Star Wars: The Original Trilogy

Awesome, do wish it were full length too. I wonder if there are other little nuggets Lucas laid out for the blu-ray release that we have yet to see.

CJB wrote:

I hope to God those unaltered Original Trilogy DVD's are still available in stores. I'm stuck with the Hayden-ised '04 DVD's and I'd hate to think Monkey Orgasm Kenobi is all I'd be able to get in future.

Yeah, the OT DVDs are in stores all the time when I go, like HMV and so on. It's the "Limited Edition" ones with the unaltered version in non anamorphic on disc two.

The Jabba's door thing actually makes me laugh. I mean, what rational reason can be behind that other than just pure hilarity?

2011 George Lucas should listen to 1988 George Lucas:
"My name is George Lucas. I am a writer, director, and producer of motion pictures and Chairman of the Board of Lucasfilm Ltd., a multi-faceted entertainment corporation.
I am not here today as a writer-director, or as a producer, or as the chairman of a corporation. I've come as a citizen of what I believe to be a great society that is in need of a moral anchor to help define and protect its intellectual and cultural heritage. It is not being protected.
The destruction of our film heritage, which is the focus of concern today, is only the tip of the iceberg. American law does not protect our painters, sculptors, recording artists, authors, or filmmakers from having their lifework distorted, and their reputation ruined. If something is not done now to clearly state the moral rights of artists, current and future technologies will alter, mutilate, and destroy for future generations the subtle human truths and highest human feeling that talented individuals within our society have created.
A copyright is held in trust by its owner until it ultimately reverts to public domain. American works of art belong to the American public; they are part of our cultural history.
People who alter or destroy works of art and our cultural heritage for profit or as an exercise of power are barbarians, and if the laws of the United States continue to condone this behavior, history will surely classify us as a barbaric society. The preservation of our cultural heritage may not seem to be as politically sensitive an issue as "when life begins" or "when it should be appropriately terminated," but it is important because it goes to the heart of what sets mankind apart. Creative expression is at the core of our humanness. Art is a distinctly human endeavor. We must have respect for it if we are to have any respect for the human race.
These current defacements are just the beginning. Today, engineers with their computers can add color to black-and-white movies, change the soundtrack, speed up the pace, and add or subtract material to the philosophical tastes of the copyright holder. Tommorrow, more advanced technology will be able to replace actors with "fresher faces," or alter dialogue and change the movement of the actor's lips to match. It will soon be possible to create a new "original" negative with whatever changes or alterations the copyright holder of the moment desires. The copyright holders, so far, have not been completely diligent in preserving the original negatives of films they control. In order to reconstruct old negatives, many archivists have had to go to Eastern bloc countries where American films have been better preserved.
In the future it will become even easier for old negatives to become lost and be "replaced" by new altered negatives. This would be a great loss to our society. Our cultural history must not be allowed to be rewritten.
There is nothing to stop American films, records, books, and paintings from being sold to a foreign entity or egotistical gangsters and having them change our cultural heritage to suit their personal taste.
I accuse the companies and groups, who say that American law is sufficient, of misleading the Congress and the People for their own economic self-interest.
I accuse the corporations, who oppose the moral rights of the artist, of being dishonest and insensitive to American cultural heritage and of being interested only in their quarterly bottom line, and not in the long-term interest of the Nation.
The public's interest is ultimately dominant over all other interests. And the proof of that is that even a copyright law only permits the creators and their estate a limited amount of time to enjoy the economic fruits of that work.
There are those who say American law is sufficient. That's an outrage! It's not sufficient! If it were sufficient, why would I be here? Why would John Houston have been so studiously ignored when he protested the colorization of "The Maltese Falcon?" Why are films cut up and butchered?
Attention should be paid to this question of our soul, and not simply to accounting procedures. Attention should be paid to the interest of those who are yet unborn, who should be able to see this generation as it saw itself, and the past generation as it saw itself.
I hope you have the courage to lead America in acknowledging the importance of American art to the human race, and accord the proper protection for the creators of that art--as it is accorded them in much of the rest of the world communities."

