Dear Mr Ward,
I am writing to voice my concern over the recent announcement that the original theatrical versions of the Star Wars trilogy – billed as mere ‘bonus material’ to accompany the Special Editions – will not be in anamorphic widescreen.
I find this simply stunning especially since film fans have been waiting for the threatrical editions for quite some time now, not to mentions those in ‘the biz’ as well! I find it even more stunning that we have to purchase the Special Edition along with it… again! I am afraid people have just gotten VERY tired of all these cynical marketing ploys. How many versions of Star Wars are there to be before Mr Lucas is satisfied?!? Surely it has gone beyond a joke now. At the VERY least the theatrical editions should be marketed separately from the Special Editions – let the public decide which version they wish to watch. I am sure everyone would appreciate this and Mr Lucas would undoubtedly be pleasantly surprised by the returns generated by such a move… There is really NO excuse to be treated like this after years of loyalty and the huge sums of money people have ploughed into Lucasfilm. One does not bite the hand that feeds them as the old saying goes.
As you are no doubt aware the 1977/1980/1983 versions of the trilogy are extremely important parts of film history, and should receive proper preservation just like any other loved classic, not some half-assed lazy transfer from a 1993 laserdisc master which is riddled with digital noise reduction artefacts and so forth. Mr Lucas may personally wish that they didn’t exist, but when they were released onto the world in 1977 they became special to the hearts and minds of the people who saw it then, and merely wish to experience that same thrill once again on DVD. Surely high quality releases of BOTH can exist side by side like Mr Spielberg did recently with E.T. What galls me is the fact that on the Empire of Dreams documentary which accompanied the first release of the Star Wars SE on DVD, the original version film clips are all in anamorphic, as are the original trailers from 77/80/83!!!
I will not be buying this new set unless Lucasfilm decide to give this a proper film transfer from cleaned elements and anamorphically enhanced for modern 16x9 television screens or projectors.
Thank you for your time.