Articles & info that highlight / call for a classic version release of the Original Trilogy

‘Why We Should Be Able to See Star Wars‘ Original Theatrical Cut’:-

https://411mania.com/movies/why-we-should-be-able-to-see-star-wars-original-theatrical-cut - 2019 article
 

a snippet, from the part of the article after talking about JJ wanting the original cuts of the OT released…
 

“I guess it’s what George Lucas wanted, and that’s what he did, and so I respect that, although I also feel like there’s something about the original theatrical version that was, you know, for so many people, the thing they loved as it was. And so, you know, it would be great to have that available for a mainstream audience.”

Absolutely. While Lucas used his right to “tweak” his movies, the viewer has the right to alter their opinion of the movie. For me, these Special Editions diminished my view of them. I’m a borderline Star Wars fan. I like the original trilogy enough, I don’t place it on a pedestal. Its achievement with audiences and critics speaks for itself. The prequels left me cold and I chalk it up to they weren’t made for me. And that’s OK. If someone else likes them, good for them. I don’t hold it against anyone who likes something I don’t. Take it in and enjoy.

As for these sequels, I’ve waited till they came out on a streaming service before seeing them and didn’t mind one bit. For the record, Solo and Rogue One were fun to me. But at this point, I can take the franchise or leave it. It’s fun to talk about but I’ll leave the judging to others more invested in the franchise.

Should we be able to get the original theatrical releases?

Absolutely. For millions, that’s their version of Star Wars that they fell in love with and made them fans."
 

’Star Wars on Blu-ray: George, don’t do that…’:-

A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away, there was a beloved film trilogy. Not any more, if Star Wars’ impending Blu-ray release has anything to do with it

https://www.theguardian.com/film/filmblog/2010/aug/19/star-wars-blu-ray-lucas - 2010 article
 

A snippet…

"This week, Lucas announced that the Star Wars saga would be coming to Blu-ray before the end of 2011. The piece of news missing from early announcements, unearthed during an interview he gave to the New York Times, was that the original trilogy would be presented in the special edition form that appeared on the 2004 DVD release, rather than the classic versions released between 1977 and 1983.

The 2004 special edition features all of 1997’s awkward edits – Greedo shooting first, Han stepping on Jabba’s tail – and adds even more egregious acts of self-mutilation. Most notably, Return of the Jedi replaces Sebastian Shaw as the spirit Anakin Skywalker with wooden imp Hayden Christensen, star of the prequels.

“In essence, films never get finished, they get abandoned,” Lucas told American Cinematographer magazine in 1997. “The other versions will disappear. A hundred years from now, the only version of the movie that anyone will remember will be [the Special Edition]. I think it’s the director’s prerogative … to go back and reinvent a movie.”

The DVD edition (in 2006), at least, featured bonus discs holding weak transfers of the original versions, even if they felt like poorly treated outcasts, added just to prolong their humiliation at their creator’s increasingly malevolent hands. The Blu-rays won’t even feature those.

Lucas says that’s because the process of remastering them for HD is prohibitively expensive. During his interview with the New York Times this week, he claimed that putting them on the Blu-ray would be “kind of an oxymoron because the quality of the original is not very good. When we did the transfer to digital, we only transferred really the upgraded version.”

Alexandre Philippe directed documentary feature ‘The People vs George Lucas’, which premiered at this year’s Edinburgh film festival. He believes Lucas has no intention of letting the films’ original versions exist. “We’ve heard all the excuses: they don’t represent George’s ‘original vision’; the negatives of the movies were permanently altered for the creation of the Special Editions; they can’t or won’t put in the time and resources needed to properly restore the films. Now, we’re told that releasing the originals is an oxymoron. As the reasons for not releasing the originals pile up, they simply don’t add up to anything coherent any more.”
 

Here’s one from last December’s New York Times

’We Can’t See ‘Star Wars’ Anymore’

The cultural industry that the 1977 film spawned has ground its original charm and wonder out of existence.
 

