Blackjack

write a replacement backstory for the OT, either on paper, or in your mind. Seriously,

because that's what I'm doing, and when I watch the Original trilogy, no thoughts of the "prequels" ever come to my mind:

I imagine Sebastian Shaw Behind Vader's Mask, I picture Luke and Leia's Mother as a Jackie-Kennedy type figure and not a selfish pu$$y whose husband was more important to her than her children,

and the force remains something fantastic and mystical, not a cheap freak of nature,

just as the force ghosts remain a spiritual afterlife, and not a cheap Jedi trick.

cut out the plotline of shia lebouff being indy's son.

that was TOTALLY NOT NEEDED. Him just being Marion Ravenwood's son was a good enough plot to bring Karen Allen back.

Gaffer Tape said:

Well, I suppose they could always go the Ben Kenobi retconning route and re-record some dialogue with Carrie Fisher where she says that she was technically lying about her mother, but what she said was true from the point of view that she wanted to feel superior to Luke by being a more well-informed orphan.

 yeah, it could go like this:

Luke: Leia, do you rememmber your mother, your REAL mother?

Leia: What the hell are you talking about?

I really became a Star Wars Fan in 1997, although my initial exposure to the trilogy was still the original versions, even though by the time I saw them the SE's had allready been out.

the tapes I watched were indeed from the "one last time" sets. Sadly, the RotJ tape was defective after only two years. so it pressured me to buy the SE.

since the 1997 SE's didn't really change all that much, (I didn't even notice Greedo Shooting first until I started reading the message boards when the DVDs were first rumered in November 2003), so I thought "fine. the story I fell in love with is still there, there are just a few extra flashy effects. no big deal"

but then Summer 2004 came:

 "the versions that will be on the disc will be as george Lucas sees them today."

the 1997 SE's were NOT given a "Last time ever" warning, and then the destroyed editions were placed on the shelves with NO INDICATION WHATSOEVER of the cinematic crimes contained therein.

I knew what to expect, of course, having followed the news all summer and seeing Hayden's ugly mug shot photoshopped in RotJ, but it was a major insult to the fans who made him what he is. he might as well have made the box with a picture of him posing with his middle fingers extended.

For me it was when the Original trilogy was destroyed in 2004 to fit with them, although at the time I held out hope that Revenge of the Shit would somehow justify it.

it was like this: the 2004 versions slammed the coffin lid shut, and Revenge of the shit hammered the nails in (but the bootleggers as well as the fan editiors here pried it back open in 2006)

would that be the one where the Blues Brothers debuted as well?

1. Return of the Jedi: 10/10. 2004 version: 0/10

2. A New Hope: 9.5/10

3. Empire Strikes Back: 9/10

4. Phanotom Menace: 7/10

5. Attack of the clones: 6/10

6. Revenge of the SHIT: 1/10.

my ideal veiwing experiance:

ANH 2006 UDT (Un-Destroyed Trilogy)

ESB: 2004 version

RotJ 2006 UDT

immediately after RotJ, the "Ave Maria" segment of Disney's "Fantasia", a much more fitting companion to the UDT than the "prequels".

I actually had a bit of an uplift when this set was announced.

I Don't plan to buy it unless my 2006 "Bonus discs" fail,

but the fact fo the matter is: the Undestroyed trilogy is being released again after only two years, even after lucasfilm boasted in 2006 that the limited editions would be the ONLY release of the UDT.

sure, it's not in all the fancy smanchy modern transfers, but it is perfectly watchable and it still gives me the same feeling I always got from it, even when all I had was pan and scan VHS.

(kind of like the case with The Force Unleashed, several people are ranking the Wii Version as the best, despite the lack of HD Graphics or DDM and euphoria)

it gives me hope that even Lucasfilm itself will not allow the UDT to fade away, that they're on our side.

TheDoctor1987 said:

 some of the stuff was poorly edited like Lukes green light saber which makes me cringe every time i see it

the shot where the lightsabers cross in front of the emporer's face in the destroyed 2004 RotJ makes me Just as angry as seeing hayden in the ending does.

