logo Sign In

Lucas once again tries to justify his Special Edition alterations: "Fans are doing it."

Author
Date
Author
Time
Post link

Right now, George Lucas is back in the media spotlight with the opening of his ‘Museum of Narrative Art’. In a recent CBS Sunday morning show the interviewer asks Lucas and his wife Mellody Hobson if deadlines can help to bring a project finally come to life. Hobson mentions that a deadline can help, but sometimes a deadline is almost impossible because some things are still not resolved at the opening date, especially with her husband - Quote: “[…]nothing is ever done”. Then comes the guy who said numerous times in the recent past he is done with Star Wars - that he moved on - … and falls back into old patterns justifying his Special Edition alterations and throws another stone at the ‘complaining fans’:

Most movies aren’t finished; they’re simply yanked out of your hands and put in the theaters. So you’re always saying. ‘Oh, I wish I could have just finished that one piece of thing’. But then I went back, after Star Wars, and redid all the movies, in terms of finishing them. So that they’re actually finished. A lot of people got upset about that, because they said, ‘You’re not allowed to do that.’ I said, ‘Fans are doing that. They’re making alternate versions and all kinds of stuff.

The full interview: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ktH5dsr5v5k. The specific part starts at 1:33.

Rogue One is redundant. Just play the first mission of DARK FORCES.
The hallmark of a corrupt leader: Being surrounded by yes men.
‘The best visual effects in the world will not compensate for a story told badly.’ - V.E.S.
‘Star Wars is a buffet, enjoy the stuff you want, and leave the rest.’ - SilverWook

Author
Time
 (Edited)
Post link

Kinda ironic he mentions the fan edits when some of them have restored the films back to how HE originally presented them.

Author
Time
Post link

What’s controversial (or new) about this? He’s given a version of this line in almost every interview in the last 40 years. “Movies are taken away - I wanted to finish it” usually there’s like a percentage or whatever.

Like, this isn’t justification so much as his saying “even the people who get mad at me about changing things now just change everybody’s movies, too”

Which is, ironically, mostly what a place called “originaltrilogy” is known for - fanedits. The place that was created to be AGAINST Special Editions became a factory for amateur creation of them, LOL. 😃

Joe’s Bed-Stuy Editing Bay - We Cut Flicks

Author
Time
 (Edited)
Post link

the fans should have no say because they don’t know how to make movies, seriously. Those complaining and entitled fans. the corporations shouldn’t listen to them. he is talking about Disney and the originals. he isn’t happy. But Han won’t be shooting second.

That is my take away from his meandering.

“If you listen to the people who are unhappy, it’s not going to turn out well… because they’re not people who know how to make movies” George Lucas.

Author
Time
Post link

in other words george lucas is acknowledging the star wars mega super fans who are i guess in a way making there very own speical edition verisons of the star wars original trilogy

earth 1 nowadays kinda reminds me of the star wars multiverse

there are a lot of good topics in this forums

Author
Time
Post link

Why he can’t just say “hey there’s the original and now my special edition” is bonkers. He deserves every accolade for fostering digital editing, compositing, fx, animation, etc.

Ironically (?) he’s basically 99% fault of the death of cinema.

JFS

Author
Time
Post link

Most movies aren’t finished; they’re simply yanked out of your hands and put in the theaters. So you’re always saying. ‘Oh, I wish I could have just finished that one piece of thing’. But then I went back, after Star Wars, and redid all the movies, in terms of finishing them. So that they’re actually finished. A lot of people got upset about that, because they said, ‘You’re not allowed to do that.’ I said, ‘Fans are doing that. They’re making alternate versions and all kinds of stuff.

Fans weren’t doing that at the tie of his 1997 special editions, were they? I think The Phantom Editor wasn’t until 2000-2001? And nobody was suppressing the original cut release like George did.

George also called his 1997 SE “The Final Cut”, so maybe he is talking about “You’re not allowed to do that” for when the 3 other releases happened years later?

Author
Time
Post link

crissrudd4554 said:

Kinda ironic he mentions the fan edits when some of them have restored the films back to how HE originally presented them.

Also with more care and attention (plus in better / higher quality) than many of the later official releases.

George will never change - always with the disingenuous comments to deflect away from his own actions / criticism / his own shortcomings.
 

JF_Sanderson said:

Why he can’t just say “hey there’s the original and now my special edition” is bonkers.

100%.

Although when he did that in the past he put out those awful, lazy, and substandard 2006 GOUT DVDs - to show the original cuts as being of limited quality in comparison to his then-finished 2004 SE version - with more disingenuous comments about those over the years.

