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Master Sifo-Dyas

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Join date
17-Mar-2003
Last activity
6-Nov-2018
Posts
564

Post History

Post
#33610
Topic
General announcement re 2004 OT DVDs: please read
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/33610/action/topic#33610
Time
As to my knowledge, George Lucas mentioned that he plans to make an "Archive Edition" of the hexology, where he plans to put all the six movies up to par special effects and canon-wise as he sees fit. This will (finally) be his last word on how he wants people to see the StarWars saga. Fans anticipate that it might be released in 2007, as that is the 30th anniversary of it all.

I think not buying the SE dvds is not such a great loss, after all it will just be 'another roughcut' in a few years. But unlike most OT fans, SE fans will have had their chance to get it on DVD. Oh well, Life's a bitch sometimes.

Edit: I don't think the 2004 release is due to fan pressure, it's just a marketing move to give Episode III a bigger momentum in 2005.
Post
#33449
Topic
custom banner
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/33449/action/topic#33449
Time
Here's my first draft of the first one. I'll be putting up the next one as soon as it is ready. I'll finetune them according to feedback. Jay was nice enough to let me know where to purchase the fonts he used for the site, as soon as I've gotten around buying them, I'll update the banners with the site's fonts.

Post
#33382
Topic
Buy or not to buy. That is the question.
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/33382/action/topic#33382
Time
I won't buy them. And I'm currently attempting to convince as much people as possible to do likewise, by letting them know about the possible ramifications of their actions.
There's also a good chance I'll be able to offer friends who own the OT on VHS an LD backup of the german version of the OT for free in the near future (I live in germany). The force is with us.
Post
#33380
Topic
George Lucas' explanation why the OT is obsolete to him
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/33380/action/topic#33380
Time
@jimbo & Rebel Scumb: I think that's the cool thing about fandom, that there's a variety of views and opinions about the films that exist alongside of each other out there. To me there's not really a 'right' or 'wrong' opinion on these films, life would be so terribly boring if everyone would think the same. That's why I never would want to talk George Lucas out of thinking of the OT as 'work in progress' (although I'm sad he does), the only thing I ask of him is to acknowledge that there's people out there who earn the same respect that he demands for himself.

I don't want him to change his mind and say, "Gee, now that you've whined long enough, I finally understand that the OT is better and I've now adopted your point of view and ditched the archive editions. I'll even call back the SE and scrap it, only to release solely the OT for you guys." I'd never want it that way. I want the SE and I even want to see the AE. His view on things matters to me, regardless of me agreeing with it or not. I just wish, that someday he'll respect my point of view as much as I do respect his and give us the OT on DVD and saying "I don't agree with you at all, but I respect your feelings for the OT, since your lasting passion, money and support for the OT in the beginning made all this possible after all."

Oh well, a man can dream...

@Bossk: I really like that analogy, and I think that George thinks of it more along the lines of the classic trilogy as child that is evolving. To him there is no 'OT child' and a 'SE child' (that's how we feel about it), to him the 'SE child' is the grown up 'OT child' and soon (around 2007, as far as rumors go) it'll mature into the 'AE child'. I think he feels just as passionate about just that as you described it. And that's why I think there's no way of convincing him of our way of seeing things. I think that AICN's Moriarty is right that there's almost no other way than not buying the SE DVDs to show that our feelings about it deserve as much respect as his feelings about it do. Respect is not a one way road.

Edit: Clarified a statement in the 2nd paragraph
Post
#33319
Topic
custom banner
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/33319/action/topic#33319
Time
Announcement: Master Sifo-Dyas ain't dead, he has just joined you in your fight. And he's here to stay. I've been a rather passive member of this forum during the past year. But since Jim Ward's 'kind words' for us fans, I have decided to spend much more time to support originaltrilogy.com and the petition. The first thing I'm currently working on is a bunch of custom made banners to enlarge the already existing selection. I'll post the first banner soon.

I'll also plan to design a flier and going around and putting them into peoples mailboxes to inform them what they will be buying in september and what they might never ever be able to buy if they do so. Jim Ward really knows how to mobilize people against Lucasfilm's opressive marketing dictatorship.

The "Bring my ship" banner really inspired me. It would be cool to see more hobby artists do some cool banners for this site. Don't just sit there, be creative and do something cool for this site - and in the end for yourself, because it just might be that little extra help that is needed to make this big!
Post
#33274
Topic
George Lucas' explanation why the OT is obsolete to him
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/33274/action/topic#33274
Time
I think he's just stubborn and deceived by his own misconceptions about the original trilogy. To be honest, I wouldn't have any problem with his point of view at all. But by making the decision not to release the original trilogies on DVD, he aggressively forces that view onto me.

It saddens me in a way, that he's not ashamed of selling fans every imaginable kind of useless junk as StarWars merchandising, yet he seems to think he'd loose his face if he'd sell us the 'junk version' of his old films on dvd. I mean, even if he couldn't bare contributing to the making of the OT DVDs, he wouldn't have to. After all there wouldn't be any creative input required of him for ILM to clean up the film and remove stuff like the opaque snowspeeder cockpits or black lines around objects. He could leave it all up to the good folks at Lucasfilm and stay at home tinkering on the concepts for his archive edition of the hexology.

Somehow I imagine he's angry of the fact that in the end he will never ever be able to succeed in undoing the OTs - not even by not releasing them on DVD. Fact is, the OT is out there and people still love to watch it. Perhaps the mere fact that he can't prevent people from preferring what he now sees as ugly work in progress, makes him denying them the one thing that would make those people even happier. Along the lines of "if I can't be happy, you won't be either".

