Mike O

CO said:

Mielr said:

Maybe I'm being a bit too optimistic, but Lucas' position on the OOT seems to have softened a bit. The fact that he used the cost of restoration as an excuse, and not the "my vision" argument, makes me think that there may be a chance down the road, when the OT is eventually released separately, and they need an incentive to have people buy them all over again.

 It's funny you said this because I thought the same thing after my initial anger of hearing about the SE-only boxset.

My only rationale is Lucas isn't including the OOT in this set, because that will give him a selling point for the next BluRay release. 

Alot of the SE-defenders say, "Well, he isn't in it for the money, or he would release ALL the versions to maximize his profits."  Lucas maybe stubborn, but he isn't stupid, and we should never believe anything he says because he did release the OOT on DVD (albeit a crappy version) after saying those versions don't exist.

My theory:  If Lucas says the OOT will be remastered down the road, more fans will hold out for that release.  If he says the OOT is too expensive to remaster, then alot of people on the fence will relent and buy this edition.  Then in 2013, Lucas decides to remaster the OOT, and he doubles dips for a bigger profit.

As I said, the man is stubborn, but he aint stupid when it comes to making money.

There's yet to be a movie that involves a Blu-Ray double-dip that I know about. I'd like to hold out optimism for such a thing, but I just doesn't look likely, and even if it does happen, the memory of the GOUT suggests that things wouldn't look good if it did.

captainsolo said:

Mike O said:

There we go folks. It's coming. And sans the OOT. Lucas says that that's just not what he wants, and his word is judge, jury, and god. It's over. It's done. They're gone. We've lost. R.I.P. Star Wars.

Never.

We can say that all we want, it's academic now.

20th Century Mark said:

I agree about Lucas sounding a little "softer" about the OOT. Maybe the sales from this set will help him pay for the OT remastering. Like he needs help, but it does let him sell them all over again.

How does he sound "softer" about anything? The man's a fucking billionaire. He doesn't "need" money for anything. He could wave his hand and have the OOT restored by next month. He doesn't want to do it. He's not going to do it. The end.

Fang Zei said:

I look at it this way:

Ever since '05, there's been lots of clamoring for a complete I-VI saga boxset, and that's exactly what this blu-ray set will finally deliver. With the help of deleted scenes, this will sell fairly well. It may not do comparable first day business to the '04 set in terms of number of copies sold, but the doubtlessly huge price tag from the extra three prequels will make up for it.

After that, well, I really don't see what else there is to dip with. It looks pretty clear to me that we're seeing a repeat of what happened with these movies on dvd.

Anyone remember what happened on DVD? The non-anamorphic laserdisc masters? Let's face it guys, it's going to take a miracle, and we're all fresh out. As for the assertions of "what's left?" Clone Wars and the other T.V. series, toy sales, comics, books, and other tie-in stuff.

More to the point, all of the fans who've cried that they'll never buy anything again are going to be suckered in by the deleted footage and such. What Lucas really needs is a kick in the ass of massive undersales of people who say "fuck it," and don't buy it without the OOT. I'd like to believe that with BR still being a bit more of a fanboy format, that he'd take a dent, but smart as he is, Lucas waited until it found some mainstream market penetration so as to avoid such a situation. More to the point, restoring the original versions would cost considerable money and given the niche market for them, Lucas probably just doesn't see it as a viable business move.

There we go folks. It's coming. And sans the OOT. Lucas says that that's just not what he wants, and his word is judge, jury, and god. It's over. It's done. They're gone. We've lost. R.I.P. Star Wars.

Mielr said:

I won't buy it on blu-ray either...but not just because of the sound. I'll only buy it if it includes the pre-Special Edition version.

Which it won't. I'm done with Star Wars until something does, and that doesn't look like a very viable possibility anytime in the near future. There are other places for me to spend my money.

Mielr said:

 

SilverWook said:

We really need someone like Roger Ebert though. He once called Disney out on their practice of cropping Snow White and other pre-widescreen classics to fit modern theater screens, and they listened. Subsequent reissues were pillarboxed.

Has he ever weighed in on the special editions? I can't recall if he ever reviewed them...

I'm sure I've mentioned this before, but I sent an email to Roger Ebert once, several years ago (about something unrelated to SW) but I got a reply.

I don't recall if I ever sent him an email about the SW debacle, but I know I sent one to Leonard Maltin about it- he replied but seemed resigned to the idea that George only does what he wants to do, blah, blah, so I don't think he'd be of any help.

 

In the age of Facebook and Twitter, it might be easier to get ahold of some bigger names. Cameron expressed his dissatisfaction about things, maybe the folks over at G4 might make noise, ANYONE. Make the last stand so loud that even if no one listens, they'll go deaf anyway.

SilverWook said:

We really need someone like Roger Ebert though. He once called Disney out on their practice of cropping Snow White and other pre-widescreen classics to fit modern theater screens, and they listened. Subsequent reissues were pillarboxed.

Has he ever weighed in on the special editions? I can't recall if he ever reviewed them...

Contact him too. Try to get a hold of Andrew Sarris, Elvis Mitchell, Robert Osbourne, the people at TCM interested in film preservation, Kenneth Turan, celebs who Facebook and Twitter, ANYONE you can.

