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A Modest Suggestion

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Hey, great site. When I learned that the rumors were true, I knew someone had to be organizing some type of response to Lucas' ill-conceived plan. Those who are saying this won't work - well, maybe. But I've got an idea that might.

All fans should boycott the opening weekend of Revenge of the Sith.

Now, I'm not saying don't go see the movie, because, frankly, that won't happen. Even if the last two films pretty much proves Lucas is out of steam, we all want to see Anikan put on that helmet. So boycotting the movie entirely is out of the question.

But everyone is banking on the opening weekend being a record setter. 20th Century Fox, LucasArts, all the tie-in vendors, the movie houses. A lot of time and money will be spent to cash in on the opening 3-4 days of this film. What would happen if no one showed?

We won't break anybody, we won't put anybody into bankruptcy. But we will send one hell of a message that the fans are PISSED about the original films not being released. That will make our voices heard.

Think about it.
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Boycott Revenge of the Sith? Are you insane? That'll be in may 2005, 8 months after the DVDs are available for selling, that won't help our cause at all, and as much as I hate the PTs and the SEs, I want to watch ROTS. Unless I die before that, then I won't see it.

How come there are so many people with the "Jimbo" avatar thing?
“Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same in any country.” — Nazi Reich Marshal Hermann Goering
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No, I am not insane. Do you really believe this petition will change anything before Sept 21? The packaging is complete, the shipments enroute. The best we can hope for is this effort makes a strong enough showing so LucusFilm announces they have reconsidered and will release of the originals at some future date. Then, of course, there is no reason to boycott ROTS.

Barring that happening, yes, I firmly believe we should strike back with a boycott. How else will we demonstrate we are serious in our anger? Continue to sign online petitions? Hit them in the wallet! And, again, I am only suggesting boycotting the opening weekend. I know there is no way to keep the fans from entirely skipping this film. I'm only asking for a one week sacrifice.
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I've said this over and over, boycotting will not do anything, mostly because only a few people will. If we want to win we must make the people understand our cause, and I belive we will achieve such a thing by having people buy the DVDs and wathing them. Slowly we will have our voice heard, people will know the truth, and that's out only oportunity to get GL to change his mind.
“Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same in any country.” — Nazi Reich Marshal Hermann Goering
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Can't say I see how people buying the DVDs will further our cause. And what you say about few people joining a boycott is likely true - I've had little positive response from various fan sites. This could mean that GL does know his audience and what he can get away with. SW fans will take anything given them.

Lucas is a shrewd businessman. He must know there is a market for the original films. His decision could only mean one of two things:

1) He truly believes his reworked vision is the best and does not care how anyone else feels about it. The originals will never be released. To hell with the fans.
2) He is setting us up by telling us this version on Sept 21 is the only one ever to be released, but plans to suck us in to buying a second DVD set by "suddenly" changing his mind and releasing the originals, thus milking the fans twice.

Either way, he deserves a nose bleed. We made him rich, we deserve some consideration. My idea will do that.
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theres only one thing to do gentlemen...

ARSON...
ahhh doesnt it just roll off your lips...
"Never. I'll never turn to the darkside. You've failed your highness. I am a jedi, like my father before me."
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tempting but illegal Luke. I say boycott. Remember Ric, tman5 is not saying to never see ROTS just don't do it the 1st weekend. Maybe its unlikely but if we could unify and get everyone who signed the petition to boycott ROTS(just the 1st weekend) it could send a message and maybe get more media attention to our cause. So want if it will be 2005? I say the time to give up is not when the se OT is released on DVD, the time to give up is never.
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Lucas really believes that ROTS will be the biggest movie opening of all time? Not friggin' 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
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Kevin A
Webmaster/Primary Cynic
kapgar.typepad.com
kapgar.com
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People, people, this aint gonna work, it's impossible to organize a large scale boycott to something like this, there are people who will NOT boycott it, even if they agree with us. What we need is to make sure people GET the message by understanding the differences between versions. I'm confident the media WILL take full notice of this in the folowing weeks. That's when we'll strike. Jay was interviewd by a magazine, I'm sure that when the DVDs come out originaltrilogy.com will get media attention, and Lucasfilm will have to reply in a proper way.
“Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same in any country.” — Nazi Reich Marshal Hermann Goering
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I think people might join the boycott, if, IF ,we only agree to boycott the opening weekend. How will we know if we don't try?
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Ricarleite, I don't understand why you are so vehemently against a boycott. It takes nothing away from any other effort. We can work to gain media attention and public support but if Lucas doesn't bend then what? Pack up and go home, stopping at Walmart on the way to pick up a copy of the DVDs?

We must be willing to go as far as possible (and legal) to make our voices heard. If we limit our options starting out, we have already lost. While we are getting the word out, let's also get the word out of a planned boycott to add more pressure on Lucas and his supporters.

And I agree getting people to actually boycott will be hard. But like Warbler said: How do we know if we don't try?
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im willing to try!!
but where do we start?
"Never. I'll never turn to the darkside. You've failed your highness. I am a jedi, like my father before me."
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Originally posted by: Luke Skywalker
im willing to try!!
but where do we start?


We start by agree to do. Then telling your friends and getting them to join you. Put something like "Boycott Revenge of the Sith" with a link to this site (or some other) in your email and forum sigs. Get the word out.

