Great letter, SilverWook. And I’m in the same boat as some others here: the reference to the cultural heritage seems to be the most important aspect. At least that’s what this is all about here, isn’t it?
I am not a great writer, but I do write copy for a living as a marketing director for a medium size corporation. There is some good stuff here (I love the line about Lucas lighting a spark), although I still see some things that can be tightened up and edited. I’ll take a stab at it tonight/tomorrow and let you look at it, ignore it, whatever.
I also agree with others here that the “alternative methods” part needs to be omitted. I think this letter needs to be 100% positive in tone, and that line kind of stuck out to me as I read it as not fitting in with the rest of the message. I really wouldn’t even bring up that whole subject in the first place.
As for the whole nostalgia angle… Heck yeah. Nostalgia can be a very powerful thing, and I totally agree with using that as the foundation for the letter. A personal and passionate plea for something that had such an incredible impact on us growing up, is a sentiment that a lot of people who may possibly read this will be able to relate to.
Anyway, I just watched this cool video that was recently made about that very subject, so it seems perfectly relevant to the conversation here. In fact, we need this guy to make a video for us, haha.
“In the future it will become even easier for old negatives to become lost and be “replaced” by new altered negatives. This would be a great loss to our society. Our cultural history must not be allowed to be rewritten.” - George Lucas
I think focusing on nostalgia, especially nostalgia of people who actually saw it in 77/80/83, is a bit off. They might think “ah it is just a few old people”. There are many of us here who were not alive in 77/80/83, or even saw SE first, and we still want OOT.
真実
But the people who we are addressing were alive back then. Those should be the focus of the letter.
“People who alter or destroy works of art and our cultural heritage for profit or as an exercise of power are barbarians”
“In the future it will become even easier for old negatives to become lost and be “replaced” by new altered negatives. This would be a great loss to our society. Our cultural history must not be allowed to be rewritten.” --George Lucas on March 3, 1988
But the people who we are addressing were alive back then. Those should be the focus of the letter.
Like I said, that would make it look like you are doing it for a specific group of people who will eventually be gone. They might even say: “Why would we even bother doing it for a few old-timers?”. The focus should be on preservation for everyone now and future generations.
真実
But the people who we are addressing were alive back then. Those should be the focus of the letter.
Like I said, that would make it look like you are doing it for a specific group of people who will eventually be gone. They might even say: “Why would we even bother doing it for a few old-timers?”. The focus should be on preservation for everyone now and future generations.
I agree. The films should be preserved for posterity, not specifically for a group, that’s rapidly going the way of the Dodo. Preserving the OOT is like preserving the Mona Lisa, or preserving ancient structures. It’s about preserving our cultural history.
My introduction to SW was the Faces set so I agree that the drive of the letter should not be nostalgia of just those who had been there since the theatrical releases. The importance of the OUT expands beyond that.
You could just as easily replace “the one we grew up with” with “the one that started it all” or “the one that became a phenomenon” if you want the same number of beats in that opening paragraph.
Just my two cents, take it or leave it.
I would definitely say “all” versions towards the end though and not “both.”
Sorry I was alive back then.
Apology accepted.
Also, maybe we could point out the irony of Lucasfilm and Disney making entire shows based on Ralph McQuarrie’s concept art but continuing to have the actual matte paintings from Star Wars missing in action.
You probably don’t recognize me because of the red arm.
Episode 9 Rewrite, The Starlight Project (Released!) and ANH Technicolor Project (Released!)
The exploitation of our nostalgia to sell the new movies and shows is a valid criticism. Touché, SilverWook.
But for me it goes even deeper. The Exorcist and Apocalypse Now were both revised and yet we can still view all versions in modern quality. Neither “Episode IV: A New Hope” nor its 1997 special edition won six academy awards in 1978, Star Wars did.
Maybe, just maybe, adding something like “the movie known as “la guerre des étoiles” in France or “Krieg der Sterne” in Germany”, because today these movies are called “Star Wars” worldwide (at least since the 2004 releases)? But maybe this takes things too far.
The exploitation of our nostalgia to sell the new movies and shows is a valid criticism. Touché, SilverWook.
