"I am wondering.....why are you here?"

This might only be tangentially-related to your question, but I was in a coffee shop the other night meeting up with a friend, when I overheard someone talking Star Wars with one of the baristas.  And I almost threw up.  Because he was "educating" this person with the official Lucas line:  "You know it was originally just one script.  And then he decided to cut it in half.  But then even that was too long, so he had to cut each half into thirds.  Then he realized that the first half was basically all exposition and the second half was where the action was, so he decided to film it first."  I mastered the impulse to get up and set him straight because, honestly, I didn't feel like getting into a very nerdy argument.  The most I did was mutter, "Bullshit," after every sentence he spoke.  After being forced to listen for another minute or two, I realized these weren't even TF.n gushers.  They certainly didn't seem to be fans of the prequels at all.  But they were still towing the sickening company line, and probably didn't even realize it.

Star Wars as a fandom is weird.  It is so full of misinformation, half-truths, and just plain bullshit that it's almost impossible to have anything remotely resembling a unified fanbase.  But it's not just the kind of in-universe bickering that most other fanbases have (this movie or this series is better than this movie or this series in the franchise).  It's Lucas's bullshit that splits everyone apart.

The people here are an interesting breed.  By "official" definition, most of us here aren't even Star Wars fans.  So, yeah, of course we're going to band together, in protest if not comeraderie.  Why are we here?  Because we're the freaks of the fan community, and no one else will have us. ^_~

Anchorhead said:

Why is this place so different?  Other than the obvious (desire for OT), why is this the place of choice for open, intelligent Star Wars discussions?

This forum is not as strictly moderated as the more "official" forums, and freedom of speech is given more than simple lip service. On OT.com you don't feel as if you're closed in like you would on TFN; there's no oppressive feeling that you've got to keep to a narrow path, all the while holding your breath, and that should you ever deviate the slightest bit from that path or take in a full breath of air a pack of ravenous wolves will bring you down and tear you to shreds.

That's the way I feel, anyway.

Anchorhead said:

My question (yes, I'm finally getting around to it); Why is this place so different?  Other than the obvious (desire for OT), why is this the place of choice for open, intelligent Star Wars discussions?

I can't say exactly why I joined this site, because there are so many reasons. The most important one was the fact that I was agreeing with a lot of what you guys were saying.

I had never heard of anybody talking about the pre 97 Star Wars trilogy in such a light.

The feelings I had for the trilogy were being expressed by others.

You couldn't find that on any other board. Every where else it was a lot of Lucas worshiping, and the very hint that he did wrong resulted in a ban.

I don't know why I am so passionate about Star Wars, I can clearly see it's faults, and I honestly don't think it is perfect. Yet it is so embedded in my mind that I can't help it.

Every opinion is respected on here. You can't find that anywhere else.

Plus you guys are a lot nicer on here. I used to go on Heavy Metal boards and get treated like a cancer for saying not being metal enough. Here, you can like the prequels and still be treated with the same respect as the guy who hates the prequels.

I'm here because the original films are treated badly and it seems that this is the only place for people like me who like their stuff original. Also I'm a collector who likes all kinds of old SW things, like videos and nostalgic merchandise from the time when I wasn't even born, so I'm liking the old stuff ie. Puggo's preservations and Jambe's documentarys. I'm not interested in fan edits at all, haven't watched even one of those.

I also like the fact that this is possibly the least moderated forum and still being possibly the smartest forum I've visited. Though a little moderation once in a while wouldn't hurt since there's all kind of crap appear into threads from time to time and some people fill all threads with useless posts...

Gaffer Tape has a good point, in that we are the "outsiders" of the fan community, at least by official designation. This place gives us a sense of belonging, like any form of outsider community.

We are also bonded by an unrivaled passion for the films. I don't think a lot of fans of the official party line would go to the lengths to preserve the films and their obscure anxillary products and bootlegs, etc., the way we have. We are obsessive, but not in a creepy "I must collect every Star Wars doll" way, we just really, really like the films and appreciate the historical context of them, and most people don't dig as deep into the history as we do, nor put so much effort into appreciating them.

