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Who got their membership pkg and "letter" from George Lucas? — Page 2

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Originally posted by: generalfrevious
Anyways, the future of the OOT can be best explained by these two words: letterboxed Blu-ray


Ever heard the epresson "If can't say anything constructive don't say anything at all ." Your unflagging optimism gives us all so much hope. Besides, LFL may bypass HD altogether.

“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

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Originally posted by: Mike O
Originally posted by: generalfrevious
Anyways, the future of the OOT can be best explained by these two words: letterboxed Blu-ray


Ever heard the epresson "If can't say anything constructive don't say anything at all ." Your unflagging optimism gives us all so much hope. Besides, LFL may bypass HD altogether.


If thats the case we can say hello to the OOT circa 2020, when 2K formats start coming out on home video.
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Lucas virtually bypassed DVD for the OOT- all we got in 2006 was just a smaller laserdisc. The reason we may get a letterboxed Blu-ray of the OOT because one would think that it's impossible, but it will horribly happen because Lucas is there. Optimism died in 1997 for SW fans in relation to the OOT. Iv'e accepted that SW is dead because Lucas has proven once and for all that nobody cares about the OOT because he literally rigged the GOUT in order to justify his continuous destruction of the largest block of pop culture in the last 30 years. He deliberately chose to relase the GOUT to both a) intentionally make the GOUT bomb and b) forestall everyone's predictions of a 30th anniversary boxset by stating that "we jumped in the saarlacc pit too many times" with a completely intentional marketing failure. The OT today has now become an afterthought to the PT, just some straight to DVD work of what could of happened after Anakin fell to the dark side. Lucas has now based his entire life purpose on a trilogy of absolute cinematic failure(the PT) instead of the OT that has, for better or for worse, shaped our culture. That's why he can wear a "Han shot first" T-shirt because he knows that he has defeated the fanbase for the OOT and the original cuts no longer bother him because everybody has accepted the SE and no one, in his mind, can challenge him. He can personally insult the fanbase whenever he wants. Now every fan of the OOT has become bitter at the acceleration of home theater systems because every film except three of them will be shown in optimal digital quality. We might as well go insane and live in an early 90s time warp.






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Originally posted by: Sluggo
The video footage was a workprint of the cut sub-plot of a raid on an Geonosian battle ship to shut down the battle droids during the arena battle. The DVD might have a few stills, but this scene is not on any official video.


THat's something I've got to check out.
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Originally posted by: generalfrevious
Lucas virtually bypassed DVD for the OOT- all we got in 2006 was just a smaller laserdisc. The reason we may get a letterboxed Blu-ray of the OOT because one would think that it's impossible, but it will horribly happen because Lucas is there. Optimism died in 1997 for SW fans in relation to the OOT. Iv'e accepted that SW is dead because Lucas has proven once and for all that nobody cares about the OOT because he literally rigged the GOUT in order to justify his continuous destruction of the largest block of pop culture in the last 30 years. He deliberately chose to relase the GOUT to both a) intentionally make the GOUT bomb and b) forestall everyone's predictions of a 30th anniversary boxset by stating that "we jumped in the saarlacc pit too many times" with a completely intentional marketing failure. The OT today has now become an afterthought to the PT, just some straight to DVD work of what could of happened after Anakin fell to the dark side. Lucas has now based his entire life purpose on a trilogy of absolute cinematic failure(the PT) instead of the OT that has, for better or for worse, shaped our culture. That's why he can wear a "Han shot first" T-shirt because he knows that he has defeated the fanbase for the OOT and the original cuts no longer bother him because everybody has accepted the SE and no one, in his mind, can challenge him. He can personally insult the fanbase whenever he wants. Now every fan of the OOT has become bitter at the acceleration of home theater systems because every film except three of them will be shown in optimal digital quality. We might as well go insane and live in an early 90s time warp.


Depends on how far the mainstream the PT fans take him.