But for me it goes even deeper. The Exorcist and Apocalypse Now were both revised and yet we can still view all versions in modern quality. Neither “Episode IV: A New Hope” nor its 1997 special edition won six academy awards in 1978, Star Wars did.
All versions of Close encounters of the third kind, all versions of Blade Runner… (and what about THX1138? I know it’s not Lucasfilm, but still…)
Han: Hey Lando! You kept your promise, right? Not a scratch?
Lando: Well, what’s left of her isn’t scratched. All the scratched parts got knocked off along the way.
Han (exasperated): Knocked off?!
It might be worth updating your front page to show that the letter isn’t from a “dead” site. The old news from 2006 is also pretty disheartening at this stage.
The exploitation of our nostalgia to sell the new movies and shows is a valid criticism. Touché, SilverWook.
But for me it goes even deeper. The Exorcist and Apocalypse Now were both revised and yet we can still view all versions in modern quality. Neither “Episode IV: A New Hope” nor its 1997 special edition won six academy awards in 1978, Star Wars did.
All versions of Close encounters of the third kind, all versions of Blade Runner… (and what about THX1138? I know it’s not Lucasfilm, but still…)
I’ve brought up CE3K/BR ad nauseum and those other examples just popped into my head.
I’d love it if Warner restored the '71 and '77 versions of THX-1138. Back when the dvd came out in 2004 my roommate picked up the single-disc sku out of curiosity (y’know, the one that had much crazier cover art for some reason?) and was watching it on his computer with headphones. I remember him saying that the cgi wasn’t nearly as jarring in this as it was in Star Wars. So yeah, anecdotal evidence and all, but the cgi being “not as jarring” kinda hurts the chances that anyone would care to see the original version. Not being nearly as well known a movie as American Graffiti is another thing going against it. Graffiti, meanwhile, hasn’t been extensively altered with cgi, so most people probably don’t know it’s not the same version that came out in '73.
Star Wars fulfills both criteria. It’s insanely well known and has been extensively/obviously altered.
I’m only 23 and I still grew up with the Out via faces vhs. First time I ever saw the se at my grandma’s I noticed every (major) change and hated it. (I was really picky about certain things even as a child. Drove my parents crazy when they bought the dvd set and I continued to watch it on VHS)
So you THANKS FOR EXCLUDING ME SILVERWOOK =)
The exploitation of our nostalgia to sell the new movies and shows is a valid criticism. Touché, SilverWook.
But for me it goes even deeper. The Exorcist and Apocalypse Now were both revised and yet we can still view all versions in modern quality. Neither “Episode IV: A New Hope” nor its 1997 special edition won six academy awards in 1978, Star Wars did.
All versions of Close encounters of the third kind, all versions of Blade Runner… (and what about THX1138? I know it’s not Lucasfilm, but still…)
I’ve brought up CE3K/BR ad nauseum and those other examples just popped into my head.
I’d love it if Warner restored the '71 and '77 versions of THX-1138. Back when the dvd came out in 2004 my roommate picked up the single-disc sku out of curiosity (y’know, the one that had much crazier cover art for some reason?) and was watching it on his computer with headphones. I remember him saying that the cgi wasn’t nearly as jarring in this as it was in Star Wars. So yeah, anecdotal evidence and all, but the cgi being “not as jarring” kinda hurts the chances that anyone would care to see the original version. Not being nearly as well known a movie as American Graffiti is another thing going against it. Graffiti, meanwhile, hasn’t been extensively altered with cgi, so most people probably don’t know it’s not the same version that came out in '73.
Star Wars fulfills both criteria. It’s insanely well known and has been extensively/obviously altered.
Has your friend ever seen the original version of THX? The CGI is jarring as hell to me. 😉
Where were you in '77?
It might be worth updating your front page to show that the letter isn’t from a “dead” site. The old news from 2006 is also pretty disheartening at this stage.
Very much. Yes. This.
It might be worth updating your front page to show that the letter isn’t from a “dead” site. The old news from 2006 is also pretty disheartening at this stage.
Very much. Yes. This.
Jay is currently the only one with the power to do that. The plan was to put the new open letter up there though.
Where were you in '77?
