Thanks for replying. This is one of the reasons that prevents me from being an active member of this community here. Some forum members I saw were talking about acquiring copies of a workprint of a bond film that was never released to the public. Just because this kind of thing hasn't been released doesn't mean that copying it isn't piracy, because you're copying something that was never intended for release. In the same way, copying fan edits is also something that is piracy because you're copying something that was never intended for release, regardless of if you actually own the movie. I don't feel that a transaction has to take place for piracy to occur. Another example I saw was someone inserted a newly filmed scene, based on a deleted scene, into the 1933 king kong movie, and people were asking for copies of that. If I remember correctly members here were also asking for copies of the colourized king kong, which is available to buy legally. All this kind of thing really goes against my grain - as does any unauthorized fan edit. Because fan edits take others work, as if the fan himself actually owns that work, and then releases it without any authority, and without any legitimate argument to "preservation".

On the other hand you've got several members who have completed projects to preserve the original trilogy, and possibly other films - and some have ongoing projects. And this king of thing, while it's still quite obviously illegal, I think is okay - but not if that by doing it it has opened the doorway to all other kinds of piracy that I see here now. Now it seems that you, as well as many other forum members, feel it's okay to rip and distribute something, if you're editing it. Put more directly, you seem to endorse it. I understand you feel it's a natural extension to what you call preservation, but I'm not so sure. Let me give you an example, there's a classic Australian song by Rolf Harris called Tie Me Kangaroo Down. At some point in time, Rolf Harris removed one of his verses, it went like this:

Let me Abos go loose, Lou,
Let me Abos go loose.
They're of no further use, Lou,
So let me Abos go loose.

Now I have the original version of the song - that includes that line. I would have no reservations about copying it for others, in the interests of preserving it in its original form. I know the verse is very racist, but I didn't write the song, and I don't believe in censorship, so I feel it would be preserving his song, before he edited it - pretty much the same thing you do here if you copy the "pre-SE" or "O-OT" star wars films for others - you're preserving it in its original form. On the other hand I would find it offensive if someone decided to make their own version of Tie Me Kangaroo Down by removing a different verse from the song.

Maybe I'm not making sense, but basically I feel that you're going to offend people, directors, and studios more if you edit films into fan edits, or release unreleased pre-theatrical cuts of the film, then if all you're doing is preserving them. It feels like you're either lost the plot, or that you're just more interested in getting what you want then you are in preserving what others did. Just a point of interest, there are very few copied films I own. One is Scream: Director's Cut. It was copied from the japaneese release. Now, under normal circumstances I am happy to purchase DVD's from overseas, say America or Britain, if a version of the film is released there that is unavailable here. The point that stopped me doing this, is the cost was the equilivant of $80 (Australian) at the time to buy the Scream DVD from a jap online store, excluding postage costs. Note that this is a copy of something that I could have legally bought, regardless of the price tag. I now know that there is also a German release of the director's cut, which I've not investigated. I've not investigated it because it's not important to me. I own a legal copy of the theatrical cut, and a perfectly fine DVD-R of the director's cut. You may find the same thing will happen if the O-OT is released officially, people may be happy with the LD or DE-SE'd DVD copies they have, they may be happy with fan edits they consider better then the O-OT, or they may just feel because they own a SE they don't have to buy the O-OT. All of this is going to mean bad business for the studios.