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The Bizzle

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21-Aug-2004
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14-Feb-2009
Posts
529

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Post
#214022
Topic
The Official Lucasfilm Response
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/214022/action/topic#214022
Time
Originally posted by: 20th Century Mark
The more I think about it, the more I think it should be made clear that the fans are upset about the lack of anamorphic format. Leave the delicate restoration part to people that care about the originals. Better safe than sorry.


I agree. I think a lot of people are thinking this what we are complaining about. It is not.


Ah, but it should be.

Rescaling this 13 year old master to be anamorphic won't actually solve any problems. It's still the same master, just upscaled. No one's really asking for restoration. The cost in simply re-scanning the existing film elements (and they DO exist) and outputting that to a new master, anamorphically encoded, is MINOR compared to any sort of restoration. The picture would be DRAMATICALLY improved as opposed to just upscaling the existing D1 master (which has it's own problems via the excessive noise reduction) to sort of "fake-anamorphic"

it's the age of the transfer that's the big sticking point here. It's non-anamorphic because the master is, because scaling it up to make it look better will more than likely magnify the problems the original master already had. And that sort of IS what we're complaining about--we're being fed a 13 year old meal.

Also, I implore you guys--if you haven't written a negative review over at Amazon.com, please do so. But keep it ON POINT. Don't turn it into a referendum on Lucas' sanity, or a dissertation on your experience as a Star Wars fan. it's just going to make your review easier to write off as "Fanboy bitching" don't resort to tired cliches like referring to "Lucas' Empire" or going to the "We deserve this because We made him" or spelling his name with a fuckin DOLLAR SIGN (jesus lord that's beyond old) or anything that essentially makes it look like an antagonistic screed. Just succinctly point out why you're disappointed with the release, and what you'd like to see, and why this release isn't worth the money or time of the people they're aiming it at.

Currently there's about 50 reviews up. 48 of them are negative. about 10 of them are hyperbolic rants that do the attempt here a total disservice because it casts the consumer in a shitty light. Unfortunately 2 of those 10 are the first to pop up when you click the links. Try and drown that out with some rational, well reasoned "reviews" that point out, as clear as day, why these should be avoided.

Post
#213920
Topic
Moving in from the Basher's Sanctuary (TF.n)
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/213920/action/topic#213920
Time
Originally posted by: Hal 9000
Yeah, TF.N is stupidity central like it's always been

Pity.


Fixed it for you.

Seriously guys, it hurts your own discourse to reduce people to simple shit like "Basher" and "Gusher." And if someone voluntarily calls themselves something as simple-minded as one of those two things, that's your cue to ignore them, Basher OR Gusher, because nothing they're going to say is going to have any merit.

Trust me, I've got experience on this

Post
#213508
Topic
The Official Lucasfilm Response
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/213508/action/topic#213508
Time
If you're referring to the SE DVDs then your complaints are even more misplaced, I feel. Empire Strikes Back is probably one of the most beautifully rendered DVD's ever created. Maybe you're so used to actual over-processed video via the LD's that when you see something that VERY CLOSELY approximates the film presentations of Star Wars and Empire, it looks too clean for you? I dunno.

That's not taking into account the cgi updates and such, of course.

And Lucasfilm's cutting edge reputation has always come with innovation WITHIN the current generation. Just because something is new doesn't mean they utterly abandon the not-so-new. LFL was putting out trilogy VHS combos up until 2002, well into DVD's rapid upswing. This early in the game there is no way Lucasfilm shuffles away from red-laser, the installed user base is way too huge and way too profitable for them to turn their backs on that sort of profit just to look "cutting edge"

And as we've already seen with this release, commitment to quality isn't as important as it once was at Lucasfilm, anyway.
Post
#213500
Topic
The Official Lucasfilm Response
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/213500/action/topic#213500
Time
Both Bill Hunt and Ron Epstein have pretty much thrown in the towel, so the efforts just kinda dissipated and dissapeared like a fart in the wind. It was a good run, guys, but we're not gonna get what we want, it looks like.

Bill's suspicion as to why this got released has mirrored my own for about 3 or 4 years now: We got this release because Marketing has wanted to release this SO BAD for SO LONG now, and they finally got the go-ahead--but not the finances to do it right. When Marketing says they probably won't EVER get that money, I doubt they're exaggerating (for once) mostly because they had to fight for about 5 years straight just to get THIS OUT.

So this is the white flag, I guess. We got their attention and put them on the defensive, but Marketing can't get this done on their own, I don't think. Hale, Ward and Singh I believe would LIKE to have gotten this done right.

To address TR47's claims: The SE laserdiscs are a much better quality, containing much better detail. The color is too blue, but that can be corrected in a fanjob--but the smearing and detail loss in the 93 LD's has been very much noted. I'm also not surprised you think the SE lasers are oversaturated, as your transfers from the LD's tend to be very much DE-saturated, I feel. Between the two transfers, the video feel is most definitely more pronounced with the 93 lasers, due to the age of the transfer and the video smearing introduced by the noise reduction applied during mastering.

