darkhelmet said:Hey, guys. Sorry I've been MIA; work was out of control this week.

My boss' daughter's wedding and me slammed with projects, and now I'm late to start my vacation. I'll be back Wednesday night.

If someone wants to get this started without me, go for it. I'll jump on the train when I get back.

How about the new thread being called "Sub-standard September DVD Release Complaint Writing Campaign (aka, Sales Aren't the Only Way to See that There Is Demand for an Industry-standard Release)"? I know; a little wordy.

I think the target focus for the emails/letters should be how this release of the OOT is substandard (the movies being included merely as "bonus material", as non-anamorphic [if that really bothers you], as being sourced from a 13 year old laser disc master when so much restoration went into the SE editions theatrically and for the DVDs in 2004 - you know, like a little more work to restore them fully to original would've been that hard, and that this kind of treatment of the movies which MADE LUCAS and which had such cultural impact globally [not to mention that SW won an Academy Award or two] is something that any other studio would not have let happen to the DVD releases)...

...AND that it is borderline, if not outrightly, fradulent (see the Star Wars Insider info below).

There. That's what I think we should focus on.

And I think we should use as many authoritative sources of info as possible to make our points (e.g., the email responses of John Singh, Lucasfilm, Ltd. Publicity; maybe the Digital Bits article(s) on the DVD releases; etc. I know there's a juicy tidbit I'm missing, but I can't bring it to mind; I hate that).

I'm gonna start emailing when I get back. Please, don't wait for me; I'll jump in when I get back from vacation.

Maybe we can start with Entertainment Weekly since that's a pretty big magazine, though it looks like we will need to tie our complaints to an EW article (I'm thinking of tying mine to the May 20, 2005 edition (#820) which had Hayden Christensen on the cover as Anakin; the cover was dominated by Star Wars).

Here's all the best contact info that I have:

Star Wars Insider
(Interestingly enough, the "Star Wars Shop" pages of the Sept/Oct issue (#89) lists the upcoming DVDs in a bundled package as "Star Wars Original Trilogy DVD Set $59.99". There is no mention in the item description of the fact that these DVDs include the OOT as only non-anamorphic bonus material with the SEs as the main attraction.)

Comlink Letters:
comlink@insider.starwars.com
Comlink, P.O. Box 23500, Oakland, CA 94623-2350
_________________
Empire
Mappin House
4 Winsley Street
London
W1W 8HF

empire@emap.com
http://www.empireonline.com/
___________________

All following magazines owned by Visual Imagination Ltd.of the U.K.:

Starburst (Sci-fi mag;DVD reviews)
http://www.visimag.com/starburst/
starburst@visimag.com

Film Review (British Movie Mag; DVD reviews)
http://www.visimag.com/filmreview/index.htm
filmreview@visimag.com

Ultimate DVD (upcoming DVD releases)
http://www.visimag.com/ultimatedvd/index.htm
ultimatedvd@visimag.com
__________________
Entertainment Weekly Magazine (has an "Obsessive Fan of the Week" spot on the letters page for good-natured and quirky fan opinion)
Letters reference articles in previous issues; tie the DVD discussion to an article you've read in EW):
letters@ew.com
http://www.ew.com/ew
__________________
Total Film Magazine
http://www.totalfilm.com/
Letters are article-related and non-article-related opinions and commentary:

Total Film, 2 Balcombe Street, London, NW1 6NW
Editor - Mark Dinning (not sure if this is the correct contact; website had a list of people)
mark.dinning@futurenet.co.uk

Reviews Editor - Andy Lowe (maybe this person is the one)
andy.lowe@futurenet.co.uk
____________________

Uncut DVD Magazine (U.K.)
Editorial Enquiries Uncut, IPC Media, 25th Floor,
King’s Reach Tower, Stamford Street, London SE1 9LS

Tel: 020 7261 6992 Fax: 020 7261 5573
http://www.uncut.co.uk/magazine/uncutdvd/

Let's do this! See you in 5 days.

