generalfrevious

It all comes down to the rat-tail. For me, nothing better symbolizes George Lucas' surreal disconnect from the world we live in, as opposed to the fantastical world inside his brainbone, than the rat-tail Hayden Christensen wears in Attack Of The Clones. Then again, it could be worse. It's entirely possible that some heroic unknown soul fought a fierce battle to convince the King of The Sci-Fi Dorks that he shouldn't try to "update" the look of the Star Wars universe for its prequels by having the storm troopers rock acid-washed jeans or Zubaz track suits, but gave up on convincing Lucas not to have the future Darth Vader don a hairstyle generally associated with insecure 11-year-olds in 1983.

Lucas is clearly a man connected to the cultural zeitgeist. Unfortunately, it's the zeitgeist of 1937. While his peers were immersed in the sex, drugs, and rebellion of the '70s. Lucas thought things like "Gee whiz! I'm gonna make the sci-fi serial to top all sci-fi serials! It'll make Flash Gordon look like yesterday's news! And I'll follow it up with a swashbuckling adventure about a daredevil archeologist! Oh it'll just be the bee's knees, I tell ya! And then maybe a murder mystery set in Radio Land! Jumpin' Gee Willikers will it ever be swell! Hey ma, more chocolate milk please!"

By the time Attack of the Clones went into production, it's likely Lucas hadn't interacted with a human being he didn't employ for decades. I imagine that Lucas now surrounds himself with an army of servants droids who carry out his every fickle whim and protect him from interacting with the strange, curious and unpredictable creature known as "humans."

-Nathan Rabin (Onion AV club)

Also, I think he is a good businessman because Lucas Sr probably wanted his son to follow him into the walnut business instead of drag racing all day.

On another note, I feel that Lucas was never a "real" director to begin with. True film directors have an inclination toward the arts from childhood, and start making films when they are 7-8 years old (like Spielberg). Lucas only decided to become a filmmaker because his first choice of becoming a NASCAR racer didn't pan out, and he didn't want to go into the family business of walnut farming. Why was the pod race of TPM so goddamn long? Because GL's real passion was in racing, not cinema! He even admits to not seeing much films to inspire him in his childhood (due to living in a small town), and not seeing his own present-day influences until reaching USC. The original SW would have been just as bad as any of the PT had Kurtz and others intervened. By the time he started having more creative control in ROTJ the seeds of the prequels were being sown. It wasn't until TPM and AOTC that we got to see GL's style in its purest, most essential form.

They cannot be forgotten as long as LFL insists it is half of the SW franchise.

Even if the original SW trilogy were restored to pre-97 form, The PT will always be there like a blown-off limb. There is no hope that SW will be redeemed because we honor the wrong person for creating it. Based on site consensus, Kurtz is the real person that made SW great, not Lucas. Three thousand years from now, we will not revere SW like the Iliad and the Odyssey sole because of how messed up the prequels were. Kurtz should have stayed on for the prequels; they would have not been the painful negations of the OT that they are now.

I agree. The PT destroyed the SW saga beyond rehabilitation. The franchise can never be restored in the same way an amputee's limbs cannot suddenly grow back. 

On a side note, GL could have been a redneck NASCAR driver. Just think about that.

RHCP- They're red hot

Mangas are printed backward because Japanese is read from top to bottom, and right to left.

Anyways, I have seen these manga before. They do follow the 97 SE, however.

We could petition TV manufacturers to make 4:3 televisions again. That way we can watch the GOUT with two less black bars.

TV's Frink said:

Go outside for a bit?

I do get outside a lot

Yes, this forum is sad. 

What has become a source of joy has now become a source of pain. Deep down, we cannot enjoy the films as we want to. If we cannot enjoy the very thing that made us fans of the said thing, what can we honestly do with ourselves?

Baronlando said:

It's too bad blu-ray is in the middle of 2 opposing groups. The smaller group that thinks its perfect for film presentation and history etc., and the bigger technophile group that just loves home theater and gets really into it to avoid talking to their wives. Those guys will sit through 10 Jedi Rocks if the matte lines are gone. And it's like the perfect storm when you add a guy like Lucas. (And not just him, there might be some compulsion with certain older directors to monkey around with their old movies just to feel like they're still in the game. Walter Hill did it with The Warriors, Friedkin too.)