The exploitation of our nostalgia to sell the new movies and shows is a valid criticism. Touché, SilverWook.
But for me it goes even deeper. The Exorcist and Apocalypse Now were both revised and yet we can still view all versions in modern quality. Neither “Episode IV: A New Hope” nor its 1997 special edition won six academy awards in 1978, Star Wars did.
All versions of Close encounters of the third kind, all versions of Blade Runner… (and what about THX1138? I know it’s not Lucasfilm, but still…)
I’ve brought up CE3K/BR ad nauseum and those other examples just popped into my head.
I’d love it if Warner restored the '71 and '77 versions of THX-1138. Back when the dvd came out in 2004 my roommate picked up the single-disc sku out of curiosity (y’know, the one that had much crazier cover art for some reason?) and was watching it on his computer with headphones. I remember him saying that the cgi wasn’t nearly as jarring in this as it was in Star Wars. So yeah, anecdotal evidence and all, but the cgi being “not as jarring” kinda hurts the chances that anyone would care to see the original version. Not being nearly as well known a movie as American Graffiti is another thing going against it. Graffiti, meanwhile, hasn’t been extensively altered with cgi, so most people probably don’t know it’s not the same version that came out in '73.
Star Wars fulfills both criteria. It’s insanely well known and has been extensively/obviously altered.
Has your friend ever seen the original version of THX? The CGI is jarring as hell to me. 😉
I don’t think he had ever actually seen it before, no. To be fair though, neither had I. Not really, anyway. I think the most I’d seen of THX was one scene late at night on cable back in the 90’s, panned and scanned. For that matter I never even really heard it referenced outside of the connection to George’s company. My uncle randomly asked me back in the mid 90’s if I’d ever seen it (he just called it “THX” of course)* and I also remember seeing a vhs of it on the shelf at an fye or similar type of store around that same time.
Actually, now that I think about it, I did see that Star Wars fan film thing Kevin Smith hosted on Sci-Fi circa 99/2000 where they played the original short film Electronic Labyrinth and talked about how Coppola decided to produce it as a feature.
But this story with my roommate is an interesting example of how, even if you know a film has been altered, not having seen the original version beforehand can provide a totally different experience. How many people now look at the post-97 versions of Star Wars that way?
*Which makes me wonder, was it a more well-known movie than I’m thinking it was? Hearing Billy Dee Williams talk at Celebration Orlando about how he’d known who George was ever since seeing THX-1138 genuinely surprised me.
One thing I would change about the letter would be to call it the Original Unaltered Trilogy, as Original Original Trilogy sounds slightly condescending.
I think you can argue THX had a cult film status. At least two music videos have been inspired by it. Queen did one in the 80’s and a Hip Hop duo did their own homage in the 90’s.
The angry letters I saw printed in Cinefantastique magazine from readers who didn’t like Star Wars when it came out, wondered how such a film could even be made by the same man who made THX. 😉
Where were you in '77?
One thing I would change about the letter would be to call it the Original Unaltered Trilogy, as Original Original Trilogy sounds slightly condescending.
Good point.
Release the OUT! 😉
Where were you in '77?
I think you can argue THX had a cult film status. At least two music videos have been inspired by it. Queen did one in the 80’s and a Hip Hop duo did their own homage in the 90’s.
Here’s the Queen video. Funny enough even though I was aware of George Lucas even at a young age, I think I saw this video before I was even familiar with THX-1138.
The exploitation of our nostalgia to sell the new movies and shows is a valid criticism. Touché, SilverWook.
But for me it goes even deeper. The Exorcist and Apocalypse Now were both revised and yet we can still view all versions in modern quality. Neither “Episode IV: A New Hope” nor its 1997 special edition won six academy awards in 1978, Star Wars did.
All versions of Close encounters of the third kind, all versions of Blade Runner… (and what about THX1138? I know it’s not Lucasfilm, but still…)
The theatrical cut of THX 1138 isn’t on the disc. Meaning I’ll never be able to see it, in simplest terms.
“What Orwell feared were those who would ban books. What Huxley feared was that there would be no reason to ban a book, for there would be no one who wanted to read one.”
Neil Postman, Amusing Ourselves to Death