Dear dark_jedi, I cannot thank you enough for what you are doing. You are awesome! You and Harmy are my favorite people in the world.
Having said that, I just want to vent a little about something I already vented about in Harmy's thread, so most of what follows is copied and pasted from what I typed there.
This is about something that bothers me but it's not specific to your work. It's a general trend I've noticed in fan preservations. It's the lack of "Episode IV A New Hope" in the opening title crawl of the first movie.
I know, I know, the original theatrical presentation in 1977 didn't have those words. But surely almost everybody grew up watching copies that did, right? Those words were not a "Special Edition" alteration, but you almost wouldn't know that anymore from examining the current non-special edition fan preservations that are around.
To be honest, when I watch the opening crawl without those words, it's just as foreign to me as Han stepping on Jabba's tail or Greedo shooting first. As far as I know, before the GOUT DVDs in 2006, everybody's home video version of Star Wars said "A New Hope" at the beginning. People watched it once (or a few times) in the theater in 1977 without those words, but then spent the rest of the next two decades watching it with those words included in their homes over and over and over. So Star Wars hasn't been restored to what I grew up with unless Jabba is taken out, Han shoots first, and "A New Hope" is included in the opening crawl.
It's not that I don't appreciate a true original theatrical restoration. I'd much rather watch it without the episode number than watch the Special Editions. But I find it hard to believe that I'm in a minority when I say that the title crawl with no episode heading is not the Star Wars I burned into my soul for almost two decades growing up.
But let me just bottom line this by saying the thing that really scares me - if the 1977 theatrical presentation continues to be the ongoing trend in fan preservation, then the only way for future generations to see the words "A New Hope" in High Def will be to watch the Special Editions. And that's not fair, because the words "Episode IV A New Hope" are not a Special Edition innovation and a person should not be forced to turn to the Special Edition in order to see those words.
Forgive me for being long winded, and I hope that what I have said has not negated any of the praise and appreciation I have for your preserving work. I know what you're probably thinking: "why doesn't deepanddark make his own fan edit instead of whining about what other people are doing." And I wouldn't really have a rebuttal to that.