Original trilogy DVD's

[Icehawk]

So... what I gather from this is that, the Special Edition of the SW:OT WILL come to DVD but original non special edition versions won't. Is this right?

[Spanky The Dolphin]

Yes, that's what Lucas has been saying for several years, since at least when TPM was released in theatres.

It's just that people like Bill Hunt wait until now, when Lucas makes a recent announcement about it, that they throw a fucking fit and howl like a baby that they're giving up on SW.

Ugh, fucking babies...

And technically, it'll be the so called "Ultimate" or "Super Special Editions" that'll be put on DVD, the ones that they've been working on for some time.

[Icehawk]

I don't really have a problem with this. The only real thing I dislike about the special editions was the Greedo shooting first thing and that shitty CG Jabba the Hutt scene with Han. Other than those I prefer it over the originals.

Allthough I can see it being an annoyance to the die hard collectors and fanatics but still. Its not something to have such a hissy fit over.

[Spanky The Dolphin]

Here's the link to Hunt's pissy baby fit for those who are interrested:
http://www.thedigitalbits.com/#nowars

[Robert Treder]

And of course we would all buy both the SE and the OT on DVD, but most people would only buy one version. I don't think that releasing both would be wise from a business point of view.
And anybody who thinks that Lucas shouldn't be thinking about Star Wars from a business point of view is an ass.

*ahem* All George has done with Eps. 1&2 is think about money. He put in Jar Jar for kids. He put in the excess romance for chicks (which I really wish he hadn't). What kind of fuckup will he do with Ep. 3?

George may "say" he's not doing it for the money, but from the way it's coming out, he is. And I can't believe anything Ain't it Cool says after that gawdawful script of Superman they put on the web and said was THE script for the new movie.

Yeah, that's what I was saying...George is doing it for the money, and we can't possibly fault him for that.

[Boba Fett]

Was anyone honestly expecting Lucas to release the originals on DVD? This isn't a surprise, typical AICN alarmism aside.

I agree, and am not surprised at all.

Neither do I...

[JME2]

Please let this story be a mistake. Read. Let the tears flow.

http://www.aintitcoolnews.com/display.cgi?id=14393

Lucas should just do what 20th Century Fox did for the Independence Day DVD; it included both the original version and a special extended version.

[Coaan]

Please let this story be a mistake. Read. Let the tears flow.

http://www.aintitcoolnews.com/display.cgi?id=14393

Lucas should just do what 20th Century Fox did for the Independence Day DVD; it included both the original version and a special extended version.

Somehow I doubt us the fans are that lucky... it'a all about the money it generates these days....not about the love of star wars

[RedImperator]

It doesn't make any sense to say this is just about the money. He could sell more DVDs if he made the original versions available as well as the extended ones.

What this is, it seems to me, is entirely artistic. Lucas firmly believes that the Special Editions are the "true" movies, and the original OT was the result of compromises and technological limitations he didn't want to accept but had to in order to get the movies made. My objection to this comes from the idea that once a piece of art is made available for viewing by the public, that art exists in that form and any change made to it amounts to vandalism. If Leonardo DiVinci came back to life today, would we let him give the Mona Lisa blonde hair? Lucas, as the creator of Star Wars, has every moral and legal right to REMAKE the old movies, and he has every moral and legal right to declare the special editons are the canon versions for the purposes of continunity within the SW universe, but he does not have, in my opinion, the right to declare that the special editions ARE the old movies. It's very frustrating to me and a lot of other fans and movie purists that he's not going to let us see the original Original Trilogy on DVD. Fortunately, I have the entire unaltered OT on tape, but those aren't going to last forever.

[Kurgan]

See that's the thing though.. if you didn't want the Extended Edition of the FOTR, you could STILL BUY THE THEATRICAL RELEASE on DVD.

With Spielberg's recent editing of E.T., you could still view the original version of the film as it was in theaters, on DVD.

Most movies that are on DVD with "special" added scenes still let you view the original, especially if the scenes were changed. Or at least give you the versions of the old scenes to look at side by side.

Yeah, looks like the bootleggers and LD sellers on ebay are going to be making some more money... money that Lucas himself could be pocketing would he only turn a more sympathetic ear to some of his fans.... oh well.

[Kurgan]

But see there's the thing too.. certain scenes were changed in such a way that has NOTHING TO DO with technology, but rather Lucas deciding he wanted to change something (case in point: the Greedo scene.. he could have made him shoot first in the original.. why didn't he?).

Or to get into the "super special edition" discussion/debate.. he could have made all the Stormtroopers the same height (on camera.. just use shoe inserts!) and the same voice (dubbing isn't exactly a new science, especially for guys in helmets for crying out loud!)...

But no, he's not just adding to, he's CHANGING story elements. That's I think what people object to.. the story isn't how they remember it anymore, regardless of some extra special effects icing.

[Spanky The Dolphin]

That's still no reason to act like this over it:
http://www.thedigitalbits.com/#nowars

[RedImperator]

But see there's the thing too.. certain scenes were changed in such a way that has NOTHING TO DO with technology, but rather Lucas deciding he wanted to change something (case in point: the Greedo scene.. he could have made him shoot first in the original.. why didn't he?).

Or to get into the "super special edition" discussion/debate.. he could have made all the Stormtroopers the same height (on camera.. just use shoe inserts!) and the same voice (dubbing isn't exactly a new science, especially for guys in helmets for crying out loud!)...

But no, he's not just adding to, he's CHANGING story elements. That's I think what people object to.. the story isn't how they remember it anymore, regardless of some extra special effects icing.

