And as everyone knows, ‘neither The_Empire Strikes Back or Return Of The Jedi are available as their respective directors intended, or indeed made, on a modern and quality digital format.’ 😦
An abridged screenshot from JW Rinzler’s ‘The Making Of Episode III’ book; a quoted conversation between Frank Oz and George Lucas…
^ George Lucas: “Seriously, that’s why I’m a member of the Film Foundation (filmmakers for film preservation). A director should be able to change his films - but nobody else.”
At the time of above conversation George Lucas had already made changes to directors Irvin Kershner’s ‘Empire Strikes Back’, and Richard Marquand’s ‘Return Of The Jedi’ - and would also make go on to make further additional changes to both films.
Neither the Empire Strikes Back or Return Of The Jedi are available as their respective directors intended, or indeed made, on a modern and quality digital format.
Also, all of the following quotes are from George Lucas, taken from his speech to the US Congress in 1988, on the subject of altering films…
“American works of art belong to the American public; they are part of our cultural history.”
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“The public’s interest is ultimately dominant over all other interests.”
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“It will soon be possible to create a new ‘original’ negative with whatever changes or alterations the copyright holder of the moment desires.”
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“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.”
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“People who alter or destroy works of art and our cultural heritage for profit or as an exercise of power are barbarians.”
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“Attention should be paid to the interest of those who are yet unborn, who should be able to see this generation as it saw itself, and the past generation as it saw itself.”
An article with the full speech by George Lucas, at Force Material: ‘George Lucas explains why you shouldn’t digitally alter films’
