I agree he intends to make a good film. I doubt very much he would have considered the project at all if he didn't think he could make it great. I think a lot of it is when you love something so much and are very close to it, you run the risk of failure because of trying too hard to get it right.
I don't believe his credibility will be tarnished. The reality is Abrams has been a very successful director in spite of some of the mediocre products he has been responsible for. Star Trek Into Darkness comes to mind immediately as being an example of a completely lackluster effort that should have knocked him down several thousand pegs. It's scary that he went from Into Darkness to Episode VII. However, yes because he is an uber-fan of Star Wars hopefully this will be his greatest film as well as a wonderful Star Wars movie. The only reason I disagree about the argument of him being a fan playing a big role in him taking on the movie as director is because Abrams himself used that as one of the main reasons why he didn't want to helm the film. It is not like he was not aware that The Force Awakens would make a "shit ton" of money when he was initially offered the job. He knew Disney wanted him and therefore was in a position to get whatever piece of the pie he felt he deserved.
If memory serves Abrams claimed he was "too much of a fan" to take on the film when it was initially offered. Not to mention the fact that he pointed out his "loyalty" to Star Trek. Than shortly thereafter he is officially named TFA director. It's obvious that it was about financial compensation. JJ Abrams apparent loyalty to his iteration of Star Trek clearly was not going to sway him from the potentially highest payday of his career. Even if it sucks, it's a win/win for him because the money will keep him secure and he would be welcomed back to Star Trek regardless of success or failure with The Force Awakens.
Abrams only refused at first as a negotiating tactic. It as nothing to do with artistic or creative integrity. It's about money primarily and anybody who believes otherwise is deluding themselves. I do not believe this movie will suck worse than the prequel trilogy, at worst it will be an inferior OT modernized formulaic clone, at best, it will restore credibility to the Star Wars brand and plant the seeds of a new hope for future films.
Abrams will either make the best Star Wars movie since the original trilogy or the worst Star Wars movie since the prequels. I don't see any in-between scenario here. I would prefer he didn't direct Star Wars and keep to his word and devotion to Star Trek. Kind of a finish what you start issue. We all know what happened to Bryan Singer when he ditched X-Men 3 in favor of Superman Returns. What I'm finding so amazing about all this is that many great directors have reportedly tuned down Episode VII (including Abrams) which forced Spielberg to go to JJ and say "You OWE us for Super 8" and then the dump truck full of money poured the cash on JJ's lawn and here we are. I'm actually really shocked that Matthew Vaughn didn't land the job. Chloe Moretz is to blame for that I guess.
So which version offers the best Original trilogy viewing experience this or Hamys? I already have these and love them but I was just curious.
It's all about $... Milking us Star Wars fans over and over. Next we have 3D Star Wars most likely with more changes and tweaks. If we ever see an OOT Blu Ray set it will ONLY be because Lucas has exhausted all other selling options for Star Wars. Alterations = Money without George having to release the originals that he despises so much. This leads me to believe that what everybody on here wants to see probably won't happen until George Lucas has passed on. Personally I will not support this current abomination nor will Lucas receive another dime from me equating to Star Wars unless the original films are released properly.
This picture says it all. 
Adywan,
You are awesome! Thanks for all your great work!
I just don't want to see the theatrical cut Avatar disappear when these new cuts are released. The original cut must always remain an option. It all goes back to that quote Cameron said about Lucas... As long as Cameron doesn't disown the theatrical cut of Avatar he has a right to be critical of George's creative decisions..
TV's Frink said:
Ah, I miss the good old days in this thread when we only complained about not getting the OOT...
Sure it all adds up to what I'm saying. Theatrical cuts should have mandatory release on every format prior to any special editions. Lord of The Rings and Star Trek did it right on Blu Ray. Theatrical cuts first.. Next release special editions etc etc etc...
By that same token. Avatar is also getting another cut which is going to be between 40-50 mins longer than the one currently available. So the six additional mins may not be a big deal but it will nonetheless probably replace the original theatrical cut. Unless everybody starts looking at original theatrical cuts as extended previews for the eventual special Editions and or extended cuts. I mean one way to make theatrical cuts unique would be to have them in theaters only and when it gets released at home it is a different cut, maybe not drastic but always slightly different from what was viewed in theaters. Plus when sequels are made to movies they are NOT sequels to the directors cut they are sequels to the theatrical cut, but if you cannot find the theatrical cut for viewing you are expecting a sequel to whatever version you watched. Halloween is a good example. How many different versions did Rob Zombie put out of that? If you only saw the workprint version Halloween II won't make sense to you because of what happens to Dr Loomis...
This is exactly what I mean nobody knows what the hell movies are "intended" to be these days with so many different versions and in many cases theatrical cuts non-existent. I think studios should put some sort of rule in place that says the original theatrical cuts of a film need to be made available regardless of how many special editions the filmmaker decides to create. When we lose theatrical cuts it all becomes a confusing mess. Watchmen is a perfect example. I love this movie but if I want to watch it on Blu Ray I have to choose between the Directors Cut or the Ultimate Cut and even if the Ultimate Cut is my preferred way to view the film I still would like to have a Blu Ray option for the theatrical cut when watching it with non-fans. The Ultimate Cut is such a beautiful set but when the word "Ultimate" is in the title the box should include all cuts of the film. Blade Runner is the only real example I have seen for truly doing this the right way with regards to theatrical vs special editions/extended editions.
The version coming back into theaters is an extended edition. The one on sale today is the original 2D theatrical cut. So as long as today's version remains available Cameron can stand by his words. The more important question is will big studios hold back the most complete cut of a film just so they can re-release a “better” version later and make a quick buck? I mean is this extended edition going to be one of many? I think we are getting to a point where special editions are not just for home video releases anymore and this trend will get worse and worse. Pretty soon we will be asking each other "Which version did you see"?
