When/Why did you become an OT purist?

Okay, so I was starting to feel a little bad about feeding the troll (what with my joke thread and posts and all) as that has gotten way out of hand, so I was hoping to repent via a real thread.

So, actually that troll guy got me thinking about the OT vs. the SE, and when I decided to become a purist, like you guys. I thought this topic would complement the thread about your first OT viewing. So here's my story:

Like I said on that thread, I was two when I first watched the OT, and watched them non-stop throughout my childhood. Oddly enough, my parents did not take me to see the SEs in theaters, so my first viewing was at a friend's, some years later (probably 2000ish).

My first thoughts throughout: "why is that different?"

I didn't really understand why they added things. I also didn't really like most of the changes because, well, I loved the original trilogy as it was and didn't like that it was in some ways different. I think the changes that irked me the most were the music ones in ROTJ, oddly enough.

Anyway, few years later the DVDs came out. I got them, obviously. I remember, the first time I viewed them was with my uncle, and when he saw the changes that were made he was livid. I didn't care that much. I already owned the originals on VHS, and these were a kind of cool, alternate version. And I liked that they, visually, fit the PT better. 

When the 2006 DVDs came out, I almost bought them, but decided against it because I didn't really want to buy something I kind of already had. 

Few years later, I decided to do some research on the SE changes. That was when I realized a great deal of them were horse-shit. I couldn't look at my DVDs without thinking they were tainted. 

Then, last year, a few different things happened all at once. I the Blu-rays came out, I discovered this site, and I downloaded ANH-Revisited. So I actually have a good SE of ANH now, and I have tainted HD versions of the other two. And no HD versions of the original versions of all three. And that annoys me. The last time I saw the originals was probably in 2003, and that was on VHS. So that means that I've only seen the three movies that defined my childhood at resolution that's something like ten times less than what it could be. 

And that's why I'm a member of this site, and an OT purist.

SilverWook said:

Lucasfilm prevented the AFI from showing a 1977 print of Star Wars as part of a festival celebrating the 20th century. (SW was picked to represent the best of the 1970's, so showing an SE print would be pointless.) That was probably the camel back breaker moment for me.

my older brother told me that the original star wars trilogy should stand on its own, without any remastered editions to it

i disagree with him

Victory celebration is an awesome, godlike, kickass, epic, yet melancholic, catchy, dancy, song at the same time!!!!!!!!!

Wow, I didn't know the suppression was that bad. 

When was that?

SilverWook said:

Again, you totally miss the point of this website, and why it exists.

1-it aint my site and i dont make the rules here but according to u i aint breaking any rules by having different opinions than u and the other guys that r on this forum website

2-i partially agree and i partially disagree with u

SilverWook said:

But as a mod, I enforce the rules. You're pushing the envelope.

how am i pushing the rules right now????

I agree that the new victory celebration works best in the 6 episode saga.

But it's also important to remember films are what they are. In 1983, if you put that music in the film it would have been out of place. The films' context have changed over time, and that's important to understand.

The moment when this hit me was around...I dunno, 2004? The prequels weren't complete and I kept hoping somehow they would all tie together. But in the end, they didn't. So I said, fuck this shit, the films didn't need fixing in the first place. I was fine with them the way they were before 1997. That doesn't mean I hate the prequels or even the Special Edition--they have their strengths. But in the end, when all was said and done, even though I really liked Episode III it wasn't worth it. If both versions were available it would be different, but since Lucas stupidly forced people to take sides and split the fanbase I sided with the films I fell in love with, and not the films I simply accepted because that's all tha was offered. In some ways, the SE has kind of clarified the genius of the original versions and highlighted why the SEs and prequels fail so, so hard in comparison. I am weirdly grateful for that.

SilverWook said:

By doing the exact same thing you did at TFN?

all i said on this thread was that i liked the Victory celebration song better than yub nub, so I am not a 100% OT original trilogy purist, although i do agree with many of their main ideas/points.

 Also, How do u know that i was on the jedi council forums??? Who told u???

SilverWook said:

You told me everything I needed to know. The rest was logical deduction.

i still dont understand/get how you found out that im on the jedi council forums TFN (the force.net)

U R a really smart person, i aint being sarcastic or mean or rude or anything like that, but im being honest with you right now here. U R very good at finding out stuff, its actually very suprising........

is my extreme punctuation annoying to U???

CatBus said:

"Purist" has changed its meaning over time for me.  I saw all of the Special Editions theatrically, and preferred the originals from the very start, so I guess I was a purist right away.  But it was no big deal back in 1997--I knew that these Special Editions were just the "director's cuts" (or, more accurately, executive producer's cuts), and I would just always make sure to get the theatrical version when it came out on disc.  No big deal.  I figured there's no way Lucasfilm would fail to make easy money off its fans, so I just needed to wait...

