Originally posted by: Go-Mer-Tonic
Finally when he did release the classic trilogy in 2004, he said the reason he changed his mind was because his advisers were telling him that due to rampant DVD piracy and newer formats on the horizon, there might not even be a DVD market by the time he's ready.
So he released the films as they were at the time while work continued on them for the upcoming rumored 2007 set.
Sure they aren't finished, but then neither were the original versions.
Most film makers just leave their films at "well that's how it turned out".
Lucas is one of the very few who put a ton of money into making these movies the best he could make them (in his opinion of course).
Finally when he did release the classic trilogy in 2004, he said the reason he changed his mind was because his advisers were telling him that due to rampant DVD piracy and newer formats on the horizon, there might not even be a DVD market by the time he's ready.
So he released the films as they were at the time while work continued on them for the upcoming rumored 2007 set.
Sure they aren't finished, but then neither were the original versions.
Most film makers just leave their films at "well that's how it turned out".
Lucas is one of the very few who put a ton of money into making these movies the best he could make them (in his opinion of course).
Right. Because everyone is going to suddenly get new players and television sets overnight. BR and HD may be the new format, but you can bet your ass that they won't catch on until sometime next year at the earliest. And that's assuming dual format players come out that can play both. Remember what happened with DVD+/-R? It didn't catch on either until manufacturers started making dual format drives. Then, practically overnight, prices dropped on the burners and media became affordable.
Here's something else to think about though. Wasn't Lucas, like Spielberg, originally backing the Divx format? That's the reason he didn't release them on DVD to begin with. He, just like Spielberg, wanted to be able to charge people everytime they watch his movie. It's a continuous revenue stream and he wouldn't even have to keep tinkering with them. Once Divx died, the pay per use format went away.
Most film makers don't just leave it as "well, that's how it turned out". To quote Quentin Tarantino "I didn't release a 'special edition' because I made the film I wanted to the first time. (my emphasis added)
I don't believe for a second that it had anything to do with piracy. He released the movies on VHS (can we say two VCRs?), laserdisc, and VCD. When it finally came time to put them on DVD he wanted nothing to do with it. Oh sure, he says it was because of piracy, but give me a break. The piracy market isn't hurting him or Hollywood nearly as badly as they claim.
When the movie was scanned and cleaned up for the 97 release, anyone, anyone with an ounce of intelligence would be smart enough to make a backup copy of the movie before making any changes.
He can lie to us all he wants. Some of us have had enough and just aren't buying the lie anymore.