I don't envy him at all. But I certainly don't hate him. After all he is still the same person that made the OT and THX-1138.
Post
#33165
Topic
George Lucas' explanation why the OT is obsolete to him
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/33165/action/topic#33165
Time
Darth Bootlegger, I was tempted to believe in a shrewd marketing move myself for a long time. But it was while reading an article by AICN's Moriarty, that I finally realised that Lucas is more than just serious about this. Dead serious, it seems.

For all of you who didn't get around to read it, here's Moriarty's outlook on things:
Quote
Well, by now, you’ve all read the news. Yes, the STAR WARS DVDs are coming. And, as I’ve been saying since we started the Jedi Council articles, they are going to be the SPECIAL EDITIONS from ’97, and not the original untouched films.

I know, I know... you don’t believe it. You’re convinced that George Lucas is going to change his mind and release the films the way you want them released. You’re sure of it. He couldn’t possibly have meant it when he said that he will never release the original theatrical versions of the films again, right?

Personally, I think only a stone cold sap still thinks they’re going to get the originals on DVD anytime soon. I sat in the Egyptian and watched Lucas when they screened clips from the original versions at a special ILM retrospective, and he looked like he wanted to crawl out of his skin. He hates those films. He hates watching those films. He is embarrassed by his own accomplishments, and he has gone around the bend. My advice? Accept it. You’re not going to get another commercial release of the movies. Not now. Not ever.

However... if it really chaps your ass to the degree that you just won’t be able to tolerate the next nine months without whining and crying in every available forum about Lucas and his long-since-announced policy, there is a way you can have a genuine impact. It’s not by signing petitions. It’s not by writing angry posts to message boards. There is one, and only one, absolutely guaranteed method by which you can affect Lucas and possibly force him to change his mind, and that is by organized financial boycott. If fandom decided that it was a big enough deal to them that they were not getting the original theatrical versions of the films, they could demonstrate their personal displeasure by not buying the box set.

And that’ll never happen.
Post
#33081
Topic
George Lucas' explanation why the OT is obsolete to him
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/33081/action/topic#33081
Time
Here's yet another quote that pretty much sums up my point of view on this issue:
Quote
Originally posted by Makabe on the Official StarWars Forums:

Let's be honest here. The Special Editions were not an attempt to make the old movies more like he originally wanted them. The way he originally wanted them was the way they originally were. He did not originally want Greedo to shoot first, he did not originally want that new musical number, he did not originally want Luke to scream when falling down the shaft, he did not originally want to show Vader flying back to his Star Destroyer, he did not originally want more celebration scenes at the end. This was Lucas changing his mind 20 years later, when he should have left well enough alone. Films are not a director's vision alone, they are the collaboration of hundreds of people. The Special Editions threw out the innovative techniques, and the work of the people involved originally, and replaced it with the work of computer geeks, disregarding the work they did and the experience of his original audience.
Post
#33058
Topic
George Lucas' explanation why the OT is obsolete to him
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/33058/action/topic#33058
Time
I've found this snippet of a Star Wars Insider article somewhere on the net a few days ago (It's been taken from issue #60, Page 61). I thought I post it here for those who haven't had a chance to read it yet.
Quote
In the meantime, fans are hoping that Lucas will get around to putting out a comprehensive DVD set of all the Star Wars episodes that matches the high quality of The Phantom Menace DVD. But the filmmaker has bad news for film buffs who hope that the classic trilogy DVDs will feature both the Special Edition versions and the original theatrical versions of the movies. Asked if there’s a possibility of including the original versions as alternate tracks, to show the evolution of the films, showcase the state-of-the-art era, and preserve film history, Lucas said simply, "I don’t think so. I think of the film as The Special Edition. I don’t think of it as the early version, any more than I would put early rough cuts on. I could put four or five rough cuts onto the thing and say, ‘This is how it advanced.’ I consider The Special Edition as being the final version at this point. I don’t even worry about the other ones, because it went through a lot of incarnations to get to the final stage."
Edit: Fixed a typo in the thread title.
Post
#32772
Topic
SE Trilogy on DVD coming this Fall
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/32772/action/topic#32772
Time
@Jay: Although I've not been a busy poster at all, I was with this site from the beginning and I can really relate to your frustration and loss of interest in the whole thing. It may seem silly, but I imagine George Lucas sitting in his throne room gloating at our 'insignificant rebellion' against his narcissist corporate enforcement of the SE. But I still believe I can resist buying the SE dvds in september, if Luke could resist the dark side - so can we.
Post
#32757
Topic
SE Trilogy on DVD coming this Fall
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/32757/action/topic#32757
Time
Quote
Originally posted by:telex54
Quote
"We realize there's a lot of debate out there," says Ward. "But this is not a democracy. We love our fans, but this is about art and filmmaking. [George] has decided that the sole version he wants available is this one."
What a joke. Way to piss off a bunch of people Lucas you pompice-arrogant-tool. I hope you're happy with all the money you have!
Teehee, that was my favorite quote from that article as well, telex54. I'm really disappointed about this. Especially the "We love our fans, but this is about art and filmmaking." part is ridiculous. I mean what the heck does GL think this is about?! The whole point of this petition is to preserve a piece of art - the original versions of one of the most remarkable film trilogies in history.

And Bossk, I think you are right. But we can still do our part and inform the folks in our direct vicinity (friends, collegues, relatives, etc.) and spread the word. I still hope that this is some kind of marketing strategy to release the DSE first and then bring the original versions at some point in the future to make folks like us buy the films twice. But it is still extremely frustrating, especially after the goofed up release of the Indy DVDs here in germany (only Dolby 2.0 quality for the german soundtrack "digitally mastered for superior sound"), if they pull that one off with the DSE dvds, they can keep 'em.

Oh... and telex54, welcome to the boards.