So who's excited for the new trilogy DVD release?

[SDNess]

I am!

 

[Feralia]

it's about time, I've been waiting for this for a long time.

 

[Ivo]

I wasn't until I burned copies of the original releases from laser disk. I was dismayed greatly that Lucas had decided not to include them. Now that I do I feel my collection will be complete.

 

[Foxbat]

Me!

 

[Brian G Turner]

Sorry, I refuse to buy "soiled" imitations - ie, the new DVD box set release.

The original and best only, thanks.

 

[Foxbat]

Somehow I knew you were going to post that Brian

 

[Rane Longfox]

Are these versions actually any different?

 

[Foxbat]

The versions due for release are the ones with added CGI. Purists prefer the originals (which Lucas states willl never be released again).

Personally, I think Lucasfilms should do the decent thing and give the public a choice by releasing both versions.

 

[Rane Longfox]

Ah, so better special effects basically? could be cool, but I smell a cheque-monkey

 

[Foxbat]

Ah, so better special effects basically?

That's about the size of it. It seems strange that they don't think about releasing both versions. I'm sure that there are quite a few anoraks (I include myself in this group) who would probably buy both versions

 

[Brian G Turner]

The effects aren't better, though. In Star Wars, TIE Fighters now look like shiny plastic, and Jabba the Hutt looked so unrealistically and comedic it's unreal - much different to the menacing revulsion Jabba carried in Return of the Jedi.

It's not about being purist, as much as the fact that classics are classics, and should be left that way. It's rewriting history otherwise.

Imagine if a ghost-written novelisation of the Peter Jackson movies was the only version of Lord of the Rings that would ever be released - with the original Tolkien burned. Wouldn't that be a good idea? After all, the films made far more money than the books, so surely that justifies it?

The CGI'ed Star Wars versions are not the classic movies we saw as kids. The arrogance of the man dumping those horrendous prequels on us, then changing the original movies, is appalling.

A choice would satisfy me. In my opinion, Lucas is simply going to stoke a strong pirate market for the originals by insisting consumers only have access to the inferior later editions.

Lucas may think he's completing a vision - but as history has shown, Lucas needs strong criticism of his work to make it adequately strong. This is precisely what seems to have been lacking in his more recent work - hence why the sycophants he obviously works with having not protested any of the awful decisions he's made since returning to the sreen.

 

[Rane Longfox]

Well, I have the originals anyway. Mwahaha.

(Not the original originals, obviously, but copies that are no different...)

 

[Foxbat]

The effects aren't better

Hmm. Perhaps we should have said 'The effects have been updated'

 

[Brian G Turner]

Yes, but...shiny plastic TIE fighters?

Updated does not mean better - as we can see with all the splurge of poor CGI stuffed into popcorn films these days.

 

[Foxbat]

Updated does not mean better

Very true. And I agree that CGI is being overdone in films - it still has a novelty factor. No doubt things will settle down in time and we will start to see a much more mature blending of all types of special effects. The problem in this case lies solely with Lucas himself. I just cannot understand the man refusing to allow a release of the original versions. What makes it doubly ironic is that when the THX branded CAV Laser Discs were released, the films were lovingly restored for the occasion - so it's not as if he doesn't have a high quality version to put on the market.

I know I would feel aggrieved if they took the old Basil Rathbone Sherlock Holmes films and added new footage so I have some sympathy for your position. Certainly didn't mean to tread on your toes

 

[Silk]

The versions due for release are the ones with added CGI. Purists prefer the originals (which Lucas states willl never be released again).

The thing is you just know that isn't true!

Give it a couple of years and LucasFilms are absolutely guaranteed to do this as a special edition for the ??th anniversary, or does nobody else remember that about 3 versions were released on video only a few years ago?

 

[Foxbat]

Good point Silk. Hold that thought for a couple of years and we'll see

 

[Silk]

I also totally agree with what you were saying about CGI being overdone in films, I went to watch Van Helsing a while back and was appalled by the lack of quality in the CGI they used but let them off thinking it was a low budget film; I then found out that they had a budget of about $500 million or something else ridiculous and still couldn’t come up with anything better!!!!

 

[SDNess]

I just skimmed the replies -- so sorry if this has been already said.

Updated does not mean better

I've noticed several replies like this.

What you have to understand is that when Lucas was filming the original trilogy the procedure was not a fun time for him. Basically, throughout the filming of each episode there were problems. Always problems. Actors and actresses being annoying, models not being ready, sandstorms in the desert of Tunisia...et cetera.

Therefore, the filming of the original episodes are only remembered in stress by Lucas. It is quite possible that the changes he is adding in the old trilogy -- to fit with the new arc -- are Lucas' only attempt to set things straight deep inside himself. He's been waiting twenty or so years to fix certain scenes that he has been displeased with, and this is his chance. The results have not been pleasing to the fans, but to Lucas they probably have. He has every right to change the old trilogy and not release the original version.

There is an article on this in the latest edition of Time magazine.

 

[Brian G Turner]

All good films have their moments of stress - the difference was that Lucas was forced to work to other people's criticisms in the original films, and that's what made them stronger. Lucas is simply snubbing the consumer - the original fans - by refusing to let them see the very films in their original form - films that really did change the world.

However, the point about anniversaries is a good point - Star Wars will be 30 years old in 2007. I wouldn't be surprised if there's a boxed set DVD release then. However, I'm not waiting 3 years for Lucas to do his marketing patter - I'll almost certainly have pirate copies from LaserDisc by then.