 

I think if we really want to get serious and declare war on Georges fat arse we will have to fight some gorilla war-fare ...sith lord style. What I mean by that we need tactics that take this above and beyond playing the establishments playing field. You guys can write all the emails complaining if you wish but I will be using far more extreme tactics. George had his chance to listen. Instead of complaining to the film preservations, like AFI. or entertainment company's and the media. I will start rumors around the net, on forums, ect... that Lucas is all ready in trouble with the film preservation companys for altering classic films. From here I write many emails and letters under different names informing the media that Lucas is in trouble with the film preservation. The I just sit back..lets put some pressure on Lucas for once. Another good tactic would be to hit many online forums, (movie forums, collectors forums, chat forums, starwars forums) with links and info to Adywan's Revisited releases. When the public see that these are superior to the lucasfilm version it will make them look bad. This will show the public how out of touch and lost Lucas really is when they see that one guy with a vision can do a better job then a mega corporation. It show the people that we really don't need to be treated like this and we are not weak and have to take the BS Lucas would like to spoon-fed us. We have the power, If we use the power of the internet we can really cripple Lucas... easy. God knows the fat bastard deserves it. Maybe then he will wake up and maybe even listen for once

I was about to say "Did someone actually up this thread?"

But seriously, you would think the fact that a fan went through the trouble of painstakingly restoring - in high definition - the original version of a movie when the guy who owns the rights to it won't would be enough to convince said copyright owner to release the damn thing (especially since it would be much easier for him to do an even better job, having access to the actual interpositives, prints, etc) and make a ton of money off of it! People all over the internet are talking about Adywan's project. Maybe Lucas will actually get wind of it and at least reconsider.

Georgy is too busy pushing Starwars into kiddie land to worry about reality. it all started with dumb ewoks then Jar Jar's Big Adventure or something like that. Phantom Menace maybe. now its clone wars on seasame street.. keep it corney, kiddy, safe and bring in the big $$$. Woeful. Absolutely woeful. But hey, George likes it. Now all the Georgy boy fans are saying " come now Darth Yub Nub, dont pick on George. Georgys new movies are so good and they're so clean cut and they're such a good image for the children." Fuck that! When did mediocrity and banality become a good image for your children? I want my children to see starwars movies that fucking ROCKED! I don't care if they see Gungans dying in puddles of their own vomit! Lucas film...(cocksucking noises) "We're so clean cut!" Seig Heil! Heil! Heil! A good clean country... Heil! Heil! Heil! (more cocksucking noises) Fuck that! I want my gungans dead! Another thing that sucks is that stupid robot chicken star wars DVD is selling for over $20 and it only goes for 20 mins. http://www.collider.com/entertainment/tv/article.asp/aid/4187/tcid/1 Some of its funny but its just hype and I wouldn't even bother to illegally down that. yet Lucas will support Robot Chicken but will not even give Adywans masterpiece any mention or the respect it deserves. Then again, maybe its best to keep Lucas away from Adywans releases anyway.

So far I have receive 2 reply's out of all the email address that were posted. 1st was from Jon malvaney, he said 'I can tell you are upset about the DVD releases of "Star Wars," however the Criterion Collection did not have anything to do with those DVDs so I can't do much other than empathize with your frustration. If you have any questions about Criterion, please feel free to write in again. Best, Jon Mulvaney' I'll probably reply with concerns and asking why he is not doing more to protect a piece of cinema history that Lucas is destroying. 2nd was from The Denver Post asking me to verify my details.

All i have told them is that Lucas maybe in trouble with film preservation groups, Just got one back form Leonard Maltin "Hi...?? I'm sorry I don't have any influence over George Lucas' decisions on how he releases his movies on DVD. I know you are just one of many fans who've been upset over this, so surely his staff is aware of the outcry.??cheers,? Leonard " I said ' just thought you would of been interested, and found it concerning that Lucas may of actually destroyed a piece of cinema history. But maybe you are just one of many film reviewer that don't care? Lucas could be in trouble for destroying the original 1977 prints of star wars and editing over the top of them with his inferior S.E So in the future he will have big problems with film preservation organizations, like AFI. Film preservationists are strictly against altering classic films, and George Lucas has said that the original trilogy can't be put on a DVD in anamorphic film because essentially the films supposedly "don't exist" anymore. Hearing that will piss the preservationists off to no end. Lucas destroyed them when he made his Special editions. Edition that were not needed.'