[J m HofMarN]

I was just curious as to what you all think will become of the unedited original trilogy. Since Lucas seems bent on destroying it. Will he succeed?

[CowboyCurtis]

Not as long we don't get caught making illegal copies.

I may or... may NOT have one. *Ahem* *Wink-wink*

[Mnesymone]

There's no way he'll succeed once I get a VHS-to-DVD recorder.

As for the rest of us... maybe we could finish Lucas off with a small Jar-Jar shaped bomb in a piece of fake fanmail.

It would be a shame to see our friend go - but I won't let it go without a fight.

[Just your average movie goer]

However, as we discovered when we re-watched the videos, the quality is getting shoddy and the original films need remastering... oh boy, do they need remastering.

Why the hell didn't Lucas restore the films when he had the chance? He could do it and add in his other crap afterwards and it'd be no more expensive.

He also would have sold more copies of his trilogy if he had included the original films. Maybe he could have released a six disc set with both the original versions and the new ones... or if he was really money crazy, he could release a nine disc set with the originals, the special editions and the supremely-fucked versions.

That's what annoys me the most about all of this. If it was money he wanted, then there was no reason not to release the original untarnished films on DVD and EVERY reason to do so.

His actual course of action actually reaped in far less money than he would have earned otherwise. And he would have known that would happen. So I can only conclude that he did this out of spite.

Yes, Lucas. You have the film rights. You can do whatever you want and we can't stop you. However, you ARE a wanker.

[Helena]

Yes, Lucas.  You have the film rights.  You can do whatever you want and we can't stop you.  However, you ARE a wanker.

Mind if I sig this, Movie Goer?

[Just your average movie goer]

Why, certainly.

[Lord Aquaman]

The original trilogy's untarnished versions will never die, so long as we remember them.

[Despondent]

The OOT is the (good) twin brother, kept locked away in Lucas' dungeon.

[Paladin]

Not so for me, I have a mind to forget about Star Wars as a whole by the time the series is concluded.

[The Scornful Roman]

The original trilogy's untarnished versions will never die, so long as we remember them.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Yeah, but someday we'll all be dead, and there will be a new generation out there that will never have seen nor will ever see the OOT.

I guess that out of all the crazy Star Wars stuff that's happened, the destruction of the classiv films by their creator is the thing that ticks me off the most. It could be argued that George Lucas has a right to make the prequels however he wants to; they're his films, his stories, and his money on the line for making them. Our opinions on their merits are just that; subjective opinions.

But there is one thing about Star Wars that is not subjective opinion, it is a fact: the OOT was a classic piece of cinema. I don't think that Lucas or anyone else has the right to compare those original films to a "work-print", because they weren't that, they were films that were completed and shown to the public, and the public, by and large, enjoyed the trilogy for what it was at the time. They still do.

I'm not arguing that Lucas doesn't have the right to make the Special Editions; the 1997 versions were the ones that gave me a passion for Star Wars. But I do contest his 'right' to destroy three pieces of cinematic history, namely the OOT.

[ernesttomlinson]

The big question is why. Lots have movies have had "director's cuts" made, often adding footage that probably was cut from the original film for a good reason (look at the wretched footage added to The Exorcist not long ago.) Still I've never heard of any other film director who treats his original creations with such slight regard, referring to them as "unfinished" and refusing to rerelease them without his clumsy additions. Why? Someone ought to ask him in an interview if he wants to make an American Graffiti "special edition".

Lucas's behaviour baffles me. My best guess is that he made and released his "special editions" in 1997 in all innocence, sure that everyone was going to love them (wow, more robots! Boba Fett! More Jabba the Hutt!), and only when he was unpleasantly surprised that fans mostly disliked the changes did Lucas harden his heart against his original movies and begin asserting in earnest that the SEs were the real Star Wars films and that the old ones were little more than rough drafts. Lucas is nothing if not defensive.

[barend]

i just got given a video to PC transfer cable thingy...
which means i can mpeg them from video... but i'll have to check the quality... either... way...whoever does it first should kazaa the shit so everyone gets it free and doesn't need to own those pitiful remixes...

[Hannibal]

Don't know why this baffles everyone. Lucas knows theres nothing wrong with the originals. Its an excuse to continue to add to them and "update" them to rake in more billions. Every few years(SW in 3-D?) he will release them as yet with more "unseeen" footage, and other rediculous "selling points." It baffles me that nobody's pointed this out. He HAS to deny the OT and say they "weren't finished" because how the hell is he going to look...he's the only one out there continuously re-releasing the movies.(What he doesn't know is that the old folks would go to see them again and again regardless of new features...) Alas...its to sell to "new generations" who might think his effects are cheesy. Its a product. Like NEW COKE, PEPSI2 and all the rest. Its all a marketing scheme and has nothing to do with art, perfection or restoring a masterpiece...its a, dare I say it...SCAM.

[barend]

yeah, but at least with new coke thay eventually bring back the original as "classic coke"

[Chefelf]

There are many different versions of the OOT that have been converted to DVD and are available through trades, etc. with Star Wars fans.

Check out Originaltrilogy.com for a lot of good resources and information about preserving the OOT.