“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

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And another unrelated thing: I strongly believe that Lucas did not write a single word of the screenplay for ROTS until 2004. So the OT we all know and love was an "afterthought" for a film trilogy 25 years in the future. And yes Mike, the PT fans have arrested the SW fanbase for all eternity.
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Originally posted by: Mike O
Originally posted by: generalfrevious
Lucas virtually bypassed DVD for the OOT- all we got in 2006 was just a smaller laserdisc. The reason we may get a letterboxed Blu-ray of the OOT because one would think that it's impossible, but it will horribly happen because Lucas is there. Optimism died in 1997 for SW fans in relation to the OOT. Iv'e accepted that SW is dead because Lucas has proven once and for all that nobody cares about the OOT because he literally rigged the GOUT in order to justify his continuous destruction of the largest block of pop culture in the last 30 years. He deliberately chose to relase the GOUT to both a) intentionally make the GOUT bomb and b) forestall everyone's predictions of a 30th anniversary boxset by stating that "we jumped in the saarlacc pit too many times" with a completely intentional marketing failure. The OT today has now become an afterthought to the PT, just some straight to DVD work of what could of happened after Anakin fell to the dark side. Lucas has now based his entire life purpose on a trilogy of absolute cinematic failure(the PT) instead of the OT that has, for better or for worse, shaped our culture. That's why he can wear a "Han shot first" T-shirt because he knows that he has defeated the fanbase for the OOT and the original cuts no longer bother him because everybody has accepted the SE and no one, in his mind, can challenge him. He can personally insult the fanbase whenever he wants. Now every fan of the OOT has become bitter at the acceleration of home theater systems because every film except three of them will be shown in optimal digital quality. We might as well go insane and live in an early 90s time warp.


Depends on how far the mainstream the PT fans take him.


Interestingly enough, whenever my manager at the lego store is working the register he'll always ask kids trivia questions when they're with their parents buying something, always making sure to ask them first what they're favorite movie/tv show is (he's a self described nerd so he's usually well prepared). If they answer star wars he'll usually ask the question "who are darth vader's children?" and they always know the answer, but just the other day he switched it up and asked a kid who darth maul's master is. Now, this kid couldn't have been older than TPM itself and yet he still knew the answer! It really made me feel old actually. I was 13-just-about-14 when TPM was released. I can still remember about a week and a half before 5/19/99 being at the crown books that's now a booksamillion, getting my mom to buy me the novelization with the obi-wan/qui-gon cover and then not finishing it out of a desire to be slightly unspoiled going in.

The whole reason I bring this up is twofold.

1. I can remember back in the early to mid 90's, before "one last time" and "the way it was meant to be experienced," Star Wars was considered quite cool. Star Trek was at its all time popularity high and even then was heavily frowned upon! But then Star Wars just got too damn popular. Before TPM was even released people hated it, and the timing of The Matrix's release didn't help much. Before the PT, there was just that amazing period of time where kids born two years after the movies were released treated them like modern day classics. You don't see many films endure like that. I wonder whether or not that kid who knew the name of Darth Maul's master was a microcosm of star wars fans his age, but then again, he was the PT equivalent of people born in 1977 or so. It's the people being born this year who will be the PT equivalent of people my own age.

2. While I'm on the subject of everyone knowing who Darth Vader's children are, I must admit it sometimes makes me cringe to hear kids give the answer. Mainly it's because of everything I've learned in recent years about the making of the OT. It almost does make today's Star Wars fandom sound like a religion, Jedi the first step on that long revisionist path, and cements Star Wars and Empire as a one two punch. So, and this is mainly a question for the older people, how would you compare Star Wars in 2007 to Star Wars in 1985? Jedi wasn't even released on video until '86 for starters.
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Very cool and interesting bit from the letter, Mielr! I take it as encouraging. Remember that Lucas took an active interest in seeing the Phantom Editor's cut of TPM? I think he might actually like to see the activity and the different takes people have on his films.

