The DVD of George Lucas’s Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith, the last film in the futuristic box office hit series, has been released. Besides the film, the DVD also chronicles the making of the film, and has hidden ‘Easter eggs’ that show some surprising acts.
In addition, it reveals some of the scenes that were deleted while editing as also the creation of the lightsaber fight between Anakin and Obi-Wan Kenobi. The DVD set, which comes with two discs, is priced at US$ 30.
One interesting feature of the DVD is Within A Minute, which is the name given to the abovementioned lightsaber duel. The duel, which lasts 60 seconds in the film, used 910 technicians for 26 shots. Narrated by Producer Rick McCallum, the feature, which is under the Making of the Episode III option, shows that 70,000 man hours were required to effectively construct the dueling sequence.
“It’s rather extraordinary, the separate departments and number of people whose skills are involved to make this one minute,” Ian McDiarmid, who was cast in the role of Darth Sidious, said of the sequence.
Added Rick McCallum, “This is all real. They really went at it. It’s not sped up. And, of course, Hayden (Christensen, who played Anakin) and Ewan (McGregor, who played Obi-Wan Kenobi) love this.” He added that though many felt that the special effects in Star Wars were shot on ‘blue screen’, the team ‘actually built 72 really large sets on the film’. “But because there are so many different planets, there is always some part of the sequence that has blue screen in it,” McCallum explained.
The Making of the Episode III also shows the six scenes that were entirely clipped off to keep the film, which ironically spanned 140 minutes in spite of editing, short. One memorable scene that was edited out was that of Yoda returning to Dagobah to spend the rest of his life there. No action sequence, however, has been lopped off, with only chatty scenes, like one of Padme and the senators discussing Palpatine, being removed.
Added to the DVD are comments by and interviews with creator George Lucas, producer Rick McCallum, animator Rob Coleman, and special effects experts John Knoll and Roger Guyett. The ‘Easter eggs’, one of which shows master Yoda hot stepping to the beats of a popular hip-hop track, hidden in the DVD can be accessed by pressing 1138 after reaching the language menu.
For those who loved the film, the DVD promises to be even better. And of course, it brings the Star Wars experience a full circle.