CO

It was inevitable that the OOT would come out fully remastered the day Disney bought Lucasfilm.  Its not a matter of if anymore, its just when.  Lucas wouldn't release them to spite the fans, but Disney did not plop down 4 Billion dollars to let any money maker of the SW name go.

I have been saying since they announced Episode 7 and the Big 3 were coming back that the ideal time to release the OOT was the lead up to Episode 7. 

The next year will be a throwback year to OOT SW fans, as FINALLY the franchise is catering to us again, and not giving us the middle finger like Lucas has done since 1997. 

Easterhay said:

He winked? Never noticed it. Ever.

Thanks for high-lighting it (considering that "many fans" miss it, this is the first I've ever heard of it) because it sounds bloody awful. Winking at ghosts, indeed.

 It is a cool nod that Luke does to the Force Ghost as he gives them a quick wink at the end of the movie. 

Not sure if you meant Lucas changing it is bloody awful, or the wink is bloody awful?

Another change that many fans miss is the Luke's wink to the Jedi Ghosts.  In the OOT version, he gives a quick wink to the ghosts as he walks away with Leia.  In the 1997, 2004, 2011 versions, the wink is gone? 

I don't know why Lucas would take that out, because it was cool little nod to the older jedi from Luke.  Reason #356 why you don't f**k with original versions of movies! 

Easterhay said:

As opposed to fans who want the original versions of the OT released, who are of course just peeing in the wind lol

 Aren't you one of those fans???  I mean the site is called, OriginalTrilogy.com, yet you just took a shot at 'those' fans????

Maybe I will sign up at StarWarsSpecial Editions.com and go rag on those people!  ;-)

Easterhay said:

I wonder what it was that led you to believe the EU was canon? I don't remember Lucas confirming it to be so at that, or indeed, any other time. Personally, I never took the EU that seriously, even the stories I enjoyed.

 I am not an EU person (I have friends who read alot of EU books, so I have some knowledge of what stories have been put out.

The thing about the EU is that Lucas has never been married to the EU, (as he has said it is not canon), but he has always respected it with his timeline.  I honestly thought he would never do the ST simply because there was so much material put out post-ROTJ for the EU. 

If you look at all of the other EU stuff (Before Episode 6), it coincides nicely with Episodes I-VI, so the movies still respect that timeline.  Now if Lucas has Chewbacca in Episode 7, or there is no Mara Jade, then he is not respecting the EU material from post-ROTJ.

In saying all of that, I could care less cause I am not an EU person, as I actually want to see Chewbacca in the new movies, and I really don't know much about Mara Jade other then what my friends told me about her.  But I do understand EU people being pissed off that the post-ROTJ stuff has been thrown out the window.

Another analogy would be is if I loved the OT Special Editions, but I could totally understand OOT fans being pissed that they have never been released properly on BluRay/DVD.

Easterhay said:

Well, obviously that's where we differ; I do care about Anakin in the prequels so this is where we'll have to agree to disagree.

 That's fair.  But you have to understand that people who didn't like the PT for this reason alone, is a HUGE reason why. 

Easterhay said:

2. Lots of people are unlikeable. Who said Anakin had to be likeable? Indeed, it's more believable to have a flawed character fall from grace than someone who is purer than pure.

 Likeable & flawed & eventually evil can be part of a character, as that is where Lucas missed the boat with Anakin.  You have to have the audience atleast care for the characters, or they are not going to give a shit about him when he goes bad. 

You look at any Mob Movie, and all the characters are evil and do awful things, but there is a charm about them that the audience gravitates to.  Goodfellas is a perfect example where I like the main characters (Robert Deniro, Ray Liotta, and Joe Pesci), but they are essentially all bad people, who do bad things, and eventually pay for their sins at the end of the movie the same way Anakin did.  Tony Soprano is another example of a person that is a flawed person, that does horrible things, yet the audience deep down likes him, and that is why you come back to watch the Soprano's each week for 6 seasons.

Lucas never made Anakin likeable in Episode 2 when he was played by Hayden Christenson.  He didn't do anything bad until the Tusken slaughter, so he still had a good chunk of the movie for people to care about him.  Many would argue Anakin should have been the same actor for 3 movies, so the audience could get to know him even more, but thats another argument.

The bottom line is that no matter whether a character is portrayed on screen as a good guy or bad guy, if the audience doesn't care about them, then why should we care about his ultimate demise? 

Easterhay said:

Kersh did say, though, that he would never have shown Vader's/Anakin's face in ROTJ. I think that would have been a mistake.

 I remember reading that interview with Kersh where he talks about ROTJ.  Kersh just had a whole different idea where the movies should go, and that is why he never would have shown Vader's face.

