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Are we part of a losing battle? — Page 2

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Might leave behind?

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Where were you in '77?

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We are part of a losing battle if we don't put our money into our mouths but instead into Lucasfilm's pockets.

As I've said elsewhere here before, if you wanna do something to change the sad current state of affairs, then weigh in at the Amazon.com (p)review section for the Blu-ray release, write own comments or give those supporting our cause good ratings.

Educating many unsuspecting buyers about what to expect or more explicitly what not to expect has already turned out to be somewhat helpful (I propose that the originaltrilogy.com award medal should go to J. Bongiorno!).

Many customers are starting to wonder, if the Blu-ray release truly justifies yet another investment after the 2004 DVD release. The sad truth is, that the less people are preordering or buying this product - especially because of the lack of the original versions - the bigger the possibility that George Lucas might change his mind and start to remember all these things on behalf of film preservation and public rights he said not that many years ago.

Help George Lucas putting his money where his mouth is by not putting any more money into the pockets of his company regarding this coming Blu-ray release.

 

Lucas on the colorization of the THREE STOOGES in 2004: "Maybe just the fact that they're in black and white makes it funny, because their humor is dated. But by putting it in black and white, it puts it in a context where you can appreciate it for what it was."  Lucas on film preservation before Congress in 1988: "The public's interest is ultimately dominant over all other interests."

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As I don't have a BluRay player, I haven't been following what will and will not be on that set.

Like many of my generation, I fell in love with the OT in the 70's and 80's.  I went to see the SE's on the big screen when they came out, and am particularly glad I saw Empire at an IMAX theater.  I am more than willing to admit there are features of the OT that could be improved, especially with regards to effects, but somehow the new shots seemed too "cute" and many of them seemed distracting to the story.

The fact of the matter is that GL is NOT a gifted writer, and as a director has certain limitations as well.  He is GREAT speaking visually.  And when he had serious time and money limitations, he created some classic films of american cinema, like the OT.

The thing is that he forgot when to stop and has a tendency to over elaborate, and his money and independence lets him do this, to our dismay.

On the other hand, I purchased the VHS tapes when LFL said that it was the "last time" to get the originals.  Ten years later I purchased the "Limited Edition" that had GOUT on DVD.  GOUT may not be the release we want, but it was more than I expected.  Admittedly it is a color mess and so I was torn between watching Pan and Scan VHS tapes that kinda looked like Star Wars, or GOUT that looked like a washed out old film, but was full screen, showing off the cinematography, or SE which had its own transfer issues as well as cringe moments at some "improvements" which to me are distracting at best.

From a preliminary viewing of Dark Jedi's work, it looks like I will not have to make that choice anymore.

I once saw GOUT described as just being good enough to be better than the older Laser Disc transfers which were going around.  If that is the case, then the work many of you all are doing should shame them into a better official release.

The OT is important enough that many of us fans from the 70's and 80's will still have an emotional attachment to want to buy it as an "extra" even if GL wants it to go away.  It is also important enough that film geeks will want to see the originals, but that is less of a market.  Some time, some day the simple finances of this will make a release come.  I hope it doesn't take the death of GL for this to happen...