^That's what Star Wars is all about, a great team of talented people working their asses off through meticulous physical toil to create great films which were way ahead of the game back then. That's why no amount of tinkered-with re-releases or sh**e prequels can ever ruin the originals for me, as I remember all too well just how great these films were/are in their original form and the amount of fantastic work that went into making them.

While others watch in horror at the Blu-Ray mutilations in a few weeks' time, safe in the knowledge that they've funded Mr Lucas further in his quest to completely desecrate his magnum opus, I'll maybe instead just dig out my old VHS of the documentary above, and fondly recall a wondrous world of great imagination completely devoid of stupidly altered voices, altered titles, shitty artwork or insane Mr Wint dragon howls.

And there's no pretensions of him having the whole thing planned out. He actually admits to making it up as he goes along such as making Liea a Skywalker.

Also he needs to listen to this guy:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VaMWTDwogbo#t=54m21s

I swear, it's like his brain dropped into that neck pouch somewheres.

Dah! Fixed the link.

http://www.deadline.com/2011/09/hardcore-fans-boycott-blu-ray-star-wars-9/

UPDATE: These hardcare fans, reacting to today’s news, are telling me this is ”about film preservation and our cultural heritage. Lucas has every right to make as many new versions of his films as he wants – fine, go crazy, George – but he has no right to replace the original versions of his films.” As Lucas himself, in 1988 testimony before Congress said:

People who alter or destroy works of art and our cultural heritage for profit or as an exercise of power are barbarians, and if the laws of the United States continue to condone this behavior, history will surely classify us as a barbaric society.

In the future it will become even easier for old negatives to become lost and be “replaced” by new altered negatives. This would be a great loss to our society. Our cultural history must not be allowed to be rewritten.

Attention should be paid to this question of our soul, and not simply to accounting procedures. Attention should be paid to the interest of those who are yet unborn, who should be able to see this generation as it saw itself, and the past generation as it saw itself.

So I guess George Lucas is admitting he's a barbarian.

More of his congressional testimony can be found here: http://savestarwars.com/lucasspeechagainstspecialedition.html

It really makes one wonder what really made him drastically change his views. Surely it wasn't because of money since by 1988 he was already filthy rich. What the hell happened that guy?

Makeshift Python wrote:

It really makes one wonder what really made him drastically change his views. Surely it wasn't because of money since by 1988 he was already filthy rich. What the hell happened that guy?

Power has gone to his head. He's sick like Stalin.

I remember a Robot Chicken episode where they showed Michael Jackson in the mid-80s being kidnapped by aliens and replaced with someone a lot whiter and weirder. It wouldn't surprise me at this point to learn that something similar has happened to Lucas.

They should make a movie, THE DAY OF THE LUCAS.

From the Wikipedia page on E.T.:

"An extended version of the film, including altered special effects, was released on March 22, 2002. Certain shots of E.T. had bothered Spielberg since 1982, as he did not have enough time to perfect the animatronics. Computer-generated imagery (CGI), provided by Industrial Light & Magic (ILM), was used to modify several shots, including ones of E.T. running in the opening sequence and being spotted in the cornfield. The spaceship's design was also altered to include more lights. Scenes shot for but not included in the original version were introduced. These included E.T. taking a bath, and Gertie telling Mary that Elliott went to the forest. Spielberg did not add the scene featuring Harrison Ford, feeling that would reshape the film too drastically. Spielberg became more sensitive about the scene where gun-wielding federal agents threaten Elliott and his escaping friends and had the guns digitally replaced with walkie-talkies.[5]

At the premiere, John Williams conducted a live performance of the score.[75] The new release grossed $35 million domestically, bringing the film's total worldwide gross to $793 million since 1982.[48] The 20th anniversary version was released as part of a two-disc DVD set on December 10, 2002; it was also packaged in a collector's edition with the original version.[76] The changes to the film, particularly the escape scene, were criticized as political correctness. Peter Travers of Rolling Stone wondered, "Remember those guns the feds carried? Thanks to the miracle of digital, they're now brandishing walkie-talkies.... Is this what two decades have done to free speech?"[77] Chris Hewitt of Empire wrote, "The changes are surprisingly low-key...while ILM's CGI E.T. is used sparingly as a complement to Carlo Rambaldi's extraordinary puppet."[78] South Park parodied many of the changes in the 2002 episode "Free Hat".[79]

