RU.08 said:
yotsuya said:
Again, compared to what Lucas has done, what was done to Titanic is nothing. It is literally insignificant in comparison.
I don’t think it’s insignificant, remember most people are actually happy with the Special Editions, just as most people are probably happy with the version of 2012 Titanic, or the re-graded versions of The Good The Bad The Ugly and Jurassic Park.
What editing changes were made?
There were no editing changes made to the 1997 Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi either, and of the two important editing changes in Star Wars, the Jabba Scene and the Luke/Biggs scene in the rebel hanger, I think most OOT fans actually like the second of those scenes.
From all the previous posts I’ve read, nothing was changed that affected he story or even the run time. Where even Blade Runner has been edited in ways that affect the run time (though he was nice enough to include the 4 previous releases if you bought the full set). And Star Wars has been edited with every new release going clear back to the original 77 releases (at least three effects shots were replaced after the film was released). JC just cleaned things up and tweaked some sky shots for the HD released. That is not a new thing to do. If that was all Lucas had done to Star Wars in 97, I don’t think this site would even exist.
The 1997 Special Edition was made under the same mandate. To remaster the badly degraded effects shots - optical wipes, the speeder scene through Mos Eisley, reduce visible black matte lines, etc. That is a restoration, but it’s not a preservation of the films.
JC has gons through a number of his old films and digitally “fixed” errors/mistakes/limitations of the originals, including Titanic. This transforms a film that was shot and edited entirely on film into something it’s not.
Anyway it’s fine if you like the 2012 version, just as it’s fine for people to like the Special Editions. All I’m interested in is preserving the original theatrical version.
My point was that your characterization of what JC has done to Titanic is an exaggeration. No, it does not preserve all the glitches, but he did not change the story. Lucas went through and recomposited nearly every wipe. He inserted serveral sections into ANH, a couple into TESB, and made some major changes to ROTJ. So the characterization that no editing changes were made to TESB and ROTJ is simply not the case. Editing changes were made to all three, while the most severe were mande to ANH, the other two did not escape undedited. The wampa, Cloud City, Vader’s departure, Jedi Rocks, the Sarlaac, and the Victory Celebration were all as major as Mos Eisley, Jabba, and Biggs.
And this isn’t something new. Lawrence of Arabia no longer exists in any of its original theatrical forms (mainly because none of them were the Director’s vision). It was remasterd in the 80’s into the Director’s cut and that is the only one I have seen since. It restored all of the studio mandated cuts for various markets, including having the actors come back to dub some of their lines where the audio had been lost. It was called a restoration because they restored all the cut elements per the Director. Other films have suffered similar fates over the years.
And I am all for preserving all versions. I am in the process of trying to ferret out all the alternate shots in ANH to compile what seems to be the original theatrical version that is only preserved in the less than ideal quality of Puggo Grand and the Moth3r bootleg tape. So I am all for preserving, but I do not think such extreme comments are called for when a director just goes in and cleans up his work with modern tools. Yes, preserve both, but there is no need to call such a minor tweaking (compared to what Lucas has done) a major reworking.