Originally posted by: CO
I agree on that point, but my original point was if we buy this in droves and show there is a demand for this version, and lets say for the sake of argument, Lucas does another 180, which he seems to do every couple of years. Then he says, "I recognize there is a market that loves the original versions, and though I still see the SE as the version to watch, every release in the future will have the O-OT & SE together."
Always in motion is the future. Here's another possible future. Star Wars fans buy the SE+OOTlbx set in droves. Lucas sees that people are still buying the SE, and he sees that even the hardcore refuseniks are satisfied by the laserdisc transfers -- no matter what those geeks at HomeTheaterForum or TheDigitalBits say. (Robert Harris probably engineered the whole kerfuffle to get a job working on Star Wars, Lucas may well think.) From then on, every future release of Star Wars contains the SE remastered to take advantage of the latest technology ... and the laserdisc master of the OOT. After all, it satisfied the whiny "Han Shot First!" crowd back in 2006, it'll surely suffice for the foreseeable future.
Meanwhile, future generations start picking up this Star Wars movie their parents liked so much. These kids are all into HD video; every film they see on TV is 720p/1080i. When they pop in mom and dad's old DVD collection -- those are kind of like Blu-Ray discs, but worse, remember them? -- they think the anamorphic ones are okay, but anything less looks like crap, or at best, very very "vintage." They've been acclimated to HD video throughout their lives. They'll pick out visual artifacts you or I would never notice.
Now, when they pick up that box set of Star Wars, which version do you think they're going to instinctually prefer? The HD version. The idea that our future vid kids would watch a 1993 laserdisc master is as absurd as little Johnny iPod picking up vinyl instead of hitting iTunes. Sure, there'll be a few film buffs that insist the O-OT is intrinsically better, just as there's a niche vinyl market today, but most people will just go with what they're trained to like.
In short ... rewarding Lucas for mediocrity won't encourage excellence. It'll only encourage more mediocrity. And mediocrity may not survive into the next generation. Excellence will.
My whole point is we take our medicine now, and it will be better in the future, not just for us but for the new fans that the OT awaits years down the line. After Lucas pulled this bullshit of non-anamorphic, I kinda changed my view of just wanting the O-OT on DVD for personal reasons, to a new agenda. There is no way Lucas is going to kill these versions, and now there is a bigger cause, making sure these versions don't go obsolete.
They're already obsolete. They've been obsolete for nearly ten years. They're only going to get more obsolete in the future. I can't take part in the entrenchment of obsolescence. But you must do what you think is right.
Edit: QUOTE is not Q, durrr.