Interview Lucasfilm on Star Wars the Complete Saga Blu-ray: Part II Matthew Wood (1 Viewer)

[DarthYotsuya]

I remember leaving the movie theater after seeing Jedi the weekend it opened, and my friends and I looked at each other somewhat dumbfounded, and we remarked "how the hell did they manage to ruin Star Wars? Since when is it muppets and teddy bears in space?" Keep in mind, I was a smartass know-it-all 17 year old at the time. It just didn't work for me at first. I saw it again years later in 1997 and finally appreciated it more than I did originally. A friend of mine showed me his laserdisc of it, and then I saw the Special Edition, which I felt was an improvement. So the notion that this was some sort of untouchable masterpiece until suddenly last week seems a little strange to me.

It's not a matter of untouchable just for this film. It is the principle that a film has been altered and is no longer available. It doesn't matter if it is Star Wars or Dumb and Dumber, the principle is that once released, it should be preserved and remain available. Ridley Scott did this with Blade Runner. Each of the five versions of the film is preserved on disc. I can watch the workprint, the 1982 US version, the 1982 UK, version, the 1992 Directors Cut or the 2007 Final Cut, all pretty much at the same quality. With Star Wars, I have the originals as mastered for SD home video, the 1997 SE as mastered for SD home video, the 2004 version as seen on DVD and HD broadcast, and how the 2011 SE on Blu-Ray. Just comparing the image quality of the old SD home video quality to the 2004 DVD, and assuming that the BR is even higher, the SD quality is pathetic. It really is a shame that for someone who loves the original movies, that I can't truly enjoy them. We are now going on 4 major version of the films and those of us who have been following this all along are really getting sick of the constant changes and lack of fixes to know issues. He is so concerned with R2 hiding behind a rock, but I haven't heard that he fixed the blatant double R5 in a previous scene. There are more important issues he should be fixing rather than more tweaking. He says he wants to make them closer to his original vision, but he never fixes anything, only makes changes that make the fans even more unhappy with him and how he is presenting the films. We could forgive him if he would give us the originals to enjoy at the same time, but he doesn't seem to be willing to do that.

 

[richardburton84]

Ay curumba, first we get a cgi Yoda in Episode I, then the changed dragon call in Episode IV, and now the Vader scream. We've got to do something about Lucas. He only continues to destroy our childhood memories. I am not getting this set for two reasons. My mom doesn't want to buy it since it is not the originals, but this only serves to justify it. Second, as a Youtuber said, if we buy this set, we'll only instigate even more changes in 2018. If you buy it, it's fine with me. But for those who won't buy it, anyone got us a different idea.

 

[Mike Wadkins]

The DNR in TPM along with the missing docs and the changes have 100% made me decide to walk away from this set.

 

[Mike_G]

Can you quote me where I said it was "ok"? There were NO Technicolor IB prints of Star Wars made in 1981. There is no film restorationist in the world who would treat a print such as the one in question as a "1981 print" because a TRUE 1981 print would be on 100% Eastmancolor stock. It's a 1977 print with a 1981 scroll spliced on and that's the most accurate way to describe it. The fact that someone could someday find the original scroll, attach it to this print and make it a TRUE 1977 print, kind of makes any discussion about the whole of this print being "from 1981" kind of ridiculous. I'm sorry - we've already hijacked enough of this thread with this issue, and I won't contribute to that any more than I already have.

Uh huh.... Wrong. There were some prints on Fuji.