Gaffer Tape said:
I honestly don't see any difference. A change is a change. PERIOD. Is the extended version of Avatar replacing the theatrical version? Yes. That's all there is to it. To me, it has nothing to do with mindset, with passage of time, with any of that. He's changing the film and has no ground to stand on to call Lucas out for it. They're equally wrong.
Agreed! Using the passage of time as a defense for Cameron is asinine. He can release his "Special Edition" or Ultimate Cut of Avatar but it looks as if he is planning to replace the current theatrical cut with what he considers to be a better version which would give him no right to call out Lucas! On the other hand if the theatrical cut is still considered valid and isn't wiped off the face of the Earth Cameron can get away with it.
Hopefully the release will be a positive one. However unlikely.
Imrahil said:
People still buy DVDs at Best Buy?
Yeah that surprises me too. Best Buy is the overprice king when it comes to this type of stuff.
That is the key.. NOT THE ULTIMATE.. So we shouldn't be expecting anything more than his latest revision-festival. This set will still sell more than any other Blu Ray just because it is the Star Wars movies. I think Lucas is hoping people will forget that the OOT ever existed. Lucas wants everybody to think that the 1997 versions were the originals. It will be nice when he finally decides he is done and the words FINAL CUT appear on the front of the box. An Ultimate set would ideally feature all cuts of the movie including the OOT just like Blade Runner.
I wouldn't be surprised if Lucas starts digitally replacing Luke, Han and Lea with new actors too. I wouldn't put it past him!
SilverWook said:
The only way to do that to the non-anamoprphic 1993 masters would be to blow up the letterboxed image, which would only make things worse.
Maybe... but I think the best we can hope for here would be a messy print up-scaled to 1080i... That's right we won't even get 1080p for the OOT because Lucas will want his latest special editions to look better than any other versions. I cannot understand why Lucas competed with himself when he released the GOUT? I mean simply giving us a copy in anamorphic widescreen would have satisfied just about everybody. On top of that a lot of people here would have had renewed faith in George Lucas. It's like George just doesn't want to let this fight go. What is he gaining by sticking it to everybody who grew up on his original creation? I'm starting to think he hates Star Wars and no matter what it will never be good enough.
I have this funny feeling Lucas is going to stick us with the same laser discs transfers we got on DVD as a bonus. Maybe just to be different he will make sure they are anamorphic?
Anchorhead said:
TV's Frink said:
I'm just disappointed that so few people here appear to be concerned about piracy.
That's an area where I take a fairly strong stance.
There's a girl here at work who joined Netflix specifically so she could create a giant library for herself. Always with the meant as silly disclaimer - "you know me, I'm just a little pirate". No matter how many times I told her I didn't want to help her insure that my DVDs will always cost over twenty dollars to cover all the profits lost to piracy, she still tried to bring one by occasionally.
Every time we'd be in a conversation about films and I'd mention something I had and watched regularly or that I'm particularly fond of, she'd ask to borrow it. My answer was the same every time - "no, I don't want it bootlegged and passed on to other pirates & bootleggers" - which I know her & her husband do.
Through those very same connections, she was able to get a copy of The Dark Knight before its theatrical release. It was one of those copies the studios release for reviewers, with the disclaimer branding at the bottom of the screen. She was sure I'd watch that one because I'm a Batman nerd, so she made me a copy and left it on my desk. It sat there until she came and got it about a week later. I only know it was a stolen preview copy because a few other guys watched the copies she made for them.
Seems like she's finally gotten the message. These days she doesn't push the bootlegs on me, nor does she ask to borrow my DVDs.
I'm no saint by any stretch**, but I can't contribute to the very thing that makes the costs so high. I can't even begin to imagine the thousands of dollars she's stolen for herself, as well as passed on to others in her network of bootleggers.
.
** My full-film audio rips are most likely a form of copyright infringement, but they stay only with me, and they're all DVDs I purchased legally. In fact, I purchased Kingdom of the Crystal Skull twice (Blu-ray & DVD) just so I'd have one to rip the audio from. Along those same lines, I could have easily gotten a full copy of the Star Wars NPR version for free from a few sites, but I bought it from the manufacturer.
*steps off of soap box*
You know. The sad fact of the matter is that fan edits are a form of piracy. There are no if ands or buts about it. It's hard to listen to people judge others for copying DVDs and gloating about downloading fan-edits at the same time. If studios wanted fan edits to be available they would issue contracts to fan editors and release them. I'm not speaking against this as I love fan editing as much as anybody else here but piracy is piracy and you can't throw stones while living in a glass house. There are not a lot of differences between fan edits and outright piracy either. If you make a copy of a movie even if you hack it up to your own tastes, distributing it to other people is promoting a form of piracy. I can assure everyone that at least one person got a copy of said fan edit without owning a copy of the original version of the movie. Even then it goes back to my earlier statement about if studios wanted fan edits. Copying DVDs from Netflix or wherever may not be the most honest thing in the world but at least people renting from Netflix are paying a service fee.
Nobody in here should even blink at this news. Why would Lucas give us the OOT on Blu Ray? This set will probably be more bastardized versions with his latest platter of digital shit added in.
These sets are unremarkable.
I think Lucas should just redo 4-6 instead of constantly altering them. Leave the originals alone and build more crap off of his crappy prequals. I mean remakes and reboots come out all the time. Since Lucas has already fucked things up this much he might as well go whole hog! Most creators don't live long enough to reboot their own stuff but Lucas is the exception and with the advances in CGI and the money he could make? lol