gobalicious said:
Bingowings said:
MrInsaneA said:
DominicCobb said:
I've said it before, and I'll say it again. There's not much of a point to preserving the OT secrets in the PT, especially not if you're trying to create a definitive edit saga.
Exactly. Plus the OT is so ingrained in pop culture there's no POINT in keeping the secrets anymore.
That's like saying the crapness of the PT is so ingrained in pop culture there's no POINT in changing it.
The point is providing a demonstration of the PT as it could have been, and providing an alternative to how it turned out.
It's episodes 1 to 3 so we shouldn't have the surprises to 4 spoiled.
I'd always be interested in seeing a saga edit where the surprises of the OT are preserved, but I fear such doing a thing detracts from the very reasons the story of the PT is so interesting.
To me, the most compelling point of making a PT in the first place is to show the transformation of Anakin Skywalker to Darth Vader. Hiding that transformation creates a giant hole in the story and will ultimately leave me unsatisfied (unless a clever editor can prove me wrong).
The only compelling argument there is to preserve the surprises is simply because the episodes are numbered 1-6. I view the episode numbers merely as chronological indicators, having nothing to do with a preferred viewing order. Perhaps that is misleading to a first-time viewer, but hopefully other means can be used to convey otherwise.
I've always thought the saga was meant to be viewed for the first time as 4-6 and 1-3. 4-6 is a classic tale that assures us good will always triumph over evil, building our interest in this far away galaxy and its people. 1-3 is a cautionary tale that shows how that evil arose in the first place, having lessons that are close to home. A fun adventure story turns complex and thought-provoking. I fear chopping up 1-3, merely to preserve a supposed viewing order, can damage a better, more complete story.
Yeah, this. Seriously guys, how much would you have hated it if the prequels didn't reveal how Anakin became Vader? A lot, I would guess. But maybe I'm wrong. I thought that was the reason the PT was made in the first place.
Now, I know there's a lot of different stories flying around out there, but there's no way you can say that they made the OT first by mistake. When they put "Episode V" in ESB, it was firstly just a throwback. It didn't imply that you had to watch episodes 1, 2, and 3 first. Then they decided that they were going to make the first three episodes. And you know what? nothing can change the fact that the PT was made after the OT on purpose. Despite what Lucas says, the PT was most certainly made to be seen after the OT.
But okay, I get that you want to make the stupid episode order work. But you know what? That just dilutes the OT in my opinion, and the PT (which you certainly do not want diluted, because, you know, you're trying to make it better).
Here's something I wrote in the "Integrating the two trilogies" thread:
1. I know the twist. You know the twist. We all know the twist. You aren't fooling me by killing Anakin in ROTS.
2. Yeah, but so what right? Well, know. The prequels were made to show us how Anakin became Vader. When I watch the prequels I want to see how Anakin became Vader.
3. Yeah but what about the people who don't know the twist? Who? Kidding. No, I think for people who honestly don't know the twist, showing them a version of the PT that "preserves the twist" before the OT is a mistake. WHY? Because the twist is diluted. HOW? Well, let's see
a. Obi-Wan lied! Oh wait, we already knew that.
b. Anakin turned to the dark side! Oh wait, we already knew that. A significant amount of the twist's shock comes from realizing that Luke's father (that great jedi that Luke is trying so hard to follow) became a sith. Really, without this, you're left with this: Anakin is still alive! And he's this guy in the black suit who showed up and has been in the past two episodes! Yeah, not too shocking.
4. You should really watch the OT first. Or at least make it 4-5-1-2-3-6. Contrary to what Lucas says, the PT was not made to be watched before the OT. The PT would have made very little money if no OT fans saw it. The PT was made with the mindset that "people have seen the OT." I realize this isn't much of a reason, because this is one of the things that people try to fix with fan edits, but I'm just saying I would never show someone the PT before the OT. Even if it was fan edited.
Now I'm going to ease back and say that I don't necessarily mind an edit that tries to "preserve the twist" (it would be interesting to watch [and, by the way, the way to do it is to remove Skywalker from Anakin's name. So we know he's Vader, but we just don't know he's Luke's father]), but if I want to watch a definitive ROTS/PT edit/s, I want to see how Anakin became Vader. Not even if I'm watching 4-5-6-1-2-3 or 4-5-1-2-3-6, but even if I'm watching chronological, I know the twist, so I want to see everything that happens. I don't want to miss out on seeing something just because a twist that I already know is being "preserved."
My two cents.