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George Lucas' Special Edition plans

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 (Edited)

On the “One Last Time” releases, it says “the original one last time”. This implies that only ANH would have got a Special Edition. I am 99% sure I have heard other people talk about this so I am almost positive it is true. Personally, I would have preferred if George Lucas did this instead of messing with Irvin Kershner and Richard Marquand’s films, and if we had the option to watch the 1977 and 1981 versions of ANH as well, because it is beyond ridiculous to only be able to watch 1 version of a film that has multiple versions. What do you guys think?

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They really meant it in 1995 that it would be the last time to own the pre 1997 trilogy, up until the bootleg market forced them to include letterbox transfers on the 2006 DVD set. All 3 were the same 1993 scan. The so called original versions. Kershner basically gave his consent to the 1997 edit of Empire. Marquand wasn’t alive to do so. If Lucas was going to do cgi cartoon versions of the films, why would he stop at one movie.
The problem is burying and suppressing the originals.

They haven’t done a new restoration of the OT ever. They telecined a print in 1992 to d1 tape. And have done nothing since. Lucas didn’t want to spend a dime on restoring the original version. He wanted to basically remake the films from the ground up as he always envisioned them. Without totally reshooting the entire trilogy.

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The reason we had the OT in 1995 (in a copy bought instead of recorded from TV) was because of that veiled threat. Someone in the family heard about it. To be fair they didn’t really understand what it meant, but they still bought those tapes with the red metallic logos on.

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Personally, I refuse to even call it ANH. The original had no reference to that name that I’m aware of (correct me if I’m wrong). I dont think the director/writer/etc gets to rename or rewrite a movie after its been released. I have no problem with him releasing new versions. Its the failure to preserve the old versions alongside them that I have the bigger problem with. Today its all in Disney’s hands, Lucas is no longer involved. Unfortunately, I dont expect disney will do much better.

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At this point, Star Wars and A New Hope are two separate entities.

I’m not really that much of a movie purist. I really should’ve thought my name out a bit more.

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A New Hope goes back to The Art of Star Wars which was published in November of 1979. But no it was never the title or subtitle of the real shooting script. It was the Adventures of Luke Starkiller as taken from the Journal of the Whills. Saga I. Star Wars. Shortened to Star Wars and there was no Episode IV at all period until 1979. The film itself wasn’t recut to episode IV until 1981.

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JadedSkywalker said:

A New Hope goes back to The Art of Star Wars which was published in November of 1979. But no it was never the title or subtitle of the real shooting script. It was the Adventures of Luke Starkiller as taken from the Journal of the Whills. Saga I. Star Wars. Shortened to Star Wars and there was no Episode IV at all period until 1979. The film itself wasn’t recut to episode IV until 1981.

According to a quote from Mark Hamill the film was at least acknowledged as Episode IV during production.

https://books.google.com/books?id=k833DwAAQBAJ&pg=PT220&lpg=PT220&dq=mark+hamill+i+asked+george+why+is+this+episode+iv&source=bl&ots=CRvY-bRpFy&sig=ACfU3U13F9zXMs4ywXp-KL3l14562DqHng&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjziqKN8qT0AhUqSzABHYnDC_0Q6AF6BAgmEAI#v=onepage&q=mark hamill i asked george why is this episode iv&f=false

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 (Edited)

Star Wars – One Last Time VHS 1995 Trailer (HD Restoration)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zKr5R1VNPjI
 

I can’t find the actual post on here, but it highlighted what I also thought about that “One Last Time” video, back in 1995:

That it was Lucas being coy or clever about the VHS format itself, with the new much talked about and anticipated DVD format was on the horizon, and DVD would the format that the Star Wars trilogy was going to be released onwards. At this time Lucas was still revered as a genius, innovator, a pioneer, and would surely embrace the new exciting technology. To take those recent THX audio and video improvements and put them onto the new digital home format. It was the obvious sure thing to do. Or it seemed that way.

Instead, we had to wait what seemed like an eternity, until 2004, for the OT to be on DVD. That 2004 release was a rushed botch job. “Deliberate creative decisions” excuses to hide basic audio errors, a faulty disc, and that horrible blue shift to it. Also with even more Special Edition changes.
 

Some trailers for the DVD format at the time (mainly from 1996):

“Toshiba DVD (1996) Promo (VHS Capture)”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gzvkTO4dcHQ
“1996 Columbia TriStar DVD promo”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S-vPeniFN08
“Polygram DVD Sampler”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cbzVmUkEfEc
“Segment from 1996 Panasonic Demonstration DVD”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bvVb3eT0HaU
“Live DVD Videos (1997) Promo (VHS Capture)”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z8-xjTFVlC4

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DVD with reminders of the delays to DVD being released in the mid 1990s (and format wars).
 

From the Index for ‘Theatrical Cuts vs. Subsequent Releases’:

http://www.prillaman.net/starwarsdvd.html
http://www.prillaman.net/starwarsdvdreview-chart.html
http://www.prillaman.net/starwarsdvdreview-conclusions.html

Yet TPM was released on DVD in 2001.

The Imperial need for control is so desperate because it is so unnatural. Tyranny requires constant effort. It breaks, it leaks. Authority is brittle. Oppression is the mask of fear.

Formerly Emre1601 - computer hard drives are brittle too!

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Emre16O1 said:

snip

I hadn’t thought of it like that. There was quite a bit of “last chance to buy X” adverts and promos back in the 80’s and 90’s as various formats progressed. Like you stated, Lucas was at the forefront of technology back then, but I can’t remember thinking at the time of “One Last Time” advert was because of the onset of DVD, or other format. Although that is probably because of the delays in the format specs in the Wikipedia article, and DVD not really hitting the stores until early 1997.
 

I do agree with the OP: “Personally, I would have preferred if George Lucas did this instead of messing with Irvin Kershner and Richard Marquand’s films”, and that George just tinkered with his own film, offering the original cuts alongside the changed version.

“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