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We should've protested years ago

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I think we would have had a better chance of reasoning with George Lucas if we had done something about it in 1995, when he said that it was the final release of Star Wars in it's original version. Here's a quote of his letter on the back of the 1995 release.

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The appeal of Star Wars has gone beyond anything I could have ever imagined. I am pleased that for the final video release of Star Wars in it's original version, we can present it with the best sound and picture quality yet available, thanks to THX Digital Mastering.

In the years to come I hope you, your children, and your children's children will enjoy not only this trilogy but also the adventures yet to come in the continually unfolding Star Wars universe.

George Lucas


I think that had we done something about it back then before the special editions were made, it would've been alot easier to reason with him.
"May the force be with you!"
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But we are arguing for DVD releases of the OT. Back in '95, DVD didn't exist (not until '97). And, at that time, he had just released the THX remastered. Other than cleaned up audio and video, there really wasn't much changed so we were fine with it. I don't think anyone really expected the SE at that time, did they?
"You fell victim to one of the classic blunders, the most famous of which is 'Never get involved in a land war in Asia'."
--Vizzini (Wallace Shawn), The Princess Bride
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Kevin A
Webmaster/Primary Cynic
kapgar.typepad.com
kapgar.com
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The Se had been announced, but since this was back when Lucas could do no wrong I think most people assumed the SE would only make the OV pale in comparison. Me and my brother bought the THX release just because we had never owned the trilogy save for the taped of TV versions, but I was all like "well you can have this one when the SE comes out because it'll probably have some collectors item value and maybe you can sell it one dayy, and I'll keep the SE"

Man, at the time I thought I was really outsmarting my little brother, was I ever wrong.
And I dance. And I sing.
And I'm a monkey, in a long line of kings.
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Let's just paint a big old "L" on your forehead.
"You fell victim to one of the classic blunders, the most famous of which is 'Never get involved in a land war in Asia'."
--Vizzini (Wallace Shawn), The Princess Bride
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Kevin A
Webmaster/Primary Cynic
kapgar.typepad.com
kapgar.com
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I 'm pretty sure DVD's were around back then. But like anything else, it was too expensive for the average person to buy. I remember when VHS video cassttes were all the rage. When a movie first came out on video cassette, it would cost around $70 or $80. Eventually, it was affordable as soon as it was released on video. DVD's were the same way. I think they were so expensive, the select few people that wanted to pay the ridiculous price had to special order it. But that was before it became as common as it is today.
"May the force be with you!"
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No dvds back then. this was the laserdisc era.

Quote

Originally posted by: Bossk
Let's just paint a big old "L" on your forehead.


Consider it tattooed

And I dance. And I sing.
And I'm a monkey, in a long line of kings.
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The Digital Bits actually has sales stats dating back to the launch of DVD. In 1997. I also worked at Circuit City back then and know for a fact that we weren't carrying DVDs or players until just before Christmas season 1997.
"You fell victim to one of the classic blunders, the most famous of which is 'Never get involved in a land war in Asia'."
--Vizzini (Wallace Shawn), The Princess Bride
-------------------------
Kevin A
Webmaster/Primary Cynic
kapgar.typepad.com
kapgar.com
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That fits with my memory as well
And I dance. And I sing.
And I'm a monkey, in a long line of kings.
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I want to say that Mission: Impossible was one of the first DVD releases we carried in large quantity. But, then again, CC was a big DivX supporter. I remember we had a wall of DivXs up and I had a friend who actually invested in it. Fool.
"You fell victim to one of the classic blunders, the most famous of which is 'Never get involved in a land war in Asia'."
--Vizzini (Wallace Shawn), The Princess Bride
-------------------------
Kevin A
Webmaster/Primary Cynic
kapgar.typepad.com
kapgar.com
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What was DIVX again?
And I dance. And I sing.
And I'm a monkey, in a long line of kings.
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DivX was a video format that used digital discs that were the same size as DVDs. However, your DivX player had to have a dedicated phone line connected to it because, when you placed a DivX disc in the player, it called through to a service that would then record the first time you played the disc and you were then given a grace period of something like a week in which you could watch the movie. Then, your "subscription" to this particular movie would expire and the disc would be effectively null and void. You were given an option to purchase a permanent permission to watch the movie, however, you could only use the disc then on that particular player. Couldn't loan to friends or even play it on a player in another room. Yes, the discs were cheaper than DVDs (something like US$5 per disc), but if you went to watch it once and never finished and your time expired, you were screwed. At least at Blockbuster, you can just pay a late fee. Not with DivX.
"You fell victim to one of the classic blunders, the most famous of which is 'Never get involved in a land war in Asia'."
--Vizzini (Wallace Shawn), The Princess Bride
-------------------------
Kevin A
Webmaster/Primary Cynic
kapgar.typepad.com
kapgar.com
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Is that them disposable discs that Disney was supposedly considering?
"May the force be with you!"
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The disposable Disney disc EZ-D is a continuation of the Divx idea, except that unlike Divx it doesn't need a Divx player phone line connection. The reason is because you can't unlock an EZ-D for permanent play. The second you open an EZ-D the exposed air will cause the disc to rot. You will have 24-48 (not sure) hrs to watch it and then dump it. Apparently it's intended audience are people who don't mind putting black rotting discs in their DVD players and are too lazy to return a rental on time.

This mad desperate attempt to make money based on the rental market was bad idea to begin with and has now died after a 3 city rolll out, although Amazon is now selling them.
The original Star Wars trilogy: Our cultural history deserves to be preserved and should be available to the public like all great works of art!
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Oh yeah I remember this now

what a crappy idea for a movie watching device
And I dance. And I sing.
And I'm a monkey, in a long line of kings.
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EZ-D already died? Can't say I'm surprised in all honesty.
"You fell victim to one of the classic blunders, the most famous of which is 'Never get involved in a land war in Asia'."
--Vizzini (Wallace Shawn), The Princess Bride
-------------------------
Kevin A
Webmaster/Primary Cynic
kapgar.typepad.com
kapgar.com
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It came from Eisner; what did you expect?

Princess Leia: I happen to like nice men.
Han Solo: I'm a nice man.

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And how much did they lose in the investment?
"You fell victim to one of the classic blunders, the most famous of which is 'Never get involved in a land war in Asia'."
--Vizzini (Wallace Shawn), The Princess Bride
-------------------------
Kevin A
Webmaster/Primary Cynic
kapgar.typepad.com
kapgar.com
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yes maybe we shouldve, but would it have made a difference?
"The ability to speak does not make you intelligent."
Qui-Gon Jinn (R.I.P.)
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not likely.
"You fell victim to one of the classic blunders, the most famous of which is 'Never get involved in a land war in Asia'."
--Vizzini (Wallace Shawn), The Princess Bride
-------------------------
Kevin A
Webmaster/Primary Cynic
kapgar.typepad.com
kapgar.com
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Time
In a way all the trolls who come in here to cause trouble are right: we will never change GLs mind.

He doesn't like the OT OV and wants to bury it almost as bad as the holiday special.

But...

we can appeal to the greed of the marketing people, who have a lot of power in these situations ala the 2004 dvd release.
And I dance. And I sing.
And I'm a monkey, in a long line of kings.
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just what i was thinking bossk.
"The ability to speak does not make you intelligent."
Qui-Gon Jinn (R.I.P.)