“We literally can’t see “Star Wars” anymore: Its control-freakish creator won’t allow the original version of the film to be seen and has stubbornly maculated his own masterpiece, second-guessing correct editing decisions, restoring wisely deleted scenes and replacing his breakthrough special effects — historic artifacts in their own right — with ’90s vintage C.G.I., already more dated than the film’s original effects.”
 

EDIT:
As of now this article requires you to be subscriber to the NYT.

’Why Hasn’t Disney Released The Original Unaltered Star Wars Films?’:-

Over the weekend Ant-Man director Peyton Reed took to Twitter to ask for something Star Wars fans have been pestering people about since George Lucas first re-released the original Star Wars trilogy with a bunch of changes. He wants Lucasfilm to release an unaltered version of the original film on Blu-ray.

https://www.gizmodo.co.uk/2017/09/why-hasnt-disney-released-the-original-unaltered-star-wars-films - 2017 article
 

a snippet…
 

'George Lucas notoriously considered each iteration of the Star Wars special editions as the definitive version of the film, with new changes popping up every time the trilogy was released on a new format. He insisted that the special editions were the films he had originally wanted to make, and in 2004 he even went so far as to say he wouldn’t re-release the unaltered versions on DVD.
 

George Lucas - “The special edition, that’s the one I wanted out there. The other movie, it’s on VHS, if anybody wants it. … I’m not going to spend the, we’re talking millions of dollars here, the money and the time to refurbish that, because to me, it doesn’t really exist anymore.”
 

He eventually relented and released the unaltered cuts on DVD for a limited time in 2006, bundled with the 2004 special editions. There are plenty of them available on sites like eBay if anyone wants them. The films didn’t arrive on Blu-ray until 2011, a single year before he sold the franchise to Disney, meaning the unaltered cuts never officially arrived in high definition.’

Also featured in the above article…

^ https://twitter.com/MrPeytonReed/status/911024440766582784
 

‘Star Wars: Why Disney Won’t Release the Original Theatrical Cuts’:-

Why Star Wars fans still want the original theatrical cuts and why Disney hasn’t released them yet…

https://www.denofgeek.com/movies/star-wars-why-disney-wont-release-the-original-theatrical-cuts - 2017 article
 

a snippet…
 

"It’s a strange time in the world of physical discs. Whilst companies such as Arrow and Criterion continue to invest time, money and care into beautiful, crafted, and collectable releases, there’s a growing feeling that the era of the physical disc is coming to an end. DVD and Blu-ray sales are falling, some titles by-pass disc altogether and go straight to streaming services. Furthermore, extra features are becoming less the norm and more a bit of a luxury. Then there’s the small matter of Ultra HD Blu-ray, a new disc format that’s making a little headway, but struggling to really breakthrough.

Yet if there’s a release that would give the physical disc industry a real shot in the arm, it’s the original Star Wars cuts. Those long-cherished theatrical releases from the 1970s and 1980s, that have only been released once on DVD – and then in a fairly shabby state (a transfer from laserdisc materials, rather than film negatives) – and instead been usurped by the Greedo-endorsed special editions. Never have they seen 1080p, yet alone 4K."
 

‘The search for the ‘Star Wars’ George Lucas doesn’t want you to see’:-

https://mashable.com/2015/12/17/star-wars-original-cut/?europe=true - a 2015 article
 

a snippet…
 

"Ah, Star Wars. Not the movie that’s launching like a nostalgia-boosted rocket this week ,or the prequel sequels that broke millions of hearts a decade ago, or even the face-lifted originals that the franchise’s creator unloaded on the public in the late 20th century.

No, I’m taking about the movie I saw as a teen 38 years ago. The epic film called simply Star Wars. It was singular and self-contained. It was raw and it was visceral. It has also, more or less, been hidden away for nearly four decades.

Ever since director George Lucas started messing with the original trio of films — Star Wars, The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi — fans have been fixated on the series’ unadulterated versions.

