A very big cheers to all the debating and thinking that has been going on here, essential issues have been addressed.
Thank you.
Among them, I find myself very intrigued and in doubt about the question whether it's better - for a possible high-quality (or at least decent quality) release of the OOT - that the poor man's September DVDs sell well or not... ?!?.
I am far more concerned with whether or not it will sell well. Sales do seem to be rising slightly. Everyone cross their fingers. Or, as they say on
Star Trek “If you believe in a deity or deities, pray to them.”
The subject of how well a newspaper or -channel will take the sending of hundreds or thousands of e-mails within one or a couple of day(s) seems also hard to decide... We want to have them interested in our cause, not feeling harassed by a bunch of Star Wars-geeks. But what better way could there be to get their attention?
Very good point, very good point indeed. We don’t want to tick them off, just get their help. We should do this carefully.
I'm now convinced that the XXIst century Lucas never cared about releasing the OOT properly; he must have felt there was just more than an insignificant amount of hardcore fans who wanted to see the Star Wars from before the SEs, so he did the least espensive thing he could think of, which is, as has been said, a small victory in itself.
Now he's got to be cornered and forced into doing better, and that'll be achieved through the public exposure we want to carry out here.
I think that, with this release, Lucas wanted to just shut up OOT fans (which it would have done if the release had been of acceptable quality), but instead, he has blown the doors wide open by attempting to a loophole by making them bonus material. If they don’t exist, then there will constantly be problems. Now that they do exist, Lucas is creating a whole new set of problems.
While I think that the "standard letter" (everyone sending EXACTLY the same one) is NOT such a good idea, I definitely believe that a list of the five to ten major points to be made should be established by one of the master-experts here (I just don't feel I have everything in mind).
This way, there would be personalised letters all pointing to the same problems, which would be, as I see it, more effective/authentic-looking.
A compromise (maybe to heighten the chance that our sendings are instantly identifiable as supporting the same cause) might be a common "Subject"/title AND an identical list of those "major points"; the introduction and/or conclusion could be formulated as desired by everyone, only keeping clarity and not too many words in mind.
How about this:
1. How would people feel if
Citizen Kane was altered, or
The Wizard of Oz or
Gone with the Wind? That’s the crux of the issue.
2. This is important, since this seems to be what Lucas always brings it back to:
no one is denying Lucas his original visions of the SEs, we just want high quality OOT discs for ourselves.3. Contact Jay Sylvester of originaltrilogy.com for more info. On that subject, we need to PM Jay to get the petitioners’ assistance, and I wonder if there is anyone here who knows him well and will be able to help. I don’t want to annoy him, but we need him.
4. Lucasfilm
can do this (http://www.thedigitalbits.com/mytwocentsa121.html#fr). They just won’t. It is important to do this in terms of preserving American culture, to say nothing of the hours of entertainment which could be provided.
5. We need help.
6. Robert A. Harris, who restored
Lawrence of Arabia and
Vertigo, wants to do this restoration, and he is not just some fanboy. This is an important issue.
The need to keep our mailings short seems essential to me, as is the need for some physical letters, as has been pointed out.
