The Problem with George Lucas

The thing with George is he goes back and ruins good movies he made to fit movies he made 20 or more years later that are very bad.

He ruins American Graffiti by adding a cgi shot to it.  He ruins Raiders of the Lost Ark by adding a cgi shot to it.  He ruined the star wars trilogy by adding not needed cgi and the same thing he did to THX 1138.

At least in the case of star wars even though being non anamorphic laserdisc masters as bonus discs at least they are on dvd.  THX 1138 original version or graffiti theatrical cut are not on dvd and would have to be recreated by fans.

Yet Howard the Duck, Willow, Radioland Murders, Tucker, More American Graffiti are not having cgi added to them or being ruined.  Though he did recut parts of young indy and put out cut versions of the droids and ewok cartoons.  The Ewok films other than having the theatrical title cards rather than tv versions are uncut, with no bad cgi added.

The Indiana Jones Trilogy other than being cleaned up and having some color differences than the vhs versions and having things like boom mikes or glass reflections removed are still untouched.  Too bad the blu ray with have that added cgi shot in raiders= no sale.

Everything from the messed up soundtrack and poor botched colors on the 2004 versions of the films, to the debacle of having 16 year old laserdisc transfers on dvd to represent the original cinematic vision of the films.

Lucasfilm Companies back in the nineties cared about quality and did qaulity control before putting out a release.  Sure okay they did good dvd releases of the prequel films even though the theatrical cuts were missing it still does not cut it.  I would like to retire my phantom menace japan laserdisc someday too bad Lucash has no intent of ever having that version on dvd.  Episode 1 has bad edge enhancement but due to it being the first major Lucasfilm title on dvd that was not just dumped onto disc, and during the early years of dvd it usually gets a pass.  That does not mean Lucas cannot afford a new scan in 4k of the original film negative.

The 2004 version is not my favorite version of the trilogy but i would like to have a corrected version in my collection with no wonky colors. Garbage mattes, lightsabers changing colors reversed sound channels in the dogfight over the death star as well as the lso score being non existant.

Lucas cares so little for the original versions of the films he had the video masters from 1993 dumped directly to disc and had the menu design outsourced, while the 2004 had Award Winning Van Ling Menus.  See this is something you could get away with in 1997 or 1998 but not in 2006. I know that a lot of first issue dvds were not anamorphic laserdisc to dvd dumps in single layer.  Paramount did this with Star Trek movies back then i think undiscovered country was letterbox.

He's a selfish, possessive opportunist devoid of character. Some people want to draw parallels between him and Darth Vader (becoming what he sought to destroy). Frankly, that's an insult to my all-time favorite villain.

Yeah but if like the gout was released in 2001 rather than say in 2006 i know for instance i would not be bitching about it being non anamorphic because there were very few widescreen displays back then or HDTV and then they were like 10 thousand dollars or something so a 4:3 letterbox picture would have been fine because people would not be worrying about these 16:9 tv displays.

I remember this is back before i even knew of anamorphic or all that when i first had a dvd player in like 2000 or something asking when the definitive collection was going to come on dvd with all the bonus materials and old documentaries.  Yes i was a dreamer in those days and thought Lucas was an okay guy,lol.

I stil don't have a 16:9 HDTV set by the way.  Too bad the gout does not even use the full resolution of a standard def dvd and the picture is soft and has dvnr problems.  In fact the picture is so bad i find it hard to even enjoy watching the movies. The 2004 restoration brought out details unnoticed before, too bad the colors were botched the sound fucked up and the bad cgi was still there.

I have waited forever for a watchable version of Star Wars 1977 so far no fan restoration has been done, i'm waiting for puggos and the vintage edit.   The classic ocpmovie edition was just plain bad on all levels, i'm referring of course to the dual layer version the 2.0. The Editdroid was the best until the gout was released. 

I would like to give the X-0 the award for best transfer but it does not exist.  It is vaporware. Of course the screenshots say otherwise, but still no release.  The project all but dissapeared when the gout was announced talk about Lucas taking the wind out of their sails,lol.

Sev, I don't know anyone who is asking him NOT to release a respectable, restored OOT.

I agree. What the hell? Is there supposedly some group of SW fans out there begging the flanneled one not to release the originals on DVD in watchable form?

OBVIOUSLY, film makers can't go about taking votes to see who wants what more than what and what decisions ensure the most pleased fans. This is pretty dumb. No one is saying any such thing.

Lucas can do whatever he wants to Star Wars, but not releasing a respectable DVD version of the films that started it all is quite an ass thing to do.

I'd also add in there that I would have liked a series of prequels that were somewhat bearable, but since the majority of die hard fans are perfectly happy indulging in such ludicrousness, and seem to somehow find them rather awesome, seems he made the right decision on those, and I can't judge him too harshly on that.

Just give us the damn OOT in a quality where it can be enjoyed on modern equipment (admittedly, the GOUT looks pretty freakin sweet on my old 13'' TV, but that just isn't going to cut it for most fans), and I won't give a rats ass about anything else SW ever again. The Polls are in, the other side has won, I am cool with that. I just want my meager three movies.

The Problem with George Lucas... is he wears too much flannel. There are convincing scientific studies out there that suggest inhaling too many flannel particles can cause a considerable degree of brain damage. Further studies seem to indicate that it is the creative section of the brain that is most effected by long term flannel inhalation. Considering this guy is constantly wearing the flannel, it is reasonable to assume the quantity of flannel he has inhaled over the years is quite sizable.

skyjedi2005 said:

The classic ocpmovie edition was just plain bad on all levels, i'm referring of course to the dual layer version the 2.0.