Lucas has either seized and destroyed or hidden away all copies of the original films in order to roll out modified versions that are ostensibly better than the originals. Owing to its age, the first film, which was released in 1977, has probably undergone more updates and spit polish than the rest.

There is, however, one place beyond the reach of Lucas’s twitchy, compulsively dissatisfied grasp: the Library of Congress.

As I read last year in the epic How Star Wars Conquered the Universe, by Mashable’s own Chris Taylor, the Library doesn’t just have a preserved 1977 negative of the film. That negative has been transformed into a glorious 4K file that anyone can view by appointment."
 

The rest of the article follows the writer’s journey to the Library of Congress to watch and experience the 1977 version of Star Wars… a compelling read.
 
 

‘We’re Still Waiting For the Unaltered Star Wars Trilogy’:-

Roadshow screenings of “Star Wars,” “The Empire Strikes Back” and “Return of the Jedi” are coming this summer, but they aren’t the versions we want - a 2016 article

https://www.thewrap.com/star-wars-trilogy-is-getting-roadshow-screenings-but-not-the-versions-we-want-commentary
 

a snippet…
 

"On Tuesday, Alamo Drafthouse announced the “Return of the Trilogy” roadshow, which would bring theatrical screenings of the original “Star Wars” trilogy to 20 cities in the U.S. this August. They’ll be selling tickets starting May 4, also known on the Internet as “Star Wars” Day.

That’s great, right?

But there’s a catch. There’s always a catch with those old “Star Wars” movies. Drafthouse won’t be screening the un-messed-with versions of the trilogy. Instead, we’ll be getting the 1997 Special Edition versions.

Sure, it’s better than having to deal with the 2011 blu-ray versions, which is what has usually been screened on those rare occasions in the past few years when “Star Wars” hits the big screen again. Those were George Lucas‘ magnum opus of pointlessly changing things in the movies that made him a household name, throwing in all sorts of weird new jarring things. The Special Editions (1997), by comparison, were pretty benign, so I guess you could say that getting those for these roadshow screenings is better than nothing."

But that’s not really how I feel about it. If I’m going to venture out of my home and pay money to see a “Star Wars” movie on the big screen, it either better be something I haven’t seen before (hello, “Rogue One”), or it should be the real “Star Wars.” Not the Special Editions. Not the blu-ray versions. The ones that are the same as what showed in theaters in 1977, 1980 and 1983.

It’s not complicated. I want it and so does everybody else. Having “unaltered original ‘Star Wars’ trilogy” on your marquee is the kind of thing that gets people lined up around the block. Because that’s something many of us have never gotten on the big screen before."
 

and…

“I’m a fan, and I want what I want. I want those ugly old X-Wings and a version of Mos Eisley that isn’t crammed full of low-res CGI beasts. I want a Sarlaac without that weird beak, and Death Stars that explode without a ring of fire. I want snowspeeders and Imperial walker that are surrounded by matte lines. I want the real thing.”
 

‘Opinion: Saving the Original, unaltered Classic Trilogy’:-

https://starwarsaficionado.blogspot.com/2011/10/opinion-saving-original-unaltered.html - 2011 article
 

a snippet…
 

"With the recent release of THE COMPLETE SAGA on Blu-ray, still in pole position (or very near that) within the Top Ten charts of the world consumer home entertainment market, it’s time to reflect on the disappointing fact that, for the time being, the original theatrical versions of the Classic Trilogy- 1977, 1980 and 1983- have been officially discontinued on DVD from the major seller sites like AMAZON and PLAY with the prior 2006 release (where each film, disappointingly released in a non-anamorphic format, and scanned from the 1993 laserdisc releases, would be presented on a separate bonus feature disc alongside the SPECIAL EDITION versions), and there are apparently no plans to release new copies. How long this current situation will last is unknown, but I’m assuming it will be for the lengthy peak sales duration that the Blu-rays will need to generate income for LUCASFILM and FOX.