That's the thing- GL is the center of all this. If his behavior wasn't like this, there would be no debate and we'd be enjoying the OOT as it should be seen.

We can't ignore SW when it is deteriorating frame by frame every minute we are speaking. People call me insane for telling the truth, when in reality it is they who are delusional and assume the OOT is going to be released and the clock is going to magically turn back to 1996. 72,000 out of 6 billion people is not loud enough to stop LFL.

BTW, if someone brings up the LOC prints:

1. Do not have ROTJ as of this posting

2. The ESB print may or may not be the SE/ and is in worse shape than the copy of ANH

3. They won't become public domain until 2047-2053, which by then their usability could be in question

4. No one should have to wait 40 years to see the OOT in modern AV quality.

twooffour said:

generalfrevious said:

Fang Zei said:

Back on topic:

I'm curious how Lucas is going to re-package the movies further down the line. TPM in 3D should be hitting theaters this time next year. Will he release a bd3d of it later on in 2012? Meanwhile, will the PT, OT and Saga boxes still be the only way of getting those movies or will he do individual releases sooner rather than later? It would be great if they made the bd3d of TPM an all-out multi-disc ultimate edition, complete with the theatrical cut.

Here's the big picture to consider: LFL can only re-package these movies so many times before they run out of new shit to sell us. This initial blu-ray release will give us the deleted scenes, plus the novelty of watching the PT and the messed-up version of the OT in hi-def video and audio (....woohoo). Then, as the movies are converted into 3D, we'll get those on video as well. Just what the hell do they have left to sell us after that besides the holy grail that is the OOT?

They could release the Ewok movies, the old clone wars series, the new clone wars series, the droids cartoon, etc etc a hundred times on Blu-ray before they release the "holy grail." Then it would come in DVD quality on a Blu-ray. And then we would have to wait until the next format for a HD quality version of the OOT, which by that time will be inferior to whatever future standards people will have. 

And since Lucas is a billionaire and can afford medical procedures to prolong his life, he will still be in charge of LFL and block the release for decades to come. Plus he will have released more SW related garbage, including the sequel trilogy, which in my opinion (if released) will be worse than the PT.

Bottom line, LFL will not release the OOT for as long as they possibly can.

 

I didn't know going outside and working out costed lots of money only a billionaire can afford... in fact, Lucas may be not the fattest man on the planet, but you get the point.

Probably the stupidest thing I've read on these forums so far.

What?! I didn't mean that. I meant GL would probably have some sort of medical procedure that would make him live to be 100, like some sort of stem cell procedure or some life-saving operation that ordinary people couldn't afford. I hate to be off-topic, but in the US has some of the most advanced medical technologies in the world- but only the wealthy can afford these so-called technologies.

Anyways, don't call me stupid for assuming that GL will delay the release of the originals as much as he can (although you probably called me stupid on account of not thinking about exercise as a way of prolonging life). I am only trying to be realistic about a collective of insane people known as Lucasfilm Ltd.

Fang Zei said:

Back on topic:

I'm curious how Lucas is going to re-package the movies further down the line. TPM in 3D should be hitting theaters this time next year. Will he release a bd3d of it later on in 2012? Meanwhile, will the PT, OT and Saga boxes still be the only way of getting those movies or will he do individual releases sooner rather than later? It would be great if they made the bd3d of TPM an all-out multi-disc ultimate edition, complete with the theatrical cut.

Here's the big picture to consider: LFL can only re-package these movies so many times before they run out of new shit to sell us. This initial blu-ray release will give us the deleted scenes, plus the novelty of watching the PT and the messed-up version of the OT in hi-def video and audio (....woohoo). Then, as the movies are converted into 3D, we'll get those on video as well. Just what the hell do they have left to sell us after that besides the holy grail that is the OOT?

They could release the Ewok movies, the old clone wars series, the new clone wars series, the droids cartoon, etc etc a hundred times on Blu-ray before they release the "holy grail." Then it would come in DVD quality on a Blu-ray. And then we would have to wait until the next format for a HD quality version of the OOT, which by that time will be inferior to whatever future standards people will have. 

And since Lucas is a billionaire and can afford medical procedures to prolong his life, he will still be in charge of LFL and block the release for decades to come. Plus he will have released more SW related garbage, including the sequel trilogy, which in my opinion (if released) will be worse than the PT.

