danaan said:
Darth Bizarro said:
Ok. Now that makes sense. But I still don't know why you can't just ignore them like I ignore Alien 3. As I said before. Just because we might not like all of the expanded content of some of our favorite works of fiction, doesn't mean we should let that content ruin our day. Just like Alien, Jaws, Indiana Jones, Star Trek, Superman, Batman, X-Men, Spider-Man, the Matrix, Pirates of the Caribbean, and Planet of the Apes, there will always be a few entries some of the fan base don't care for and shouldn't let their mear existence get them down.
I do my best to ignore them. But to be honest, it's really difficult to be a Star Wars purist and be social about it these days. If I "like" Star Wars" on FB, I'll get all sorts of PT stuff in my face, and that's pretty much true for most web forums, as well. Moreover, we "purists" are really a dying breed. For 15 years, kids have grown up used to include the PT in the canon as naturally as breathing, and this new generation does the same with the CW. In a decade or so, only die hards will remember what SW was before the PT came along. So, how can we ignore what Star Wars has been turned into when it's constantly in our face and the revisionist agenda is effectively winning. Lucas wanted to destroy the old Star Wars, and he succeeded.
Darth Bizarro said:
I understand Star Wars is a special case since not only does GL insist on making more movies and shows that some people don't like, but also makes changes to the old films to properly reflect the new canon. But remember who's really at fault for that aren't the people who happen to find the Jar Jar hate a bit overblown. Just because I don't hate the special editions completely doesn't mean that I don't also find it to be total bullcrap that I don't have a choice in the matter unless I'm willing to sit through a crappy laserdisc transfer or turn to Harmy.
Oh, I'm not blaming the PT-fans or the CW-fans in general for Lucas' suppression of the OOT (though those PT/CW fans who act as Lucas' apologists and actively condone his revisionism and hound us purists for speaking out against it are certainly complicit). I'm just expressing my opinion: SW should not be about Palpatine wielding dual lightsabers [edit: and importantly, such a scene violates some very founding principles of what SW should be about on a fundamental level]. I know I'm the minority voice in the larger fandom, but surely, it must be ok to express this (now increasingly framed as almost "fundamentalist") opinion, particularly on a forum specifically devoted to the Original trilogy, eh? ;P
I guess, this is where us Purists come to die. ;P
Lots of large fandom's break apart into subgroups, and many times, an old franchise will come back in a new form for a newer generation and the older fans might not like it. A great example is Doctor Who. A show that continued on in one form for many years, only to go off the air and come back in a newer flashier form. Lots of fans embraced the new series while others continued to swear by the classic series. If those Doctor Who fans who are totally stuck on Tom Baker and hate the new show decide to go and facebook and "Like" Doctor Who, they are inevitably going to be bombarded with updates about the new season with Matt Smith. And do those fans really have any right to complain that their senses are being bombarded with a new incarnation of their favorite show from their youth that they happen to not like. No they don't. Because someone likes it other wise they wouldn't still be making it.
The original Star Wars films ended in 1983 and for years there was nothing. Star Wars could have been just another one of those franchises like Back to the Future that just ended up as a relic of a by gone era, and your senses wouldn't be bombarded today with anything Star Wars related because it would have died off like any other popular movie from the era, living on only in your memory, some old toys, and your new DVD Special Edition box set. But Star Wars came back in a new form. Some fans accepted it, other shunned it, and many new fans came into the series because of it. So you may not like the fact that Star Wars has moved on without you, but you really don't have any rite to complain about it because that's how things work. You can look back fondly at your memories of a by gone era but you can't become bitter at modern day for not maintaining it for you. You should be thankful that the new stuff is still coming because it's keeping Star Wars alive in the public conscious. If Star Wars had just ended in 1983, how many kids today do you think would have come along and willingly taken an active interest it if it wasn't for the new Star Wars coming along to guide them into it, just like a fan of the new Doctor Who series going back and taking a look at some of the old episodes and finding that they were pretty good too.
So yes, I do, just like you, remember fondly those good times when Star Wars was a much simpler thing. But there is nothing about anything new George Lucas has done since 1997 that will ever take that away and I for one am happy that Star Wars will live on a few generations longer, even if I don't necessarily like all the new stuff myself.
And hell, at least we can still watch the original Star Wars. Sure, it might not be in HD, but it's a lot better than the countless television shows that only live on today in 3rd generation television recordings ripped from VHS tapes. For years, there was no way for me to get Mighty Morphin Power Rangers. They only just recently started releasing those, same thing with Bobby's World. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles only just this past month released it's final season on DVD. And my all time favorite television show from my childhood is Muppet Babies, a show that will likely never see release because of copyright issues regarding the use of the countless movie clips they used in the show that they didn't clear for use outside of broadcast. So the shear fact that you can still watch Star Wars in decent quality is, while not optimal, is still good that it will be allowed to live on for you, with or without the validation of other "purists."