Roll on 19th February next year (and hopefully a physical media release of the OOT sometime later).
 

A little patience goes a long way on this old-school Rebel base. If you are having issues finding what you are looking for, these will be of some help…

Welcome to the OriginalTrilogy.com | Introduce yourself in here | Useful info within : About : Help : Site Rules : Fan Project Rules : Announcements
‘How do I do this?’ on the OriginalTrilogy.com - includes info on how to ask for a fan project and how to search for projects and threads on OT•com.

We’re a community here - not ‘a download site’ - so join in with the discussions: do NOT lazily make ‘link request’ posts / new threads asking for projects.

Author
Time
 (Edited)
Post link

My favorite was the 2004 being deliberate creative decisions. Why does it have black level crush and magenta push and swapped surround channels. Well of course we intended that. Sure, and then they kept putting those same unfixed special edition discs out over and over again. fans fixed the audio using the 1997 laserdisc ac3.

Like the awful gout 2006 discs, fans added more soundtrack options. and tried their best to make it display on an anamorphic tv. but no resolution is gained.

even the blu-ray fan upscale was okay at best. the audio being the standout from team blu.

If not for Harmy’s recreation and team negative one, I think we’d still be relying on laserdiscs or dvd upscales.

an official release was never something to be hoped for. especially the originals. I mean they even messed up the Maclunky 4k.

it still has dnr, it still has magenta push. and depending on who you ask, either the ATMOS sound is good or it is not.

Author
Time
Post link

i wonder how many fan made verisons of the star wars trilogy are there

billions

earth 1 nowadays kinda reminds me of the star wars multiverse

there are a lot of good topics in this forums

Author
Time
Post link

The irony to me is that Lucas always wants to fix the original trilogy but thinks the prequels are perfect. 😂 hahaha! Lucas, please “fix” Attack of the Clones! The CGI and cinematography are absolutely dreadful and it looks ridiculously fake. If you’re going to fix anything fix the prequels! I swear Lucas lost his mind sometime around the mid 90’s, possibly after Jurassic Park came out.

Author
Time
Post link

If so, why isn’t a theatrical phantom menace available on anything other than VHS, VCD, and Laserdisc. Its the same as Thx 1138 and American Graffiti.

I don’t think Lucas believes in perfection even young Indiana jones got reedited for vhs/ DVD.

the original 1977 Star Wars is quite against the grain of what Lucasfilm usually does. Disney too, Han shooting and blowing away Greedo and not shooting second from a company notorious for censorship.

George is a tinkerer. If he hadn’t sold Lucasfilm we’d have a 3d version of the Ot. We’d have a 5th special edition.

Author
Time
Post link

Connor MacLeod said:

The irony to me is that Lucas always wants to fix the original trilogy but thinks the prequels are perfect. 😂 hahaha! Lucas, please “fix” Attack of the Clones! The CGI and cinematography are absolutely dreadful and it looks ridiculously fake. If you’re going to fix anything fix the prequels! I swear Lucas lost his mind sometime around the mid 90’s, possibly after Jurassic Park came out.

Technically he did “fix” the prequels like 4 times (2001, 2004, 2011, 2012/19). There’s also some minor fixes between the digital and 35mm versions of AOTC which premiered the same year, similar to the 35mm/70mm versions of ESB.

Author
Time
Post link

how many different verisons all together in total of the star wars original trilogy and also the star wars prequel trilogy are there

earth 1 nowadays kinda reminds me of the star wars multiverse

there are a lot of good topics in this forums

Author
Time
Post link

DarthSmaul said:

Connor MacLeod said:

The irony to me is that Lucas always wants to fix the original trilogy but thinks the prequels are perfect. 😂 hahaha! Lucas, please “fix” Attack of the Clones! The CGI and cinematography are absolutely dreadful and it looks ridiculously fake. If you’re going to fix anything fix the prequels! I swear Lucas lost his mind sometime around the mid 90’s, possibly after Jurassic Park came out.

Technically he did “fix” the prequels like 4 times (2001, 2004, 2011, 2012/19). There’s also some minor fixes between the digital and 35mm versions of AOTC which premiered the same year, similar to the 35mm/70mm versions of ESB.

I am aware he made changes but he didn’t “fix” anything for me with AOTC, except maybe adding the voice of Anakins mom screaming during his dream. What a technically dreadful film, never mind the acting and story, this movie looks horrendous. The CGI backgrounds for many scenes should be redone and the color timing especially. TPM has a better Yoda but Lucas added 3 more boring minutes which makes the theatrical superior in my opinion