I just dislike the original white walls, agree that the cgi sucks.
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J.J. Abrams Wants The Original Trilogy Released Uncut...but says it won't happen.
- Thread starter Deleted member 7777
- Start date
I don't mind the changes either. ESB has the least amount of changes/additions and most are fine, like the wampa. It would have been better if there was effort made to make the new material look more like the original rather than it sticking out so obviously.
Respecting Lucas' vision is a garbage excuse, although I have no doubt that is the official policy at LF. He has no claim on Empire or ROTJ.
At any rate, if it was simply an issue with the negatives or the restoration process, I'm sure JJ would be able to wrap his head around it. The only obstacles in play are legal or political.
They don't need the original negatives. Fans have restored the OT to 4K resolution using gnarly 35mm reels.
At any rate, if it was simply an issue with the negatives or the restoration process, I'm sure JJ would be able to wrap his head around it. The only obstacles in play are legal or political.
It's totally worth noting that there are people that sell the Despecialized editions on Blu-Ray with slick cover art, interactive menus and special features so Disney/LF are literally being bested by community efforts sold on eBay which is frankly embarrassing.
Honestly this is the one thing I hate that Lucas did to the series. So disrespectful to the people who worked on the three films and so many of the changes actively undermine storytelling beats.
It's too bad, I'd buy the OT again for sure. All the changes make it a worse experience. It's like an injection of PT crap into the classic OT.
Weren't more things added to the Disney+ ones, though?
Do they have to ask him if he's had any more thoughts every time they are released again?
Do they have to ask him if he's had any more thoughts every time they are released again?
George Lucas didn't direct Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi though.
Yup, he cops to having seen the despecialized editions and even talks about how there was confusion when writing the script, because people kept referring to different versions of the Emperor/Vader discussion in Empire.
I don't like this idea of treating these movies like they're the work of one creator. There are a ton of people who worked on those movies to help make them what they were, and acting like George Lucas is the only one that matters is insulting to everybody else who worked on them.
I will just never be able to fathom Lucas being such a fucking ass hole that he refuses to let this happen. There is absolutely no good reason to be this stubborn.
Yeah Lucas truly is a huge hypocrite when it comes to this issue A new hope is preserved in the library of congress the ORIGINAL version.
And his CGI enhacements is also a slap in the face to those that made the effects in the 1977 version which they won an academy award for.
It's so weird because he let it happen once on DVD and then just...like...stopped agin.
My favorite part of this alteration is the shot still would've missed him if they didn't digitally slide his head around.
What else needs to be said except "Maclunkey"?
All this to say nothing of Empire and Jedi, neither of which he directed. Recutting films by dead filmmakers and prohibiting the commercial release of their original work is disgusting.
We have the despecilized editions which are made by Harmy and he has not received any legal backlash from Lucasfilm since he encouraged everyone who gets the fan edits to have a copy of the original blu-ray.
Those are most perfect way to watch the original versions and they did a lot of work restoring the older footage making it fit with the blu-ray footage.
Lucas did show the original version of A New Hope recently at an event. Maybe he's calming down about this stuff but I'm not holding my breath.
Lucas' insistence on never releasing the originals was always baffling and shitty, and of course people in this thread are defending it lmao. Fuck that.
Lucas' insistence on never releasing the originals was always baffling and shitty, and of course people in this thread are defending it lmao. Fuck that.
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I agree wholeheartedly. It's like...is anyone asking for the Ray Harryhausen stop motion classics to be "remastered" with CGI? Like goddamn, this painstakingly animated stop motion sure looks like shit! It's so dated!
But the same could be said for any of the modern Star Trek series releases which are pretty well loved. All the practical effects work has been replaced.
I think it's crazy to compare his stance to someone like Ridley Scott's. I have this baby:
Ridley Scott included every version of Blade Runner in this set - from the theatrical to the international to the director's cut. There's 5 versions of this film in this set. It's fascinating history to compare and contrast the different versions and to have them archived and preserved as examples of what went wrong and what went right with the director's vision. They are monuments to the moment in time of their creation, alteration, and restoration. Ridley Scott knew it was important to keep that history there.
But for Star Wars and its genre-defining work?
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Because it's not true. Disney would release the theatricals if they could. They can't. George still doesn't want that to happen, and it almost certainly was part of their sale deal. And it wouldn't surprise me if it was written into his will that it can never happen, although I don't know how well that would stand up in court.