I just missed out on the SE Hype in 1997, as I had a bias against any movie with the word "Star" in the title. 

however, in August of that year, we sat down one night to watch "Star Trek: Generations", and that lifted the above mentioned bias.

since at the time i was recovering from a broken arm and couldn't go swimming, I dug out our copies of the 1995 "Last time" pan and scan VHS and watched them over three days and was blown away. (I was even still able to be suprised by the "I am Your Father" plot, as much as anybody seeing it in 1980) 

a few times a year,

although there is one extra special time of the year in which I have a Star Wars Marathon, meant to celebrate the anniversary of when My academic career finally took a major turn for the better:

May 15th: Star Wars: A New Hope (GOUT)

May 16th: Empire Strikes back (2004)

May 17th: Return of the Jedi (GOUT), immediately followed by the "Ave Maria" Finale of Walt Disney's "Fantasia".

The fantasia DVD sits in the box that originally came with the 2004 release with the other discs as specified above, all with my own custom cover art.

Where are we now with the EU?  about 50 years after RotJ?

how long will it be before we have han luke and leia sitting in the nursing home sniping at each other?

the botched audio and picture.

that shot where the lightsabers cross in front of the emporer's face is an absolute disgrace. if there was any justice, Lucas would be out on the streets eating garbage right now for approving that (among the other things you allready mentioned)

I agree.

TPM, aside from introducing the Medichlorines and the immaculate conception bit, did not yet completely destroy the Star Wars Story that Revenge of the shit did.

the beginning of the relationship between anakin and padme wasn't as bad as it was in the next two films, even though it was still pretty unbelievable

If they would just:

cut out the medichlorines and the immaculate conception

and make anakin the same age as padme, it would be a pretty good film and a believable precurser to the OT.

Johnboy3434 said:

Mielr said:

The '04 DVDs sank the SEs to yet another depth by adding Hayden Christiansen to the finale of ROTJ, which to me, is one of the most inexcusable atrocities ever committed in the history of the moving image.

 

I know I'm going to regret asking, but here goes: why do you think it's such a crime? An unwanted change I can buy, but a crime? If it's because Shaw is dead, then I'm calling bullshit. In case you didn't notice, he's still in the unmasking scene. You know, the one appearance where he actually has to act. His entire performance is still in the movie, minus five seconds of standing and smiling. If anything, you should just count yourself lucky that Hayden didn't actually say anything. Seriously, of all the things to get riled up about, you choose this? What about Clive Revill? Not only was his entire performance cut out of the film, but he's still alive to see it. That's a much bigger insult than what happened to Shaw, and yet that's the one major change that most of the people around here seem to accept.

so you say it's WORSE because clive reville is still alive?

 Well get this:

If Clive Reville had a problem with being removed from ESB, we would have heard something from him. hell, he could have even sued george because actors DO have rights regarding their footage.

However, Shaw is DEAD, and he CAN'T object or sue, and george handled the replacement of his footage VERY disrespectfully and sloppily, whereas with Clive;s replacement, George actually took Ian McDarmid aside during episode III and had him actually FILM the new scene, whereas with hayden, george just took bad evil looking stock footage of Hayden's head and pasted it on Shaw's body. aside from that, in terms of the movie and the stroy, it completely destroyed the uplifting effect of the ending and ruined the point of the whole trilogy, which is anakin's redemption and him finding peace and reconciling with his family. Shaw's performance showed all of that. Hayden looked like he wanted to fuck his daughter.

I'm sorry, i think anybody who can't comprehend why we hate this and veiw it as a travesty must be blind.

I've had several expressions regarding this change over on the IMDB boards where they've become cliche, but not here:

the only worst things lucas could have done are:

Spraypainting "Stand in" on Shaw's Tombstone,

doing the same thing to his coffin and then throwing it into a junkyard,

Punching Drusella (Shaw's Daughter) in the face.

(I didn't mention anything about flipping off the fans or openly admitting that he hates us, because at least then he would finally be HONEST.)

Janskeet said:

That has to be the greatest abomination in cinema history.

nothing else needed to be said.