Mike O

Originally posted by: Ozkeeper
It's a dead horse. Not sure why 'we' keep flogging it.

Most people just don't care. Sad, but true. We are such a tiny tiny group that no-one really gives a crap what we think or how upset we may get. At least half the people that will buy and watch this release won't even notice it's not a decent release. They will just watch it, and then maybe comment to the people at work that it looks like crap compared to the SE, without ever realising why. George gets what he wants all the way.

The majority of people that love the original movies as they were seen in cinemas in the 70's and 80's dont vist sites like this one, or even know they exist. People really just don't know or care.

During the screening at the Comic Con, did the room rise as one and cry " Bullshit!" ? Of course not. That is a large gathering of fans, that probably do have access to web info, and probably did have prior knowledge of the poor release prior to going to the Con...yet, they don't voice any protest. If they don't care enough to cry foul, why on earth is your average dvd buyer or Star Wars fan going to?

Sending disks back might cause a chuckle in the mail room at LFL, but it's just not going to cause anything to change. You've already paid for the disks. Thats why they are being released, to make money. Not to calm the flood of web postings across the net, but to make a few more easy dollars. I don't think they would care if every single copy was sent back with a hole drilled in it, or mint in a case. They won't repackage them as some of suggested. It would cost more to pick them up, check for scratches and send to a factory to repackage than it costs to simply make a new disk. Send back if the idea of owning them turns your guts, but don't expect it to change anything.

Would buying a million of them convince George that people want to see the OT on dvd in a decent release? Not unless he already knows that to be the case anyway, and either way, he has sold a millon of these crap things. I don't think its possible to convince him of anything he doesn't want to be convinced of.

It is just about the money. Not appeasing the fans or judging the market. It's just a release to drain some more money from fans. He will release a better version if he wants to , but I don't think high or low sales or a couple of thousand returned disks with angry letters will make him changes his plans. If he thinks by actually spending the coin and releasing a better print in a decent format will make him more money, then that's what he'll do. He doesn't need or want our admiration anymore. In fact, I think it just annoys him.

Originally posted by: SpecialEditionSaboteur


What a bunch of crap!

Originally posted by: greencapt
Really I feel the sexual orientation of a director, writer, musician, actor, etc, etc, etc doesn't mean anything at all about the quality of their work. All you can really ask yourself is- do you like what they created? Is it good, bad?

Now what I *don't* like is when a creator foists their opinion or some particular viewpoint on an audience in an unappropriate setting or in an un-announced way. By this I mean if filmmaker 'X' wants to make a statement about capital punishment they should feel free to make a film about it- and let it be known that 'this is my statement about capital punishment'. Whereas when you go to see a Batman film you expect to see a Batman film... not a film which essentially stands as a homo-erotic fetishist's showcase of rubber nipples and oiled musclemen. At this point the audience disconnects and even if they can't put their finger on it they know something is wrong.

Thus the problem I see with 'Superman Returns'- audiences expected to see Superman but instead of a heroic, honorable and (gasp) patriotic character they saw a neurotic, brooding, stalking, whining, emo character who was painted as being the second coming of Jesus. And looking at the box office results the general public had that same disconnect. Its a technically well crafted film and is not 'Batman & Robin' horrible but I'd imagine people walking out of theaters going... 'hmm... uh, ok. That wasn't any fun. What opens next week?' Bryan Singer infused his own sense of alienation (from his own adoption, orientation, etc) into the film. And that's fine- but not Superman. I do understand how he could come up this train of thought though- 'Superman was given up by his parents, so was I. Superman was adopted, so was I. I don't feel I fit in at times, so Superman must not. Lois Lane loved Superman and so do.... (er, nevermind)' So he made his idea of Superman using only 'Superman the Movie' as outside context. Like I said before- he should have made up his own super hero and made a film about it... and I bet it could have been huge and original. I sort of look at 'Alien 3' the same way- very good sci-fi film... just not a very good 'Alien' franchise film.

But very little of any of this has to do with Singer's (or anyone's) sexual orientation.

Originally posted by: Mr Bungle
I dont think we will see the originals again in any format, or this will sell well, From what I have read people are avoiding these like the plague and people are seeking bootlegs or keeping existing ones but not paying big money for three separate non laser transfer, the only hope IMO is if Lucasfilm run out of stuff to put on DVD or another format to sell more units of the current definitive edition of the original trilogy and will it treated better then who knows.

“George considers these versions dead to him, so you should be grateful you’re getting them at all.”

Who's doing the score for the next film?

Originally posted by: ADigitalMan

I'm personally awaiting "Superman and Robin: A Joel Schumaker Film." All the bitching about how gay Singer is will quickly be forgotten.

Originally posted by: Mielr


I loved Northern Exposure- what did they do to those DVDs???

Didn't GL also alter the opening shot of American Graffitti? Was the original version ever released on DVD?

Originally posted by: JennyS1138
I think it's the principles that drive me nuts more than anything else. They aren't some cult films like "Ferris Bueler's Day Off" "A Christmas Story," or "Dirty Dancing." The original Star Wars is one of the most important, influencial, popular and acclaimed movies of all-time and is treated like just some silly sci-fi film. Citizen Kane, Snow White, Gone With the Wind and the Wizard of Oz are among the few films that are in the same league as Star Wars. And then you have The Empire Strikes Back, considered by many to be the best SW film ever (and very few fans would rank it lower than #2) which was the first blockbuster sequel, had the most famous plot twist in film history AND ensured that all future SW films would be Blockbusters.

So basically George Lucas is rewriting film history and erasing the original versions from public consciousness. I would guess that the millions of people who purchased the SE VHS and/or the 2004 DVD versions, probably haven't watched the O-OT since before 1997! That's very unfortunate.

Yes, but Lucas is the core of this. There are plenty of people, like Robert A. Harris who want to restore the bloody things.


That is the sad thing, because I am convinced this won't cause Lucas never sticks to his words.