Fang Zei

NeverarGreat said:

https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?date=all&q=star wars unaltered trilogy

Some info on when people have searched for ‘Star Wars unaltered trilogy’.
In short, there were small spikes in 2006 and 2011, then people cared a whole lot right when TFA came out, then cared a bit less when Rogue One came out.

So I’d say it’s obviously a good idea to create a stir when it coincides with a major movie release or a blu-ray/4K release of the OT.

Rian Johnson is not a fan of the SE if this tweet from January of 2011 is any indication:

https://twitter.com/rianjohnson/status/23164864209887232

Granted, this was still more than three years before he was hired for Episode VIII, but I’m sure his feelings on the matter haven’t changed.

People were still replying to this more than four years later in August of 2015. It might be worth replying to it and/or liking it and/or retweeting it on the 25th.

I mean, he never deleted it so…

suspiciouscoffee said:

SilverWook said:

rodneyfaile said:

Hope there is a live stream and plenty of Original Unaltered Trilogy talk.

I wonder if they will show the movie?

If George is coming, I doubt it would be unaltered. I can imagine them playing an SE, and loudly voicing their disapproval at the many of the changes, all with George in the room with them to hear their hatred for his destruction of their work. Maybe then something would finally click in his head.

Well, there was that story from years ago about George attending a 35mm screening and, according to the people sitting nearby, getting very uncomfortable upon realizing it was the unaltered version and not the SE.

Phil Tippett has been rather outspoken about his dislike for the alterations has he not?

I’d be curious to know John Dykstra and Richard Edlund’s thoughts on the matter as they were not involved with the SE and PT IIRC.

screams in the void said:

I thought we would see the Jedi fighting scores of Mandalorian Super commando’s

For the longest time I thought Joe Johnston would’ve been the perfect director for Episode II if for no other reason than the fact that, regardless of whatever the story ended up being, Boba Fett was always going to play some sort of role in that particular installment of the PT.*

But hearing you say it like that, suddenly I got images of Captain America taking on Hydra in The First Avenger. I feel like we could’ve gotten something similar to that if the production had hewed closer to the OT’s more practical filmmaking techniques (as the sequel trilogy largely is). Instead I feel like the Mandalorian army everyone wanted to see became the clones and the Jedi were fighting with them instead of against them.

*at least that’s what I read in a newsweek article at some point during the months leading up to TPM’s release. Said article also mentioned a rumor about Jet Li possibly playing Boba. I’d love to know how that one started and if there was ever any truth to it.

althor1138 said:

Somebody should do one of these posts on Reddit:

<----- Number of people that want the original theatrical version of star wars released on blu-ray

If that hit the front page of reddit it would mean quite a bit I think. The OT crowd would definitely have to get the ball rolling. I’m assuming everybody has reddit accounts?

I don’t.

Goatboy said:

Fang Zei said:

Goatboy said:

towne32 said:

Right. We are not giving them directions or writing a contract. We are hoping to raise awareness and increase discussion, and despite low chances of success, hoping that we might get some kind of information. A comment that is less worthless/ambiguous than the recent Kennedy interview.

If, someday, they release a 2k OOT (first of all, I would still be thrilled), it won’t be because, "hah! You ****ers should’ve specified 4K! Gotcha!"
I know people still feel burned about GOUT, but that didn’t happen due to a misunderstanding.

I don’t think Lucasfilm will release the theatrical releases on Blue-ray, at least as long as Kennedy is president. Because of her relationship to George Lucas and him appointing her president, she doesn’t want to touch what she sees as “his movies”.

And if it does ever happen, it wont be until 2020, when Disney gets the distribution rights to Episodes 5 & 6.

Getting Star Wars fans talking about it can’t hurt though.

She wouldn’t be doing anything to his movies, though. She would simply be including the original versions alongside his versions. EDIT: crissrudd beat me to it.

Welcome to the forums, btw!

