- Time
- Post link
The way things stand, I won't be buying the DVDs when they come out in September - I'm sure I don't need to explain why. However, as much as I'd like to own the Original versions on DVD, I'm certainly not going to buy the familiar, widely available Bootlegs.
Money made from the sale of bootlegged material (clothes, software, films, etc...) funds crimial organisations the world over - and unfortunately, this includes (directly or indirectly) the bootleg Star Wars DVDs you see on ebay.
I don't think it'll help anyone, especially this campaign, if we encourage people to buy Bootleg DVDs.
However, there is going to be a demand for the Original Trilogy on DVD. So what can be done?
Well... I'm not sure. This is a forum. So let's discuss it.
There exists a worldwide group based at www.freemameroms.com. What they do is burn DVDs of MAME roms (the popular arcade emulator) and send them to whoever wants them. They make no profit - people simply pay them the cost of the DVD media + postage, or send their own DVD media.
One idea would be a similar organisation to distribute the Original Trilogy on DVD. Again, it would have to be done on a no-profit scheme. Additionally, it might be a good idea (legally) to only provide the DVDs to people who can prove that they already own the Original Trilogy - on VHS, Laserdisc... whatever. The logistics involved in setting the group up, though, would be complicated. The best quality source would have to be found, and distributed to all 'burners', who would then make the copies from those. Decisions would have to be made - how many DVDs per film? Would extras be included? And so forth.
Anyway, apologies for the length of the message. I don't know what the legality of such a scheme would be. Though he prefers the Special Edition, Lucas still holds the rights to the Original Trilogy - I'm not even sure there's a difference legally.
As I said at the beginning, my reason for thinking about this is to try and prevent any money going into the pockets of the Pirates. Currently, it may be the only way the majority of people (without the facilities to create their own) will get the OT on DVD, but, for me, it's not an option. I simply don't buy Bootlegs.
What are peoples thoughts on this issue?