I have serious misgivings about a celebrity "gossip" site being the only source for that story about Lucas.
Seriously, nobody else who was there tweeted or wrote about this in the past year?
Where were you in '77?
SilverWook said:
I have serious misgivings about a celebrity "gossip" site being the only source for that story about Lucas.
Seriously, nobody else who was there tweeted or wrote about this in the past year?
Me too, i had a bit of deja vu over it like its supershadow all over again.
“Always loved Vader’s wordless self sacrifice. Another shitty, clueless, revision like Greedo and young Anakin’s ghost. What a fucking shame.” -Simon Pegg.
Dale Pollack from a recent press junket for PvsG:
Even Pollock is baffled as to why Lucas would even bother to go back and “adjust” a movie that was a huge boxoffice success and is nearly 30 years old.
“Who does that?” Pollock asked rhetorically.
For the list of people who worked with the Ranch at one point commenting on the SEs.
http://www.whatsuppub.com/showArticle.asp?articleId=11433
Billy Dee Williams' opinion on the BR changes:
Q. Many “Star Wars” fans have criticized George Lucas for modifying the original trilogy. Ewok blinks were added last week. Some fans see the original movies as sacred. What’s your take?
I don’t really have very much to say about it. The property belongs to George Lucas. He can do whatever he wants with it. If he wants to experiment with it, it’s his choice. And why not? I always look forward to seeing what he’s going to do from moment to moment anyway. He’s got that access to new technology and he’s putting it to use.
And I don’t know of these being so sacred. I mean, if you don’t play around with it or try to do something interesting with it … it’s an argument, it’s a discretion, it’s a matter of opinion really. And everybody’s got an opinion about everything.
SilverWook said:
I have serious misgivings about a celebrity "gossip" site being the only source for that story about Lucas.
Seriously, nobody else who was there tweeted or wrote about this in the past year?
Why not, this kind of thing happens all the time. I remember a tweet from the editor of Creative Screenwriting when Lucas was at a DGA party and someone asked him and he said something like "The original doesn't exist." You'd think people at a DGA party would remark on this if they overheard it. But its a busy party and probably only two or three people even heard it in the first place, and if they ever told anyone they probably just mentioned it to their friends. Probably the don't even care. For Lucas to say what it's reported he said is completely believeable because he has said it to reporters many times in the past. Maybe the harshness of this particular time is overstated, or maybe Lucas was just harsher than normal because it wasn't an official statement and just off-the-record conversation at a party, or maybe he was just having a bad day and didn't want to be there. He is notoriously uncomfortable at public events and fan interaction specifically. I mean, he clearly doesn't respect his fans all equally anyway.
Anyway, if someone made a facebook post about how they heard Lucas tell some geeks a party "Too bad", you'd never be able to find it anyway.
Something I learned in journalism class many years ago about "reliable sources" and "just the facts". This is gossip. Unless you can get some more details from the author, it could hurt more than it helps.
The timing of this story is a little too perfect as well.
Where were you in '77?
zombie84 wrote: Hmm, I've been trying this out tonight, but it doesn't seem to be working? Any thoughts? (talking about the news links)
What's currently active is working for me. I'm on a Mac, tried out in Firefox, Chrome and Safari all function correctly. I'm guessing you might be using Windows Explorer which is a little slower integrating future HTML standards. I'll try to find another way to do this. Could someone else test out this news link?
On the gossip story. There's something odd, and it's too timely. Have been poking around for people's reaction from that night, and below is part of the Q&A from that nights Field Museum showing of ESB. GL tried to dodge one question (to save face of someone else), but after a second asking he gives a blunt answer. So you could possibly say he might have been in a fowl mood that night, but I think that's reaching. Seems like a routine Q&A.
George Lucas Q&A: Field Museum, Chicago 5/8/2010
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zRaVjM_goKM
GEORGE LUCAS - 30TH ANN. OF EMPIRE STRIKES BACK - CHICAGO - 5-8-10
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wBUuycgzysc
*EDIT*
I like this gossip: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F3399oR0fIs
George Lucas Christmas morning 2009 eating at a McDonalds.
Here's an idea. They created the National Film Registry to preserve films the public recognized as 'important'. How about we now propose the 'National Film Registry Fund'. Using Kickstarter.com, people could choose any of the films selected from the Registry and give money to see that the print which was supplied gets the chance to be preserved in the method the Library of Congress sees fit, with the caveat that when those criteria is met that preservation effort gets put back onto the shelves or the public domain, irregardless of it's current copyright status. (generally those films are all expired from copyrights original length)
I guess as an exercise, it might be interesting to run through the NFRF Kickstarter idea using SW, maybe set up a 6 month to 1 year window for people to pledge, set a maximum pledge (some proportion of the BR set or a common movie ticket price), and see how far things get.