Glenn Erickson, the critic who calls himself DVD Savant, has spoken out against Lucas' revisionist history, so perhaps give him a shout-out. One could try Mark Kermode, though he's always hated SW. Maybe he could plug he petition on national radio in the UK. Shoot for any other critic you can; try maybe Alain Silver. He's friends with Christopher Coppola, which is a long shot, but hey, what the hell, Christopher's website might have contact info too. See if other critics have ways of contacting them on their websites; Kim Newman, Alan Jones, etc. Try letting any stars who Twitter or Facebook know. Make so much noise that it can be heard in places with limited media access. It doesn't much mutter, but anyway, try ANYTHING and everything with EVERYONE as soon as possible and get as many people as possible involved.

SilverWook said:

The last thing we need on Blu are those 1993 non anamorphic masters that were never intended to be watched on today's HD screens. You can't create detail that isn't there. There are still archival film prints out there if nothing else.

The OT has been changed so much besides the obvious, (some shots have been subtly reedited such as when Imperials are being shot) that a seamless branching disc may just result in a "fake" original cut like Disney has pulled with some of their 90's classics.

Best that the originals get their own separate discs to breathe on.

What Disney stuff are you referring to?

Exactly. Contact everyone who might be able to get the word out in the media, mainstream or otherwise.

zombie84 said:

It's not really an analogous situation. The theatrical cut of THX was never on DVD, while the OOT was. No large group of people really care that much about THX and aren't vocal about its preservation, while the OOT is the most popular franchise in history and has activist groups and celebrity endorsers trying to get it taken care of. Don't get bummed out so easily.

Well, I will admit, I did hope that the THX cut would come out eventually as well, and that never happened.

Mielr said:

What about getting in touch with Kevin Smith via Twitter, or something like that. I just joined the "I will not buy star wars on blu-ray...." on Facebook, Kevin Smith should be made aware, as I'm sure he'd join, too.

You can get a hold of Guillermo del Toro on deltorofilms.com. He's working with known Star Wars fan Peter Jackson right now. It's a pretty long shot, but I suppose that that might help a bit. The only other big-time filmmaker who I know frequents his own boards is Michael Bay, and I somehow doubt that he'd be much help. There are celebs who interact with the fans online (comic artist John Byrne being another). I think that it might be good to scour the Internet and see if anyone at all could be any help. Doubt it'd matter, but I suppose that it'd make a nice last stand.

Mielr said:

 

Mike O said:

That'll be an easy letter to write.

Mike? Is that you? Welcome back! ;-)

 

Yeah, couldn't log in for the longest time, combined with complete belief that we'll never win and numerous personal problems meant that I was out of commission for a while.

Yeah, saw that, brings the likelihood of the SW OOT coming out on BR to next to nil, I think.

I've got the petition in my sig on other sites, and encourage others to do the same.

Even if this was going to work, we'd need a TON more signatures. We should definitely try to get some people in high places involved (OBviously, it would never happen, but it'd be awesome to have James Cameron throwing his weight around in the press). We all know where get a hold of Kevin Smith, it might be good bet to scour the "official websites" of filmmakers and media personalities who could help and try to get them involved. I'd say that this is our last hurrah. I don't really have any hope of this working, but we should make so much noise that there won't be ANYBODY who can't hear.

That'll be an easy letter to write.

To whom it may concern,

     It has been recently announced that there are plans to release the Star Wars films on high-definition Blu-Ray disc. As a fan of the original theatrical cuts, I have no interest whatsoever in the "special edition" versions of the films. The last time that these original versions were released, they were released as "bonus material," and not in anamorphic widescreen and with both the original audio tracks as well as remixes, as is the industry standard. The fans were told that an attempt was not made to restore the versions, as the did not represent the "original vision" of Mr. Lucas. As a result, not only did I choose not to purchase them, but I made the decision to dissociate myself from all future Star Wars product, as it was clear to me that I was only wanted as a fan on certain terms. As a result, I decided to simply stop purchasing any and all Star Wars and Lucasfilm productions, including action figures, toys, novels, comics, DVDs video games, and others, as well as not viewing any episodes of the Clone Wars T.V. series. These versions represent an integral part of cinema history that represent the work of many talented and groundbreaking special effects artists who worked on the film. The DVD industry has show with such releases as the Alien series, The Lord of the Rings, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Blade Runner, Gladiator, Touch of Evil, King Kong, Strangers on A Train, and numerous other films. Were these versions, properly remastered and restored to surface, I would pay any price at all to acquire them, even if presented in a rather expensive and exclusive boxed set, and if these versions are not included in the future releases, I will simply choose to spend my money elsewhere. Without them, I have no interest at all in spending any money on the Blu-Ray releases of the films, or indeed any future Lucasfilm products.

We should make as much noise as possible. Get Kevin Smith involved, see if anyone can find a way to contact anyone in Hollywood or any OOT creators miffed by the treatment of their work. Work tirelessly to involve EVERYONE possible. Try to make it so that not only are there angry fanboys, but people in high places (Obviously, it's not possible, but it'd be great if James Cameron, et al could be involved. It's unfortunate that Michael Bay has a website, as he'd be pretty much no help :P!). I've now given up all hope of it doing any good, but we should try anyway. Make so much noise that it's not possible that anyone in any corner of the world not to know what's going on, for all the good it won't do.  Plus, we have no idea where to direct stuff anyway.