Save Star Wars! (1 Viewer)

[johnSM]

[NOTE: I posted this in the 60 page Star Wars thread, but thought it important enough that it has it's own.] My blood is boiling right now - this is just WRONG on so many levels, not least of all culturally & historically... Will he now do the same with the BFIs print?!!! Surely this needs to be stopped! http://savestarwars.com/lucas-nfr.html Surely some laws need to be changed to truly protect your American film heritage? I mean let's say Lucas was to get a little... 'crankier' - shall we say - in years to come, and decides he hates the originals and wants them erased, or decides to replace all the actors with CGI characters, has he got the power to do that as things stand at the moment? Yes! "This represents a very scandalous line cross, in my opinion. Lucas, a proponent of film preservation, has said recently that he would like to restore the originals but can't pay for it, even though he is a billionaire. Yet when an outside organization from the federal government bodies of film preservation offer to foot the bill in the meantime, what does Lucas do? Try to get them to take the Special Edition. Lucas is full of a lot of smoke and mirrors, methinks. The original version continues to rot while Lucasfilm continues to deny fully-paid-for preservations of the existing material. With Lucasfilm having a monopoly over the films, the U.S. government is helpless to stop the destruction of these films. Please, write to your congressman and get the United States government to include film under cultural heritage protection law." Is there anything we can collectively do about this, to make sure another Star Wars situation for other films like this never happens? Lucas HAS the versions he prefers already out there, in the millions in the form of the new Blurays. The originals NEED to be preserved, not kicked into the gutter like this! If you feel strongly about this PLEASE spread the words - and the link above - folks. This is part of your cultural heritage that's at stake...

 

[Ricardo C]

As a non-citizen (until 2013, anyway), I don't know if me writing my local representative will be taken into account, but I most certainly will write, and encourage others to do so.

 

[ScottHM]

Yeah, quit buying his stuff. If everyone had passed on this new BD release Lucas would have gotten the message. I did my part.

Originally Posted by johnSM

Is there anything we can collectively do about this, to make sure another Star Wars situation for other films like this never happens?

/t/315174/save-star-wars#post_3855720

 

[Charles Smith]

Originally Posted by ScottHM /t/315174/save-star-wars#post_3855839

 

[Mark Collins]

Hi, I had asked this question before and received a wonderful answer from a great fan. i just wanted to perhaps ask it differently this time. I have the original CBS/Fox VHS tapes Star Wars and The Empire Strikes Back with the date of the tapes 1984. The Return of the Jedi 1986 date on the tape these were rental copies. Do I have the original movies tamper proof movies that we first saw in theaters? The movies look that way to me. Good Luck in your cause! Mark

 

[Worth]

Do I have the original movies tamper proof movies that we first saw in theaters?

I believe the only change is that the opening crawl on Star Wars includes the "Episode IV A New Hope" tag.

 

[SD_Brian]

Like it or not, as the copyright-holder, Lucas can do whatever he wants with the films. A law to prevent him from doing so would have far-reaching and rather draconian ramifications for all artists and that's not a road anyone who actually thinks about it would want to go down. The only way to force Lucas to stop making changes would be for someone to buy the rights to the Star Wars movies away from Lucasfilm. Perhaps everyone could chip in a couple of dollars? Granted those rights are worth billions of dollars, so good luck collecting that kind of cash.

 

[johnSM]

 

Done!!  

 

x2 ! Though I must confess I am hunting Ebay for a copy of the OT bonus discs I have ZERO desire to ever see a Star Wars special edition ever again, even more so given the nature of the OP.

 

[Mark Collins]

Thankyou Nick, I once again give all of you the best of luck in your cause! I was always worried about Indiana Jones being tampered with. I remember many years ago when CNN founder Ted Turner wanted to color all black and white movies. He backed off when there was a large cry from the public and then founded the wonderful TCM. Thankyou Mr Turner for that channel!!!

 

[TravisR]

Though I must confess I am hunting Ebay for a copy of the OT bonus discs

You won't be disappointed. Eventhough I wish all the content from the DVDs had been ported over, the stuff that is on there is a fan's dream come true. Great looks at costumes, props, models and matte paintings, hundreds of drawings and deleted scenes.

 

[ahollis]

Originally Posted by Worth


I believe the only change is that the opening crawl on Star Wars includes the "Episode IV A New Hope" tag.

