I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but in order to obtain the preservation effort ‘Despecialized’ versions, you have to own the official releases. Otherwise the entire project could be jeopardized. Grab the official Blu rays and then I am sure an invite will not be a problem. Cheers.
While I agree, as doing this is kind of a win-win for everybody, I’d like to play devil’s advocate for a moment. If people continue to buy the official blu-ray, wouldn’t that essentially tell Disney “this version is fine, no need to release the unaltered trilogy because we will just continue to buy anything you release, regardless”? While making sure to own the official releases before downloading the fan edits is the morally correct thing to do, the whole “vote with your wallet” concept kind of goes out the window by doing that. Just a thought…
I think we’re pretty vocal and have made ourselves clear with petitions in the past. At the same time, we’re probably a small minority of the fans compared to the bulk of people who likely just buy, watch, and enjoy the blu-rays. It’d be a drop in the bucket if we protested buying them (it has been suggested here before), and they would never even notice.
Even if our numbers were substantial enough, you’re right that voting with your wallet is a perfectly valid tactic. But the correct version of that route means voting with your wallet by not buying, downloading, or watching Star Wars unless you’re getting the 2006 bonus DVD or something. Not buying anything official but watching Despecialized anyway (which is made from the blu-rays, of course) is protesting the idea of paying for movies. Plenty of people do that (piracy), and I don’t think the movie industry is lending an ear to their cause. 😄