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sweyland

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Join date
11-Feb-2004
Last activity
13-Jan-2009
Posts
297

Post History

Post
#37540
Topic
BOYCOTT (the 2004 OT SE DVD release)
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/37540/action/topic#37540
Time
Well I'm definitely not going to buy the SE DVDs, and that's my personal choice. Unfortunately, I don't really believe a boycott will either be effective nor send the right message.

I feel rather strongly about this, so I hope some of you won't mind if I indulge myself and repost my feelings on this:
Quote
George Lucas is a very rich and powerful man. He doesn't need Star Wars to make another penny to be well off. He's also made clear that no amount of petitions will make a difference, and frankly 50,000 or even 100,000 signatures is nothing compared to the millions of fans who don't care or even know there is a difference. A boycott is neither practical or realistic. Flooding mailboxes and annoying people with demands or threats will only raise their ire and fundamentally cast ourselves in a negative light, and open to ridicule and dismissal. Certainly if someone made demands or threats to me, I would promptly ignore them.

But we have to do something.

Besides being rich and powerful, George considers himself an artist. "We realize there's a lot of debate out there," says Jim Ward. "But this is not a democracy. We love our fans, but this is about art and filmmaking. [George] has decided that the sole version he wants available is this one."

An artist who was hurt when some of his fans thought his later more personal work was inferior to work he did as younger man in collaboration with others. An artist who is rich and powerful enough, and now arrogant enough to defy his nay-sayers and critics and forge ahead alone.

But he is still an artist, and art benefits everyone. It is the very meaning of culture. George the artist must be reminded that art in all its forms or variations benefits everyone in its continued existence. We don't bury our art history or replace it with something new, we treasure our history. We study it and learn from its natural growth, its changes from ere to era.

My point is that we don't make demands. I'm a patron of the arts, and a patron of George's for many years, as I'm sure everyone else here is. We established a relationship early on by paying for work that we enjoyed. George has moved on now and so he should. But regardless of whether we enjoy his current work or not, the work from the past must not be forgotten. It must be cherished and valued. That is what we must do. Not beg or plead. Never that. We must remind him of the value of of historical art. The original Star Wars trilogy is that art. It has touched so many, myself included. So that is what we should remember.

We have to convince him that there is artistic and creative value in preserving the originals for everyone now, and for future generations to see and learn from. I think that is something that everyone, including George might agree with.

Here is the address provided by Jedi Master:
George Lucas
c/o Lucasfilm Ltd.
P.O. Box 2009
San Rafael, CA 94912
U.S.A.

Quote
A well reasoned entreaty will always be better received than spam, angry threats, or boycotts that will only antagonize Lucas corp, other SW fans, and even the general public who will dismiss us as a bunch of whiny fanboys.

I've already written my letter to Lucas and while I don't expect a response (or it even reaching Lucas) I hope whoever does read it will get the notion that cherishing the originals is something that benefits everyone. And if they receive consistent reminders, the idea may take hold that this is something that everyone will want. After all, it's about our collective art and culture. Once people start believeing that it is a positive idea to preserve the originals along side with all the new SE/UE versions, Lucas may very well change his mind.

It will take time. There is still some venomous resistence out there, and fans who enjoy bickering amongst themselves too much. But if we can spread this 'new' idea and get everyone behind us on loving all of Star Wars New AND OLD, then who knows?

I hope others will join me to convince Lucas et al. May the force be with us


But in any case, I wish you all luck in whatever actions you take in pursuit of our common cause!
Post
#37538
Topic
Top Grossing Films of All Time
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/37538/action/topic#37538
Time
Not to mention that weren't a dozen new releases coming out every week fighting for box office or the TV remote or the VHS/DVD player. What else were you gonna see?

Gotta agree with you about Titanic. It was entertaining enough the first time through in the theatre, but the second I caught it on TV I almost fell asleep after 2 minutes. I still think Cameron is a terrific director will a real sense of storytelling and pacing, but that's really his weakest and thinnest film next to True Lies, but that's supposed to be a no-brain comedy.

(Woo hoo, over a hundred posts!)

Post
#37530
Topic
Multiple Languages?
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/37530/action/topic#37530
Time
That is frickin' hilarious! That totally reminds me of:
Quote
"The original title of this book was 'Jimmy James, Capitalist Lion Tamer' but I see now that it's... 'Jimmy James, Macho Business Donkey Wrestler'... you know what it is... I had the book translated in to Japanese then back in again into English. Macho Business Donkey Wrestler... well there you go... it's got kind of a ring to it don't it? Anyway, I wanted to read from chapter three... which is the story of my first rise to financial prominence... I had a small house of brokerage on Wall Street... many days no business come to my hut... my hut... but Jimmy has fear? A thousand times no. I never doubted myself for a minute for I knew that my monkey strong bowels were girded with strength like the loins of a dragon ribboned with fat and the opulence of buffalo... dung.
...Glorious sunset of my heart was fading. Soon the super karate monkey death car would park in my space. But Jimmy has fancy plans... and pants to match. The monkey clown horrible karate round and yummy like cute small baby chick would beat the donkey.

On a more serious note, maybe we could get friends or friends of friends to do a translation. I can't think of anyone I know just yet, but c'mon, this Star Wars, an international phenomenon...
Post
#37358
Topic
Top Grossing Films of All Time
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/37358/action/topic#37358
Time
Bossk, I can't believe out of that 100 films, you haven't seen the Sound of Music! That is a little sad. I'm not a huge fan of musicals, but I love that movie. I used to watch it with my grandma all the time, almost every Christmas.

Hmmm, out of that list I haven't seen 17 of them, and some of them are gonna stay that way (I can't stand most Sandler flicks), but I'm surprised how high some of them are. Didn't know the Perfect Storm or Twister were such big hits, I thought they really forgettable.
Post
#37182
Topic
battle star Galatica
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/37182/action/topic#37182
Time
Quote
Originally posted by: PSYCHO_DAYV
THE ONE WITH THE PICTURE OF THE CYLON. THE FIRST RELEASE WITH THE CYLON HEAD WAS COOL BUT DOESN'T FIT IN VERY WELL WITH OTHER DVD CASES.

Yeah, I actually bought the big cyclon head for Christmas because I really enjoyed the original series (even though I couldn't really afford it, but what the heck, Christmas is once a year!), but now I still haven't even watched it yet!