There has been so much talk on the Sept. 12th release, the PT, the SE, etc, but I was wondering the other day how did SW get to this point? I really believe this was not Lucas’s intention, and I think he knows he is in a quandry now. This is why the O-OT is being released reluctantly by Lucas, but sort of half-assed in the same way.
I honestly think that Lucas is in so much of a box, I really don’t think he knew of this fanbase of O-OT fans. How big this fanbase is, we will never know, but just the fact that the DVD’s are getting released even in average quality, says that there is some demand. If you think about it, why wouldn’t Lucas release the '97 SE as more bonus material just to gauge the market and see if there is a demand for that?
The ironic thing about the O-OT market is I believe it has been created by Lucas solely on him trying to tie the saga’s together, and as he tries in every release to do this, he pushes many fans who were maybe on the bubble to the O-OT side.
If Lucas would have just left the OT alone before releasing the PT, or made the SE just a one time thing in '97 just to give a different spin on the movies, but stop at there. If the PT existed now, and the O-OT were released as the real 04 DVD versions, and then this huge saga boxset in 2007 with the O-OT + PT, then I believe many fans, even though not huge fans of the PT, would not have a problem being a saga fan of all 6 movies. I know many OT fans who don’t like ROTJ, but that never precluded them from buying the OT boxset in the early 90’s just to get SW & ESB.
What Lucas has done now is made me look at the O-OT as JUST 4-6, not part of the saga. I look at the saga now as the PT + OT/SE, cause that is his vision as of 2006. The O-OT has given me an excuse not to recognize the PT, not to buy any future saga boxsets that I probably would have bought if the O-OT still existed in Lucas’s mind.
For whatever we want to say about this release, Lucas released it, and didn’t release the 97 SE versions, so he knows something that fans want this version. But his biggest miscalculation is that I view the O-OT as just that, not part of the saga, not part of the PT storywise, just a 3 movie trilogy from 77-83 without any major changes, except minor ones like inserting the crawl in 1981, etc.
Thank you Mr. Lucas, you have made the decision very easy for alot of fans who thought the PT was OK, and were still debating if 1-6 was worth it as the SW story of the future. With the O-OT, that is not your vision now with the current story you wrote, so 4-6 is the way I see it, and you probably will lose a boatload of money from my wallet in the future, cause I was one of those SW diehards who bought anything with the SW logo on it. But now, if it doesn’t have the O-OT, no thanks.