I don’t think I’m being disrespectful to anybody at all, but I apologize for coming off that way to you.
But I’m very certain the Original Versions is a niche consumer product now, precisely because none of this is secret. Lucasfilm doesn’t have to do any market research, we’re all out here in the open and they can count us all very easily. We’re not going to make them that much money. That’s not to say it won’t be ANY money coming in. Obviously we represent a dollar amount to them. But The Original Versions is, at best, a bonus feature on a larger release. I’m fine with that, too! I don’t care if we’re a bonus feature so long as we get on an officially released product. It doesn’t hurt my pride or anything.
(as an aside: The boards were shut down because they weren’t needed anymore. They were low-traffic, and their own social media presence essentially made hosting forums pointless, especially for as much problems as they caused for the volunteer moderators (and paid administrators) who had to monitor it. It wasn’t done as a preventative measure for the blu-ray release)
To be clear: I want them to be released. I think they’ll eventually be released. I look forward to buying them when they are released. I’m endlessly appreciative of people who have filled in the hole in that market, both here and in other places, and provided this niche something to enjoy in the meantime, at quality levels nobody could have dreamed of back when this specific thread was first started.
But we’re a niche audience. Niches can still be served and served well. Being a niche audience isn’t an insult, either. But there’s not a lot of money here. If there WAS, there’d probably be a lot more pressure internally to get these versions out there. But there isn’t. We’re a small (but noisy) audience that has, in the meantime, taken care of ourselves. That’s not a criticism or a derogatory. Just because our purchasing power isn’t that strong compared to the general audience’s doesn’t mean we don’t matter, or that our desires are lesser. It’s not a personal judgment on our character or anything. It just is what it is. There’s a small group of fans who really want these versions, and a much, much larger group of fans that doesn’t really care if they’re there or not.
We’re not competing against each other. And we don’t “win” because we make Lucasfilm a lot of money. We “win” because we get to watch the movies we want to watch on the format we prefer to watch them in. Hopefully. Eventually.