" I wanted you to know how much we appreciate the passion and enthusiasm you have for Star Wars, and thank you for sharing your concerns about our upcoming DVD release.
The DVDs being released in September will contain two versions of Star Wars: Episodes IV, V and VI – the Special Editions (which represent George’s vision of the movies) and the first versions, which will be included as bonus material. We hoped that releasing those “original” movies on a bonus disc would be a way to have some additional fun with the debut of the movies as individual DVDs. We certainly did not want it to become a source of concern or frustration for any of our fans.
As you may know, an enormous amount of effort was put into digitally restoring the negatives for the Special Editions. In one scene alone, nearly 1 million pieces of dirt had to be removed, and the Special Editions were created through a frame-by-frame digital restoration. The negatives of the movies were permanently altered for the creation of the Special Editions, and existing prints of the first versions are in poor condition.
So many fans have requested the original movies, we wanted to find a way to bring them to you. But since these movies do not represent George's artistic vision, we could not put the extraordinary time and resources into this project as we did with the Special Editions. The 1993 Laserdisc masters represented the best source for providing the original versions as DVD bonus material. Although these are non-anamorphic versions, they do preserve the original widescreen composition of the movies.
We want you to be aware that we have no plans – now or in the future – to restore the earlier versions.
We hope you will understand our decision and, again, want to let you know how much we appreciate your interest and enthusiasm."
Sincerely,
Lynne Hale
publicity@lucasfilm.com
to things i want to draw attention to 1. " The negatives of the movies were permanently altered for the creation of the Special Editions"
2."We want you to be aware that we have no plans – now or in the future – to restore the earlier versions."
So put that in your pipe and smoke it Johnboy the next time you so much have the temerity to call me a liar, a Lucasfilm spokeperson quoted verbatim on George's hatred of the originals and destruction of the 0-neg.
I wish i could find the old comment by Lucas on coloring the classic 3 stooges as it clearly paints him as a hypocrite and anything but a film preservationist in light of 2006 and the crap release that is the gout.
Point number 3 "these movies do not represent George's artistic vision" bullshit on that As if Greedo shooting first was a part of george's original vision it would be in the shooting script.
I will let up on George when he releases the oot in better quality and when i don't have to rely on laserdisc for the original cuts of American Graffiti and THX 1138 without added cgi.
I am also holding on to my Indiana Jones trilogy first issued dvd boxset as i now know the eventual blu ray will have the fake cgi added to the tv broadcasts as Indiana IV is on the big screen.