logo Sign In

Star Wars: The Best of 2007 (Looking Back at 30 Years)

Author
Date
Author
Time
 (Edited)
Post link

From the official site…

Star Wars: The Best of 2007
December 26, 2007

Looking Back at 30 Years

It’s not always about looking towards the twin sun horizon. Falling between major Star Wars releases, 2007 turned into a year-long retrospective and celebration of 30 years of Star Wars. It began quite literally at the start of the year, and continued for 12 months, with major events, collectibles, and tributes to that far-away galaxy drawing the attentions of fans and, for a time, the rest of the world. Though there weren’t huge releases in terms of television and video games (aside from two major peeks at what’s to come in 2008), those can’t be the sole yardsticks to measure the magnitude of 2007. It was a busy, full year, and yet once again, much like 2004, we’re at the precipice of something much, much bigger yet to come…

Does the last sentence make anyone else a little nervous? or excited?

Author
Time
Post link
Probably the 3d versions of the films that they are working on...
Author
Time
Post link
That's just the official site justifying its existence.
Author
Time
Post link
Maybe George will re-make episodes 4, 5 and 6 from scratch? That would be a good thing.

"Now all Lucas has to do is make a cgi version of himself.  It will be better than the original and fit his original vision." - skyjedi2005

Author
Time
Post link
What would have made the 30th Anniversary celebration really great, would have been a proper release of the film that actually turned 30 this year.

Author
Time
Post link
Originally posted by: Mielr
What would have made the 30th Anniversary celebration really great, would have been a proper release of the film that actually turned 30 this year.


Dreams are dreams...and George Lucas doesn't care about our dreams.

Hey look, a bear!

Author
Time
Post link
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v661/gregx/Funny%20Pictures/giveadamner.gif

“What Orwell feared were those who would ban books. What Huxley feared was that there would be no reason to ban a book, for there would be no one who wanted to read one.”

Neil Postman, Amusing Ourselves to Death

Author
Time
Post link
Marketing speak. Who cares? "Ignore the fact that we didn't do anything worthwhile last year; next year we've got big things in store! So get out your wallets and prepare to spend! Hey! Pay attention to us! Ignore that JJ guy. And what's with this 'Dark Knight' and that stupid clown? Wouldn't you rather watch a Jedi Knight fight a Sith? Wait! Come back! Would you like another rerelease of the soundtrack? I have collectibles! Please ... come back...."
"It's the stoned movie you don't have to be stoned for." -- Tom Shales on Star Wars
Scruffy's gonna die the way he lived.
Author
Time
Post link
My sig ...
I am fluent in over six million forms of procrastination.
Author
Time
Post link
Hm, instead of saying "sorry for NOT releasing the theatrical versions of the movies as would be perfectly logical as expected by thousands of fans" they say that they DID something ?
Who cares about events, collectibles, and tributes to that far-away galaxy drawing the attentions of fans ? I want to watch these movies on my DVD player !
Unless this big thing is a box set containing all 6 movies in their theatrical versions with all deleted scenes, I'm not interested
Author
Time
Post link
Weren't those mailboxes awesome!? Blade Runner, Shmaderunner!
Author
Time
Post link
I think this is whole problem with SW fandom, we expect something every year even though we shouldn't, and mostly because Lucas never does things right in the first place! So it is sort of a double edge sword to being a fan these days.

I could care less about the EU, the TV shows, the videogames, etc, and if someone enjoys that part of the SW universe, I think its great, I just want a nice DVD set of the originals, and what happens is you wait....wait....wait....until you just get annoyed anymore, yet you can't stop hoping.

If Lucas would have done the DVD Boxset right in 2004 putting the SE and OOT remastered in a nice boxset, most fans would have bought it, enjoyed it forever, and moved on from SW fandom, just like every other movie I love I have in my collection. I bought the Back to the Future Boxset in 2002, it was done right with great bonus stuff, and I have never logged onto any BTTF Forum wondering what is next?

