a new hope

Previous threads:
Holonews #8: It's better than real news
Holonews #9: Just Waiting for the Paperboy
http://www.fanforum.com/f99/holonews...tion-62997358/
http://www.fanforum.com/f99/holonews...irst-63067099/
http://www.fanforum.com/f99/holonews...vies-63082360/
http://www.fanforum.com/f99/holonews...vies-63086332/
http://www.fanforum.com/f99/holonews...-out-63095097/
http://www.fanforum.com/f99/holonews...ment-63104529/
http://www.fanforum.com/f99/holonews...nues-63113786/
http://www.fanforum.com/f99/holonews...cast-63123633/
http://www.fanforum.com/f99/holonews...news-63134298/

sum1

The thread title refers to Tar waking with a hangover.

sum1

George Lucas really has parted ways with 'Star Wars' | Inside Movies | EW.com

Re Lucas and the new trailer.

a new hope

Thanks

sum1

They imply the prequels are the biggest gripe with Lucas, but what about mutilating the Original Trilogy and trying to make the original versions unavailable? That's much bigger in my opinion. I want the originals preserved for the future! Lucas tried to make them extinct and he might yet have succeeded if somebody doesn't restore them soon.

A quote from Lucas from about a decade back, to illustrate the point:

"There will only be one. And it won't be what I would call the 'rough cut,' it'll be the 'final cut.' The other one will be some sort of interesting artifact that people will look at and say, 'There was an earlier draft of this.' The same thing happens with plays and earlier drafts of books. In essence, films never get finished, they get abandoned. At some point, you're dragged off the picture kicking and screaming while somebody says, 'Okay, it's done.' That isn't really the way it should work. Occasionally, go back and get your cut of the video out there, which I did on both American Graffiti and THX-1138; that's the place where it will live forever. So what ends up being important in my mind is what the DVD version is going to look like, because that's what everybody is going to remember. The other versions will disappear. Even the 35 million tapes of Star Wars out there won't last more than 30 or 40 years. A hundred years from now, the only version of the movie that anyone will remember will be the DVD version, and you'll be able to project it on a 20' by 40' screen with perfect quality. I think it's the director's prerogative, not the studio's to go back and reinvent a movie."

THAT'S why I hate George Lucas.

confessor_meggy

Thanks for opening Tar!

I don't blame him nor hate him for modifying the OT, but I don't like the idea of trying to delete the original ones. I'm not sure he actually did though, on my dvds they are sold together?

a new hope

I could never find the original versions to download

sum1

In the mid '90s they released the original versions on VHS and said it ws the last time they would be released (because Lucas wanted to replace them with the Special Edition). In 2004 when the dvd edition came out it was the Special Edition, except even more changes added. Lucas indicated he'd no intention of releasing the originals on dvd. In 2006, after fans had campaigned heavily, Fox decided to put out the original versions on dvd but they were put out as unrestored laserdisc transfers onto dvd, inferior to proper dvd versions (they appear slightly pixelated on a HD tv) and they were put out in two-disc sets with the restored 2004 dvd edition on the other disc, clearly Lucas's attempt to convince fans not in the know that the 2004 edition was better. These dvds were intended to be a limited edition, out for a limited time only, but popularity kept them in print for a number of years. They were rereleased in trilogy six-disc box sets in 2008. So the originals were released on dvd but in an inferior form and not restored (fans are quite bitter about this). Without restoration they couldn't be put on blu-ray or future formats. And if restoration is not done soon it may not be possible to ever do it (because of detoriation of the fim). Lucasfilm claimed restoration was impossible because the original negatives had been cut up to make the special edition (vandalism and quite unnecessary to make to Special Edition) and they said they (as in Lucas) had no intention of spending money on it anyway. However, there are various prints out there in people's possesssion which could be used. Those original version dvds went out of print (and have become hard to get genuine copies of) and Lucas released a new dvd and blu-ray edition a few years back with even more changes. And Tar tells me that downloads of the original versions can't be found on the net and images from them are rare. Lucas is succeeding in wiping out the originals. Many, like Tar, have never seen them. My bigest concern in Star Wars is worry about the future of the originals. Dvds fail to work after a certain number of years. I want to be able to watch the originals in my old age. I want people to be able to watch them generations from now.

confessor_meggy

mmm I guess I understand. Well, at least I got mine

I know Although, for the sake of video-making, I find the new versions more useful

a new hope

Yeah for video making, but I do feel a bit deprived because I had to watch the unedited scenes on Youtube.

confessor_meggy

^ Very understandable

a new hope

sum1

It's more than a few edited scenes. In ANH, a whole lot of the shots were edited or replaced. In ESB, Cloud City was changed. Etc. You haven't seen Star Wars until you've seen the originals.

a new hope

I think my friend's dad has the original tapes.

sum1

Watch them!