Yeah, I know. I went through great effort to get my hands on the single layer version before 2.0 came out. That thing was being hit with rave reviews. I read post after post about how it was the most amazing thing and was essentially the original on DVD in restored quality. I sat down to watch the thing, and made it to the Mos Eisley scene before turning it off and throwing the disc away. I couldn't get my TV brightness adjusted to the point where I could not see all the seams showing where the LD footage had been pasted onto the DVD footage. E for effort though.

OCPmovie's Deleted Magic was pretty cool though, got to give him credit for that.

Maybe so, hell, I'd probably even prefer that over the original. But I'd still like to have it preserved where I can compare them side by side. If I can't have both, I'd rather have it the way it was originally experienced by the audience.

I am one of those weird anal types who like to watch their old movies in black and white. This boggles most peoples minds. They seem to think, why see it in black and white when color is an obvious improvement. Well, to me it isn't an obvious improvement, and even if it were, there is something in me that makes me want to experience things the way they were experienced by their original audience.

Same reason I always watch foreign movies in the original language and read the titles no matter how good the English dub is.

I personally can't stand watching subbed anime. It detracts from the visuals if I have to read all of the dialogue. Some elitists say that "That is the way it was meant to be experienced, in the Japanese language!" Well, if I don't know Japanese, which I don't, then I can't experience it exactly how it was meant to be. The director obviously didn't mean for all of the dialogue to be read. So it's a moot point to me.

DarkFather said:

I personally can't stand watching subbed anime. It detracts from the visuals if I have to read all of the dialogue. Some elitists say that "That is the way it was meant to be experienced, in the Japanese language!" Well, if I don't know Japanese, which I don't, then I can't experience it exactly how it was meant to be. The director obviously didn't mean for all of the dialogue to be read. So it's a moot point to me.

DIIIIIIID SOMEONE SAY ANIME????  This is where I jump in.  Sorry, anal fan time!  For me, watching dub/sub depends on two factors: accuracy and nostalgia.  Some shows (Samura Pizza Cats, Dragonball Z, anything that was edited for U.S. TV standards) are so heavily modified that they feel like totally different shows in Japanese compared to English.  I always cite Dragonball (in particular Z) - between the new music and HARDCORE hilarity that is FUNimation's sense of humor, it literally becomes a totally different show.  And yet I can sit through the dub sometimes because of that wonderful thing called nostalgia; it really was my first anime that I followed religiously.  G Gundam I watch almost exclusively in English due to nostalgia.  Point is, someone like me can watch both dub/sub comfortably unless one's voices REALLY piss me off (looking at you, Nadia!)

Anyway, sorry about that mini-rant that's almost entirely off-topic; just thought that the issue of how sometimes language barriers make a show become entirely different.  Now, anyone wanna try and relate that to Star Wars so I don't look like a total spazz?  Pleeeease?

DarkFather said:

I personally can't stand watching subbed anime. It detracts from the visuals if I have to read all of the dialogue. Some elitists say that "That is the way it was meant to be experienced, in the Japanese language!" Well, if I don't know Japanese, which I don't, then I can't experience it exactly how it was meant to be. The director obviously didn't mean for all of the dialogue to be read. So it's a moot point to me.

Hmm, don't know why that would make me an "elitist," as I agree with C3PX on all above points.  I've just never understood this argument.  Is it really that hard to read the subtitles and still keep an eye on the action?  Then again, I watch all television and movies with closed captioning on, just to make sure I don't miss anything, so it's really six of one, half dozen of the other to me.

DarkFather, since you seem to enjoy his music (I do in a few instances), I thought you might be interested that most of the music isn't actually his.  Have you seen "Bruce Faulconer and the Vanishing DBZ Credits"?  If not, I highly suggest you watch it. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qXyUua3ggaU

Wow, I took this REALLY off topic.  Sorry.

Hmm, don't know why that would make me an "elitist," as I agree with C3PX on all above points. I've just never understood this argument. Is it really that hard to read the subtitles and still keep an eye on the action?

Absolutely no americanized anime, no way, no how, ever! Japanese with subtitles or dont even get it anywhere near me. Most of the time American voice actors that they choose blow and they actually change the dialog. NOOOOO.

...Yikes, look at what we've done x[

Perhaps this would be best discussed in a new thread?

Axia seems to be a case in point.

"NO! It sucks! Ew! Americans are so inferior, Japanese is the way to go all around! I hate the English and I hate my country, fuck Americans, no dubbed."

Which is a generalization that's a slap in the face to American voice actors who do have a lot of talent and do put effort into their work.

There's a difference between americanization and dubbing IMO.  Americanization is where something gets changed to suit a new audience, and dubbing is where the translation is more-or-less accurate.  Americanization can be entertaining (Shin Chan anyone?), but for the most part I prefer a straight dub.  And yes, I agree with DarkFather - although not as high-profile as in Japan, english voice actors deserve great respect.  Some of them outshine their Japanese counterparts.

DarkFather said:Glad you aren't trying to debate me on my own preferances. Bruce Faulconer filled DBZ with music masterpieces. There are few who can even hold a candle to what he did.

Wait.... what?  You're serious?  Music masterpieces?  Preference is one thing, but I can't even begin to wrap my head around that.  How does the same droning synthesized note for 18 minutes straight constitute music at all, let alone a masterpiece?

What that quote should say is this:  "Shunsuke Kikuchi filled DBZ with music masterpieces.  There are few who can even hold a candle to what he did."

...And there goes the civil conversation. D: