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Are we part of a losing battle?

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This is from the Spike TV topic, but I decided to make a new topic because it was irrelevant there:

I want you all to think hard and long about this. Do you honestly think GL is going to ever repent his ways and release the originals again in any format or any broadcast? Is he going to listen to anyone, in particular some fringe website on the internet few people (less than 500,000) know about? Sorry to say it, but GL has put his boot on our faces for good, and the OOT as we know it will no longer exist outside of bootleg copies. Let's be honest here, there is very little chance that we will see LFL cave in again and release something even among the lines of the GOUT. GL has said the final word on the originals years ago and you cannot admit that. I'm sorry that I have to take a defeatist attitude, but deep down it is the only option left to us. You can go ahead and vent on the internet about this, but you cannot change what has happened. GL has committed a serious cultural crime, I know that, but no matter what you think or do, you cannot alter that fact. The direction of SW over the last 15 years has gotten further and further away from the OOT, and there is no doubt that LFL will be less caring about the OOT in 2025 as they are today.

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Unless George Lucas dies in twelve years and the Lucasfilm board of directors decides to restore the most lucrative and popular title in their entire library. Yeah, that would never happen.

The entire debate about "never" seeing the OOT again is a bit moot. The OT will be public domain at some point. Some of us might even live long enough to see that day. But more than likely, the films will be released not long after Lucas dies. Or before: remember, Lucas has been softening on the issue gradually, especially as his friends and colleagues have begun publically questioning him. In 1997, he spoke about the OOT being destroyed and forgetten because everyone would be watching the SE. In 2004, he instead framed it in terms of it being unfortunate that people preferred the version he doesn't like. In 2006, he then released the OOT, stating that he'll see if people really want it after all. In 2010, he said that the "classic version" the trilogy will be put on the backburner until the SE is done because of cost.

So never say never.

Plus, on a long enough timeline, someone will do their own 35mm scan. Maybe not this year or this decade, but it's simply inevitable the longer this all goes on for.

So rather I would say it is the opposite: Lucas is the one fighting a losing battle. When he is dead, everyone in his company will be doing their best to get the films released. And even if they don't--the films will be public domain, and all those archived prints in the Lucasfilm vaults and Library of Congress and Fox studios will be put to good use. You see, that's the beauty of this all: Lucas can't take the films with him. They belong to the public at the end of the day. For all his efforts, all his wishes and all his actions, he will never win the war, even if he's won a few strategic victories right now. He's already lost the war, we just have to wait around for it to happen.

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zombie84 said:

So rather I would say it is the opposite: Lucas is the one fighting a losing battle. When he is dead, everyone in his company will be doing their best to get the films released. ... ... ... He's already lost the war, we just have to wait around for it to happen.

I really really really hope, for personal reasons, that at some point Lucas flips around on this.

I don't like holding such a monumental film-maker, one whose work gave me so much pleasure and inspiration, in such contempt.

 He was in love with new technologies, overwhelmed by the possibilities, plainly hugely insecure, and made the SEs. If he flips on this and puts out a real OOT, in my view all is forgiven.

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I want to like Lucas again, so I hope so.

 

He's like Vader. There's still good in him!

Keep Circulating the Tapes.

END OF LINE

(It hasn’t happened yet)

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generalfrievious, there's more things to life than Star Wars.

While it would be nice to have the OOT released in good quality, they're just movies, as enjoyable as they are.

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I think that the preservations coming from this group (Harmy, Adywan, etc.) are going to keep the OOT alive, because over time it is going to just get easier and easier for people to download them.  And, it is possible that they will factor in to real change eventually.  I'm hopeful.

"Close the blast doors!"
Puggo’s website | Rescuing Star Wars

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Tyrphanax said:

I want to like Lucas again

I was about to say the exact same thing. I loved George as kid, and held him in high regard as a filmmaker. The prequels aren't what gave me a sour opinion of him. It's his need to erase the thing I love. I like Star Wars for it's imperfections, it's not glossy and perfect like the prequels. It's not some steril product of modern technology. It's the gritty efforts of pioneers who put their love into the films.

 

"The other versions will disappear. Even the 35 million tapes of Star Wars out there won’t last more than 30 or 40 years. A hundred years from now, the only version of the movie that anyone will remember will be the DVD version [of the Special Edition], and you’ll be able to project it on a 20’ by 40’ screen with perfect quality. I think it’s the director’s prerogative, not the studio’s to go back and reinvent a movie." - George Lucas

<span> </span>

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Lucas will never be rid of the original versions. (He would love the Holiday Special to vanish, and we all know that turned out!) We're keeping them alive, even if all one does is show them to friends and loved ones instead of the SE's.

Video project Puggo Grande on a wall at the next Celebration, and throw down the gauntlet! ;)

Where were you in '77?

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Malcolm Greeny:

Lucasfilm said they were gonna waltz through the Original Trilogy. And we choked 'em with those words. We've done the impossible, and that makes us mighty. Just a little while longer. Our angels are gonna be soaring overhead, raining fire on those arrogant Khags. So you hold.