I really wish i could have my computer set where it alerts me with an email when the OOT is properly restored. That way I won't have to care anymore about whats coming out in SW-ville.
Author
Time
Post link
Just enjoy the 2006 DVD and move on. Or if the widescreen/low-res thing bothers you that much you can just get an anamorphic mod of it, or one of the 2004-based de-SE projects like Classic Edition v2 (these projects are surprisingly effective and with tremendous detail).
Author
Time
Post link
Originally posted by: CO
I think this is whole problem with SW fandom, we expect something every year even though we shouldn't, and mostly because Lucas never does things right in the first place! So it is sort of a double edge sword to being a fan these days.


I don't know about you, but I keep hoping they'll stop talking about SW and finally move on to something else. Ya know, just like he said he would after Ep 3. I think as long as he keeps talking about SW, the fans will keep getting hyped up waiting for "the next big thing". Mind you, the fans I'm referring to are probably mostly hanging out on TFN, still buying SW toys and other collectibles, and watching the 6 movies in order from 1-6 (typing that was hard, especially since I don't even acknowledge the existence of 1-3). The rest of us have moved on. Yeah, we still watch the original trilogy from time to time, but we're not analyzing every frame and every shot and we're certainly not buying the umpteenth repack of some Anakin Skywalker figure.

If Lucas would just move on, so would everyone else. Maybe once the cash starts to dry up, he will move on to something else, but I'm not holding my breath.

F Scale score - 3.3333333333333335

You are disciplined but tolerant; a true American.

Pissing off Rob since August 2007.
Author
Time
Post link
I wonder if the reason we didn't get a new release is because Star Wars practically sold itself with all the 30th anniversary hype. A new release (with the OT) might have to wait until George REALLY needs the money.

You know of the rebellion against the Empire?

Author
Time
Post link
He is physically unable to leave SW, and the GOUT is the best we're going to get. And that's a shame, because I cannot honestly accpet the GOUT as legitamate DVD release. I'm sorry if I sound like a broken record, but if Neitzsche were alive today, he could easily say "Star Wars is dead"
Author
Time
Post link
Originally posted by:lordjedi


I don't know about you, but I keep hoping they'll stop talking about SW and finally move on to something else. Ya know, just like he said he would after Ep 3. I think as long as he keeps talking about SW, the fans will keep getting hyped up waiting for "the next big thing". Mind you, the fans I'm referring to are probably mostly hanging out on TFN, still buying SW toys and other collectibles, and watching the 6 movies in order from 1-6 (typing that was hard, especially since I don't even acknowledge the existence of 1-3). The rest of us have moved on. Yeah, we still watch the original trilogy from time to time, but we're not analyzing every frame and every shot and we're certainly not buying the umpteenth repack of some Anakin Skywalker figure.

If Lucas would just move on, so would everyone else. Maybe once the cash starts to dry up, he will move on to something else, but I'm not holding my breath.


SW will never die from a merchandising end, which I believe is the only reason Lucas keeps the train going with the EU books and TV series. He has learned from his mistake in the 1980's, that even though there is no new movies coming out, there is a market for SW stuff.

I don't care about this stuff, most of the fanbase like us doesn't care, but most of my friends kids got some type of SW toys for Christmas, and look at the way Transformers toys sold to kids this year, do you think it would have been as big if there wasn't a movie to get those kids into it? I honestly don't have a problem with Lucas milking the series for all he can get, cause in the end, supply=demand, and someone out there is still buying this stuff, so you have to concede that there is a market for it. Remember what Mel Brooks said in Spaceballs when he was playing the Yogurt character, "Merchandise, it's all about merchandising!!!!"

Author
Time
Post link
George Lucas will release everything but a watchable version of the SW trilogy, thus setting in motion what could be possibly the greatest tragedy in film history.
Author
Time
Post link
Originally posted by: CO
I think this is whole problem with SW fandom, we expect something every year even though we shouldn't, and mostly because Lucas never does things right in the first place! So it is sort of a double edge sword to being a fan these days. Personally, I don't expect something every year. However, I WOULD have expected something for the film's 30th Anniversary (aside from the "making of" book), but when they blew their wad with the DVDs in '06, I knew we weren't getting anything else of importance for Star Wars' 30th.
Originally posted by: CO
I bought the Back to the Future Boxset in 2002, it was done right with great bonus stuff, and I have never logged onto any BTTF Forum wondering what is next?
FWIW, the original BTTF DVD set was actually mis-framed and the studio had to set up an exchange program to replace the discs.

