My boss' daughter's wedding and me slammed with projects, and now I'm late to start my vacation. I'll be back Wednesday night.
If someone wants to get this started without me, go for it. I'll jump on the train when I get back.
How about the new thread being called "Sub-standard September DVD Release Complaint Writing Campaign (aka, Sales Aren't the Only Way to See that There Is Demand for an Industry-standard Release)"? I know; a little wordy.
I think the target focus for the emails/letters should be how this release of the OOT is substandard (the movies being included merely as "bonus material", as non-anamorphic [if that really bothers you], as being sourced from a 13 year old laser disc master when so much restoration went into the SE editions theatrically and for the DVDs in 2004 - you know, like a little more work to restore them fully to original would've been that hard, and that this kind of treatment of the movies which MADE LUCAS and which had such cultural impact globally [not to mention that SW won an Academy Award or two] is something that any other studio would not have let happen to the DVD releases)... <deep inhalation>
...AND that it is borderline, if not outrightly, fradulent (see the Star Wars Insider info below).
There. That's what I think we should focus on.
And I think we should use as many authoritative sources of info as possible to make our points (e.g., the email responses of John Singh, Lucasfilm, Ltd. Publicity; maybe the Digital Bits article(s) on the DVD releases; etc. I know there's a juicy tidbit I'm missing, but I can't bring it to mind; I hate that).
I'm gonna start emailing when I get back. Please, don't wait for me; I'll jump in when I get back from vacation.
Maybe we can start with Entertainment Weekly since that's a pretty big magazine, though it looks like we will need to tie our complaints to an EW article (I'm thinking of tying mine to the May 20, 2005 edition (#820) which had Hayden Christensen on the cover as Anakin; the cover was dominated by Star Wars).
Here's all the best contact info that I have:
Star Wars Insider
(Interestingly enough, the "Star Wars Shop" pages of the Sept/Oct issue (#89) lists the upcoming DVDs in a bundled package as "Star Wars Original Trilogy DVD Set $59.99". There is no mention in the item description of the fact that these DVDs include the OOT as only non-anamorphic bonus material with the SEs as the main attraction.)
Comlink Letters:
comlink@insider.starwars.com
Comlink, P.O. Box 23500, Oakland, CA 94623-2350
_________________
Empire
Mappin House
4 Winsley Street
London
W1W 8HF
empire@emap.com
http://www.empireonline.com/
___________________
All following magazines owned by Visual Imagination Ltd.of the U.K.:
Starburst (Sci-fi mag;DVD reviews)
http://www.visimag.com/starburst/
starburst@visimag.com
Film Review (British Movie Mag; DVD reviews)
http://www.visimag.com/filmreview/index.htm
filmreview@visimag.com
Ultimate DVD (upcoming DVD releases)
http://www.visimag.com/ultimatedvd/index.htm
ultimatedvd@visimag.com
__________________
Entertainment Weekly Magazine (has an "Obsessive Fan of the Week" spot on the letters page for good-natured and quirky fan opinion)
Letters reference articles in previous issues; tie the DVD discussion to an article you've read in EW):
letters@ew.com
http://www.ew.com/ew
__________________
Total Film Magazine
http://www.totalfilm.com/
Letters are article-related and non-article-related opinions and commentary:
Total Film, 2 Balcombe Street, London, NW1 6NW
Editor - Mark Dinning (not sure if this is the correct contact; website had a list of people)
mark.dinning@futurenet.co.uk
Reviews Editor - Andy Lowe (maybe this person is the one)
andy.lowe@futurenet.co.uk
____________________
Uncut DVD Magazine (U.K.)
Editorial Enquiries Uncut, IPC Media, 25th Floor,
King’s Reach Tower, Stamford Street, London SE1 9LS
Tel: 020 7261 6992 Fax: 020 7261 5573
http://www.uncut.co.uk/magazine/uncutdvd/
Let's do this! See you in 5 days.