The Empire Strikes Back, Laserdisc, CBS/FOX Video Japan, 1987
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Released in 1986/1987, Japanese Star Wars fans were treated to this "Special Collection" set for the original Star Wars trilogy. The "Special Collection" releases were formatted in CAV, enabling flawless frame advance and reverse, something the Star Wars movies were ideal for, but it spread the films over 3 platters and 5 sides.
In addition to the CAV formatting, the main selling point of this release is the Widescreen presentation. The image is letterboxed preserving the full 2.35:1 image ratio of the films. To accomodate Japanese subtitles outside the image area, the picture is shifted upward, off centre. The sound is PCM Stereo with matrixed Dolby Pro Logic surround encoding. It doesn't show on the cover scan, but the "Special Collection" letters were printed in gold. In fact, CBS/Fox went all out for these releases. All discs came in their own sleeves, with chapter descriptions for each disc. Very classy. Japanese discs usually have an insert, and these were no exception, coming with a double-sided sheet with stills and facts about the film. Also released in a box set. The Star Wars disc is dated 1986, while Empire and Jedi are dated 1987. I always assumed they were released together, but I may be wrong. Japanese laserdiscs command a higher price if they come with their original OBI, a price/information strip that is common on Japanese media but often discarded by the original buyer. The OBIs on these discs were wider than usual. |
Insert side 1
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Insert side 2
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CBS/Fox Video intro
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Fox fanfare
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Title card
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Opening crawl
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Binoculars
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I found them
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Binoculars
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On Dagobah
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Alert all commands
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Matte painting
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Duel
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Falcon dish in frame
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End credits
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Japanese version by Tohokushinsha
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Copyright info
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Laserdisc side 6
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