Quote "YOU HAVE NO SAY on what should/shouldn't be done to a film.."
Sure you do at least in the united states.
You answer and protest with your money aka your wallet by closing it tightly and never giving pukas another dime until the oot is restored.
The fans made him rich to begin with by paying to see the films, you don't bite the hand that feeds you. Nor do you anger your core fanbase by giving them the finger and saying obstinately, i'll do what i want like a 2 year old.
Films and their art become a part of public record and history, if that was not the case then the library of congress would'nt be spending our tax dollars to preserve them. George Lucas is largely erasing history and rewriting it by denying a real restoration. Which would make the original versions viable for theatrical exebition as well as for home video.
As Robert Harris has stated restoring a film for home video is not preservation at all, while the original elements and negatives are not protected for the future. His restoration of the godfather was a proper restoration because it provided a new negative and to have the movies in the future to be shown on the big screen if needed. As far as i know the only version of blade runner that was restored for theatrical restoration was the final cut. So to everyone saying to the contrary the theatrical has not been restored at all for theatrical use, home video does not count even in HD.
The original superman prints and negatives are in poor shape and warners refused to restore them for theatrical exhibition, again the home video telecine does not count as preserving the film for posterity.
Warners also let the original prints on the star trek films fade, and the o-neg on the movie just like star wars is in poor shape. They think wrongly that scanning/doing a telecine for home video and color correction on computers is restoring the movie. This is false, the original elements are slowly degrading and at some point we may be never to have them again for theatrical presentation.
If lucas could get off his high horse and allow Robert Harris to go through the cold storage vaults as Lucas skywalker ranch LFL archive and fox and technicolor allow him access to their vaults to find the necessary elements to save the theatrical cuts of the films before it is too late. As it stands they can never be exhibited again in theaters, at this point even a dvd quality release of the oot is not enough if the films themselves turn to dust.
He did more harm than help to the original elements to create the special editions. Can that be undone at this point i would like to see what RAH could do to rectify the situation.
Too bad the original star wars trilogy is not an orphan film and public domain as fans could come up with the money for the restoration themselves. The government and films societies would obviously donate as well. Too bad we live in a mad world were insane people are in control and want to destroy our beloved childhood memories and favorite movies.
I'm beginning to wonder if george lucas is the devil as one poster jokingly wrote as his sig.