Bottom line, LFL will not release the OOT for as long as they possibly can.

This is why the OOT will rot like a 1910s silent film-sheer incompentence.

It's frustrating that GL changes the OT every seven years. Look at ROTJ: The SE of that movie has been around for 14 years, 14 years after that movie was released

twooffour said:

"The versions that are being released are closest to George Lucas' vision. Other than that, no comment."

 

It's time like this that I wish I was in a movie and had conveniently just drunk a gulp of water so I could spit it out in shock and terror at something so stupid.

I mean, really?? First of all, no one cares about "George Lucas' vision" because he didn't direct ROTJ, for instance, and Empire was most certainly Kershner's "baby", not his (it's also the by far least altered one, to be fair). Lucas' "vision" is also what resulted in the SE changes in the first place, so basically, that dolt could've just pointed a middle-finger at the the interviewer, and the content would've been the same.

Jesus H. Christ, how... STUPID. Does anyone like getting a creepy, cult-like vibe from that whole crew? Just how fucking STUPID would anyone have to be to put THAT quote out there??

LFL is becoming just as bad a scientology. It will be a matter of time before they start killing people who prefer the OOT over the SE. Or they'll just sue.

I'm sure it will be exactly like the 2004 version of Greedo shooting. It is certain that they'll port over the 2004 set with zero effort. So much for Lucas "supervising" the transfer; it is nothing more than burning an old VHS tape onto DVD, except with more hi-tech gadgets.

If they decide to release the originals, they will just use the GOUT again. Imagine: letterbox Blu-ray!

Someone has to be dramatic in this apathetic age.

Quackula said:

generalfrevious said:

The OOT will never be officially brought back, just the way no one can raise a dead person to life.

you're awfully dramatic

 

Lucas knows there's demand, and he's obviously at least a little bit willing to meet us halfway given the fact that he put out the GOUT. Sure it was a sloppy laserdisc transfer, but it's something, and that tells me that he's warming up a bit more to the idea that these films, in their original forms, do deserve to be preserved alongside his "true vision".

He's not warming up to anything. He just wanted to twist the knife in our hearts by releasing the product we want but making it so shockingly substandard we would not want to buy it. Thereby creating a self-fulfilling prophecy that people don't want the OOT, they want the SE. What Lucas doesn't understand is that others created a cultural id that has transcended film and he has taken credit for it, in spite of being an untalented hack.

The OOT will never be officially brought back, just the way no one can raise a dead person to life.

It is more likely that Cuba or North Korea will become free democracies in the next 50 years than the OOT will get even a DVD quality release. It's sad the DVD format had to just start when GL released the SEs. Otherwise we would have good quality DVDs instead of the Jim Crow nightmare we are in now.

avoidz said:

skyjedi2005 said:

While Modern fans are at the height of excitement over the blu ray release, my fan interest in star wars is at its lowest ebb in my history with star wars as a avid fan.

Yes... I also feel almost nothing for the franchise now. Only moderate quality version of the originals and memories of the movies and toys from the early 1980s holds any interest for me.

Sad really, to think it has come to this.

Sadly we will never get a moderate quality version of the originals, just sub-sub-substandard ports. 

There is no justice any more when it comes to SW.

zombie84 said:

The physical ability to do it isn't the problem. As Robert Harris said, the films are pretty well protected in that there are sep masters for at least two and probably all three. The problem is that no one can get at them right now due to certain business conditions, the main one being that George Lucas has the legal right to block people from getting at them. This may or may not change in the near future but it will change in the distant future, and because of that it might come out in between those extremes (i.e. in 15-20 years, after Lucas dies, but maybe even less). The situation is bad but not hopeless.

But it's still a paradigm shift; the OOT has been supplanted by the PTSE for the last fourteen years, and there is no chance that the PTSE is going to be phased out and the OOT put back on its rightful place. The OOT may be preserved, like you say, but time is not go to go in reverse and redeem the franchise.

Mike O said:

zombie84 said:

If anything, if the 2011 set bombs financially, it will be incentive that the only way to make money off of SW is to release the originals.

Not likely. Preorders are already number one on Amazon and probably though the roof. It's over guys. We're done.

I'm glad someone agrees with me. Getting to OOT back is like putting toothpaste back in the tube. It's thermodynamically impossible.