His argument was that the mystery of something is much more powerful then when you actually show it.  He was essentially saying the Prequels should never be made for that reason too.

There was a mystery about Darth Vader, and once you unmask him in ROTJ, or once you show his backstory in the PT, everything is out there and you risk allienating fans who don't ever look at Darth Vader/Anakin Skywalker the same. 

Now of course Lucas wanted to put a face on Vader to show he was human, and that is essentially the point of ROTJ, but I do see Kersh's broad view of the movies, that sometimes less is more.

m_s0 said:

 I get that, but I'm not sure the phrase "the ancient fear" makes sense on its own if you dissect it. That might change when we learn of the actual context.

 I was just reading through a SW Thread on another site, and they say its is referring to Max Von Sydow's character, who we can all assume is playing the villain now.

I wonder if he will be an older (ancient) Sith, who was trained by The Emperor just in case Vader didn't live up to his jedi abilities after falling in the lava pit? 

Just a guess and pure speculation on my end.....

m_s0 said:

TMBTM said:

The working title of Episode 7 is/was supposed to be THE ANCIENT FEAR.

I like the sound of it, even if it doesn't make all that much sense. Then again the movies never had amazing titles.

 From what I read, it is referring to the upcoming Villain in the movie. 

This is the great thing about about the Sequel Trilogy, is that stuff like the PT and George Lucas quotes are secondary to the anticipation of Episode 7.  Trust me, I used to get obsessed over every Lucas quote, but the guy sold to Disney so I am kinda of over it now. 

I saw on twitter:

Episode 7:  A New Hip

The ST has really brought back everyone being positive about a SW movie, just with simple photos of the real Chewy from the OT days. 

I was very hesitant when the ST was announced, but I am just going to enjoy the ride now and keep my fingers crossed!

Hopefully this link works, but here is an early Episode 7 poster from MTV.com:

http://mtv.mtvnimages.com/uri/mgid:file:http:shared:articles.mtv.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/Star-Wars-VII-Cast.jpg?width=480&quality=0.85

Fang Zei said:

That was the teaser for the teaser (the "breathing" trailer). The first full trailer was in front of Harry Potter.

I doubt we'll see anything until next May at the earliest. I wouldn't be surprised if Disney attaches it to Tomorrowland just as a little added incentive. Avengers 2 is guaranteed to make bank and doesn't need the help. We'll probably see it officially online earlier that week, though. I feel like studios holding off on uploading trailers until the Monday after is becoming a rare occurrence.

 I wonder if Disney releases the first Episode 7 teaser/trailer during the Superbowl next February?  You have 100 million people watching, and everyone see the first image of Luke, Leia and Han since 1983!   That would be some serious water cooler talk on Monday at work!

luckydube56 said:

It's been reported that Han Solo will be the central character in episode 7.  Hmmm...will Ford get the death he's always asked for?

I think Abrams knows that Han Solo is the key to grabbing that casual fan as you see him him sitting next to Ford for the table-read.

Don't get me wrong, I love Luke Skywalkers character as the OT was really about him, but Han Solo made Star Wars cool, and brought in a fanbase other then SciFi nerds. 

The Prequels really lacked a Han Solo type character, and you could even say that ROTJ lacked his coolness as he was relegated to a secondary role to the Vader/Emperor/Luke faceoff.

Seeing Ford, Fisher and Hamill in that picture really gave me goosebumps.  I am probably in the minority but I always wanted the ST back in the 80's instead of the PT.  I wasn't as fascinated with how Darth Vader came to be, as I wanted more adventures of Luke, Leia and Han.  To finally see this happen is very surreal since I lost hope way back in 8th grade when Lucas said he wasn't doing the ST. 

And I like that they are going with alot of unknowns for the younger cast, as thats the way it should be for a Star Wars movie.  Max Von Sydow will add credibility just like Peter Cushing and Alec Guiness did to Star Wars.

What about Star Wars 77 only fans?  Many of my older brothers friends didn't like the Sequels and still love the Original. 

If the ST is good (which I am not holding my breath), then I could be a 4,5,6,7,8,9 fan when it is all said and done.  I remember wanting the ST instead of the PT going back to the mid 80's, simply because you can take the story wherever you want and still have the characters we all love in the movies.

OBI-WAN37 said:

I love the PT. I think it's more fun and moving than the OT, and are better films.

 I could be wrong, but you're probably a kid and your views will change of the movies when you get older.

