Anyone see George Lucas on Biography? (1 Viewer)

[Zack Scott]

Caught it last night. Thought it was really great. The neatest thing was when we saw him editing Episode 2 and we actually saw a piece of a scene from it. Too cool.

 

[Dome Vongvises]

And unlike some of the naysayer fanboys of the Internet (and some artsy fartsy film elitists), George is a smart business man. I've always respected his business decisions. Last I checked, nobody put a gun to somebody's head to buy an action figure. Also, unlike most people who found success, he actually invested the money he made off Star Wars back into his company.

 

[Dave H]

I get mad at Lucas for not releasing the DVDs or the original versions, but I have enormous respect for him. He is a genius and a good, true american success story - especially since he almost died at a young age.

It's good to see that he and his companies remained strong after his wife robbed him and left him for another guy.

 

[Michael Taylor]

Didn't the ads specifically say it would be the last time they were released on "home video?"

The ads specifically stated that this would be the last time *this century*. Now that we are in a new century...it is "my only hope" that he was giving himself an out to be able to release them in their original glory in *this* century.

 

[Eric Thrall]

I don't remember anything about it being the last time they'd be available *this century*. I specifically remember that it said it would be the last time the original movies would be available on home video period.

 

[Mark Zimmer]

Someone over in the Greedo thread in the Movies section posted a scan of the actual sticker that was used in the marketing campaign when they were getting ready to issue the SEs, and I don't think it even qualified "home video" the way that Fantasia did; it was own it for the last time, period.
Someone more skilled than I can probably copy that scan in this thread; it's towards the end of that monster thread. But the Lucasfilm party line at this point is still that the original films never existed. You only dreamed that you saw Han shoot first.

 

[Greg_S_H]

I don't know what this sticker is, but I know it's not on my sealed THX widescreen boxed set of the OT tapes.

 

[Brian Kidd]

Also, remember that the reason sooo much was changed in STAR WARS for the SE's was because the original film elements had deteriorated quite badly. Some of the new effects were there to replace sections of film that were beyond repair. I'm not sure we could ever get a satisfying dvd from remaining elements. They would have to be made from interpositives or *shudder* release print material. Anyone else have any info about that?

 

[Sam Graves]

The original film elements had deteriorated quite badly

Jeffery Wells (formerly Mr. Showbiz.Com, now Reel.Com) did a column on this when The Phantom Menace was released. He spoke to Bob Shaye of Fox and the original negative has turned pink. I have tried hunting down this column for reference before but cannot find it.

 

[streeter]

I hope the documentary "From Star Wars to Jedi" will be on DVD some day, in addition to the original three documentaries (which were pretty much edited into FSWTJ): The Making of Star Wars As Told by C-3PO and R2-D2 (I have an original recording of this, and it also has a cool Burger Chef commercial with R2 and 3PO), SPFX Empire Strikes Back (hosted by Mark Hamill), and Classic Creatures: The Making of Return of the Jedi (hosted by Billy Dee Williams and Carrie Fisher). I doubt these'll ever see the light of day on DVD, so I'm glad I still have my VHS copies.

 

[Matthew Anderson]

I thought it was a very good look at George Lucas and how he got started and what makes him tick. I do hope they use some of the same material for the Star Wars dvds that will come out later.

 

[Anthony_H]

Say...my girlfriend watched this and is always interested in the drama. She wants to know (1) why Marcia left and (2) why is he so quick to adopt? Is he.. uhhh.. how do I put this.... ? Or is this too far off the topic of his films?

 

[Greg_S_H]

and (2) why is he so quick to adopt?

Also stated, he and Marcia couldn't have children. They didn't elaborate on that. Personally, it seems to be way out of the realm of what is the public's business.

 

[Chris PC]

Some of my fave techniques from the Star Wars movies that I loved were:
1) Awesome unbelievable sound-effects that were so appropriate
2) Models instead of computer graphics
3) Stop-motion and Blue-Screen instead of computer graphics
4) Matte paintings instead of computer graphics
Truely beautiful, captivating and convincing beyond any computer graphics stuff.
Don't get me wrong, I think some CGI is neat, but to me, it looks like CGI, where the other stuff has me just going " Wow! Whats that? It looks so cool, I wonder how they made it." Actually I often prefer hand-drawn animation to CGI too. Yeah, I guess I'm not a great fan of CGI. It has to do with the lighting and contrast of filming real objects that tell my brain, "Thats a real physical thing you're looking at". Makes the movies more fun when its done as well as it was in the Star Wars films, especially considering the time it was done.

 

[Carlo_M]

I wholeheartedly agree, Chris. Sure what are a few matte lines. There were far more organic and "real" feeling effects from the first three than in TPM. Sure there were no matte lines in TPM, but the whole thing felt...artificial. It had that CGI fuzziness all over. I'll take the old style of effects (improved with modern techniques, of course) over a CGI-fest.

 

[Terrell]

I'm not gonna belabor this point, because we've already done so in the movies section. But Lucas has never stated, from his mouth, that the originals will never be seen again. Also, that sticker was NOT on my THX Definitive Collection Box Set of the originals, and as far as I know, the originals were not released on LD after the Definitive Collection Box Set was released. So maybe that was on the VHS box set. The THX Special Edition Box Set was released afterwards, but that wasn't the theatrical versions. So we don't know if we'll see the originals. Maybe we will, maybe we won't. And even if Lucas said they wouldn't appear, he could easily change his mind.
That sticker is the only thing we've seen on this, and it can be construed as meaning we won't see them on VHS anymore, or even LD, whatever LDs that was on. That certainly had nothing to do with the DVD format.

I'll take the old style of effects (improved with modern techniques, of course) over a CGI-fest.

Carlo, you cannot make a film like Star Wars today with that technique and make it look believable, especially when other competing films would blow it out of the water. They did great things back then, but that wouldn't fly in today's moviemaking world.