<span style=“font-weight: bold;”>The Most Handsomest Guy on OT.com</span>

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Ziggy Stardust said:

generalfrievious, there's more things to life than Star Wars.

You can't convince him of this.  Trust me.

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Ziggy Stardust said:

generalfrievious, there's more things to life than Star Wars.

Yeah.... LIKE BOWIE!!!!!

 

<span style=“font-weight: bold;”>The Most Handsomest Guy on OT.com</span>

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May those that love us, love us.
And those that don't love us,
May God turn their hearts.
And if He doesn't turn their hearts,
May He turn their ankles
So we will know them by their limping.
~Irish Blessing

I'm also optimistic that George Lucas will recognize the desire for the original Star Wars. I agree with Tyr, there's still good in him!

The blue elephant in the room.

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greenpenguino said:

Ziggy Stardust said:

generalfrievious, there's more things to life than Star Wars.

Yeah.... LIKE BOWIE!!!!!

Exactly!

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Ziggy Stardust said:

greenpenguino said:

Ziggy Stardust said:

generalfrievious, there's more things to life than Star Wars.

Yeah.... LIKE BOWIE!!!!!

Exactly!

 

LOLNO.

IT'S MY TRILOGY, AND I WANT IT NOW!

"[George Lucas] rebooted the franchise in 1997 without telling anyone." -skyjedi2005

"Yeah, well, George says a lot of things..." a young 1997 xhonzi on RASSM

"They're my movies." -George Lucas. 19 people won oscars for their work on Star Wars (1977) and George Lucas wasn't one of them.

Rewrite the Prequels!

 

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xhonzi said:

Ziggy Stardust said:

greenpenguino said:

Ziggy Stardust said:

generalfrievious, there's more things to life than Star Wars.

Yeah.... LIKE BOWIE!!!!!

Exactly!

 

LOLNO.

Thank you for using the WRONG PICTURE.  I'm sick of the other one.

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I haven't actually started that meme, have I? :O

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twooffour said:

I haven't actually started that meme, have I? :O

 

LOLNO.

IT'S MY TRILOGY, AND I WANT IT NOW!

"[George Lucas] rebooted the franchise in 1997 without telling anyone." -skyjedi2005

"Yeah, well, George says a lot of things..." a young 1997 xhonzi on RASSM

"They're my movies." -George Lucas. 19 people won oscars for their work on Star Wars (1977) and George Lucas wasn't one of them.

Rewrite the Prequels!

 

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Ziggy Stardust said:

generalfrievious, there's more things to life than Star Wars.

While it would be nice to have the OOT released in good quality, they're just movies, as enjoyable as they are.

You might be right on that. But unfortunately most people born after 1990 don't even know the difference between the OOT and the SE, and do not seem to care about this silent destruction. Most of here are the old guard who are not suckered in to the zeitgeist of the early 21st century, where don't care anymore and are focused on complete garbage.

I don't like the direction this thread is going; this is supposed to be a serious discussion.

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Gone With The Wind, The Wizard of Oz, Citizen Kane, Casablanca, and Lawrence of Arabia are just movies too.

But they are also more than that. Why else would people spend time and money on their preservation and restoration?

They and many other films are part of our culture. As is Star Wars. When Ronald Reagan called the Soviet Union "The Evil Empire", it was obvious what film imagery he was invoking. When the Strategic Defense Initiative got nicknamed "Star Wars", even Lucas couldn't stop the press from using the moniker, much to his dismay.

That Superbowl ad with the kid in the Vader costume proves how powerful the original films are in people's minds even today. You're not about to see an expensive tv commercial with someone dressed as a prequel character! ;)

Where were you in '77?

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generalfrevious said:

Ziggy Stardust said:

generalfrievious, there's more things to life than Star Wars.

While it would be nice to have the OOT released in good quality, they're just movies, as enjoyable as they are.

You might be right on that. But unfortunately most people born after 1990 don't even know the difference between the OOT and the SE, and do not seem to care about this silent destruction.

As an individual that was born in 1997, this is true. However, I would rather someone thirty years from now see the OT in their SE form than not at all.

And SilverWook, I said there's more things to life than Star Wars, not movies in general.

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You also said they are "just movies"? That implies they have no more importance or value beyond the latest box office spectacular. Are people going to waxing nostalgic about being at the first showing of Transformers 3 twenty years from now?

When people start to think Jabba was created and inserted into the film in 1977, it's unfortunate. Thirty years from now, how will kids know what they're seeing isn't the original real deal? If I watch a film made in 1939, I have a reasonable expectation I'm seeing what people in 1939 actually saw. That requires some honesty on the part of the studio and the filmmakers.

There are THX-1138 reviews on the web that seem totally oblivious to the massive changes done to that film. And Lucas has deliberately not talked about the CGI additions. Re-writing the history of a movie begins with omission.

Where were you in '77?

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SilverWook said:

You also said they are "just movies"? That implies they have no more importance or value beyond the latest box office spectacular. Are people going to waxing nostalgic about being at the first showing of Transformers 3 twenty years from now?

They are "just movies". I wasn't referring to the legacy that they might leave behind...