Baronlando

Read it again, dude. Lucas was all about Mos Eisley and Jabba from the get-go. The funny thing is, I totally enjoyed that version in the theater at the time. Throughout 1997-8, the original version and the special edition co-existed on tape and laser side by side on the shelves, and I never figured that one day the original (the thing that actually spawned all the stuff on that chart) would be treated worse than Meatballs 4.

I find it surprising that any Star Wars fan, whatever their preference is, doesn't feel the restored original has any value.

Good job, dude!

 Star Wars, Empire get 10s across the board. Jedi gets deductions each for blah visuals and makeup (I consider the ewoks merely a poor creature effect) and some bad line readings (or just bad looping). 10, 10, 8 for the trilogy.

Phantom Menace, Clones, Sith get all 5s and 6s. except for Ewan /Obi-Wan who is awesome. I have no idea how to score that...

So now the "secret cut" was on TV? In the 80s? The cut that's being "covered up"? Get real. Star Wars was EXCLUSIVE to pay tv and then network TV throughout the 80s, at huge cost. They didn't make  a "special secret one for broadcast in the bay area", geezus. This is getting ridonkulous.

Look, this is on the internet too, it must be true:

http://www.zod2008.com/

There was just not enough time or money to do everything that would've been involved in doing this. (it's a LOT).

It's physically impossible unless days in April 1977 had way more hours in them.

I believe Lucas wanted to take the opportunity to further tinker with the movie. I hear he's into that.

The original trilogy sold more tickets than the prequels. All three also sold more tickets than Dark Knight. The Clone Wars cartoon is seen by fewer people than Spongebob. The Star Wars thing really is not the same now.

Come on. Heir to the Empire was the number ONE bestselling book in 1991, the 1995 vhs tapes/lasers were HUGE, plus all the 90s-era toys and comics and games that did big business long before the 1997 rerelease.

I'm thinking this whole thing is treated with too much emotion, with the talk of suing and erased childhood memories (and the Lucas devotees on the other side defending the guy like he's their fucking dad) . It's nothing that grandiose, it's just bad merchandise, like buying a shitty muffler. It's okay to complain when it's not up to expected standards. Star Wars doesn't exist in a special world, we pay the same money for it that we do for anything else, so it should be held to the same standard as any other movie with multiple versions. Art or vison or integrity aren't involved because it was a merely a cheap-ass financial decision to release the laserdisc transfers to every store in the world (twice). The artistic decison would have been to bury them completely forever. (a really bad decision)

In the marvel comics version of the duel the sabers are crackling and dripping fire and sparks. That was probably just too hard to do. Practical reality dictated a lot of stuff in Star Wars. If you ask me the whole idea of making entire movies out of the backstory was borne out of a desire to avoid being at the mercy of actors. (I think Empire went from being called "Episode II" to "Episode V" right around the time Harrison Ford refused to sign for both sequels)

The movie was physically restored in 1997 THEN the new effects were created (you can't paste a shitty Jumanji dinosaur into an unrestored shot!) so all that stuff should be fine, i would think. And I don't think he would then throw out any original negative shots, if only because he might want them again for future changes.

I think 2009 is the ideal year to do a simple 3 disc Blu-ray set since...what else have they got to release for the year? And the sooner they do it the sooner they can double dip for the ultimate special versions, which is already the plan for Lord of the Rings and Star Trek. (basic theatricals now, more deluxe later). But that would be too normal.

 I guess  I can believe he did have lawyers sniff out and destroy whatever he could that was out there, maybe just because he's so against that version being shown publicly, but they wouldn't make a dvd/blu-ray from those prints anyway. They're all chewed up from being projected 5 times a day. (and Star Wars played theaters on and off for 3 solid years!). That seems different from raiding and destroying stuff from his own vaults, since he keeps everything. they even still had the alternate angles from the raw dailies of Alec Guinness for that Revenge of the Sith trailer. Wouldn't it be weird if the missing shots were reconstructed from alternate takes? Apparently, The new Blu-ray Godfather had to do exactly that for a few seconds.

On the other hand, it was mentioned here that some rich dude in LA has a 70mm print that he recently showed privately that supposedly still looked great. I saw a screening of a 70mm print around 1991 that looked brand new, maybe there's a small wave of new(er), nicer prints out there (made for stuff like the 1987 trilogy screenings and some other semi-forgotten events that took place during the "dark times" of the 80s and 90s?)

The deliberate destruction of ALL that stuff (that's endless feet of film all over the world- including stealing the archive print from the Library of Congress, Ocean's 11 style!) would be pretty hard to do. 

Whatever the true number of people who really want the original version might be, it can't be any less than there was for Close Encounters

But dude, now instead of 3 seconds of that old crappy sy snootles we now got a full-length song that's like some terrible blues band at a wedding or a Marriott lounge, and that 90's CGI where everything looks like it's made of liquid. It wasn't a good trade.

It's been mentioned elsewhere-Make it one epic movie (with an intermission!) where Obi-wan Kenobi is the main character. (the guy who's just trying to do the right thing and clean up everyone else's mess while his friend turns evil (sorta like The Dark Knight)

If it was like the real Episode I (but with 70s effects), it wouldn't have been different enough from Logan's Run/Star Trek/Zardoz/Whatever to break into that wide mainstream appeal. Actually, with all the emphasis on formal dialogue, prophecies, federations, politics and elaborate costume design, it just would have been another DUNE.

 I think a mixed approach (like Jurassic Park) would have been best, with a GOOD puppet for conversations and interacting with actors, and CGI for long shots and action. I'd bet the logisitics of needing Frank Oz (his availability and maybe his willingness and age) around that much more is the main reason yoda's 100% cg.

I saw these in the store today, but didn't get 'em. The package just says something like "All three classic films restored!", if I didn't know better and I read that I'd be falling over myself to buy it. (I like that they don't even tell you anything's been done to the movies anymore. Even on a TBS showing of WHITE CHICKS you get "this film has been modified from it's original version" etc, etc. Stay classy Star Wars!)

Star Wars has transitioned into this...other thing now, and I guess there's nothing wrong with that. Yes, more people bought tickets for the original trilogy and the word of mouth was better (and the population was millions less in 77-83, so an even greater percentage of people went to see it than saw I-III). BUT there's no doubt it died hard around 1985 in a way that hasn't happened at all this time around. It can't be denied that the people who do love New-Star Wars are clinging to it much more strongly now, and Lucas is responsible for inspiring that loyalty from the post-1997 fans, so you gotta give him credit.

Now, the real test of long-term fan loyalty will be if you see OriginalPrequelTrilogy.com pop up in 15 years!

I think that crawl was different from the Empire of Dreams one. Which makes the whole thing even lamer since they obviously found something that was in decent shape. 

Man this sounds difficult, good luck (maybe a "semi-purist" editon would be easier, creating "the cut" of the original version but just pick your top ten old-school shots that need to come back. )

I agree. If this forum has a "cause" this is just shooting it in the foot.

No, but that feathered hair is totally boring now-a-days. Mullets and braids 4-evah!

That was a total dodge anyway since nobody just makes a dvd from used "prints" lying around. They'd RESTORE Star Wars like any other. goddamn old movie. Literally every week a new one comes out, Star Wars needing no more work or effort than any of them.

Actually this is why he shouldn't even bother with these changes, the movie had millions of dollars in updates and this guy is still bored.