Star Wars Movies Coming to Blu-ray

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Of course YOU wouldn't. They can take it though if it fits, or if they forgive me for not BSing them.
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Of course YOU wouldn't. They can take it though if it fits, or if they forgive me for not BSing them.
.... First of all, I'm not BSing anybody, if you're trying to imply that I am. Second, I don't see a reason to be embarrassed, whether it's in regards to everything I've said in here, anywhere else or just because of how fabulous I am -- that doesn't embarrass me, either.

Lay off me!



Firstly, I think by referencing 1976, SC meant Star Wars and, therefore, should've said 1977.

Secondly, SC, I think you're wrong on just about everything you've said about Lucas re-editing and adding (in terms of material) to the Star Wars films. However, the one thing you're right about is that they're his (as he literally owns them) and he can and does do what he wants with them. Mainly because I doubt he can do anything else and he's a greedy ****wit who's willing to screw every fan of his creation stupid enough to keep paying out for these revisions.



Firstly, I think by referencing 1976, SC meant Star Wars and, therefore, should've said 1977.
Actually, I was just tossing out a year that wasn't current. It could have been 1948, 1962, 1989, it doesn't matter.

Originally Posted by honeykid
Secondly, SC, I think you're wrong on just about everything you've said about Lucas re-editing and adding (in terms of material) to the Star Wars films. However, the one thing you're right about is that they're his (as he literally owns them) and he can and does do what he wants with them. Mainly because I doubt he can do anything else and he's a greedy ****wit who's willing to screw every fan of his creation stupid enough to keep paying out for these revisions.
Well, he might be. I don't know. I just thought it was possible he could feel like he wants to get the films *perfect* in his mind before he dies. I mean, maybe he's that dedicated to it. Maybe there's really a lot of love going on and not greed. Couldn't that be possible, too?



Well, he might be. I don't know. I just thought it was possible he could feel like he wants to get the films *perfect* in his mind before he dies. I mean, maybe he's that dedicated to it. Maybe there's really a lot of love going on and not greed. Couldn't that be possible, too?
Sounds like a very selfish love to me.
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I see. Y'know if you'd picked a year another year or two away, I probably would've got that. Everyone disregard what I said about Star Wars. I was way off.

If these changes were loved (not even universally loved, just the majority) or he didn't tinker with them every other year to 'up' the income, I may be persuaded to think along those lines. The closest I can come to it is that he really wants to be a film director, but feels messing with the behemoth he created is the only way he can do it now, as he hasn't got the balls to direct something new.



If these changes were loved (not even universally loved, just the majority) or he didn't tinker with them every other year to 'up' the income, I may be persuaded to think along those lines. The closest I can come to it is that he really wants to be a film director, but feels messing with the behemoth he created is the only way he can do it now, as he hasn't got the balls to direct something new.
I don't know. To me, in our current day and age, I feel there might be some logic to what I was saying about Lucas spending more time trying to perfect Star Wars for future generations. For one... Star Wars is just too huge and too epic and too universally loved. It's his masterpiece. It's his baby. It's his thing - his reason for being alive. He might not have another great story/great movie in him. Even if he did, would it be accepted the way Star Wars is accepted? Probably not. People - at least in our day and age - just aren't very accepting of new things. At least that's how it seems to me. People fall in love with one great thing a person does and they seem to get stuck. Artists have a hard time topping something -- and with something like Star Wars -- that's a very, very, very, very, very BIG thing to top.

Imagine that you created Star Wars. Holy ****, right? How would that affect you as a person? Really think about it. Imagine that you took the putty and came up with that. We really can't see it from his perspective. George Lucas is a God in his own way. He is the God of Star Wars. And one day soon, he's gonna die and he's gonna disappear and he's gonna be quiet forever. But that whole universe -- that whole Star Wars thing he created -- is gonna stick around. Thousands of years might go by and Star Wars could still be around and still be cherished. Thousands of years. Think about that. Let's pretend it's the year 6711. And Star Wars is still known by everybody.

Why care about trying to create something new? Could he care? Certainly. But at the stage he's at now, is it really important? Not really. It's like winning the lottery -- yeah, there's a lot of great movies out there -- but Star Wars? That's winning the lottery. That's a saga. That's a beloved saga. Everybody sees it. He has won a lottery among filmmakers. He gets to be the God of this thing.