I also think you vastly overestimate blue-laser's market inroads by this same time next year, by a fair amount. DVD is going to be a very profitable and viable money-maker for at least another 3-5 years, EASY. Maybe at the tail end of that time period, will we see Blu-Ray/Hd-DVD start to seriously eat into DVD's profits, but it's not gonna happen that soon, the early adoption rate isn't THAT high, and the results aren't that jaw-dropping for a lot of consumers.

I hold almost zero hope we're going to get these in future versions, looking at how it's going down.
Post
#213492
Topic
Moving in from the Basher's Sanctuary (TF.n)
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/213492/action/topic#213492
Time
The idea of a "sanctuary" for someone who willfully identifies themselves as "a basher" or otherwise marginalizes their online existence--is utterly mindfucked, to me. Which is why its' no surprise the concept comes from TFN.

there was seriously a coffee-klatch board set up at that place where people who voluntarily reduced themselves to something as simplistic as "bashing" would hang out and pat each other on the back for marginalizing themselves?

Insanity.

Welcome to OT.com It's different here.
Post
#213345
Topic
The Official Lucasfilm Response
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/213345/action/topic#213345
Time
not only am i excited about the passing of George Lucas now... but i wish him death!


You're a fucking idiot. Knock it off.

Oh, who am I kidding. This thread is beyond clusterfucked anyway. If half the passion you guys displayed for going after one another was poured into trying to get Lucasfilm's attention, maybe something would get done, but you're so easily distracted by a bargain basement troll and masturbatory dreams of a man DYING for your DVD's...

fuck it. Whatever. Wank on, I guess.


Post
#213196
Topic
The Official Lucasfilm Response
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/213196/action/topic#213196
Time
But I would like to see him go out into the middle of the road, get hit by a car Earl Hickey-style, and as he lies in a hospital with a broken leg and a neck brace, he writes out a list of all the things he's done wrong in life. Hopefully #1 will read, "Denied my fans the anamorphic DVD version of the orginal Star Wars." Is that wrong?


Yes. It's wrong and it's stupid and you're fucking over the site by continuing to pretend to be funny by posting it.

Look--Jay's trying to get a LOT of people's attention with this. People are going to come by here and check out the boards when they do to see what Star Wars fans are saying. LUCASFILM is going to swing by here, if they haven't already. You could be focusing your energy towards ensuring they understand what we want, and how easy it'd be to provide it, and how beneficial to them it'd be if they did that, even if it's just monetarily.

Instead stupid fucking deathfantasies are being posted all over the place and it makes the whole endeavor marginalized and nigh-pointless. Like the company is going to give us any sort of credit when the fans trying to get them to change their mind are practically masturbating over the concept of another man dying because of a home-video format dispute.

Stop marginalizing the site and marginalizing the effort that Jay and others are trying to put out here.
Post
#213156
Topic
The Official Lucasfilm Response
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/213156/action/topic#213156
Time
You guys are seriously fucking up your own cause by reveling in the possibility of Lucas' death. It makes you look like total assholes to celebrate another mans passing just so you can get some DVD's.

If you want these movies on DVD, you're going to have to stop doing dickheaded things like hoping for another human being TO DIE.

Be constructive, not destructive. You're doing everyone at this site a disservice by cheering for a fatality.
Post
#212892
Topic
The Official Lucasfilm Response
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/212892/action/topic#212892
Time
The trick is to hit em with common sense on this. Being antagonistic (while we ALL WANT TO DO IT) won't get anything done. Hell, the fact we forced them to issue a press release and give interviews to the industry mags really says something. If we keep pressing on this, something might actually happen. I'm not naive enough to think it WILL DEFINITELY, but it's a shot, and the last shot we took actually DID HIT SOMETHING.

So if you're going to continue emailing publicity@lucasfilm.com, basically let them know this:

By commissioning a new, no-frills transfer from quality elements (that we know they DO HAVE) and giving us an anamorphically encoded DVD of that transfer, they ensure

a) Their standing as a top of the line company when it comes to a/v quality is upheld
b) The fans they're marketing this release to are actually enticed to buy it
c) They profit more from the number of copies sold to those fans who otherwise weren't picking this thing up.

I mean, by spending the money it takes to have Robert Harris (or even their own in-studio guy) doing this new transfer, they stand to win all the way around. But if they maintain on their present course, they lose sales, they lose face in the industry, and they lose respect from potential customers.

It's really easy. They gave us an answer--we give them common sense back. It's in their best interests to do this. We just gotta let em know we'll be there if they do this. Most of us WANT to buy this thing. Not with a 13 year old transfer for a dead format. Not when, for the first time on a Star Wars DVD ever, we get a non-anamorphic extra. And the irony is that the first non-anamorphic extra--is the 1977 Original Theatrical Version of Star Wars. that seems backwards.
Post
#212828
Topic
The Official Lucasfilm Response
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/212828/action/topic#212828
Time
We go forward, of course. At least I will. This is what I posted when someone opposed the idea of continuing to hammer at Lucasfilm with our combined power

Quote: There's this thing called ego, Lucas has lots of it.

