My dream STAR WARS set (1 Viewer)

[Gordon McMurphy]

By the time they come out, I might not be too hip to Star Wars anymore, but whatever Lucas puts out, I'll have a think about it and if I like what I see - I'll but it, but there are SO MANY other great films that I love MORE than Star Wars that are coming out over the next 1-3 years that I don't get hot-under-the-collar about Lucas' time-taking on his films. I think we'll see another international theatrical release of "new" versions of IV-V-VI before you see them on DVD.
In all honesty, I want to see THX 1138 given a reappraisal via a Special Edition DVD before I concern myself over Star Wars: IV-V-VI on DVD. I love the last shot - I've got a thing for Sunsets/Sunrises and shots of the Sun in general in films... oh, wait: Star Wars '77 has a great shot of those suns!
I just hope that all you Star Wars aficianados are 100% delighted with what Lucas gives you in the coming years.
Gordy

 

[Richard Kim]

Barry that's the most terrifying thing I've read/heard/seen in recent memory! And to think that unfortunately we'll see many of these changes when Lucas goes back to tinker!

So what's wrong with Lucas wanting to ensure continuity throughout the entire series? So you'd honestly want to see an Emperor in ESB who's a totally different person than in all the other films?

To add to Barry's list, I think it would be cool to see Jimmy Smits as an older Bail Organa just before Alderaan blows up, and see the Emperor dissolve the Imperial Senate in Coruscant in ANH.

 

[Qui-Gon John]

Richard, I don't think so. At least in my opinion. This is just cleaing up the image as much as possible. Not unlike when they try to mae the best DVD transfer possible from original source media. As long as the content, scenes, dialogue, what is in the scene, etc., is not changed, then I personnally would still consider it original.

 

[Joe McKeown]

As much as it saddens me, the original versions are dead. GL as said about as much. Updated FX are OK. The only things that truly offend me as a fan are Greedo shooting first, and the "stepping on Jabba's tail" thing. Both of these are beyond stupid.
Firstly, Han was a spice smuggler, Greedo was going to take him to Jabba. Having Han shoot Greedo better establishes him as a badass. having Greedo shoot first takes away from the "turnaround" that brings Han back to save Luke at the end. Also Han's turnaround nicly forshadows Vader's, but only if Han was more coldbloodes at the beginning.
Secondly, the tail thing. Do you think some thug could walk up ad twist Tony Soprano's nipple during a conversation and NOT get a serious reaction? I mean, Jabba is the biggest baddest mob boss to ever leave a slime trail. I can't imagine someone walking on him without losing their vicera.

 

[Lafe F]

I like Barry's ideas, as long as the original versions will be made available also. Lucas shouldn't deny his humble beginnings.

I suspect the 1987 Special Editions will fade into nothingness when the next batch of enhanced movies are released.

 

[Thomas H G]

P.S. Barry did not make that list up. He's been peddling that same list at various message boards that have a remote interest in SW.

Lots of what 's listed don't need to be in the movie and were cut for a reason.

Nice to see that you found this place barry.

Show them your Jedi Rap while you're at it.

 

[Paul McElligott]

I think Lucas should get used to the fact that it wasn't the special editions or some hypothetical "ultimate" edition that made him who he is. It wasn't the special edition of Star Wars that played for a year non-stop in theaters and completely rewrote the rules of the movie industry.
In short, the original versions deserve more respect than Lucas is giving them.

 

[Richard Kim]

I think people should start getting used to the idea that orginal versions of the OT are not happening.

I don't necessarily agree with that. We are at least 3 years away from a DVD realease of the OT, so nothing is set in stone. Remember that Lucas once said that NONE of the SW films would be on DVD until after the prequel trilogy was finished, but because of fan outcry (remember the petition)
he relented and now TPM and AOTC are now on DVD. The same could happen with the originals.

 

[GaryEA]

Nice dream set Brenton. Sign me up for a pre-order!
Two comments I've read so far also receive high praise from me;

I think Lucas should get used to the fact that it wasn't the special editions or some hypothetical "ultimate" edition that made him who he is. It wasn't the special edition of Star Wars that played for a year non-stop in theaters and completely rewrote the rules of the movie industry.
In short, the original versions deserve more respect than Lucas is giving them.

You have no idea how true this is.
For the moment, put aside "director's intent", or the argument that they're his movies and he can do what he wishes with them. I've heard those approaches to death and they ignore a fundemental fact in this argument.
Although modern technology has allowed Lucas to realise his films to his liking, you cannot take away the years of adoration that these films received before 1997. And it was that adoration and praise from the legion of fans that got him to where he is now.
He can do whatever the heck he wants with his movies, no doubt about that. But that won't keep me from loving and remembering the films as they were before he released the SE's, and it certainly won't restrain me from being critical of him and what he does with the films that shaped my childhood.
-g

 

[Paul McElligott]

He can do whatever the heck he wants with his movies, no doubt about that. But that won't keep me from loving and remembering the films as they were before he released the SE's, and it certainly won't restrain me from being critical of him and what he does with the films that shaped my childhood.