 

[montrealfilmguy]

I feel im gonna go with a useless post but here goes anyways,maybe it will at least trigger some thought process into some people. I am glad to see that some people are actually taking a stand on this.That some here (and other places on the net also ) have indeed come to the conclusion that enough is goddamn well enough. As i pointed out half-seriously half-jokingly before,this may well be a marketing coup on the part of uncle George. Make a lot of people mad / sad / berzerk now,sell a ton more later by releasing the unaltered trilogy.Lose pennies here,get dollars there. For the life of me,theres got to be part of this man's brain that acknowledges that whenever he asks spfx people working on changes,people working for him just smile uncomfortably through their teeth and say yes when he asks "this is a good change right ? Vader scream ? I keep wondering what Coppola and Spielberg thinks.I wonder what Marcia thinks. You and your old buddies can only watch Rashomon so many times before putting the mogulness aside and having an honest conversation about all this. I bet some people here probably are thinking what a naive way to view all this,to see this in a hopeful way that no longer exists on this planet.But thats okay cause the same people usually think it's only Star wars.No biggie. Stupid 45-year old fanboy.Who cares. So i think thats a big naive oversight on the 30 years of impact the first film has made. As i've stated before,if changes or alterations in cinematic oeuvres were regarded as ok with directors,then all directors would do it. I mean the kind of changes that transform what made it great in the first place.I dont think cgi rocks or rontos make a dent,but if you make Vader telegraph the inner turmoil by screaming or erase altogether Sebastian Shaw so he doesnt show up a a ghost at the very end,yet he was there just a few minutes prior dying in front of Luke,something is definitely lost here.Something that stirred inside a lot of us in 1983 is now but a fading memory.The cheer that once existed is now a sorrowful sigh. Thats what im against.The very thing that boils my insides is that someone would say to me forget this fact,this truth.The only one that matters now is this one over here.Accept it and everything will be fine. Tell me we havent stepped into a big pile of censorship now.And then you look up and see the artist that made all this is the one saying it.

 

[Greg_S_H]

I saw this on another forum, found it amusing so thought i'd post it here for all those Han shoots firsts fans, i bet its a lot funnier than the so called spoofs advertised on the new blu ray set, who knows maybe the blu ray actually cobbles some of this together, good idea if they did.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BDkKtAjEbj4&feature=related

 

[Cinescott]

In the end, I think all this "revisionism" comes down to the Could/Should argument. Just because Lucas can and wants to change these films doesn't mean he should, even though he is one of the artists who created Star Wars.

If Turner (or whomever) owns 'The Wizard of Oz" does that mean he should add a third eyeball to Dorothy just because he has an artistic whim? The director's dead. Why would he care? Maybe the director's original intent was to take it in a "darker" direction, but the audiences' sensibilities in the 30s weren't developed enough just like effects in the 70s. A third peeper on Judy Garland seems like a good start to make it "darker." Lets take the sepia out and give it a red, slasher hue. That works. "Oz: You'll Never Leave Here Alive." The marketing writes itself. Let's put Buddy Ebsen back in as the Scarecrow. Wasn't Buddy's fault that he was allergic to the makeup and he was the director's first choice, right? Let's throw Granny in there from The Beverly Hillbillies too for some comic relief. Dump Burt Lahr for Max Baer. He was funnier. I see a much better movie shaping up here, just don't take away my original version!!!!!

 

[montrealfilmguy]

Can Judy sing Eye only have eyes for you ? i know,bu-dum pshhhh You know that part when she slaps the lions and he starts crying,i say we change it. Theres a pause,he rips Judy apart,Lion ,tin man and scarecrow stand there for a while.roll credits. Imagine how many more films we could watch in a month.

 

[Chad R]

It's not a matter of untouchable just for this film. It is the principle that a film has been altered and is no longer available. It doesn't matter if it is Star Wars or Dumb and Dumber, the principle is that once released, it should be preserved and remain available.

And, you know, I understand that. I completely respect that idea that there's no logical reason that Lucas shouldn't release the original version alongside his perferred version. But what gets me is that there's this outrage over the further revisions as if these latest rounds of changes make the film less palatable than they were before. If you don't like revisionism, then there's no point in arguing that these new sets are worse. Once they were changed, and this would include adding "Episode IV - A New Hope", then the films became different. Any changes after that, it's just more changes away from the original. But here we are agruing each new change like it's something to be upset about when it's not. The only argument should be that he release the originals, not whether the new changes are good or bad. [quote name=richardburton84] He only continues to **** our childhood.[/quote] Besides the fact that this remains a detestable word to make a point, it's simply not true. Your childhood is intact. You lived it, it is what it always has been. All he may be doing is preventing you from reliving it from time to time by watching the movie on your HDTV on Blu-ray, but he's done nothing to your childhood. Certainly not enough to belittle what women go through when they are violated in that way. It's time to grow up and put things in perspective.

