July 20, 2011 — STAR WARS fans: iTunes has released their Star Wars: The Complete Saga Early Access app for iPad, and FilmEdge has been using it to get our first sneak peeks and the upcoming Blu-ray bonus features.
Quick review: while the app is artfully simple, the content of the interviews and archived materials are good quality for an online sampler of the Blu-ray bonus riches yet to come this September.
Each of the six STAR WARS feature films offers previews of a few specific bonus features unique to each title, including current and vintage interviews with the cast and crew, interactive zooms and rotation views of spaceship models, creature maquettes, props, and concept art illustrations defining the origins of each chapter's visual style.
One standout example is found among THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK bonus previews: a vintage interview with director Irvin Kershner who describes the varied personalities and acting styles of the film's stars Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford and Carrie Fisher. Kersh's comments and observations are intercut with behind-the-scenes footage from TESB's production and some humorous moments captured on-set.
For RETURN OF THE JEDI, the Lucasfilm archives provide a zoom-in pass by the Death Star II model, supplemented with some amazing close-up detail stills of the tiny sphere layers of the unfinished space station last seen in orbit over the moon of Endor. These are probably the tightest photos ever displayed of the Death Star model and look good on the iPad screen, so we can only imagine how much more detail will be visible when these images are seen on an HDTV monitor displayed in Blu-ray 1080p quality.
STAR WARS: The Complete Saga Early Access app is a free download via iTunes, so make the jump to lightspeed now and get your first look at the Blu-ray bonus features awaiting you on September 16th!
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on Blu-ray Sept. 16th