This makes it difficult to talk with "normal" people about the films, because we have such density of knowledge about everything. It's sort of the academic's dilemma, you can't go to a place like TFN and talk to twelve year olds about using an X0 player to capture the 1993 DE and 1986 JSC Laserdiscs, or whether Luke's lightsaber was recomposited in 1997 or 2004. It goes over their head. So, if we are a community of experts on the original versions, this is our equivalent of conferences and peer-reviewed journals. It's the only place to share, check, and expand the knowledge base.

Finally, disaster creates community. Nothing brings people together like a crisis. You can live in a neighbourhood for years and hardly speak to the people in the house next to you, but when there is a disaster in the neighbourhood suddenly you will discover a bond that you never knew was there. If Lucas hadn't suppressed the original versions, we wouldn't have needed to bond together to fight it out. If the original versions had been remastered on DVD and then Blu Ray right from the beginning of both formats, there would be no dedicated website to discuss them. So, in a weird way, this wonderful website and all the people that I've met on here--this is the one unintentional gift that Lucas' behaviour brought.

I lurked around the time I was thinking about getting the 2004 sets and continued to lurk, looking at the preservation and documentary footage.

I kind of forgot about it until I saw a comparison sheet of ANH:R shots and twigged that they were from the same place and thought I had to join in with the creativity and energy of the place.

Then I discovered the Off Topic section and finally my washing machine headed inner demons had a platform for their tedious exhibitionism.

I've posted as much (as Betty Marsden used to say) many times.

If George had done good by his money cow I would not have interacted with such a fine body of humanity (well not in this way Matron).

Anchorhead said:

I never thought about it like that.  If I could have purchased a proper DVD of the theatrical release, I never would have found this place because I wouldn't have been looking to have my old LD transferred.  The NPR version (my go-to) would still be something far in my past that I'd only heard once, when it first aired.

Splinter Of The Mind's Eye would just be a book I remember skimming through when I was in high school.  Nor would I have discovered the three Brian Daley novels that take place in the 1977 universe.  My Star Wars world would be a single film - no NPR, no four novels. Damn, that's sobering. 

Lucas' selfishness and dishonesty - his desire to alter and control my Star Wars universe actually presented me with the opportunity to cleanse and deepen it.  By trying so hard to take Star Wars away from me, he made it richer than I could ever have imagined.

I came here because it seemed like the only Star Wars forum where people actually had opinions beyond blindly following what Lucas puts out.  This was a community where people cared and were passionate about the original, proper versions of the films, just like I did, and what's more, they were willing to do something about it.

I stayed for two reasons - the fan edits, which I'll admit I'm not as into now as I was a year or two ago; and the people that post here.  You're all stand-up folks, and you make this place feel like a real community as opposed to a place for fanboys to come and circle-jerk each other about the ridiculous minuitae of the films and the EU.

Don't get me wrong, I enjoy that stuff to a certain extent - I participate in the immensely nerdy, nitpicky discussions, and they most definitely exist here.  But there's more to this forum than that, and that's why I stay.

A friend who rarely posts here turned me on to this place after conversations about Revisited and the lack of a quality OUT. So I came to lurk around and wait for a good OUT preservation and to follow ESB:R. It didn't take long before I found myself registering- something I've never done at any other SW site. I've lurked around TFN and SW.com and the folks there seemed to like a very different Star Wars than I do. That's no big deal and can actually be very interesting. SW is there for all to take what they want from. But that's where things get ugly... I could tell that unless you subscribe to all 6 flicks and any other "cannon" material you are not welcome. So, no room for me there. Why register to a site where people don't wanna hear your thoughts on it all and have none of their own? Here I found a place that all aspects of the films can be discussed without worrying that a mod is gonna put the kabash on you for not loving AotC. Also, I heard there was a doobie gettin' passed around and I'm waitin' my turn. That's what's keepin' me here.

TV's Frink said:

ray_afraid said:

Also, I heard there was a doobie gettin' passed around and I'm waitin' my turn. That's what's keepin' me here.

Now I have a new reason to stick around. ;-)

Nobody told me there were doobies!  Have I been missing out on the OT.Com smoke circle this entire time?!