In prepping for the final edit of my version of Episode 3, I was surprised to find that the deleted scenes were mixed in full 5.1 surround. Not that that is proof, but it is an interesting treatment for material which is in no way insertable into the main movie when you watch it on the official DVD. Almost seems like an invitation to play around with the stuff.

Edit : Now if only he'd do a release like that for the GOUT.
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Originally posted by: Fang Zei


2. While I'm on the subject of everyone knowing who Darth Vader's children are, I must admit it sometimes makes me cringe to hear kids give the answer. Mainly it's because of everything I've learned in recent years about the making of the OT. It almost does make today's Star Wars fandom sound like a religion, Jedi the first step on that long revisionist path, and cements Star Wars and Empire as a one two punch. So, and this is mainly a question for the older people, how would you compare Star Wars in 2007 to Star Wars in 1985? Jedi wasn't even released on video until '86 for starters.


I grew up seeing the movies from 77-83, as I was 5 years old in 1977, and the only time SW was mainstream was in 1977-79, and after that the tag of 'geekness' insued.

What I am getting at is even in the early 80's on the schoolground, I did not pronounce my love for SW to EVERYONE, only to people who I knew loved SW, cause even then it really wasn't cool. Now back then you didn't have the stigma of idiots dressing up at the premieres and the word 'scifi geek' was alot different then it is now, but SW was beloved by its fans, but it still wasn't something you brag about!

But in all honesty, most SW fans ate up everything George said back then, and even though I saw the OT movies 8,000 times as a kid, I always thought Lucas directed all 3! Never bothering to check the damn credits at the end of the movie! I never knew who Irvin Kershner was or Gary Kurtz or even Lawrence Kasdan, as I always thought Lucas had it all mapped out and did EVERYTHING, as I remember back in 1987 there were rumors of 7,8,9 being made first, then going back and doing 1,2,3 in the 90's. So trust me guys, Lucas was able to spread his revisionism on the OT generation too, simply cause it is easy to dupe kids, and we were all kids at the time.

The only difference of the PT/OT generations, is we truly loved the movies more then anything else, and the PT crowd seems to be a niche fanbase that loves the movies sorta like the Serenity crowd, and the majority who saw the movies were just OT fans who 'had' to see the story out who waited so long for it. PT fans are more like Trekkies now, as they know TOO much about the movies, as I had said before, I loved the movies to death and had seen them 8,000 times, but it stopped with the movies, and never went past that, now with EU and the PT, SW has become alittle to fanatic, but to each his own.

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Just a small note, because it's kind of ironic and also could cause some confusion in future:

Blu-ray and HD-DVD are always letterboxed!

That is to say: there are no anamorphic formats defined, which means that no movie wider than 16:9 ratio can use the full resolution of 1080. They must always be letterboxed, encoding the black bars as part of the signal (albeit highly compressed).

This is a bit ridiculous, IMO, since this means you will rarely if ever get 1080 lines of actual signal even though it's in "1080p". For the moment it's not a problem as it's still an advance over DVD, but not as much as it should have been.

For more discussion:
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/archive/index.php/t-652716.html
(site seems to be down at the moment).