Thanks for the welcome 😃

Lucas has said that, to him, the original releases don’t exist anymore, the current versions are THE movies and he talked how he wants that to be the only version that people see and how eventually all the VHS tapes of the old version will burn out and be thrown away. He underestimates the power of the internet and passionate fans.

So it seems to me like Lucas doesn’t want people watching the theatrical releases, and Kennedy is going to honor his wish.

But Kennedy is 63 years old, and will retire or change jobs within the next decade or two, so the new blood that steps in could have a different stance.

Lucas himself had softened on the issue by the time he sold his company.

Those earlier quotes about the millions of vhs tapes became irrelevant in 2006 when he decided to release the unaltered versions on dvd. Yeah, they were from outdated 1993 transfers, but the dvd discs themselves will last a long time.

George’s comments have been remarkably inconsistent over the years. In 2005 he said there would never be an Episode VII! By the time of the blu-ray release in 2011, he wasn’t even using his “vision” for the films as an excuse to withhold the unaltered versions. He simply said that it would “cost too much.” What he probably would have said under the influence of truth serum is “I’m keeping it in my backpocket for a rainy day since I know many of you fans will go out and buy it all over again.”

Then he sold the company to Disney.

It’s not his money being spent anymore. I doubt he cares one way or the other if the unaltered versions are restored/released, just so long as his versions are still packaged as “the main version.”

dahmage said:

crissrudd4554 said:

The fact that Lucas allowed what were originally intended as ‘Limited Editions’ that were supposed to be off the market by the end of 2006 to be repackaged again in 2008 IMO is another example that shows that he only is/was refusing to restore the originals, not release them.

you have a fair point, but also, once you have a product, i doubt you need to go back to the boss man to approve selling more… but to approve a new project, even if it is just putting a crappy transfer onto bluray, would that not require ‘approvals’ again. Maybe i am just naive about how strongly Lucas feels about holding back the OOT

That’s a safe assumption, not naive.

If anything it’s the situation with Fox that’s made Disney so silent on the matter.

dahmage said:

Would it be strange to add a line to the end of the letter something like “we would love the opportunity to discuss this with you” or “if you would like to hear our ideas please feel free to reach out”?

I would certainly want to.

Or we could simply tell them to talk to Robert A. Harris about it.

Goatboy said:

towne32 said:

Right. We are not giving them directions or writing a contract. We are hoping to raise awareness and increase discussion, and despite low chances of success, hoping that we might get some kind of information. A comment that is less worthless/ambiguous than the recent Kennedy interview.

If, someday, they release a 2k OOT (first of all, I would still be thrilled), it won’t be because, "hah! You ****ers should’ve specified 4K! Gotcha!"
I know people still feel burned about GOUT, but that didn’t happen due to a misunderstanding.

I don’t think Lucasfilm will release the theatrical releases on Blue-ray, at least as long as Kennedy is president. Because of her relationship to George Lucas and him appointing her president, she doesn’t want to touch what she sees as “his movies”.

And if it does ever happen, it wont be until 2020, when Disney gets the distribution rights to Episodes 5 & 6.

Getting Star Wars fans talking about it can’t hurt though.

She wouldn’t be doing anything to his movies, though. She would simply be including the original versions alongside his versions. EDIT: crissrudd beat me to it.

Welcome to the forums, btw!

crissrudd4554 said:

Then again I’d think if they’re willing to spend money to restore it they’d release it yes??

That’s exactly what I was thinking. “Restore” not only implies “release” but also leaves no room for them to pull something similar to the GOUT.

For example, if we only say “release on blu-ray” they might just keep it to a 2k “restoration” from inferior elements. The OOT deserves the highest quality treatment from the best existing film sources. If there’s already a 4k master of George’s preferred version, we shouldn’t accept anything less for the unaltereds.

I would word it a little differently:

“Are you ever going to restore the original theatrical version of the original Star Wars trilogy?”

I think “restore” is a better catch-all term.