Yeah, I forgot to mention that somehow (odd, since that's what infuriates me the most). A lot of these scenes, he's just changed his mind about this element or that element in the last 20 years and has decided that he's going to "fix" them. That's sheer bullshit. At least Speilberg, when he changed the guns to walkie talkies in ET had some kind of compelling moral reason to do so, and at least he let us see the unaltered version. What's the point of making Greedo shoot first? Purifying Han Solo? Jesus Christ, George, I know these are popcorn movies, but a little moral ambiguity is OK. We're not idiots. We'll understand that he's a rogue who later goes good. It's called CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT. For the same reason, I hate the idea of making all the OT stormtroopers clones (an unsubstantiated rumor, but it still gets my blood pressure up). Besides the sheer stupidity and general childishness of the idea from a logical standpoint, it dumbs the whole movie down by turning the empire's elite soldiers into little more than droids. There goes a little more of that pesky moral ambiguity. Now we can believe nobody except the top officers actually served the Empire willingly--everybody else was either a conscript or a clone programmed from birth to serve the Emperor. Piss on that. I don't need movies dumbed down for me so I know who the good guys are (they're the ones who don't blow planets up and torture people).

[RedImperator]

That's still no reason to act like this over it:
http://www.thedigitalbits.com/#nowars

I don't think it was that over the top. I made some of the same points he did in one of my above posts. He can remake the movies all he wants, but he has no right to try to erase the original versions no matter how much he doesn't like them, and it's a slap in the face to the fans to try.

[Robert Treder]

He's not trying to erase them, he's simply not releasing them on DVD. I don't know what's so hard to understand about that.

[Cal Wright]

Lucas has stated many times he was never happy with the finished product that was the OT. Now he has neither the time nor money constraints he originally had. Not to mention the technology. The ANH Hutt scene could be done a hell of a lot better, but oh well. I'm eager to get the DVDs and it would take a lot for Lucas in my opinion to go wrong.

For one thing, it may have been high strung and sfx advanced at the time, but the Battle of Yavin in ANH just dragged. When they went back and added the new computer scenes it really jumped. The arrival at Mos Eisley was incrediable. Take Cloud City in ESB for example. Wow! The Sarlac in Return of the Jedi. Come on, that rocked. Now what a way for Fett to go.

[Captain tycho]

I'm soo glad I got all the originals on tape... and another set of copies and my niece's house just in case...

[Darth Wong]

Some of the childish reactions are overblown. However, they do have a point in the sense that George Lucas knows what the fans want and chooses to ignore them. Like it or not, he is insular and dismissive of his fans, and he should be more appreciative of them. Without us, he doesn't have all of that money.

[RedImperator]

He's not trying to erase them, he's simply not releasing them on DVD. I don't know what's so hard to understand about that.

If he's not re-releasing the originals in the theater, and he's not making them available for purchase on VHS or DVD, and he's explicitly stated that the Special Editions are the real movies, not the original versions, then how does that not amount to trying to erase them? At some point, everyone's VHS copies of the original OT are going to degrade past watchability (mine are already starting to show their age). At that point, we'll have bootleg DVDs, which shouldn't exist, according to Lucasfilm. News flash: he doesn't have to say "I'm going to erase the original versions" and then burn the prints for him to be trying to rewrite history. And he IS fucking the fans, especially the hardcore fans, who made him rich in the first place.

[Clone Sergeant]

A response to Bill Hunt's column.

http://www.operationsombrero.com/feature/FBR/ANH.html

This guy hits the nail on the head.

[Darth Wong]

I think he is grossly unfair to the OT, however. My wife is not a Star Wars fanatic like me, and she almost vomits at the "love story" in AOTC. It's not just SW fanatics who think TESB's love story was miles ahead of AOTC's love story, or that there's something about the OT which the PT doesn't have.

[Clone Sergeant]

He does bash the OT but I think he has point about some fans being overattached the original films.

I would not be surprised if Lucas makes sweeping changes in the DVD release. I'm talking about him redoing all of the OT visual effects or something equally bold. If he wants there to be a consistent look when they are all watched together redoing the effects is the only way I can think of. Why would he wait until finishing the prequels if his plan for the DVD's weren't a large scale effort requiring ILM and his particular input. I don't think it's a good idea but I have a feeling that's the surprise Lucas has up his sleeve.

[Darth Wong]

He does bash the OT but I think he has point about some fans being overattached the original films.

True. I've noticed that some of the biggest fans of the OT hate the PT the most.

I would not be surprised if Lucas makes sweeping changes in the DVD release. I'm talking about him redoing all of the OT visual effects or something equally bold. If he wants there to be a consistent look when they are all watched together redoing the effects is the only way I can think of. Why would he wait until finishing the prequels if his plan for the DVD's weren't a large scale effort requiring ILM and his particular input. I don't think it's a good idea but I have a feeling that's the surprise Lucas has up his sleeve.

This would explain why he refuses to release the OT on DVD; he doesn't want a DVD version of the "unimproved" films floating around. It still saddens me greatly, though.

[Arthur_Tuxedo]

Lucas is being a complete idiot. He probably doesn't realize that almost any artist produces their best stuff in their early years, and even though they talk about how they've evolved later, it just doesn't have the soul that the earlier stuff did. He is destroying an important piece of American history and culture, and making sure that a great masterpiece is forever buried under the sands of time. I encourage everyone to find and duplicate high-quality DVDs of the OT to keep the vision alive.

[Clone Sergeant]

This would explain why he refuses to release the OT on DVD; he doesn't want a DVD version of the "unimproved" films floating around. It still saddens me greatly, though.

He probably knows the "unimproved" version would sell better than his "definitive" vision.