For a description of this proposed "Super-Cheap" HD version of OOT, we should think up something more accurate... like "Blur-Ray"
Darth Lucas: I am altering the trilogy. Pray I don't alter it further.
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And the sad destiny of it all is that the OOT will just appear more and more obsoloete working with age
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GOD DAMN! I hate it when everything turns into this depressing bullshit! You are all such Debbie Downers I want to blow my brains out! Now if we and all you Negative Nancies can take nothing else from this letter, it's that if Lucasfilm will not, for some reason, from strange excuses to outlandish conspiracies, will not release the best movie ever in a proper format for the classic fans as those who come to this forum, we'll just have to show a little ingenuity. Of course in this letter, he's clearly talking about making your own damn movie, to go out there like he did as a young man and get in the dirt and come up with something new (yeah he probably not even be talking about fan films dawg), but we can take so much more from this. The technology today can do so much more than what it could do when he was a kid (although it's a few thousand pixels short of the same quality) in terms of both power and distribution. Dammit, we have everything we need. We have the 2004 DVDs, we have HD broadcasts, we have a laserdisc master tape on DVD, we have the mono mix, we have the stereo mix, we have an isolated score, God dammit we even have the back channels of the 2004 DVD mixed properly, we have avisynth, we have insert generic expensive editing program (and failing that, we have software piracy), we have everything that we need to do what we need them to do. Why is it that OCP's Classic Editions are the only DE-SEing projects in existence???!!! I thought with time that is all I would see on these forums! Put down your PT DVDs!!! Stop fan editing them! They're not good! They have no souls!

If Lucasfilm won't give Star Wars what it needs, then we'll just have to.

http://i52.photobucket.com/albums/g40/DledRhapsody/TantiveWall.jpg

I'm sorry, it's just when you watch your own DE-SEing project with a friend of yours on his HD television, with the real Fett speaking right now cue, and everything with a place and everything in its place, when you leave your disc there for your friend to have, and print out for him the cover art you yourself created, and when you give it to him he's all "Dude sweet!", and when days later he's watching the film yet again with the isolated score, and all this you yourself put together, and have everything you need to do it two more times (three times cause you're convinced you could still do better with the one that's done!), and have everything you need to give it to the whole world with an internet connection, well fuck.

No, it won't be perfect, it won't be perfect until Lucasfilm does a proper transfer from the original negatives once again. And if he's actually taped over his copy, then another can be easily salvaged from deep within the safe, secure, environment-controlled vaults of the British Film Institute or the American Film Institute. Now come on people, cheer the fuck up.

Spaced Out - A Stoner Odyssey (five minute sneak peek)

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I have a feeling everybody was kind of waiting on how the x0 project and the 30th anniversary panned out.
But yeah, that weird letter isn't an indicator of anything really. I'm still holding out hope that the one-two punch of Blade Runner and Close Encounters will shame LFL into putting out a higher quality product. Star Wars sure has kind of a desperate, tacky feel about it these days. (Weirdly, my hyperspace membership still works. I haven't renewed it in a REALLY long time. I don't think I've received the magazine since Revenge came out.)
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Originally posted by: PaulisDead2221
God dammit we even have the back channels of the 2004 DVD mixed properly, we have avisynth, we have insert generic expensive editing program (and failing that, we have software piracy), we have everything that we need to do what we need them to do. Why is it that OCP's Classic Editions are the only DE-SEing projects in existence???!!! I thought with time that is all I would see on these forums! Put down your PT DVDs!!! Stop fan editing them! They're not good! They have no souls!

Good point about OCP's edits. I actually started a thread in the SW preservation forum the other day about this very subject. I asked if there existed a "pure" hybrid project of the OT, using only the useable, unaltered portions of the '04 DVDs* (with color correction) and using the '06 DVDs to fill-in for the SE shots, and the soundtrack. LINK I was told that the OCP edits were the only ones available, but his actually contain some changes that did not exist in the OOT, so it's not really what I meant by "pure" (ie- no little creative touches based on the editor's personal tastes/preferences).

Only one member besides you said that he's working on his own hybrid version, that was it, and my thread got relegated to pg 2. I share your surprise that there aren't more fan edits like this in the works. I originally had thought that's what the X0 project was going to be- but they're not using any material from the '04 DVDs nor are they using the GOUT DVDs, and the project seems stalled anyhow (for the time being). I wish I had a newer computer so that I could give it a shot- but alas I do not.

Why so many are spending time on PT edits when they could be working on the OOT is a mystery to me. THE highest-quality option we have right now is a '04/'06 hybrid.....and nobody's done it.