Knowing all that -- and thinking about the future -- wouldn't you at least pause and think, what if it's not done? What if I don't have it right? What if it could be improved? Do I really want to leave it untouched when I've still got time to make it better? I know everybody's telling me to leave it alone and that they hate the changes and it sucks, but I feel I could improve upon it. I should make it better. That thing is gonna be around for eternity... I can't keep it the way it is. I know I could make it a lot more interesting. They may not realize it now, but someday they will. I know it works - it has a power to transform people's lives - I don't have to do too much, but I know I could do some things to make it even more impressive.

Maybe he's just really nervous or something. Maybe he's self conscious or worried about it looking too old and dated sometime in the future. But I bet if you sat down with Lucas, one on one, and had a really deep talk with him, you would probably come to understand why he's doing this and that it's not just because of money. Now, yes, I could be wrong - but what if I'm not? What if this is something he strongly feels the need to do?

He is an artist. He might be getting called to do this somehow. The same mind that's making these changes is the same mind that created it in the first place. We should honor and respect that, even if just a little.



Hey, if his tinkering had actually improved it that'd be great. It's not just Star Wars, it'll the other two as well. None of the 'improvements' actually have been, IMO. Extra shots, a few extra seconds here and there, usually with some 'comical' CGI monster farting, burping or throwing a stormtrooper off. None of these things sound like significant improvements, things that generations from now would be looked at as the great final touches from a master. Even if I liked them or thought them funny.

I understand the scene he inserted in Star Wars with Jabba. That's something I could see as an improvement. Something that he wanted to do before but couldn't. At least, not with Jabba as we know him. Something which links the films. I don't like it, but I acknowledge that it's an attempt to make the film closer to his vision. Even having Greedo shoot first, while a criminal act of cinematic vandalism as far as I'm concerned, could be seen as 'correcting a mistake'. Would Hitchcock have gone back and rejigged Sabotage so that the bomb didn't explode, if he could've? We'll never know.

However, those are the only examples I can think of where you could argue that he's improved the films. An attempt at perfection. Let's face it, but for 20th Century not taking Star Wars seriously and thinking they were getting the better of the deal made with Lucas, he wouldn't be able to do any of this. He's the Bill Gates of Hollywood.



In a way, I can understand George Lucas for doing this. It's his movie and he feels it's unfinished.
But, it's not the thing we fell in love with anymore, now is it?

I don't know. To me, in our current day and age, I feel there might be some logic to what I was saying about Lucas spending more time trying to perfect Star Wars for future generations. For one... Star Wars is just too huge and too epic and too universally loved. It's his masterpiece. It's his baby. It's his thing - his reason for being alive. He might not have another great story/great movie in him. Even if he did, would it be accepted the way Star Wars is accepted? Probably not. People - at least in our day and age - just aren't very accepting of new things.
Sure.

At least that's how it seems to me. People fall in love with one great thing a person does and they seem to get stuck. Artists have a hard time topping something -- and with something like Star Wars -- that's a very, very, very, very, very BIG thing to top.

Imagine that you created Star Wars. Holy ****, right? How would that affect you as a person? Really think about it. Imagine that you took the putty and came up with that. We really can't see it from his perspective. George Lucas is a God in his own way. He is the God of Star Wars. And one day soon, he's gonna die and he's gonna disappear and he's gonna be quiet forever. But that whole universe -- that whole Star Wars thing he created -- is gonna stick around. Thousands of years might go by and Star Wars could still be around and still be cherished. Thousands of years. Think about that. Let's pretend it's the year 6711. And Star Wars is still known by everybody.
This is so completely irrelevant because people loved it before he started making changes! If it's still looked at 4 thousand years from now with affection then it won't matter what version is praised! He doesn't have to change it for people to like it down the line! It's still loved, even when it isn't altered!

Oy.
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One of the most important things about art--and one of the most important things about life--is that it ends. Is that it at some point you put it down and say it's done. Or, as Chesterton puts it, "the most important part of every picture is the frame."