Lucas should be willing to provide Star Wars fans with a choice of which versions they want. This high-handed, "I-know-what's-best-for-you" attitude is more than a little arrogant.

 

[Damin J Toell]

Lucas should be willing to provide Star Wars fans with a choice of which versions they want. This high-handed, "I-know-what's-best-for-you" attitude is more than a little arrogant.

So filmmakers should make all decisions with regard to their own films by having the populace vote on all possible choices, lest they be arrogant by employing their own will upon their own works? So why even bother having people be filmmakers anymore? Let's design a computer program that can have polls on a website and then the program can make a film based on the results of those polls. Death to the artists! We've had enough of their arrogant attitudes, thinking that they can make decisions about their owns works and all!

Lucas's attitude, as I see it, isn't that he "knows-what's-best-for-you," it's that he "knows-what's-best-for-his-own-films." You can take it or leave it, as with any other creative work. Doesn't every story always have choices made by an author who, in effect, is saying "I-know-what's-best-for-my-story"? Isn't every painting the result of a painter saying "I-know-what's-best-for-my-painting"? If artists lacked this "arrogance," their works would fail to exist. So why does Lucas get attacked for having the same "arrogance" as any other artist? I see nothing improperly arrogant about an artist exercising his own will over his own works; it's a necessary element of art. I do, however, see something arrogant about an audience who believes that artists should confine what they do with their own works to the desires of that audience.

DJ

 

[Thomas H G]

The funny thing is that they are his movies and you'll buy what he gives you.

 

[Christ Reynolds]

i wonder how many extras are even available for these films without coming up with new stuff? i guess the sw hardcore fans could answer this better than i could, but it seems that there arent a lot of extras for the old films.

So why does Lucas get attacked for having the same "arrogance" as any other artist

same reason as everyone loves to attack bill gates. right behind them, they see the billions.

CJ

 

[Beau]

The funny thing is that they are his movies and you'll buy what he gives you.

That's not true for me, I'm not buying any SW DVDs unless they are the oringinal versions.

 

[Paul McElligott]

So filmmakers should make all decisions with regard to their own films by having the populace vote on all possible choices, lest they be arrogant by employing their own will upon their own works?

Where in the heck did you pull that nonsense from what I wrote?!
My point was that Lucas' revisionist versions aren't the films that made him rich and powerful enough to do revisionist versions in the first place. The original versions are classics, whether he thinks so or not. They deserve more respect than he's giving them.
Legally, he has the right to what he wants. I (and more than few others) think he's wrong.

 

[Damin J Toell]

Where in the heck did you pull that nonsense from what I wrote?!

Probably from the part where you accused Lucas of being arrogant for wanting to make his own decisions about his own films.

DJ

 

[GaryEA]

So filmmakers should make all decisions with regard to their own films by having the populace vote on all possible choices, lest they be arrogant by employing their own will upon their own works? So why even bother having people be filmmakers anymore? Let's design a computer program that can have polls on a website and then the program can make a film based on the results of those polls. Death to the artists! We've had enough of their arrogant attitudes, thinking that they can make decisions about their owns works and all!

Oh please. Another delightful overstatement.

Nobody is calling for a vote, or for film makers to relinquish command of their artistic control. Nobody is crying for Lucas or any other film maker past or present to cough up the ability to make decisions.

What I have a problem with is Lucas' quaint notion that the Star Wars films I grew up on are now drafts. Rough cuts, at best.

You say that's his choice? Well, fine. I say that it's a bizzare concept to hinge your career so much on what technology is available to you, that the story is only complete until computers can render a ship or alien or when the Death Star exploding with more rings around it.

Going by that train of thought, there will never be an end to his movies, and that's pathetic. He slightly modified them at their release, he changed them in '97, and now he wants to retro-fit more of the prequels into them.

Draft after draft after draft. Finish them!

As a fan of both film and a student of film making, I say that he should bite the bullet and live with what he has accomplished. Finish the films and move on, but don't forget that a lot of people that still interested in the "drafts" that got him the money to run amok.

-g

 

[Paul McElligott]

Probably from the part where you accused Lucas of being arrogant for wanting to make his own decisions about his own films.

The arrogance comes from withholding the versions that made him rich in the first place.

Without the originals, there is no ILM, no Skywalker Ranch, no THX sound.

And yet, Lucas tells us that the originals are somehow inferior to the special editions and, by implication, that those who prefer the old ones lack his good judgement about these thing.

That is arrogant.

 

[Damin J Toell]

As a fan of both film and a student of film making, I say that he should bite the bullet and live with what he has accomplished.

Why? Why should Lucas subscribe to your vision of filmmaking?

DJ

 

[Joe McKeown]

Now, I would never put Lucas in this league, but suppose DaVinci came back from the grave and said, "Ya know, I never liked the way Mona's smile turned out, I'd like to touch it up."

Do you think he would be allowed to?

OTOH, As the story goes Shakespaere revised his plays quite a few times after their "first runs"

Where does a movie fit in?