(*by "unaltered", I mean those scenes which aren't obviously changed. I understand that nearly every scene in the OT had some sort of tweak for the SE, but some are so minor that they aren't noticeable unless viewed directly in comparison to the original versions.)

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Originally posted by: PaulisDead2221
GOD DAMN! I hate it when everything turns into this depressing bullshit! You are all such Debbie Downers I want to blow my brains out! Now if we and all you Negative Nancies can take nothing else from this letter, it's that if Lucasfilm will not, for some reason, from strange excuses to outlandish conspiracies, will not release the best movie ever in a proper format for the classic fans as those who come to this forum, we'll just have to show a little ingenuity. Of course in this letter, he's clearly talking about making your own damn movie, to go out there like he did as a young man and get in the dirt and come up with something new (yeah he probably not even be talking about fan films dawg), but we can take so much more from this. The technology today can do so much more than what it could do when he was a kid (although it's a few thousand pixels short of the same quality) in terms of both power and distribution. Dammit, we have everything we need. We have the 2004 DVDs, we have HD broadcasts, we have a laserdisc master tape on DVD, we have the mono mix, we have the stereo mix, we have an isolated score, God dammit we even have the back channels of the 2004 DVD mixed properly, we have avisynth, we have insert generic expensive editing program (and failing that, we have software piracy), we have everything that we need to do what we need them to do. Why is it that OCP's Classic Editions are the only DE-SEing projects in existence???!!! I thought with time that is all I would see on these forums! Put down your PT DVDs!!! Stop fan editing them! They're not good! They have no souls!

If Lucasfilm won't give Star Wars what it needs, then we'll just have to.

http://i52.photobucket.com/albums/g40/DledRhapsody/TantiveWall.jpg

I'm sorry, it's just when you watch your own DE-SEing project with a friend of yours on his HD television, with the real Fett speaking right now cue, and everything with a place and everything in its place, when you leave your disc there for your friend to have, and print out for him the cover art you yourself created, and when you give it to him he's all "Dude sweet!", and when days later he's watching the film yet again with the isolated score, and all this you yourself put together, and have everything you need to do it two more times (three times cause you're convinced you could still do better with the one that's done!), and have everything you need to give it to the whole world with an internet connection, well fuck.

No, it won't be perfect, it won't be perfect until Lucasfilm does a proper transfer from the original negatives once again. And if he's actually taped over his copy, then another can be easily salvaged from deep within the safe, secure, environment-controlled vaults of the British Film Institute or the American Film Institute. Now come on people, cheer the fuck up.



^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
What he said
Well put.

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Originally posted by: PaulisDead2221
GOD DAMN! I hate it when everything turns into this depressing bullshit! You are all such Debbie Downers I want to blow my brains out!

Yeah, well, Star Wars-wise Lucas hasn't given us a fucking thing to be thankful for lately.

Now if we and all you Negative Nancies can take nothing else from this letter, it's that if Lucasfilm will not, for some reason, from strange excuses to outlandish conspiracies, will not release the best movie ever in a proper format for the classic fans as those who come to this forum, we'll just have to show a little ingenuity.

I didn't necessarily take it to mean that any MOREso than his other statements that he's gone back on; he didn't directly state that.

If Lucasfilm won't give Star Wars what it needs, then we'll just have to.

We can't, not to the degree that's necessary. And we shouldn't have to.

http://i52.photobucket.com/albums/g40/DledRhapsody/TantiveWall.jpg


No, it won't be perfect, it won't be perfect until Lucasfilm does a proper transfer from the original negatives once again.


If they do.

And if he's actually taped over his copy, then another can be easily salvaged from deep within the safe, secure, environment-controlled vaults of the British Film Institute or the American Film Institute.



Oh, there are plenty of ways that it COULD be done. Don't delude yourself that this isn't possible.

Now come on people, cheer the fuck up.


Yeah, well, everyday more and more evidence points towards us not getting what we want, so we have little reason to cheer the fuck up.

