Why on Earth does George Lucas allow this Garbage!? (1 Viewer)

[Inspector Hammer!]

This is something i've been wondering about for awhle, and tonight it just broke the camels back when I watched about 5 min of 'EP 1' on Fox all butchered to shit!
If he is such a fanatic about his films, and nothing happens to his films without his say so, then why does he allow his films to be shown in pan n scan at all? I know that with most director's it's out of their hands, but this is Lucas we're talking about here, if he doesn't want his film's shown in pan n scan, then they won't be. So why? I hope that he's not being a J6P sympathizer.
After watching that 5 min or so, out of sheer curiosity, of the beginning on Fox last night, I was so frustrated and pissed off that I had to change the channel, and then leave the room for a breather for a few minuets!
That was the first time I had ever seen that film butchered, and I tell you what, I would have punched the lights out of any J6P that even looked at me funny at that point!
DAMN, I HATE PAN N SCAN!!

 

[RogerB]

It was like watching a movie consisting of only extreme close-ups. Truly awful.

 

[Roland Wandinger]

Maybe it's more expansive to have a commercial inbetween a fullscreen movie than a WS movie (especially with a STAR WARS movie) since the P&S version will appeal to more viewers?

Luca$ will most likely get a share of the money they pay FOX for commercials and would therefor profit from a P&S version?

I could be totaly wrong here though?

 

[Coressel]

Perhaps Fox is planning on showing the left half of the movie some other time?

 

[Neil S. Bulk]

It was the first time I had seen the movie panned-and-scanned as well, and the movie was really butchered. Great example for the benfits of widescreen. Characters were lopped off of the screen, details were lost and (as stated above) every shot seemed to be a close up. Pathetic. For those who hated The Phantom Menace before, this presentation would not have changed there minds.

Anyone else notice the "wipes" that were added to the movie almost every time it cut to and from the commercials?

Neil

 

[Scott Leopold]

I stopeed at my parents' house on the way home from work last night and they had it on. They thought I was joking when I said the reason I wasn't watching it was because it was P'n'S. The few seconds I saw looked terrible.

Just out of curiousity, what's a J6P?

 

[Sam Davatchi]

Joe six pack!

 

[Artur Meinild]

J6P = Average viewer, who doesn't care about OAR or OST (original sound track).

 

[Richard Kim]

Oh come on. Virtually all movies on network TV are cropped. Why single out Lucas for it? He was probably overrruled by Fox. Speilberg's films have been chopped on TV (I remember Jaws on ABC was butchered last year), why not jump on him?

I couldn't bear to watch a butchered TPM on tv, but did anyone see the R2D2: Behind the Dome special after the film? I thought it was pretty cute, and they some appearences from Ep 2 actors, including Hayden Christensen.

 

[Edwin Pereyra]

This should come as no surprise. It has been years since I have seen a film on network TV. This is one of the reasons why.

~Edwin

 

[RobertR]

why does he allow his films to be shown in pan n scan at all?

I thought the answer was quite obvious:

$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

He's NEVER allowed any other consideration to interfere with THAT motivation.

At least the broadcast of the film on digital channels was OAR.

 

[Inspector Hammer!]

Man, I just wish for one time, the man himself would pop his head in here, I would love to ask him this flat out!
I agree about the money issue, but how can a director allow his work to be butchered like this, and still sleep at night? You had better believe that if I put a couple of years of my life into a film, AND I had the power to dictate how it will be shown, their would be no pan nscan version EVER. Money be damned, this is my work, and it will be shown properly!

 

[Edwin Pereyra]

If Lucas can allow his franchise to be licensed on lipsticks (yeah, that Naboo pink lacquer) then anything is fair game.

~Edwin

 

[Ivan Lindenfeld]

I am coming out in support of this thread. I watched a few minutes at the beginning and was apalled. Liam and Ewan might as well have pressed their noses against the camera lens. Even for those that despise this movie, I think many of them will concede that the production design is pretty good. Well, all of that was lost in the travesty on Fox.

 

[Vince Maskeeper]

The irony I found was although the feature was pan & scan, many of the commercials shown during breaks were letterboxed.

LOL!

-Vince

 

[YANG]

I am curious...Did anyone of you bought the VCD release a year ago when LUCAS was reluctant to release the movie in DVD format?

I don't get it...if some of you had bought the pan and scan VCD...

 

[Paul Jenkins]

the broadcast was in 480p OAR here in Dallas on the HD side, looked and sounded great, just like the DVD, with the exception of the commercials
Funny side note, this was the first movie we've watched as a family on the HD side, where I don't have a UTV or Tivo. My daughter (8) kept saying "pause it" or "rewind that part", and I had to say "sorry sweetie, we can't do that with HD", to which she replied "well, that's dumb!"
Children make their parents proud sometime

 

[MickeS]

The irony I found was although the feature was pan & scan, many of the commercials shown during breaks were letterboxed.

LOL!

I agree, that always amuses me too... also, I never watch "ER", but isn't that shown in 16:9?

Why P&S is still used is beyond me at this point. There is ZERO need for it.

/Mike

 

[Inspector Hammer!]

Pan n scan still exsists because we can't upset Joe and Jane's delicate wittle bwains now can we!

 

[DaveBB]

the broadcast was in 480p OAR here in Dallas on the HD side, looked and sounded great, just like the DVD, with the exception of the commercials

Repeat after me: 480p on Fox is not HDTV.
Yes, 480p looks very nice. However HDTV is only 720p and 1080i so the picture could get even better. Fox has basicly told the hi-def community to screw off and the best we'll get for the foreseable future is 480p.