Well, pretty soon I started with the Laserdisc transfers on DVD, which kept me happy for a while (happier than VHS), but the technical shortcomings were pretty apparent even then.  I still believed the OT would come out eventually and this whole "the SE is all there is" was just BS to appease Lucas's ego in the short term while they arranged a proper OT release behind the scenes.  A few more years went by and the GOUT was released, which was the first time I actually really understood what they were doing to Star Wars.  And then The Blu-rays eliminated all further doubt by dropping the "Special Edition" label.  They meant to eliminate Star Wars from history and replace it with the Special Editions, and they were succeeding.

Now I'm a pretty dyed-in-the-wool purist by any standards.  And the funny thing is, I wouldn't really even describe myself as a Star Wars fan.  I mean, I like the movies and all, but I like a lot of others better.

im somewhere in the middle, i guess......

You sort of had to pick a side when the fans who knew nothing about film at all turned into flat earth weirdos about it, insisting, against all known facts and existing Teen Wolf dvds, that releasing the OT would be this mega multi-million NASA operation. Who wants to associate with that level of blind devotion. 

Father Skywalker said:

SilverWook said:

You told me everything I needed to know. The rest was logical deduction.

i still dont understand/get how you found out that im on the jedi council forums TFN (the force.net)

U R a really smart person, i aint being sarcastic or mean or rude or anything like that, but im being honest with you right now here. U R very good at finding out stuff, its actually very suprising........

is my extreme punctuation annoying to U???

Is there a thread here you can't foul up?

...

Anyway, I used to enjoy the SE for what it was, but I didn't truly realize the OT was being suppressed.  Like most folk, I just didn't think about it too much, I just watched the SE once in a while.  Then I read something on thedigitalbits that lead me to The Phantom Edit, and that lead me to ANH: Revisited, and that led me here...and then I realized what was really going on.

Viva la OOT.

Tyrphanax said:

I actually grew up with the Special Editions, and only the Special Editions.

I saw the original Star Was at least once growing up sometime in the mid/late 90's. The once thing I remember from it was that first entrance of Darth Vader.

Sometime after that, my brother and I got the standard screen SE Trilogy boxed set for Christmas or a birthday... anyway, that's what we grew up with. We watched them all the time. I remember telling my older cousin who I thought was really cool that I owned the Special Editions (at the time I had no real grasp that there were differences, even though there was the little documentary on the VHS before the movie that told about them) and he thought it was awesome and I felt super cool.

The first time I really grasped that there were changes was when I was at a friend's house and we were watching Return of the Jedi, and at the end, the wrong song came on! And where were Coruscant and Tatooine and Cloud City?! What was going on! I remember remarking about it, but still not fully understanding what was going on.

I didn't think about it at all for years after that. I just watched my SE. To me, it was all there was. I had no idea there were different versions of films or anything, especially not Star Wars. Eventually I became aware of grumblings about the changes and whatnot, but didn't really pay it any mind. Han Shot First and all that. I never paid attention.

Eventually Tobar got to talking to me about the whole situation, and I was resistant at first. I mean, I had Star Wars, what was wrong with it? I just didn't really understand, and I wouldn't for awhile still. Tobar introduced me to this site, and I started coming around now and then. Lurking. Disappearing for awhile. Coming back. Eventually he got me into the fan edit scene with Ady's ANH:R and it was awesome! So much stuff was fixed that I never noticed, and that got me thinking; I checked out his Theatrical ESB release when it dropped, thinking it would be more like a novelty or a teaser for ESB:R, and there was just something about it that I liked... curious...

Eventually I checked out Harmy's original DEED and then it all clicked. The movie was so much better like that, with all the Special Edition stuff stripped out. I dunno what it was, but it flowed better now, it was like a faucet you've always had that was slow and then one day you accidentally drop something on it and it jars something loose and it runs like Niagara; it was like a different movie, and one that was so much better. IT was focused on story, not on flashy CGI distractions, distractions I had never noticed were distracting me until they weren't there. My eyes were opened.

I was hooked then.

After that, I started to learn more about the history of the changes; the hypocrisy of Lucas and his stance on film alteration, the replacement of the OT with the SE, the travesty that the changes were, the willful destruction and suppression of not only cinematic history, but cultural history as well. That was when I became a purist, and I haven't looked back since!

i loved cloud city and coruscant at the end of the special edition of star wars episode 6-the return of the jedi, i don't see/get why all of these fans and purists hate it......

Dude, you are off-topic every time you post in this thread.

TV's Frink said:

Dude, you are off-topic every time you post in this thread.

not here. i am talking about OT purism, totally NOT off-topic, bro......

The topic is when/why you became a purist.  You are not one.  Get out.