Movies are not reality. Everyone knows that. So everyone is perfectly happy to watch the old Star Wars movies and not care that the Ewoks don't blink. If his goal is to stop his movies from looking dated, well, he's only delaying the inevitable, because at some point he will die and it'll happen eventually. You can't outrun that.

The problem with these changes, to my mind, is that they are indicative of inconsistent storytelling. When he goes back and makes Vader say "Nooooooo" in The Return of the Jedi, it's because he did something like that in the prequels and he wants to create a foreshadowing, a connection between them. The only problem is, he didn't do it initially, so the whole point of the foreshadowing (watching the prequel and realizing it harkens back to the originals) is lost. He decided he'd rather adjust his story and then go back and iron out the inconsistencies and missed opportunities, rather than continue the story in a way consistent with what he'd already done. I think that's just the wrong way to tell a story.

I don't think he's trying to hurt anyone. I think he's a perfectionist. But perfectionists need to reign themselves in, or have people around them who will. I don't think Lucas is the kind of guy who ever has to listen to anyone tell him "no" ever again, so I don't know if that'll happen.

I think he means well. I just think he lacks perspective, about how people relate to his films, and about how art works in general.

Hypothetically, I suppose one could plan out a movie that changes over time. It's an interesting thing to potentially do. But it's not the kind of thing that works retroactively, and if you were going to do it right, it wouldn't look anything like this.



Well, I think we've all made some wonderful progress here since yesterday so why don't you kids all run right out and buy this steaming pile so Lucas can just get a little richer, OK? Because surely, it's all about the art, right? He would never just do this for the money. That's just crazy talk.

I know this is unrelated, but this whole thread is pretty unrelated at this point. This is a great reason why I download off of the internet. I mean, seriously. How many times will consumers allow this guy to go to the well? Answer? Every time. This bugs me and I will not participate in it. I don't even have a blu-ray player but I may down load these for free just to seed them back to somebody else so they don't have to pay for them either. No one should have to pay for this tripe.
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Well, I think we've all made some wonderful progress here since yesterday so why don't you kids all run right out and buy this steaming pile so Lucas can just get a little richer, OK? Because surely, it's all about the art, right? He would never just do this for the money. That's just crazy talk.

I know this is unrelated, but this whole thread is pretty unrelated at this point. This is a great reason why I download off of the internet. I mean, seriously. How many times will consumers allow this guy to go to the well? Answer? Every time. This bugs me and I will not participate in it. I don't even have a blu-ray player but I may down load these for free just to seed them back to somebody else so they don't have to pay for them either. No one should have to pay for this tripe.
Nice attitude.

Did it ever occur to you that Lucas doesn't need any more money? I'm pretty sure that's the last reason he's making changes. Besides, it's not like Blu-Rays suddenly outsell DVDs.



I dunno what's going on in that dude's head, but he is pretty rich. I have no problem believing that he does it because he's a confused perfectionist, and not for the cash. And I'd almost prefer the latter explanation, because it makes more logical sense to me.



Wow, lots of emotions being built up in here it seems. Without reading through it all, I don't mind that he's adding things like Ewoks blinking, it seems he's trying to make timeless films timeless, literally. My big beef however is that he's monopolising the releases and only giving us these versions. Sure it's 'his' film and he can make changes he wants and yeah, I get he wants us to see the finished version from his head but we should have the choice to get the version WE want and he can listen to Vader scream when he watches it on his Death Star all he wants.
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That's an especially good point, I think. It's one thing to keep fiddling, it's another to refuse to let people choose between the versions. That, actually, makes me think that it really isn't about money, but about some misguided perfectionism. He doesn't want anyone to see them without the latest tweaks.



If you want to achieve greatness, stop asking for permission
That's an especially good point, I think. It's one thing to keep fiddling, it's another to refuse to let people choose between the versions.
That's exactly what I'm thinking. I want the choice. What's the big deal? Doesn't Lucas have enough money to put out 2 different boxsets? *sigh*

In all honesty, I don't think I will purchase the new boxset. I have the Special Edition DVD boxset for Episodes IV-VI, and they're the original theatrical versions. I don't mind that they're not on Blu-Ray. I own Episode I on DVD also. I don't think I will ever shell out a dime to own Episode II or Episode III.
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