That nw opening crawl was added in the 1979 re-release to theatres. Lucas has announced that there would be 9 films three prequels and five sequels. Of course the episodes 7, 8, and 9 were never made and now they even deny that there were plans for them. Fox did a major national re-release with a huge TV campaign and again it did amazing business.

 

[Dave H]

Lucas' hatred and all of his efforts to destroy the originals is very bizarre really. I cannot think of another filmmaker that is this extreme in such a matter.

 

[dana martin]

Kubrick, fear and desire, no he didn't try to destroy it but really want it viewed, thought of it as amateurish

 

[SilverWook]

 

That nw opening crawl was added in the 1979 re-release to theatres.  Lucas has announced that there would be 9 films three prequels and five sequels.  Of course the episodes 7, 8, and 9 were never made and now they even deny that there were plans for them.  Fox did a major national re-release with a huge TV campaign and again it did amazing business.  

 

1981 actually...

 

[Ethan Riley]

As a non-citizen (until 2013, anyway), I don't know if me writing my local representative will be taken into account, but I most certainly will write, and encourage others to do so.

Please don't. I don't think you really want to become a citizen of a country that uses your tax dollars to force artists to comply with the wishes of their fans. Is that really why you moved to the U.S.?

 

[Ricardo C]

Please don't. I don't think you really want to become a citizen of a country that uses your tax dollars to force artists to comply with the wishes of their fans. Is that really why you moved to the U.S.?

I moved to the US to join my wife, and have found I love the country enough to want to become a fully active participant in society. As it stands, I already pay quite a bit in taxes, so why not have a say on how they're used? And honestly? I would love to become a citizen of a country that protects its cultural heritage from unchecked revisionism. Re-read John's post, read the ongoing discussion on the main thread, and realize that no one's advocating the government "forcing artists to comply with the wishes of their fans". The thrust of the argument is that no one should have the power to withhold a work from the public, once it's been released. That is not what copyright was created for. And it most certainly was no created to retro-actively replace an existing work with a modified/censored/otherwise altered version. Art is a work created in order to elicit some sort of emotional response. Without a receptive audience, there is no art. The work only acquires meaning once it's experienced. As such, although it's solely created by the artist, it's given life by those who receive it. In short, it becomes part of our collective consciousness. Was Allen Klein right in sitting on the rights to Jodorowski's "El Topo" for 30 years, until his company approached Jodorowski about making amends? Legally, he had every right to do so. He could have burned the o-negs, and no one would have had the right to stop him. But was he right?

 

[ahollis]

Originally Posted by SilverWook


1981 actually...

Maybe, but I was in Jackson MS in 79 and that was where I saw the the New Hope crawl at Meadowbrook Cinema 6. In 1981 I was in New Orleans for that Re-release. By the way was there not a Re-release in the 80's some time when the The New Hope crawl was not there and the original was back, or am I thinking about a Laser disc release?

 

[SD_Brian]

The point should be made that George Lucas has not suppressed the original theatrical cuts of the Star Wars trilogy: they were officially released on DVD by Lucasfilm in 2006 and are still readily available--maybe not in the remastered, anamorphic HD quality we would all like, but they are out there.

 

[RobertR]

The point should be made that George Lucas has not suppressed the original theatrical cuts of the Star Wars trilogy: they were officially released on DVD by Lucasfilm in 2006 and are still readily available--maybe not in the remastered, anamorphic HD quality we would all like, but they are out there.

Does he allow theatrical exhibits (on FILM, not very old laserdisc transfers) of the original films? If not, then he is indeed suppressing them.

 

[Brian Kidd]

Here's a repost of a posting I just made in the huge STAR WARS thread. I'm reproducing it in this thread because it's relevant to the topic and might be easily missed in that monstrosity of a discussion.

Okay, folks, here's the poop directly from my friend at the Library of Congress Motion Picture Conservation Center: When STAR WARS was inducted into the National Film Registry, Lucasfilm would only donate the 1997 version. HOWEVER, the LoC has two prints of the original version in safekeeping. They just aren't allowed to screen them. They wanted to schedule a screening of the original version for next month and were forbidden by Lucasfilm. Rather than show the 1997 version, the LoC canceled the screening entirely. So, in short, original prints are safe and well-taken-care-of and the folks at the LoC continue to be some of the coolest film fans on the planet. (I told my friend that I wouldn't mention his name in order to prevent any potential kerfluffle. I know that some folks still won't believe the info. Sadly, there's not much I can do about that. He's my friend and I want him to remain happy in his job.)