As you all are probably aware, George Lucas plans to release all three of the good Star Wars movies and the prequels on Blu-ray in September. Taking a page from LotR, the Star Wars Saga collection also contains three discs full of over 30 hours of bonus materials and never before seen footage. This sounds great, right? Well, not so much.
While it will undoubtedly look fantastic on Blu-ray, good ol’ Uncle George yet again leaves his most devoted long term fans in the cold. Is it going to have a remastered un-edited version of the original trilogy? Hell no.
No, we are yet again forced to buy George’s “visionary masterpiece” that pretty much does nothing except aggravate people who know how the movie is supposed to be. WTF? I already have this version! I bought it when they released the unedited version with it in 2008. A version which is possibly of worse quality than my VHS tapes.
On Amazon, there is a little war being waged in the reviews section, and it’s pretty clearly divided between 1 star and 5. The people giving it 5 stars can’t see what the problem is. So this next part is mainly for them.
The Problem
Here’s the issue. The people who want the unedited version remastered are the vanguard. We are the ones who came first. We are the ones who bought all of George’s toys, and models, and lunchboxes and now spend small fortunes for limited edition Millenium Falcon “Extraordinaire” promos from Toys “R”Us. If not for the original fans, Star Wars would not be here right now. We took Star Wars to heart and made it a part of us.
Then George Lucas came and changed what we loved so much. And it’s now not the same movie. No, you might not care if Han shot first or not, but that little detail speaks volumes about Han’s character. If he didn’t shoot first, then it was self-defense. But if he did, then it makes you realize that Han isn’t exactly a nice guy. He’s an outlaw. It shades his personality.
And that’s why it matters to us. If Leonardo Da Vinci came back to life and said “Hey, the Mona Lisa’s smile wasn’t supposed to be so demure” and then he gave her a big grin, that wouldn’t be okay with most people. And that’s what George Lucas did. He gave the Mona Lisa a big dopey smile.
George Lucas is ignoring the very people who made Star Wars famous and kept the spark alive between RotJ and TPM. We are his most faithful and loyal devotees, and how does he reward our belief and trust in him?
By refusing to give us the movie we actually love.
A Simple Solution
Here’s an idea, George. Instead of 30 hours of garbage I’ve probably already seen, how about giving us the uncut trilogy. You had to have it remastered before you started messing with it. It’s sitting in a closet somewhere and you won’t let us have it? It’s 6 measly hours. You could fit them all on one Blu-ray disc!
I know it won’t happen. But I can hope. Maybe, just maybe, when he does the 3D versions, he’ll release the originals with them. I doubt it. But as long as we still remember the glory of the originals, they’ll never truly die.
Terry Lund wrote
having seen both the Original and the Special Editions, I wish all the purist would shut up. if you don’t like the special edition, don’t buy it. I’m sure that in 10 years he will release a version that includes the original. Really? Han Solo’s Character? He is a smuggler and has had numerous run ins with various law enforcement. also he is a character in a movie.
Anonymous wrote
At this point, i’d rather see the uncorrected 1993-4 digital scan of the original film print. Yes it will look horrible, but that’s the point. Show the public the extents of time on film, how much damage and change actually happened to the celluloid. (remember 1993-4 was the digital scan, the original film looks even worse now.)
Heck put out two uncorrected digital scans. The 1993 and the 2013. Now your going to ask, who’s going to buy this. The financial answer is to package these uncorrected digital scans with a fourth Rinzler’s Making Of book on the Special Editions. Rinzler should be able to find 100 pages worth of material from the Special Edition era. Have all four Making Of books with these uncorrected digital scans (SW, ESB, RotJ 1993 & 2013, and do TPM too since it was also film stock) They can make it big and fancy in a box like the Frames thing.
The point is to spearhead an initiative to preserve films. Show the public how bad (and how bad it continues to degrade) by releasing these films in an uncorrected version. That’s what i’m interested in seeing at this point.
Jim wrote
Reply to Terry Lund:
Terry, are you aware that most DVD’s/BluRays of classic movies contain both versions? Movies like Lord or the Rings, T2, BladeRunner, Aliens, ET, etc. all contain both versions so ALL of the fans can enjoy them. I don’t know why fans of the Special Edition get so hell bent against Lucas not releasing the original versions. Shouldn’t all SW fans enjoy whatever version they like? What a strange fanbase….
Peter wrote
Terry Lund:
The problem is that the unaltered OT is not on the market anymore. We don’t buy the Special Edition. We’re frustrated that the true Star Wars films are not available to the general public. Sure, I’m very happy to have mint condition LD versions of the OT, but being able to buy second hand is not sufficient. The condition of these VHS continues to degrade, and most people did not ever have a laserdisc player (heck, most people don’t have VCRs anymore). The true version of Star Wars has been removed from the mainstream public, and thus history and quality of culture has been altered.
Jim:
Yes, I agree. People who strangely prefer the Special Edition and altered fake Star Wars are very selfish in not wanting devotees to have access to the OT in the current form of visual media.