I hang around TF.N boards alot but hardly ever post on them as I feel the original-original trilogy is something most of the posters on there dont care much for...
Anyway, I replyed to a post on their classic trilogy forum in response to a for/against changes thread and (after 7 years) I've finaly been able to articulate what I dislike about the SE and any future changes to ther original trilogy.
Unfortunatley it looks like my post will be lost in a sea of "I hope Lucas adds some Boba Fett to the Ben/Vader duel in ANH!!! Wouldn't that be so cool!?" type of posts, so I'd thought I'd share them with you. I was replying to Russian guy called Gross-admiral_Thrawn who himself is not too impressed with the changed original trilogy.
Please let me know your thoughts, do you agree with my thoughts or am I widely missing the mark??
Gross-admiral_Thrawn, where I dont agree with you completly about Lucas having no repecct for his actors, I think you're on the right track though. I think Lucas has no respect for the ORIGINAL FILMS themselves. Whereas he loves and respects his creation, to him they're just sketches in regards to his final masterpiece.
What I feel alot of people, like myself and Gross-admiral_Thrawn, who dont like the new changes have problems with are the disrespect to the hard work countless people put into the classic trilogy, from the model makers getting models to look realistic right down to the guy who made R2's wheels work in the sand. Alot of this hard work has now been replaced by digital technology where creating ship is made easier by the create one then copy/paste the next. Now I know the guys who do all the digital work are artists in their own right and have practiced and mastered their own particular craft, but seeing as we're all computer savvy nowadays, (esspecially those of us who hang around chat boards) we can see that its not too difficult to create spaceships, environments, digital characters etc. (I'm a graphic/interactive designer and have played around with Lightwave, After Effects etc) and I feel that alot of the heart of creating 30 ships for a fight sequence took alot longer and more dedication in the 70's/80's than it does now.
To me, Star Wars is only a movie, its not my religion like my friends think, but it was also a massive team effort by countless individuals, and thats what i LOVE about the classic trilogy. I used to love reading interviews of obscure people who worked behind the scenes in Elstree who were responsible for set dressing of a particular scene and the couldn't find something that looked right so they cobbled something together from a shower head and a couple of old engine parts. I love seeing the pictures of the guys in San Fransico in the 70's driving past the model of the Death Star trench while filming it from the back of an old car. I love the fact that these groundbreaking films where made by people using their ingenuity and skill.
And I now feel that the new additions to the trilogy are digitally replacing the heart and soul of the hard work and dedication that countless people (actors/set dressers/model makers/gizmo designers/technitians/engineers and this includes Lucas himself as director) poured into the creation of the original trilogy.
I think this is the what the lovers of the changes cant grasp when we say we hate the changes, we just feel they're erasing the heart and soul of what is a massive team.