When I was kid, I thought Rocky IV was a better movie then Rocky, because it wasn't as slow and it was cooler with all the MTV type music set to his training in Russia.  As I grew up and got older, I realized that I was dead wrong and The Original Rocky is light years better then the sequels, let alone the laughable Rocky IV that I view it as today.

Another example is as a kid I thought Return of the Jedi was a much better movie then Empire Strikes Back.  I thought Empire was too dark, too slow in some parts, and didn't like that the bad guys won.  As I got older, I realized Empire is one of the greatest movies of this genre, and Jedi is an OK movie at best.

You will change your view towards the Prequels when you get older, trust me.  ;-)

imperialscum said:

I like the absence of Emperor in ANH. I love how his character progression in OT. In the first film he is only mentioned in a way that it sparks your interest and get your imagination working. Then in the second film he makes short but interesting call to Vader, which further fuels expectations. And then he finally appears in last film and he is well acted and written.

 I agree, and I wish Lucas took out Jabba in the ANH/SE cut.   The buildup of Jabba leading in ROTJ was the coolest thing as a kid.  You hear about him for 2 movies from Han Solo, and we finally get to see him in his lair in ROTJ.  The CGI addition in ANH/SE ruins all of that, plus its a totally redundent scene as Han and Greedo had the same conversation at the Cantina Bar! 

Boggles my mind at the things Lucas has done to these movies!

I had no hope that the OOT would ever be released properly until Disney bought the franchise.

Just look how they re-shaped Episode 7 from Lucas/Arndt's first draft, as they are making Han, Luke and Leia more prominent in the movie. 

This is just a guess, but I wonder if they release the OOT on BluRay for Christmas of 2015 to coincide with the release of Episode 7?  This movie is made for the OOT generation, so what better time to release the OOT?

As for the legal wrangling with FOX and Disney as to who has the home video rights to the movie until 2019, that is a whole other discussion......

Billy Dee Williams is doing Dancing with the Stars.  He was asked on the show last night if he was coming back for the new movies, and he gave shrugged his shoulders and wouldn't say yes or no.

Could he be using Dancing with the Stars to get into shape for Episode 7 shooting this summer? 

imperialscum said:

 NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!

NeverarGreat said:

Just yesterday I realized more than ever before that Star Wars wasn't the saga George had intended, and indeed it wasn't even the original trilogy. It was and should be a single movie experience, and people like myself and many others on this forum who look at it with an eye to interpreting every aspect of the story are missing the point. For all its detail and worldbuilding, it's actually quite dreamlike. You get caught up in the experience and believe it entirely while it's playing, so making it an intellectual exercise does it a disservice. It affects our collective subconscious in a way that few movies can ever hope to do, and something I never experienced upon first viewing, having seen the VHS on small TV.

So yeah, I agree with y'all!

 I think that's what hurts many 'franchises' today, because they are all made KNOWING there will be sequels and possibly prequels.

What made the Star Wars era different (Raiders of the Lost, Back to the Future, Alien, etc) is that the director went all out in each movie because you never knew if there would be another. 

I love that Star Wars is a standalone movie and has a beginning, middle and ending despite it can be watched as Part 1 of 3 of the Star Wars Trilogy.  How anti-climatic would it have been if the movie ended with Luke, Leia and Han escaping the Death Star and the movie end, AND the battle of Yavin was saved until ROTJ?  If Lucas knew he was going to be making a trilogy in 1977, this is the way it would have ended and the Original movie wouldn't have been as good.

Humby said:

I think it's why many people refuse to accept the faults of the PT.  They are so invested in the Saga, and if they accept that the prequels aren't great, it will tarnish the entire GFFA.  Denial essentially, because they don't have the ability to enjoy the individual stories/films for what they are.

 I agree with this and I blame Lucas for constantly talking about the 'Saga' that he has warped everyone's minds that the movies have to be watched this way or you can't enjoy them another way.

I grew up at a time (77-83) when the movies stood on their own, and before the days of VHS/DVD/Bluray, you watched the movies on HBO one at a time.  Star Wars in 1983, ESB in 1986, and ROTJ in 1988, so I never really thought of them as the Star Wars Trilogy when watching them.

Each movie stood on its own merits and even though they connected into a bigger story, you really didn't watch them that way back then.  Its just impractical to watch these movies back to back to back in marathon form all the time, and that is the only way they work the way Lucas is talking about.  The OOT movies worked great as a trilogy, yet you could watch any of the 3 individually and get just as much enjoyment.

TV's Frink said:

CO said:

-Star Wars 1977

-OOT only

-OOT + ST

-PT + OT/SE + ST

-PT + OT/SE

I was told there would be no math.

 LOL!

Who would have thought the Star Wars Saga would look like an Algebra question after all these years!