In a June 2011 interview, Spielberg said that in the future,

'there’s going to be no more digital enhancements or digital additions to anything based on any film I direct.... When people ask me which E.T. they should look at, I always tell them to look at the original 1982 E.T. If you notice, when we did put out E.T. we put out two E.T.s. We put out the digitally enhanced version with the additional scenes and for no extra money, in the same package, we put out the original ‘82 version. I always tell people to go back to the ’82 version.[80]'"

Evidently Spielberg listens to the audience.

Makeshift Python wrote:

It really makes one wonder what really made him drastically change his views. Surely it wasn't because of money since by 1988 he was already filthy rich. What the hell happened that guy?

Supposedly 9/11 turned Dennis Miller from a sharp comedian into ... whatever the hell he now is. What turned Heston from being something like a more intellectual version of Colonel Taylor in his private life into 'that NRA dude?'

Not buying 'em.

I'll admit to being prepared to spend my money on these 3D rereleases, though....

Can't resist...

I can. I hate 3D anyways -- even if they were identical to the theatrica releases, but in 3D, I still wouldn't go to that.

I just can't pass up a chance to see them in theaters. Even the prequels. I'm too much of a sucker.

I saw the original trilogy in theaters in 1997 when released as special editions. Despite the changes I had a blast seeing them on the big screen as a kid (especially when the original was released on the day of my birthday!). Unless there's ever a screening for the original trilogy in their theatrical versions I am not interested in revisiting the Star Wars universe in theaters. Seeing Star Wars on the big screen for my 10th birthday can never be topped by 3D or Hayden Christensen's confused expression.

Yeah the theatrical re-releases in 97 were enough for me -- they achieved their objective of converting me fully to Star Wars love so much that I defended the franchise vehemently until the Clone Wars movie came out, which was when I finally gave up and saw reason.

It helps that the 97 editions had the least invasive changes, I feel.

Fairbairn-Sykes wrote:

It helps that the 97 editions had the least invasive changes, I feel.

Yup, besides Greedo shooting first and the insertion of the ROTJ footage in the middle of the TESB climax I really had no issues over them. Back in 1997 I saw them as a simple alternative to the originals, not a total replacement so it was okay on my book. It wasn't until the DVDs came out in 2004 that I started to find it annoying with more glaring changes (the altered colors, Hayden Christensen, ect) and the fact that the original versions were not being released on the format. I bought the set anyway because I wanted to see them on DVD for a long time and it was around the height of my fandom. After ROTS I considered the whole Star Wars saga officially closed and moved on. Lucas should have done the same. Just release the altered versions and originals like Ridley Scott and Steven Spielberg did for their flicks and move on. Why does he have to be so god damned stubborn about it?

Yeah, it ended after ROTS for me, pretty much, but the Clone Wars movie killed my interest in the expanded universe stuff too, I used to love the books and comics and games and now I just don't give a fuck.

When ROTS came out Lucas made some statement that now that he was done with Star Wars he could go back to doing little personal films he cared about like THX-1138, and Red Tails was announced around that time as well. I wish he'd stuck to that.

And there was supposed to be a live action tv series that would further explore the universe beyond the Skywalkers. That sounded pretty interesting. I remember it being announced for a Fall 2006 premiere. It's a shame Lucas only seems focused on revisiting old films instead of doing something new.

Out of curiousity I went looking for the DVDs with the original versions. The cheapest EMPIRE was 15 bucks used. STAR WARS was 27 and JEDI 35.

Looks like I'll never be seeing these movies again.

Should have got 'em before. They were dirt cheap from what I recall.

I'm surprised. When I go to HMV they're usually never more than $15.