Author
Time
Post link
Originally posted by: Mielr
Originally posted by: CO
I think this is whole problem with SW fandom, we expect something every year even though we shouldn't, and mostly because Lucas never does things right in the first place! So it is sort of a double edge sword to being a fan these days.
Personally, I don't expect something every year. However, I WOULD have expected something for the film's 30th Anniversary (aside from the "making of" book), but when they blew their wad with the DVDs in '06, I knew we weren't getting anything else of importance for Star Wars' 30th.


Which has also created this complete clusterfuck of a situation because of the quality of the discs, etc. It's just a complete mess now.

“What Orwell feared were those who would ban books. What Huxley feared was that there would be no reason to ban a book, for there would be no one who wanted to read one.”

Neil Postman, Amusing Ourselves to Death

Author
Time
Post link
You say "now" as if it wasn't a complete mess before. I suggest it became a complete mess ca. 1998/1999, and was never fixed. In the late 90s, the Matrix was DVD's killer app, we were fresh off the 20th anniversary and waiting for the prequels--or had not yet realized how bad they would all be. How does Lucasfilm take advantage of this radical and rapid shift in the home video market?

They don't--for about another five years. And then the expectations of consumers (or at least the connoisseurs) had changed yet again. By 2004, we expect to have multiple versions of interesting films on disc. We can get unedited/unrated/etc versions of classics like American Pie, Manhunter, and the Butterfly Effect, but no such love for Star Wars. Not for another two years.

And by then, 16x9 TVs had started to break out. So of course Lucasfilm released the OOT formatted for 4x3 TVs. And now that HD media is starting to reach the common man, we can expect--in a few years--another Star Wars release that fails to capture the excitement and expectations of the modern consumer. Maybe they'll release an HD DVD/BD version with the DVD soundtrack, or encode it at 720p, or use MPEG-2 and/or PCM and leave no room for extras. Maybe they'll just scratch the discs with a set of keys before they package them.

I've heard of planned obsolescence, but that means that a product soon becomes outdated after its release, forcing an upgrade. Not that the entire product line is retarded in comparison to the feature sets common throughout the market. That's so insane it has to be intentional.

So, yeah, I don't expect anything big from Star Wars in 2008. And I don't expect anything exciting on video ever again, really. They've been behind the times for about a decade now.
"It's the stoned movie you don't have to be stoned for." -- Tom Shales on Star Wars
Scruffy's gonna die the way he lived.
Author
Time
Post link
Yes, but because of the whole "Testing the waters" theory, the so-called "failure" of the OOT, etc., it's now exponentially worse.

“What Orwell feared were those who would ban books. What Huxley feared was that there would be no reason to ban a book, for there would be no one who wanted to read one.”

Neil Postman, Amusing Ourselves to Death

Author
Time
Post link
Yeah, I think Lucasfilmed has pretty much given up on the Standard DVD market with any future releases, and I believe once the HD Format War is settled, then The SW Saga set will appear. I firmly believe that Lucasfilm has totally botched the DVD set since DVD's inception in 1997, by not pioneering that great technology with a release. If anyone remembers, the excuse back in 1999 as to why SW was not coming out on DVD was because they wanted the market to grow that way they can maximize the dollar when they do release the set. The market grew, but no OT DVD's in 01, 02, 03, and finally I believe they gave into public pressure and put out that half-ass set in '04, and also gave into public pressure into releasing the half-ass OOT set in '06. Now when I say the '04 set was half-ass, I meant in terms of no OOT, and the skimpy amount of bonus material compared to a LOTR DVD that had loads of documentaries.

The HD market will be a chance for Lucasfilm to get things right, cause they dont' have the excuse of working on the PT movies, or waiting for the end of Episode III to put them all out together. The 6 movies are waiting for a 1080i release, with multiple versions, documentaries, deleted scenes, etc, and hopefully they can get it right this time. Will it be in 2008, no way.