Earlier this year the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences held a special weekend symposium/celebration of classic ILM effects artists and their work. The centerpiece of the weekend was a screening of the Academy's archive copy of the original Star Wars. Lucas threw a fit and and refused to allow it to be shown. It took Kathleen Kennedy and Bob Iger personally arguing with him for months to convince him to let them show it, and only because they were finally able to get across their point that it makes no sense to screen a version of the film that doesn't include most of the special effects the event was supposed to be honoring. Even after that he basically made them swear it would never happen again. He is dead set against the originals ever seeing the light of day again, and nobody really knows why.
Nobody knows why? There is plenty of evidence showing he is utterly unable to accept anyone contradicting him in any way, in a way that is simply abnormal.
I mean you can armchair psychoanalyze him as much as you want but people are more complex than that. Which is why I phrased it as "nobody really knows why," not "nobody knows why." We speculate, and some of the ideas are probably close to part of the truth, but there's obviously more happening there and George just refuses to get into it publicly.
I think it's crazy to compare his stance to someone like Ridley Scott's. I have this baby:
Ridley Scott included every version of Blade Runner in this set - from the theatrical to the international to the director's cut. There's 5 versions of this film in this set. It's fascinating history to compare and contrast the different versions and to have them archived and preserved as examples of what went wrong and what went right with the director's vision. They are monuments to the moment in time of their creation, alteration, and restoration. Ridley Scott knew it was important to keep that history there.
But for Star Wars and its genre-defining work?
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Another good example is Steven Spielberg.
He basically did a Special Edition of his own, the 20th anniversary release of E.T, which too had shoved in scenes of CGI E.T. and other weird changes like the agents' guns being replaced by walkie-talkies.
The difference is that, at the very least, Spielberg never went out of his way to erase the original, unaltered version of E.T. from history like how George did with the original Star Wars movies. He personally demanded that the DVD release contained both versions of the film. Years later, he admitted that he prefers the original version, and that it's the version that people should watch instead, and that he won't do anymore major modifications to his old movies.
Apparantly the latest re-releases of E.T. on Blu-Ray don't even bother with the 20th anniversary edition anymore, now it's just the original theatrical version.
As pointed out in the interview above, it's just a shame George didn't take a page from one of his known buddies.
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Literally zero reason on streaming or digital purchase as an option. The director's wishes being honored ignores both the quality and wisdom of the changes and the fact that he only wrote and directed one of the three but got to ruin the intent of other more talented filmmakers.
it's his creation and I'm grateful for most of it- but he sold the house. Surely the new tenants should get to pick paint colors?
If Star Wars was a submarine he'd have been Gene Hackmaned by Denzel by now.
George has said many times that the limitations in tech/budget/production time have always irritated him and he views these effects alterations as "fixing" what couldn't be done back then. He also doesn't want versions of the films out there that don't preserve the continuity with the prequels that he added in 2004.
It's not like he left the prequels alone either, he went back and put a CGI Yoda into Episode 1 to replace the, admittedly hideous, puppet they used and erased Frank Oz's puppetry. He just doesn't believe that the audience have any claim of ownership in a colloquial sense, you will watch the version he prefers and not the one you might have seen in the cinema.
I think it's crazy to compare his stance to someone like Ridley Scott's. I have this baby:
Ridley Scott included every version of Blade Runner in this set - from the theatrical to the international to the director's cut. There's 5 versions of this film in this set. It's fascinating history to compare and contrast the different versions and to have them archived and preserved as examples of what went wrong and what went right with the director's vision. They are monuments to the moment in time of their creation, alteration, and restoration. Ridley Scott knew it was important to keep that history there.
I have that too and I wish they would allow that for other works as well, because it's the best effort in preserving films in their different iterations. The original SW is part of history so why not just release it in a set along with the 'touch-up' edited versions - seems like it would be a money maker for Disney and LucasFilm.
I mean ... it's fairly obvious what happened here.
At some point between 1988 and 1997, George Lucas was kidnapped by aliens and replaced with an imposter.
It's not like Lucas didn't do it himself ages ago on DVD (even if they were inferior transfers).
It's not like Lucas didn't do it himself ages ago on DVD (even if they were inferior transfers).
Hmm, that's pretty cool. I wasn't even aware of that.
I can't speak about the original film negatives, but there are 35mm prints preserved for museums and enthusiasts. Prints were purchased for the Despecialized and 4k77 versions.
That interview always pisses me off because it's clear George won't even listen to his friends and peers on this issue.
He won't even listen to fucking Spielberg!
Thank goodness Spielberg has a say on the Indy movies or we'd have a "special edition" of Raiders where the sword guy shoots at Indy first.