Frustrating really. My Star Wars DVDs - I look at that whole thing now with genuine hatred. George has abandoned his fans, and is essentially giving them the finger and telling them they're idiots and deserve nothing, then telling them to buy his new video games.
I can't deal with Star Wars fandom anymore, a few seconds of it makes me puke.
The thing with the Thief is very frustrating, but as you say ...
>> Disney could very well actually be able to restore and complete the film, true to Williams's vision. Simply put, the right people are in control now, and the people who were in control then aren't there anymore.
Exactly.
There are certain people high up at Disney who have been very nice, who respect The Thief and might do something with it .... someday.
It's not the Weinstein's fault specifically - yes, Miramax was responsible for the mutilation of so many foreign films, and that's the culture which allowed the recutting of Fred Calvert's cut to happen. But the orders for WHAT to do with Arabian Knight, I would say those orders came from somewhere else, specifically the management at Disney at the time.
Anyway. Times change. So many years have passed that certain people aren't as worried that if this film "gets out", people will hate Aladdin for a certain reason.
Anyway anyway.