Then ask experts like someone at the LoC, Lowry, Harris, etc. to explain how those funds would get used, and if the public could help out. (could some system be set up like SETI, where the public's computer are used for processing work. Maybe frames could be placed online and people could point to the dirt and some program would automatically take the info from the frame before/after to fix) yeah that's farfetched.
Maybe the time to attempt the pledge fund part would be the year before the run up to the 3D releases. Could also just be done with a petition, signing the petition says you contribute one movie ticket amount.
Zombie, you might want to correct the term Blu-ray since it's misspelled there every time. :) Just a minor thing but still.
And in the time of greatest despair, there shall come a savior, and he shall be known as the Son of the Suns.
For those wondering, the SE changes page has been updated to include 005's comparison pages.
zombie84 said:
For those wondering, the SE changes page has been updated to include 005's comparison pages.
Not to nitpick, but this is definitely missing some of the audio changes and could use some work. Examples: in ESB SE, Luke grunts/moans when he falls after leaving the Wampa cave (not in the original), there's a different take of Harrison Ford saying "until I get the shelter built), "The first transport...is away" is different, etc. I'm sure there are many more.
Oh yeah, the audio is something I threw together. I'm mainly working on the visual stuff right now, but thanks for the info, as I had forgotten to get back to the audio corrections.
Correction: I didn't download the original comparisons, someone else sent me a ZIP file with all of them numbered and the numbered descriptions on a TXT file. All I did was upload them and put the captions with the correct pictures. I don't remember who uploaded them, someone here. There may have just been a link...
Anyway, credit where credit isn't due. ;-)
Star Wars Revisited Wordpress
Star Wars Visual Comparisons WordPress
Fine, you big credit baby!
Also, this is something I am struggling with a bit. On pages like this, I think it's an instance where it could really be possible to reach people and make them realize how much the films have changed--that it's not "the same basic film." I hate when people say that, and I think it's one of the big obstacles to getting people to be less apathetic to seeing the original versions treated right.
But I'm not sure how to make a page like this a bit more engaging and "fun to look at", I guess. It all seems so tedious. Do I just have to add some graphics in there or should I pare down the text?
PICTURES! Perhaps an example of each "level", with some examples of what I would consider to be "acceptable" changes, like a recomp, and an "unacceptable" change, like the Ronto Butt. Ronto Butts are always entertaining.
Star Wars Revisited Wordpress
Star Wars Visual Comparisons WordPress
I've included a few pics now. Makes it read a lot better I think. I'm going to say I am satisfied for now.
How about changing the color of the highlighted figures with regard to the volume of changes - "200 shots", "277 changes just to Star wars", etc. Maybe the same yellow as the home page? Something to catch people's attention, give them a reason to look into the issue.
The yellow looked a bit too garish, but putting that in white helps I think.
zombie84 said:
Fine, you big credit baby!
Also, this is something I am struggling with a bit. On pages like this, I think it's an instance where it could really be possible to reach people and make them realize how much the films have changed--that it's not "the same basic film." I hate when people say that, and I think it's one of the big obstacles to getting people to be less apathetic to seeing the original versions treated right.
Agree, one of the reasons I've spent so much time in 005's thread. Most "regular people" doesn't seem to get how different these edits are compared to the originals, so this is great Zombie. :)
We want you to be aware that we have no plans—now or in the future—to restore the earlier versions.
Sincerely, Lynne Hale publicity@lucasfilm.com
Has anyone gone through the OT and, for each movie, figured out exactly what percentage of film time contains SE changes? Not that it matters to me, but there are people posting on other forums that it's like .001%, but I suspect it's higher than most people realize - particularly if you take into account all the little changes and so/called "upgrades".
"Close the blast doors!"
Puggo’s website | Rescuing Star Wars
If you count all the re-comps and wipes, it is probably about ten to twenty minutes per film, which I guess would be roughly 10% since they all run just over 2 hours.
I would say a vast majority of people don't know about the wipes.
Star Wars Revisited Wordpress
Star Wars Visual Comparisons WordPress
I would say they don't care either. I guess it's hard to blame them.
I have seriously considered taking a stop-watch to the films though. I always say "10 minutes" or so is about the amount (from 1997 at least), and this is probably in the ballpark, but it's always good to have real figures.
I like to say it averages out to over one alteration per minute. (I mean, there's well over 120 in the movie...)