msycamore said:
moviefreakedmind said:
If he didn't want anyone to see the OOT again then he wouldn't have released them in 2006, the GOUT showed that he has no desire to erase them from history anymore like he did when he created the Special Edition. Regardless of how horrendous the quality was, he still gave people an opportunity to see the unaltered versions; as long as they don't replace the Special Editions then he won't care.
There's a reason Laserman suggested that we should call the release "GOUT" around here. Had they been released from newly scanned elements, I would have agreed with your optimistic view of George Lucas.
Like Baronlando said, it was essentially the same laserdisc we had for 13 years up to that point. No original 1977 audio, the only thing nice about it was the '77 opening crawl/flyover shot but which only managed to pour more salt in the wounds due to being taken from a better source. Lucas quote around the time of release in 2006 says it all:
"It's just the original versions, as they were. We didn't do anything to it at all. But we're not sure how many people want that... Now we'll find out whether they really wanted the original or whether they wanted the improved versions. It'll all come out in the end."
At the same time Lucasfilm was giving a PR response - the short version is in my signature.
The only thing that 2006 release showed us was that he didn't give a fuck about what customers wanted. It was a very calculated release on multiple levels. Technically they weren't even given a release, they were Bonus Features attached to a repackaging of the DVD versions of the films. Right there they basically making themselves immune to whatever critique may come up over the quality. I'm also quite certain that it was other people within the company who where fighting to include them in the first place. The very poor end result though was entirely due to him.
So, no I don't agree with your view at all. It's very possible Lucasfilms stance on this have changed now when the elephant has left the building and the company is owned by Disney. But, it still remains to be seen. (If they have the balls to do what is right or if they will wait until that stubborn billionaire is no longer with us...)
Sure, I agree that at that time Lucas was still hung up on his "true vision" and that's why the GOUT was so poor. He wanted it to be released in a subpar quality so that his versions would be the watchable ones, and it was very petty because he wanted everyone to think that if you prefer the OOT, you have to watch it in 1993 laserdisc quality. Remember though, this was in 2006, and by the time we got to the blu rays he didn't even mention his "vision" he just mentioned it being expensive and time consuming. He didn't even say it'd never happen, probably because he was already working on the Disney sale. I've always noticed George softening on his whole, "one version only" idea. In 1997 he wanted to let all copies of the trilogy deteriorate, and in 2006 he released the laserdisc on DVD which effectively "preserves" the films digitally (I know it sucked, but he did release), and then by 2011 he's just saying that he isn't interested. Not opposed to releasing them, just not interested, and he completely admitted that he was perfectly capable of doing so, while in '06 he was claiming that it was impossible to restore them.