For starters, the films do need to be restored before any kind of modern release can happen. “Restore” also implies a blu-ray release and the possibility of theatrical exhibition.

But “restore” also conveys the importance of the matter in a single word whereas “release on blu-ray” just makes it sound trivial.

crissrudd4554 said:

Listing the changes is not necessary. Theyre well aware of the changes and know it’s what drives our desire to see the originals restored. Listing the changes might come off as degrading the SEs which is not the purpose of the message. For once I agree with Alderaan. Mentioning the SEs as less as we can, aside from maybe mentioning that we can respect that they are the canon versions and are how Mr. Lucas intends them to be, is probably a smart option. We just want the originals restored and released regardless of what release method they should choose to do so.

We could even take it a step further and show we’re also not prequel haters by pointing out that those movies aren’t available in their original forms either (at least TPM and AotC aren’t).

Including the words “the original and prequel trilogies” and “all versions” in the relevant parts of the longer letter would be just subtle enough.

SilverWook said:

Don’t most Blu-ray players have a zoom setting for non anamorphic DVD’s? I know Panasonic does.

But then you’ve got the problem of the alien language subtitles getting cut off. Unless of course the player doing the zooming also automatically repositions the subtitles, which I suppose is possible. I’ve got a panasonic bd player so maybe I’ll test it out on a 4:3 dvd.

SilverWook said:

drfsupercenter said:

Well crap.

I messaged the seller, he posted a new picture… definitely bootlegs. They have the cheap Chinese-style cases (the real ones had a flippable portion in the middle, the left of the box was still used for the chapter insert), and also notice no MPAA rating on the discs.

This is why I asked!

Time to look some more…

It’s sad and ironic the GOUT is being bootlegged at this point.

I bet there are a lot of people out there who never realized their dvd players had a setting to make everything not look like stretch-o-vision and now have blu-ray players that are set to display everything in 16:9 by default.

Some of those people are in for a rude awakening when they pop in the GOUT and realize there’s no good way to watch in on their modern setup.

Yeah, we don’t need to list the differences.

The SEs are very blatantly not the same films that were released back in 77-83, especially the first one.

I think what baron lando was saying earlier about pointing to the multi-version treatment Blade Runner recieved and telling LFL “do that” (in so many words) should be enough.

ETA: ray afraid posted as I was writing this. Linking to the comparison might be a good idea.

dahmage said:

Fang Zei said:

drfsupercenter said:

TV’s Frink said:

drfsupercenter said:

I’m looking to add the “limited edition” OT DVDs to my collection.

Don’t take this the wrong way, but…

Why?

Just download one of the many fine restoration projects here.

Because I’m a collector and I like having official releases. I do have the Despecialized Editions, but there’s something to be said about having the actual releases.

Speaking for myself, I wouldn’t have paid money for the GOUT in 2006, nevermind 2017.

You should probably just get your hands on Team Negative 1’s Silver Screen Edition of Star Wars '77 and the grindhouse releases of Empire and Jedi. The picture and sound are based off actual release prints.

um, isn’t the audio from laser disc? (at least it isn’t the print audio).

If it is, I didn’t know that. Could’ve sworn they said in the first post of their thread that they were sourcing the audio from the print itself but that was forever ago.

Which LD mix did they use?

drfsupercenter said:

TV’s Frink said:

drfsupercenter said:

I’m looking to add the “limited edition” OT DVDs to my collection.

Don’t take this the wrong way, but…

Why?

Just download one of the many fine restoration projects here.

Because I’m a collector and I like having official releases. I do have the Despecialized Editions, but there’s something to be said about having the actual releases.

Speaking for myself, I wouldn’t have paid money for the GOUT in 2006, nevermind 2017.

You should probably just get your hands on Team Negative 1’s Silver Screen Edition of Star Wars '77 and the grindhouse releases of Empire and Jedi. The picture and sound are based off actual release prints.

doubleofive said:

I like the short bit being an image leading to the longer letter.