 

[Coressel]

Originally Posted by Chad R

It's time to grow up and put things in perspective.

Thank you for saying that in a far more diplomatic way than I could have. The whole "raped my childhood" thing makes me ill, and makes me embarrassed to even vaguely associate myself with other fans of this movie. It's offensive, over-the-top and immature, and seriously needs to stop.

 

[montrealfilmguy]

as i like to point out in a Run Lola run kind of way,there are thousands of variables and events that make up my childhood which affected my life and made me what i am today. Books,magazines,a million b-movies,my mom's epileptic seizures,Saturday morning cartoons,Archie comics,being a lone kid when all my bros and sister were already adolescents.. This is the same for everyone.No one did anything that had an impact over my entire childhood.A life is a series of events small and large.

 

[richardburton84]

I apologize for using that word. It will not happen again

 

[Brian Kidd]

How about, "George Lucas helped make my childhood happy but now, apparently, thinks that was a horrible mistake."

 

[Ricardo C]

George Lucas retroactively punched my childhood in the taint.

 

[Douglas Monce]

This i have to hear. You hated the entire film Coressel ? You weren't thrilled with any of it ? Speeder bike chase ? The whole Jabba barge sequence ? Carrie Fisher ? I agree that some parts are meh,and that compared to the one just before,it's a little less Shakespearian,but i find it hard to believe that anyone who was there in 83 walked out onto the street and spit on the sidewalk. Perhaps you went and joined the wrong crowd,the ones i was usually with for the 10 times i saw it were always clapping,cheering loudly throughout Luke and Han 's heroics and generally feeling a great satisfaction with the final chapter of this trilogy. I personally like Lando's narrow escape from the exploding Death star reactor.One of the very best examples of the synergy between editing,spfx,John Williams's epic score and Billy Dee Williams scream of joy as he pushes through the flames and shockwave. At that time,what was expected of that film was indeed delivered.Even if stormtroopers are being clubbed left and right by oversized tribbles. But its not so easy when youre in an AT-ST being pulverized by 2 giant logs.

I know that I was also very disappointed with Return of the Jedi when it was released in 83. There are some amazing sequences, but on the whole I don't particularly like the film, and its the one film in the whole saga that I've only seen maybe 5 times. Among all 6 films, its my least favorite. Doug

 

[FoxyMulder]

Originally Posted by Cinescott


If Turner (or whomever) owns 'The Wizard of Oz" does that mean he should add a third eyeball to Dorothy just because he has an artistic whim? The director's dead. Why would he care? Maybe the director's original intent was to take it in a "darker" direction, but the audiences' sensibilities in the 30s weren't developed enough just like effects in the 70s. A third peeper on Judy Garland seems like a good start to make it "darker." Lets take the sepia out and give it a red, slasher hue. That works. "Oz: You'll Never Leave Here Alive." The marketing writes itself. Let's put Buddy Ebsen back in as the Scarecrow. Wasn't Buddy's fault that he was allergic to the makeup and he was the director's first choice, right? Let's throw Granny in there from The Beverly Hillbillies too for some comic relief. Dump Burt Lahr for Max Baer. He was funnier. I see a much better movie shaping up here, just don't take away my original version!!!!!

I'd happily let them put the Jitterbug song back in, i love that song, Judy sings it great, i suppose having it as an extra is good enough, though i don't have a problem with revised edits they should always allow us the ability to watch the original theatrical cut, we have seamless branching, studio's are not using it enough, probably a ploy to get us to buy future editions of a film.

