Star Wars is now a very successful direct-to-video franchise.  With that model in mind, there's no reason to release anything on video that people have already seen before.  Every future release will contain changes until the copyright expires and we can finally end the madness.

Yeah I personally don't mind some cosmetic changes, but when you change scenes a bit it's kind of annoying. I really wish he'd just stop messing around with the franchise because it's getting on many peoples nerves. 

It's just an easy way to resell the series - "Come and watch/buy this! It's got loads of new stuff you haven't seen before!"

It's a proven technique.

Bester said:

It's just an easy way to resell the series - "Come and watch/buy this! It's got loads of new stuff you haven't seen before!"

It's a proven technique.

doubleofive said:

Bester said:

It's just an easy way to resell the series - "Come and watch/buy this! It's got loads of new stuff you haven't seen before!"

It's a proven technique.

But a lot of the time they won't even mention that they made more changes. It's just assumed now.

And to answer the original post: I have no doubt in my mind that each new format will bring new changes.

Word-of-mouth can be a pretty powerful self-perpetuating hype machine (even if a large element of it is negative).

zalarcon said:

It gets to the point when you have to ask:  "How much change is enough?"    If he change the movies too much, these movie would start to look very different from the original ones. That is when change can be a bad thing.  I hope to read other interesting posts here at http://www.originaltrilogy.com 

Yes, George Locu$t will continue to defile the corpse of the OT.

I think he's addicted.

I believe that GL considers the movies his "sandbox" in which he plays. And, I also believe that he instills this mindset on the people who work for him. Whenever they make a new release, they have a little bit of fun seeing what they can do.  So yes, with this mindset, of course they will keep making changes... not just Lucas, but the folks working with him too (like they guy who went out in the alley and made the new Krayt dragon call).

Somehow it manages to escape them all that by doing this in the absence of a preservation of the originals, that a small but important part of cinematic history is being lost.  If they would just also do a proper preservation, most of us would probably enjoy the little changes and think they were fun too.

They get away with it because most people don't care about film history -- if they are entertained that's all they care about. And if you're George, having millions of people publicly opining that his detractors are stupid must be very empowering.

Cosmetic surgery, like tattoos and body piercings can feel empowering but if it turns into addiction you have to walk around town looking like a freakish clown and either justify your increasingly bizarre look to yourself (which is probably a lesson that is best learned when coping with the effects of entropy) or develop an 'up yours' defense to mockery.

George never did this to his body (though that hair looks a bit suspect) but he did do it to his body of work.

His films are becoming the Pete Burns of cinema.

I have no doubt the they will continue to be altered. Most of the changes/additions I could live with if the originals were properly preserved. But 'Jedi Rocks'... that just pulls me out of the moment every time.

Maybe it would be fun if with each new release, they replace the song in Jabba's Palace with whatever is #1 on the pop charts at the time!

That, and adding yells to what was previously wordless self-sacrifice is mildly annoying. Like Vader's "NO!" in the Jedi blu-ray, and the now undone scream from Luke in the '97 incarnation of Empire. It reminds me of public restrooms, on a not-quite-related note. I seem to be one of the few men that can go into a restroom and do my business without grunting. No need to vocalize. Just do it!

What really gets me, though, is that it seems even the prequels aren't safe from tinkering. Lucas had absolutely every tool at his disposal to make those exactly how he wanted them, and he STILL feels the need to alter them. I think he's addicted.

filmmaker George Lucas:

his evil alter ego George Lucus:

^ I see what you did there. ^

"There is still good in him."

"He is more CG now than man, twisted and evil."

Will the Pope keep wearing a funny hat?

TV's Frink said:

Will the Pope keep wearing a funny hat?

I think it was intended as an answer to the thread title's question. Like, "Does Batman wear a cape?"