But then I took out my letterbox VHS set this weekend for a marathon viewing and while they held up surprisingly well, they were still glitchy, blurry VHS tapes. The fact is VHS sucks and they are deteriorating. And while I was watching this blurry ugly mess unfold before me, I began to think the unthinkable. Maybe I should get the DVDs. I mean they'll look a heck of a lot better than this! The SE's aren't that bad, most of the movie is untouched anyway right?
But as the movie went on I began to get sucked in by the story and soon forgot I was even watching VHS. Little details and subtle storytelling touches, things I had forgotten flooded back into my mind. It was like watching the Star Wars trilogy for the first time again! Even my brother who was never a fan like I was (he was too young back then) was excited.
I remembered why I love the original OT. Too many little things in the SE (Greedo shoots first, extraneous CGI, Luke's uncharacteristic scream) detract from the original version. The SE are simply not as good. I love the original Star Wars and while they may have been far from perfect (as Lucas believes) they worked then and still work now as magnificent storytelling.
So not to belabour my point, but will I definitely not buy the SE DVDs this September, but I'm hopeful they will be released in the future. Our cultural history deserves to be preserved and should be available to the public like all great works of art! I believe that George the artist can be convinced of this.
Perhaps a gigantic 12-disc set (ala the Alien Quad set with 2 discs each and multiple cuts per film) in 2007 will be the answer. Of course at that point I will wonder if it will be worth the price to buy 3 additional movies I dislike (PT) to own 3 movies I love (OT). After all, I didn't buy the Alien Quad set because of Alien3 and Resurrection, I opted for the individual releases instead. But I have a feeling that is dilemma that I would at least enjoy having the opportunity to wrestle with!