I like this idea also.

We’ve got two weeks to work on the longer version.

baron_lando said:

Some kind of multi-version package is our best bet because it kills many birds with one stone. There is a ton of precedent that we can point to and say “hey these movies can have it and they aren’t as popular, why not SW?” (Blade Runner, Close Encounters, Exorcist etc.), it doesn’t fly in the face of the filmmakers’ wish by excluding their preferred versions, and it allows them to charge more which they love.
I think using BLADE RUNNER in particular as our gold standard is wise because the theatrical version in that set was easily achieved (and would be even easier for Star Wars now, scanning and cleaning scratches and dirt is cheaper and easier than it was in 2007). And everybody in home video knows Blade Runner, knows it has a cult following, but is less of a big deal than Star Wars. It’s a great shorthand to just say “hey do Blade Runner thing.”

All the more reason for them to include the '97 cuts. They could charge even more money for it.

I like it.

I did like the part where it also mentioned “modern cinema” and not just blu-ray, although I suppose one takes priority over the other.

How did you end up watching that trailer? Was it just put up recently?

Man, I got so sidetracked bringing up the '97/'04/'11 versions that I forgot all about how I want the theatrical prequels as well!

Oh, and the 120-minute Imax cut of AotC I never got to see, just for curiosity’s sake.

I know it will probably never happen and those versions will most likely be lost to history, but I could just as easily see LFL putting together multi-disc deluxe sets for each individual movie and charging a premium for them.

lovelikewinter said:

I too only want the OOT. I will never watch the Special Editions again and having to buy them would irritate me. Especially anything beyond an OOT/2011 version two pack.

Truth be told, I’d probably never watch them again either. It’s really more for the sake of having a historical record of the various revisions to the films, and also preserving them for the fans who might prefer one specific version over another. But I’d gladly settle for George’s preferred version from the new 4k master and not having to buy the same transfer that was used for the dvds I watched back in 2004.

Besides, preserving the other versions is what places like this are for anyway.

crissrudd4554 said:

The insignia change was done in '04. I don’t particularly see them doing a lot of branching options should they do a release. A release with the 2011 version on disc one and the theatrical on disc two would be fine enough for me though the 1997 version would be nice too but I don’t see it. There was only a few changes made in 2011 that honestly I just find it easier to say it’s the same as 2004 so including a branching option of the 2004 and 2011 versions I don’t think is necessary but that’s just me. I just wanna see the original restored regardless of which SE cut it’s put with.

I guess there weren’t too many changes made specifically for 2011 that really stand out. Vader’s “noooooo” is the only thing that really comes to mind, all the other changes were subtle enough that you could mistake them for '04 changes if you didn’t know better (blinking Wicket, Jabba’s door and the dug, etc). On the other hand, if you ditch the '04 version you lose all the permutations of Ben’s krayt dragon call from 77/97 to 04 to 2011.

JawsTDS said:

Fang Zei said:

Just an idea, but do we think it’s worth telling them exactly what we would want to see included in an ideal release?

Personally, I don’t think so. It’s one thing to ask that LucasFilm/Disney/Fox preserve the OUT. However, it’s another thing to have them release it with all the other cuts. Our main goal is to have the OUT preserved, not to dictate how its released. Stick to one goal.

SilverWook said:

I’m also considering a Terry Gilliam version. Short and to the point.

Dear Disney and Lucasfilm,

Will you ever release the original Star Wars trilogy in their original theatrical versions on Blu Ray? Yes or no? Please don’t leave us hanging. Thanks!

Sincerely,
The staff and members of Originaltrilogy.com

I’m honestly more in favor of this one. It’s short, sweet, and to the bloody point.

True, and as I said in my next post I fully acknowledge that even the inclusion of the 97 version is unlikely and it will probably just be the most recent version on one disc (possibly with some final changes) and the unaltered on a second disc.