Yoda (right). The puppet is used in both the VHS & the DVD releases, while the CGI version is used in the BD release onwards; AND in a featurette for Revenge of the Sith. At first, I despised the digital Yoda, but now that I think about it, the puppet version looks a LOT like a gremlin; TRUST ME!
Twi'leks or Humans?
If you look to the left in the left picture, you will see that Orn Free Taa's aids are humans. Originally his aids were a red-skinned Twi'lek named Supi & a white-skinned male who bore a passing resemblance to Bib Fortuna (who by the way, appeared during the podrace). It only appears in the VHS release. For the DVD release onwards, the human aids are gone & Supi is back & is accompanied by Pampy in the image on the right. Twi'leks suit Orn Free Taa better, don't you think? Unfortunately, we never did get to see the white-skinned Twi'lek male, but there are tons of images of him all over the Internet.
Bad Color Timing
In the left shot we see Qui-Gon Jinn & Obi-Wan Kenobi (Ewan McGregor) overlooking a sunset. This is from the VHS & DVD releases. Now, let's see what the BD looks like. Well, well, well, what do we have here? The sunset now looks like a sunrise in the shot on the right, & to make matters worse, the blacks have been crushed! This is unbelievable! The only thing that's great about it is that it shows more of the image.
Glimmering Eyes
They changed Padme's (Natalie Portman) eyes in the picture on the right (from the BD onwards). It has them glimmer a little less than the left picture (from the VHS & DVD), even though I think it's so CUTE!
BD and 3-D Hoorays!
Well, that pretty much covers every change for this movie. I'll see you in AOTC!