“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

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There is still some, well, I wouldn't call it evidence but maybe signs that the OOT will get remastered eventually. The new making of star wars and the forthcoming making of empire and jedi books are one. Lucas' good friend Spielberg releasing an ultimate dvd of close encounters is another.
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Originally posted by: ronlaw
Just a small note, because it's kind of ironic and also could cause some confusion in future:

Blu-ray and HD-DVD are always letterboxed!

That is to say: there are no anamorphic formats defined, which means that no movie wider than 16:9 ratio can use the full resolution of 1080. They must always be letterboxed, encoding the black bars as part of the signal (albeit highly compressed).

This is a bit ridiculous, IMO, since this means you will rarely if ever get 1080 lines of actual signal even though it's in "1080p". For the moment it's not a problem as it's still an advance over DVD, but not as much as it should have been.


This is not so. Films with an aspect ratio wider than 16x9 obviously have to be since they are wider than "widescreen"/16x9 sets, otherwise you would have to crop it to fill it. So yes, a film that is 2:35 is obviously going to have a slight letterbox since there physically is no way to accomplish it, but the films are still encoded in an anamorphic 16x9 image. The only other option would be to make 2:35 TV sets, but then you would be complaining about the letterboxing on all movies narrower than that aspect ratio, which are far greater in number than the ones in 2:35.
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Originally posted by: Fang Zei
There is still some, well, I wouldn't call it evidence but maybe signs that the OOT will get remastered eventually. The new making of star wars and the forthcoming making of empire and jedi books are one. Lucas' good friend Spielberg releasing an ultimate dvd of close encounters is another.

I'm starting to feel the same way, Fang Zei.

Are there going to be 'making of' books for ESB and Jedi?

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Originally posted by: zombie84 So yes, a film that is 2:35 is obviously going to have a slight letterbox since there physically is no way to accomplish it, but the films are still encoded in an anamorphic 16x9 image. The only other option would be to make 2:35 TV sets, but then you would be complaining about the letterboxing on all movies narrower than that aspect ratio, which are far greater in number than the ones in 2:35.

So, you're saying that the thin black bars we see on a 16:9 screen when we watch a 2:35 movie aren't encoded as part of the image. That means the 2:35 image is squeezed slightly into an anamorphic 16:9 image, and then unsqueezed back to 2:35 when played back, right?

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Originally posted by: Mielr
Originally posted by: Fang Zei
There is still some, well, I wouldn't call it evidence but maybe signs that the OOT will get remastered eventually. The new making of star wars and the forthcoming making of empire and jedi books are one. Lucas' good friend Spielberg releasing an ultimate dvd of close encounters is another.

I'm starting to feel the same way, Fang Zei.

Are there going to be 'making of' books for ESB and Jedi?


They are going to be the Alan Arnold and Philip Peecher books, but greatly expanded and with more pics. IIRC.
And hopefully no revisionist changes...
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Originally posted by: Sluggo


They are going to be the Alan Arnold and Philip Peecher books, but greatly expanded and with more pics. IIRC.
And hopefully no revisionist changes...

Thanks for the info- I don't see them for pre-sale on Amazon, so I guess they're still in the works.

And yes, I hope they follow in the steps of the SW book and keep true to the orignal versions.

I guess the next big SW-related book down the pipeline is that 'vault' one.

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I was under the impression that Rinzler was doing an ESB book after his next project which is an Indy one I think.

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Originally posted by: Mielr
I guess the next big SW-related book down the pipeline is that 'vault' one.


Pray Tell more....?



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Originally posted by: Mielr
Originally posted by: Fang Zei
There is still some, well, I wouldn't call it evidence but maybe signs that the OOT will get remastered eventually. The new making of star wars and the forthcoming making of empire and jedi books are one. Lucas' good friend Spielberg releasing an ultimate dvd of close encounters is another.

I'm starting to feel the same way, Fang Zei.

Are there going to be 'making of' books for ESB and Jedi?


We can only hope so.

“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