But most of all, you must hold course when the incredible hype around the release of the film begins and you feel that incredible pressure to be there for the final chapter on the opening weekend. That will be the toughest part.
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okay but what if others dont hold to their word....
there should be some sort of organization in this...

its one thing to tell people not to go... but its another to see the people not going...

it would be cool if you could gather a huge group of people from select cities and have them all meet in a common place (ie opening night of EP. 3) and carry out there boycott where they will be seen... maybe even get a little bit of news coverage!
"Never. I'll never turn to the darkside. You've failed your highness. I am a jedi, like my father before me."
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we could hold court in a movie theater parking lot and hold up signs indicating that we are boycotting and why.
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Originally posted by: tman5
Ricarleite, I don't understand why you are so vehemently against a boycott. It takes nothing away from any other effort. We can work to gain media attention and public support but if Lucas doesn't bend then what? Pack up and go home, stopping at Walmart on the way to pick up a copy of the DVDs?

We must be willing to go as far as possible (and legal) to make our voices heard. If we limit our options starting out, we have already lost. While we are getting the word out, let's also get the word out of a planned boycott to add more pressure on Lucas and his supporters.

And I agree getting people to actually boycott will be hard. But like Warbler said: How do we know if we don't try?


I oppose it because I belive it will be useless effort on our side. While boycotts might have some political power, mostly because political causes are followed by the masses, it is quite innefective in this case. If Lucasfilm was poluting a major river or burning the rain forest in order to do its movies, then we would have a way to convince people, but I'm afraid we can't do that based on what we've got. Sure, I won't buy the DVD set, but other people will, regardless of how much I scream "GREEDO SHOOTS FIRST!" on their ears. I could boycott ROTS's first week, but most of the fans, even those who hate the SEs, won't. "Why shouldn't I watch this movie, it's a free country and I do what I want to do", is what people would think.

I think we should concentrate our efforts on other ways. First, we have to make sure the people KNOW what's going on without making it sound like a joke. "Oh, it's just some nerds who are complaining about their new star trek movie", it's what most people would think of us. Boycotting would make us sound more ridiculous. We must get people's attention in a serious way, and unfortunally the only way to do so is by using the media. People's minds and opinions are shaped by what the TV tells them, so if the media take our side and people get to know our message ("Star Wars, one of the world's great artistic achievements, is DYING"), THEN we will achieve our goal. Maybe then a boycott would me more easily accepted. If preassured enough, Lucasfilm would have to give in.

It is a tough achievement, and as much as I support originaltrilogy.com, sometimes I belive we will not succeed. The decision behind the release of the OT is on few people, and it's near to impossible to convince them. It would be like convincing Hitler not to invade Poland because we don't want to. But oh well, I still belive there's one thing that would convince him: money. If he realizes how much people would PAY him to have the classic trilogy, perhaps he would be convinced. And you can't convince him of this if we start boycotting his products...

That's what I think, I know you guys don't agree with me.
“Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same in any country.” — Nazi Reich Marshal Hermann Goering
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hey i totally agree with you..

here's how i feel...
i feel that any media coverage right now would help our cause... or even having some sort of celebrity support this site....
maybe even someone from the Star Wars movies...
hell if we could get someone to give a statement saying the originals must be preserved i think that would greatly help our cause...

but the only way we may be able to get this media attention is by A making them aware of what the situation is (while its a good idea i feel that we've tried this and still the media doesnt understand what we're doing or doesnt care!) B holding some sort of worldwide protest that may gain some sort of newspaper or local television station coverage....

i think still contacting someone famous may help our cause greatly...
and make sure its someone close to GL or Star Wars...
how bout Speilberg?
or Solo, Hamill or Fisher?

someone has to believe these films should be preserved!!
"Never. I'll never turn to the darkside. You've failed your highness. I am a jedi, like my father before me."
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Solo? You mean, he's real? He's not Harrison Ford?

I think Mark Hamill would support us. Kevin Smith would too.
“Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same in any country.” — Nazi Reich Marshal Hermann Goering
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Hey, maybe if one of us was to register at the View Askew message board, we could post a topic asking Kevin Smith personally to make some kind of statement against the DVDs and tell people about this site... maybe we could even convince him to put a link to originaltrilogy on the main page of View Askew, and that could bring in thousands of people... But you have to pay just to be able to register, so I don't know if anyone would want to do that...

By the way, I don't know about boycotting RotS, but I am without doubt boycotting the DVDs. I'm not gonna buy them, I'm gonna go to Wal-Mart and tell people why they shouldn't buy them, and I'm gonna pray that they don't sell well... maybe if he makes no money off the DVDs, he'll realize he HAS to put out the original trilogy.
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I still say boycott the 1st weekend! we can do all the other things as well. Lets find out how many will join us.
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OK. Go ahead. Let's just see the numbers of the first week, and then I'll remind you of what I've just said.
“Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same in any country.” — Nazi Reich Marshal Hermann Goering
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Originally posted by: ricarleite
Solo? You mean, he's real? He's not Harrison Ford?

I think Mark Hamill would support us. Kevin Smith would too.


lol oops... got caught up in the SW universe for a sec...
hehe you little monkey!

i've already posted such a comment on the Kevin Smith boards...
havent recieved any feedback
"Never. I'll never turn to the darkside. You've failed your highness. I am a jedi, like my father before me."
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I say go for it. I agree Ric, that it's pointless, but anything is better than nothing. Just as long as it's clear that it doesn't end with DVD.("They've got it on DVD, they don't need HD.")


Made for IE Forum's Episode III theme month - May 2005.