Originally posted by: Gaffer Tape
But what if it isn't? What if he continues to tinker with them every year, releasing the latest version of his original vision with his tinkering and obvious flaws that he refuses to even acknowledge as if he thinks you're too stupid to recognize it for what it is? Are you simply going to toss away every "inferior" version, even though a year ago, you thought it was the kickassinest, da bombiest version you've ever seen? Or is there going to become a point where you say, "Actually, I like the April 2012 version a lot better than the September 2012 version. Why should I change? Why won't he release the April 2012 version anymore?"
And does it ever occur to you that having this many versions of a single movie is completely absurd? That's why I'm against changing movies in the first place. Why should there be five different versions of Casablanca when the original one will suffice? Why go back and try to change the past? You've made your movie. You had your shot. Now it exists. Now it's time to move on to your next project. I would think that having multiple versions compete against each other would be bad from a business perspective anyway, because it splits your fans' loyalties, but Lucas has managed to parlay it, through deception and stealth, into a great business opportunity. Like Sifo-Dyas said, it's not about visions or improving or connecting the trilogies. It's about milking the cash cow again by never releasing a complete version of anything. It's always a work in the making.
And why on earth would you want to delude yourself into thinking that a 30 year old movie is brand new by adding a whole bunch of new technology, etc. into it. The Back to the Future box set has great picture quality up to today's standards, but there's no attempt to make us believe that it was made in 2002 rather than 1984-85! That's just silly. If Lucas had wanted the movies to be watched in numerical order, he would have written and made then in numerical order. It's that simple.
Lucas will continue to remaster the movies until he is happy with everything (I hope 2007 will be it)
But what if it isn't? What if he continues to tinker with them every year, releasing the latest version of his original vision with his tinkering and obvious flaws that he refuses to even acknowledge as if he thinks you're too stupid to recognize it for what it is? Are you simply going to toss away every "inferior" version, even though a year ago, you thought it was the kickassinest, da bombiest version you've ever seen? Or is there going to become a point where you say, "Actually, I like the April 2012 version a lot better than the September 2012 version. Why should I change? Why won't he release the April 2012 version anymore?"
And does it ever occur to you that having this many versions of a single movie is completely absurd? That's why I'm against changing movies in the first place. Why should there be five different versions of Casablanca when the original one will suffice? Why go back and try to change the past? You've made your movie. You had your shot. Now it exists. Now it's time to move on to your next project. I would think that having multiple versions compete against each other would be bad from a business perspective anyway, because it splits your fans' loyalties, but Lucas has managed to parlay it, through deception and stealth, into a great business opportunity. Like Sifo-Dyas said, it's not about visions or improving or connecting the trilogies. It's about milking the cash cow again by never releasing a complete version of anything. It's always a work in the making.
And why on earth would you want to delude yourself into thinking that a 30 year old movie is brand new by adding a whole bunch of new technology, etc. into it. The Back to the Future box set has great picture quality up to today's standards, but there's no attempt to make us believe that it was made in 2002 rather than 1984-85! That's just silly. If Lucas had wanted the movies to be watched in numerical order, he would have written and made then in numerical order. It's that simple.
Very smart statement Gaffer Tape. I think the only times films should be altered are for thier first DVD releases. (Unrated, Extended, etc.) These versions are fine because they are like "unedited" versions, versions that couldn't be shown in theaters. I mean, I'm extremely glad Peter Jackson did the extended versions of LOTR. Now there are two versions, and both widely distributed. But when it comes to remixing it annually, it gets horribly silly.
I laughed out loud at that statement about "I like April 2012 more than September 2012." So true, too...
And if Lucas wanted us to watch them in the order 1,2,3,4,5,6, then he should have made them that way for the love of Christ. At least don't put this bullshit on us about "I couldn't make six films originally" blah blah blah. Star Wars was originally one movie. Then two. It was a movie with sequels, and for the love of fuck there was no grand master plan!!!! That's what pisses me off about Lucas the most. "This is how it was always supposed to be," yadda blah yadda...