SilverWook said:
nightstalkerpoet said:
I'd really encourage faneditors not to remove George's name from edits... despite being able to read his comments that way, it is better to assume that is not what he meant. Lucasfilm has (in their own way) been very supportive of the fanediting community, and I think any direct attempts to slight them or George is unnecessary and liable to cause issues.
... As fans of the OUT, there needs to be a change. Even if we feel that George shouldn't take offense to internet complaints, he obviously does. For once, why not acknowledge what George is looking for from the fanbase, and make an effort on our end, to give him what he wants, and to get what we want. Stop all of the George bashing, and switch to a constructively critical tone.
- We asked for a release of the OUT, and got one. It was non-anamorphic, but it was an attempt to do something for the fans that George didn't want to do anyways - a small sacrifice, but one none the less. (also, keep in mind that in 2006, your average person had not converted to HDTV or widescreen, and didn't suffer the same issues with that format that videophiles did)
How many people thanked him for doing that? vs How many people complained about it? Had people even attempted to be content with it, I think we might have seen a Bluray release of the OUT... but obviously that's not how things went. George proved he doesn't react well to negative fan pressure. He expected it on the PT, but not on this.
Years later, after people continued to push and say "The non-anamorphic version isn't good enough", it's time for the Bluray release.... but rather than say "Cool, Star Wars on Bluray" or "I'd prefer not to get this, because I prefer the original releases I got in 2006"... there is an organized boycott generating bad publicity... Not an organized, polite request that the films be included, but a hatred filled boycott.
This left us (not surprisingly) without the OUT on Bluray...
Has anyone realized it's time for a new approach. Maybe an apology for the boycott and negative press? Maybe some attempt to stop the constant attacks on George? He is the mastermind behind Star Wars and Indiana Jones people... You may disagree with his decisions now, but at the very least the respect we owe him for giving us the OT and Indy 1-3 should keep us civil towards him.
With as many times as George has stated that he doesn't want to release the OUT, to do so would make him look bad, going back on his word, unsure of what he wants... the press jumps all over you for that. Why would he do that for "fans" that are ungrateful for what they're given, and attack him any chance they get.
I read that interview and see one thing - that he is perfectly happy to allow his films to be fanedited, and for those edits to be shared. It's a pretty rare person in any corporation that will allow those kind of freedoms to be taken without persuing legal action. But rather than revel in that... everyone would rather tear him limb from limb.
Just my two cents...
A non anamorphic title in 2006 was unacceptable. Using a 1993 video master was just cheap. Had any other studio pulled that with a "crown jewel" title at the time, they would have gotten an earful, and deservedly so.
No other director pulls this crap! Notice nobody bitches about the walkie talkies in E.T. these days?
Widscreen tv sets have been around since the mid 90's. Many early DVD titles were anamorphic.
Fans have tried to be nice in the past. Fans have tried to be patient. All the petitions and politeness went nowhere. How many times can you willingly get slapped in the face by someone who shows such contempt for their own films?
Keep in mind that George views the OUT as a "first draft" these days. While that may really bother some people, and while many disagree, what artist is going to put hard work and effort into making their first draft available to the public when the "final draft" is available?
Sure, if you ask to see a pencil sketch of a piece of art that has since been finished and colored, the artist will happily show the original version. But why would they go back and make sure all of the erase marks were cleaned up and put the effort into making large professional-quality prints of something they feel is an inferior product?
The 2006 release was a response to the petitions and politeness. It seems to me that no release at all would have been the slap in the face. Instead, George did something for the fans that he didn't really want to do.
He wasn't willing to perfect his "first draft", but he was willing to hand us the best copy of it that he had - the 1993 laserdisc master.
It just seems to me that when petitions and politeness were the tools of the fanbase, we saw some results. With boycotts and ranting, we have absolutely nothing. Even in the official OT petition, a negative tone has been taken:
culminated with the release of the 2006 limited edition DVDs, which contained substandard transfers from 1993
as the steward of one of the most recognizable and beloved film series of all time, you have a responsibility
The deliberate destruction of the original elements demonstrates such disrespect for film history that many of us find it hard to believe,
Why couldn't the petition stick to more of the "Thank you for giving us Star Wars. Many of us are nostalgic and would like the chance to view the films the way we grew up with. We really appreciated that you included the original versions of the films on the 2006 DVDs. We understand that the 1993 transfers were the best available at that point. There have been recent rumors that a few original prints of the films do exist in private collections. Now that the home format standard has changed to Bluray, it would be really awesome if you could find some of these remaining prints and release higher quality versions of the films the way many of us saw them in the 70's, 80's, and early 90's."
I guess what I'm saying is that in the future, I hope for something, as opposed to nothing. With that in mind I choose to be polite and petition.