Yes. I know. I was told the same thing by some posters when I started running around the internet a couple weeks ago posting contact information for Lucasfilm and trying to get it posted on a couple websites, including originaltrilogy. And not only did we end up getting a LOT of people involved in this through our concern and our emailing and phone-calling, we got Lucasfilm's attention in a big way.

All I'm doing is now taking them at their word. There's no reason not to continue applying pressure considering the wording they're using in their defense. If they're saying the main stumbling block is the lack of will to spend money to make money in regards to this decision--then I'm going to pressure them to end-run that stumbling block. Lucas has licensed everything else out--why not the versions of the movies he doesn't even really recognize anymore. Like I said, it can't be any worse than licensing Jar Jar Lik-M-Pops and inflatable chairs. And chances are this will get them much more money than that.

If that's the reason they're giving me, that's the reason I'm going to hammer on, and while I understand the sense of resignation a lot of fans have, I'm still gonna try. Especially now that I know they're really paying attention.

Usually we don't have that. Now we do. Now we do something with it. Look what's happened so far. Re-read Robert Harris' email to Lynne Hale. Check that out. I don't see the need to give up now that I know they're staring straight at us--and we're making this much sense right now.

Other people will notice. It's bound to happen.


I mean, from running around rallying each other to email and talk, we've gotten a LOT of people involved. We finally tugged on their pantsleg long enough that they looked down at us. Now we've got their attention, we start going to town. There's no reason to stop, I don't think--because we still have PLENTY of time.
Post
#212765
Topic
The Official Lucasfilm Response
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/212765/action/topic#212765
Time
lynne.hale@lucasfilm.com

This is the response I just sent back to her:

Subject: Hey Lynne. Read your email response.

And that part where you say “we could not put the extraordinary time and resources into this project as we did with the Special Editions?”

The extraordinary time and resources bit is a crock. You guys rushed Lowry for the 2004 editions, and no one's even asking for THAT level of dedication here, really. We just want new transfers. It can be done, and we know it can, we know the film elements DO EXIST, and that this transfer CAN be finished. No one’s talking pristine cleanup, dirt removal. Just a new master, not the old 93 laserdisc master. Which, by the way, made your publicity dept look a little foolish, since Jim Ward said Lucasfilm looked deep in the vaults for elements. How deep you gotta go to dig up the LD master?

If you simply JUST DON'T WANT TO DO THIS then say so, but don't hide behind some set of false mitigating circumstances designed to shift blame from this shoddy business decision. It costs money to make money, you've got 12 billion in merchandise sales over the past 30 years, you can cough up the relatively low price for someone along the lines of Robert Harris to go in and, using the film elements that ARE more than likely available, give the Star Wars movies some semblance of justice.

Dont' say you can't. Because that rings utterly, hollowly false.

If you're going to spend all that marketing money making these original versions the crown jewel of your campaign to get these discs out the door, you can spend a little bit more to polish that jewel instead of trying to shove a Crackerjack ring in a black velvet jewelry box and telling me how much fun I'm having for getting it. Because the focus of your marketing isn't "You can buy them separately for the first time ever." it's "BUY THE ORIGINALS FINALLY." So something seems a little incongruous that you're willing to spend on the advertising but not the picture itself.

It's well within your means and well within street date. License it out if you have to. If you can license out the right to make Jar Jar lollipops where 7 year olds suck on his tongue, you can license out the originals to a company like Criterion to do justice to the films where you won’t. You’ll still get the money and then some, without actually putting ANY of the cost in that way.

The options are sitting there, BEGGING for you to take one of them. And instead, you pick the worst possible option and then try to market it down our throats as a fun gift and the center of your campaign. That’s beyond dishonest.

Your company is better than this. Prove it. Please.


Yeah, time to send responses back to lynne.hale@lucasfilm.com. That is if we have any fight left. I see a lot of dejected "dammits' going around and fans seriously think it's not worth it. But man--if they're not going to even TRY, then they need to license this out to a company that will. they'll still profit, they'll still get their money. They won't have to put the effort in like they apparently can't be assed to do. Someone else can, and someone else will. You think Criterion is gonna turn this down? You got Robert Harris volunteering. They wanna do it--LET EM.

There's still time.
Post
#211584
Topic
Make your voices heard! (again) - re the 2006 GOUT DVD being in letterbox format
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/211584/action/topic#211584
Time
Check this out. Over at the Home Theater Forum, it's REALLY going down. Basically, The Digital Bits, Video Business and another huge Home Theater industry mag are going to write about this, and Robert A. Harris, the guy who restored Vertigo and Lawrence of Arabia, is volunteering to do the restoration if it's possible, do it cheaply (relatively) and still get it out in the winter 06 timeframe.

http://www.hometheaterforum.com/htf/showthread.php?t=234933

Read through that thread. Lucasfilm is not only paying direct attention to the thread, but apparently a fair amount of the media is seeing it as well.

Keep sending emails to publicity@lucasfilm.com, that seems to be the one that people are actually paying attention to over there, people are getting responses and such.