Re: Star Wars discussion from The Bits...
Quote:
| I think it's sad that we've grown so insistent upon the state-of-the-art in presentation that we've allowed it to kill our basic enjoyment these films. |
No one's saying that, I don't think, nor is that the case here. We already enjoy them, and we enjoy them a lot. the problem is what lucasfilm is going to be offering up is the same master that we ALREADY HAVE. on LD and for some of us, on VHS. The exact same masters. I can party like it's 1993 at any time RIGHT NOW. This opportunity they're selling us is not the opportunity it COULD be.
They're spending a lot of time marketing this to us, the phrase "like you've never seen before" actually being a tagline. Except not only is this something we've seen before, it's something we've already been sold before. back then, yes, it was good. Now? It makes Lucasfilm's quality control look not so hot--and that's something the company has never stood for. It's always prided itself on being top-notch. The letters THX wouldn't even be in the average filmgoers vocabulary without Lucasfilm's commitment to excellence on that front.
I don't want to really get into guessing at George Lucas' mental state here. What he might be feeling or what he might not. That ends up just being tilting at windmills. And maybe this little email campaign, this getting the word out, "Making noise" as Ron has titled it, maybe that's tilting at windmills too. But we got SOMETHING out of em, even if it's just a form letter and a public response to the industry magazines asking some questions about what their readers are going to have to stock on their shelves come september, and whether it's going to be worth it not just for the store owners, but Lucasfilm itself and the fans who are supposed to take this product off their hands.
Let's keep this business minded. It's not really a case of "pouring money" into the release as it is INVESTING money so that they get a better return than the current return they're likely to get if they continue with this subpar product, which is ONE HELL of an anomaly as far as Lucasfilm's quality control goes.
If they're going to focus their marketing campaign on these bonus features, it just seems to make sense all around to put some of that money TOWARDS the bonus features. they're GOING to lose sales on this. They now, without at doubt, KNOW THAT. We need to let them realize how MANY that is, and how EASY it is to get those sales BACK.
None of this is going to cause me to like Star Wars any less. It's still a great movie. Me telling Lucasfilm that I think so and I want this great movie to be shown in a presentation befitting their company's reputation isn't, I think, a bad thing. I have a feeling that response letter was sent out hoping to get some of us to throw up our hands. But I don't see it that way. That was the second part of what I hope will become a fruitful CONVERSATION. I wrote an email back responding to the response. And I hope the rest of us keep doing that as well. We gotta keep talking.