 

[David Weicker]

I know there is a lot of outrage over changes being made to Star Wars, but really, these are not the first films to be altered by its owners (whether that be studio or creator) and the original not seen again (or not for a very long time). Think about Metropolis, or Greed, or King Kong, or Lost Horizon, or Things To Come or The Magnificent Ambersons. The 'owners' of those films decided to change them for one reason or another. And we, as the viewing public, were only allowed to view them in their altered state. In many cases, the original versions were lost or destroyed. As time went on, some of these have been restored. But usually by new 'owners'. And if you liked the 'changed' versions, those are usually not available For example, when I was growing up, Captain Blood was a 99 minute movie. The reference books told me it had originally been 119 minutes. Around the late 80's, the other 20 minutes were found and added back in. Now the only version available is 119 minutes. If I had been someone who had seen the movie originally in the 30s or 40s, by the 60s I was denied the pleasure of seeing version I remembered - the 119m version. As someone who grew up in the 60s, the 99m version is the one I grew up with. So when the 119m was restored, I no longer could see the 99m version. Now I happen to love the 119m version, and was very glad when it was restored. But my point is that for many movies, only one version at a time, was the rule, not the exception. David

 

[John Alderson]

All good points David. It's a little different now because people are more aware of film preservation, and we have the technology to do it well. With Star Wars though, all of this additional tinkering doesn't bother me in the least. He can mess with them as much as he wants, they're already changed. And they are his. All I really want are pristine versions of the originals, and I still think we will get them some day. Maybe not soon, but hey. The films he is tinkering with now are not the originals (even the prequels' theatrical editions were never released to DVD, except possibly Episode III, not sure about that one). So I can't get any more bent out of shape. In fact it fascinates me to see what he's changed, as it must fit into his vision of the Star Wars universe somehow, and I'd like to see it. Say what you will about Lucas, but he does think about the Star Wars universe a lot. He has too much fun playing with them. And when we get down to it, the films ARE mostly unchanged. But I'll continue to hold out hope that we will one day see the unaltered originals in all their glory. Maybe on UV-Ray or something.

 

[AlexCosmo]

The fact that it's now commonplace for multiple versions to be available to the public just makes it worse. And worse still when you have a guy who is actively cultivating a genuine disrespect for film history among a lot of people. (look around you'll see it happening, among supposed film enthusiasts no less. With snarky teenagers it's fine to be that way about old movies, but grown "film fans"? The hell? You can barely get anyone to care about movies older than 10 years as it is and this ain't helping. ) It's just an ugly thing for a billionaire to spend his time and power doing, of all things.

 

[SD_Brian]

Though I did see each of the films in their original theatrical run, I was too young to really remember the experience so my childhood memories of Star Wars mostly revolve around watching Pan & Scan versions of the three films over and over on a 19" television with mono sound. When we finally got Hi-Fi Stereo copies on VHS, the experience was changed. Later, when I got the Letterboxed Laser Discs and could see the original framing, the experience changed again. With the Special Editions in 1997, the experience changed yet again and so on in 2004 and 2011. When the 3-D versions start coming out next year, the experience will change once more. Since Mr. Lucas (am I the only one who finds it really obnoxious that so many of his "fans" feel they are entitled to be on a condescending first-name basis with him?) seems to be revising and releasing these movies every 7 years, I fully anticipate further changes in 2018 and beyond. I used to get as worked up as anyone about modifications to the films but I just can't do it anymore. I find it exhausting and am amazed that, after all these years and all these changes, so many people can still get so angry about Star Wars. Life is too short. I think now that I've passed the stages of Denial ("Of course the original versions will be re-released!"), Anger ("George Lucas [insert vile verb of your choice here] my childhood!"), Fear ("The original versions no longer exist!") and Bargaining ("If Lucasfilm releases the original versions, I'll buy them!"), I've finally reached the last phase, Acceptance.