Now, more than ever, and especially with the recent controversies regarding the further changes made to the SPECIAL EDITION films on the Blu-rays (some enhancements great, others (you know which ones they are!) not so great), I think it’s time that LUCASFILM finally caved in (and there is absolutely no shame in doing this!) and answered the heartfelt requests/pleas from fans, young and old, around the world to finally release the original unaltered Classic Trilogy films on Blu-ray once and for all (the chance to win back much tarnished fan appreciation and media support, and greatly increased sales, following years of disappointment with what has been released on DVD, was sadly blown this year by their not doing this with the new COMPLETE SAGA release).

There is still time to put this sad Classic Trilogy oversight right, and have a separate release for the beloved three films on Blu-ray in a few years time, if LUCASFILM start acting now. The transfers don’t have to be anything fancy-just nice clean TECHNICOLOR presentations of the movies as we love and remember them from their original screenings, and with the original superb sound mix restored to the way it was (it doesn’t need any flashy mucking about with or be put in new DOLBY techniques). TECHNICOLOR copies of the original films do still exist. Producer Gary Kurtz has a copy of the 1977 STAR WARS-he told me this a few years back, and also revealed he lent it to LUCASFILM when they were doing their SPECIAL EDITIONS restoration work for release in 1997-scenes from his copy were duplicated and used to fill in gaps where the original masters had deteriorated from age. Copies of EMPIRE and JEDI also apparently exists in private hands and their owners would surely be more than happy to work with LUCASFILM so that the best available prints are made available for transfer of the highest definition possible. The potential profits from the new release far outweigh the potential behind the scenes costs and time that needs to be spent by Lucas’s restoration team/s…

So please, George Lucas and LUCASFILM, you’ve given us a good starter with THE COMPLETE SAGA box set, now go the distance that little bit more and give the fans who have loyally bought all the box sets- in all types of format since the eighties- what they really want: the Original Versions of the Classic Trilogy on Blu-ray-the unaltered and still magical three films we fell in love with all those years ago worldwide: which started the phenomenon into what it has become today!"
 

‘George Lucas Wants Desperately To Preserve Old Movies… Unless They’re His; So Fans Are Trying To Do It Instead’:-

https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20140828/15160128354/george-lucas-wants-desperately-to-preserve-old-movies-unless-theyre-his-so-fans-are-trying-to-do-it-instead.shtml - 2014 article
 

a snippet…
 

"Kevin Carson points us to a fascinating story in The Atlantic about fans trying to recreate the “original” version of Star Wars ("Episode IV – A New Hope for the folks who feel like being pedantic) from 1977. As various fans have pointed out repeatedly (mainly each time Lucas went back and “edited” Star Wars again), back in 1988 Lucas spoke to Congress about the importance of preserving original versions of movies, and avoiding the constant attempts to update and modernize them in ways that might erase the original versions.

Key quote (by George Lucas):-

"Today, engineers with their computers can add color to black-and-white movies, change the soundtrack, speed up the pace, and add or subtract material to the philosophical tastes of the copyright holder. Tomorrow, more advanced technology will be able to replace actors with “fresher faces,” or alter dialogue and change the movement of the actor’s lips to match. It will soon be possible to create a new “original” negative with whatever changes or alterations the copyright holder of the moment desires. The copyright holders, so far, have not been completely diligent in preserving the original negatives of films they control. In order to reconstruct old negatives, many archivists have had to go to Eastern bloc countries where American films have been better preserved.

In the future it will become even easier for old negatives to become lost and be “replaced” by new altered negatives. This would be a great loss to our society. Our cultural history must not be allowed to be rewritten."
 

and…

“While Lucas’ changes and updates to his film bother some, I’ve never been that concerned about those attempts to re-imagine his own work, but it does seem particularly silly to try to block people from even having the choice to view the original. It’s great that fans are putting in so much effort to reconstruct it by themselves, but it seems like Lucas could just speed that whole process along by making the original available.”