marioxb

It must be, since this makes perfect sence to me. See this:
And don't YOU understand, that we already have remastered versions. Why should he or anyone bother to remaster them again? Honestly.

ET is a bit different. There aren't ET prequels that are supposed to come before this ET. There is nothing that it has to match up to. Star Wars IV-VI MUST match with the ones that are supposed to take place before it, and the only way that is possible is added effects/ scenes that make the movies much much better, IMO.

That's exactly what he wants. People to want the SEs over the OTs. And that's what I want, honestly, as well. He does NOT WANT you to prefer the OOT versions over the SEs. If they look as good/ better than the SEs, a lot of people that wanted the SEs simply for the improved transfer (and didn't really care either way about the added footage) might lose interest in the SEs. I am going to help Mr. Lucas in taking over the world and making everyone forget that the movies existed before 2004. Mwahaha! You've got your old movies, deal with it. I totally agree with his reasoning on this. It's cool to have the older versions for old time's sake. That's all. Move on to bigger and better things, the (Special Special Special infinity) SEs. If you prefer the older versions, there they are. Sorry, but if you want the better quality, you gotta watch the newer versions. It makes perfect sense.

thomkai

What the hell? Did you even READ what you quoted?

Emphasis added to better illustrate that just because you believe something, doesn't make it right, true, or what others should believe, IMO.
Almost the exact difference between simply remastering and editing...
Having the 'older versions for old times sake' would be nice if they were of decent quality.

I know you're just trolling, but this post was reallllly outlandish.

And I did buy the Rerelease, but, seriously, are you trying to not make sense? Just wait till Milo Bloom gets a hold of you, haha.

milo bloom

marioxb: To quote one of the best scifi/comedies on TV right now: "I dare you to make less sense."

The reason we want the old ones remastered is because we don't want Three Stooges inspired droid antics in Mos Eisley. We don't want Greedo shooting first (or at all). We want to see groundbreaking model work in the Battle of Yavin. We want Darth Vader to rumble "Bring my shuttle" like he means it, and may the Force help the Imperial lackey who gave the keys to said shuttle to the valet parking attendant, cause you know Vader would tear him six kinds of new a-holes. We want the musical number in Jabba's palace to be a sleazy jazz/fusion number with a barely mobile marionette, instead of a poorly rendered Jar Jar predecessor accompanied by the Honeycomb cereal monster. And by the Force, we want Anakin to be an old fart, ravaged by the dark side, but finally, truly at peace, because his son loved him for the good that was still in him.

Sir or madam, if you truly believe the drivel you have posted, and you are not a plant from Lucasfilm, then may the Force have mercy on your soul, for you are truly a misguided, uninformed, and shallow individual. Your (minimal) appreciation for cinema, makes me wonder if you worship at the feet of Michael Bay and Uwe Boll, and if you truly can appreciate what it is about the original versions that make them the films that they are.

I can't repeat it enough times (apparently), newer does not equal better. And there are scads of older films that come out all the time on DVD, that have been properly remastered with anamorphic enhancement, and they are not decried for being too "shiny", instead they are praised for allowing the original beauty of the film to shine though on a home video format at last.

I truly pity someone such as yourself, that swallows the corporate line so easily. I wonder do you buy Starbucks canned coffee drinks in the hopes that they will allow you to dance in the streets to the tune of an army joady? Do you buy the gas guzzling SUV because you were picked on on the playground?

You are indeed Lucas' favorite type of fan, because you are so quick to defend these.

I have loved these films, and their ancillary stories, since I was a wee lad back in 1977. My anger comes not from discontent that I didn't get what I wanted; rather, it comes from these historic films not being given the respect and attention that they deserve.

thomkai

Good quote, great show.

"Yeah Clarissa, explain it all!"

marioxb

I like the old movies. I was one when SW was released. It's a cool movie. I just think it's 75 gazillion times better as an SE. It has been remastered to the extreme. No need to remaster the old "workprint" edition. But, hey, if you wanna watch it, there it is. It's not like the quality is so bad that you can't even tell what movie it is, it's definatly watchable, even on a 16x9 TV. I just honestly say there is no need for it to be of any better quality. Again, that's what the SE version is for. Close your eyes for the parts you don't like. I'm not saying people don't want the OOT to look as good as the SE. Just look at it from Lucas's standpoint. Why would he bother? Then he has even LESS of a reason for people to want the SE, being the only version in remastered glory. He wants EVERYONE to own the newer version. And I can say I would feel the same way if these were movies I made.

What if your teacher in school made you turn in your "rough draft" as the final copy for your book report. You re-typed it, got rid of all spelling errors, added stuff, removed stuff. The old version was all scribbled on and had a drawing of the teacher as a monster on it. The teacher takes your "rough draft" version and grades it. This version wasn't intended for anyone to see. Exact same thing here. Only difference being that we did get to see these "rough draft" versions. So we can have them for fun, but there's no way in hell they are gonna look as good as the newer version! Why would they?

I know the SEs and beyond were more than just remastered, and were also edited/ etc, but why would anyone do (at least part of) the same process again to another version of the EXACT SAME MOVIE??????? Especially when that someone wants to pretend that those old versions never existed?

Bluelitespecial

I bought all three in the Best Buy tin, and so far have loved getting to see the originals for the first time in almost ten years. I wish they were shown more respect such as a better transfer, extras, etc. These would make awesome criterion discs, but we know that will never happen. I have always been a star wars fan, but I am probably done buying dvds,unless the rumored 30th aniversery set is something spectacular to buy.

Brooklyn

Holy crap, even you can't really believe the $#!t you're shoveling here.
...But if you do, I'll say this. If I turned in a "rough draft" without telling my
teacher it was such, only to come back 20 years later and spring the truth
on her while trying to turn in another book report, she'd tell me to keep the
grade I originally received (assuming she even knew what the hell I was
talking about). In closing, there is absolutely no correlation between your
example and what happened with these films.

coli

How can you say watching the O-OT doesn't match up with the PT? Other than Hayden instead of Shaw, what has changed storywise that affects the PT?

It is all effects that were added in 1997! That was 2 years before the PT, and the SE were not made to match the PT, they were just to what George Lucas supposedly couldn't do in 1977. Although I don't understand how he couldn't have Greedo shoot first in 1977?

The Emperor from the 2004 version and the O-OT version doesn't make a lick of difference when watching the saga 1-6. I will even go as far to say that you can still watch Hayden or Shaw and enjoy the saga 1-6.

By Lucas making the SE, he has now CREATED the O-OT fanbase, and now many of those fans have a reason not to recognize the PT. If Lucas just kept the OT the way it was, we would all be OT fans instead of sub-sections of OT fans, and that is pretty sad it turned out that way.

By your post today, you have proven my point and I don't think Lucas ever intended to split the OT fanbase. The fact that you said that the O-OT are a bunch of old movies, shows that even you have fallen into the trap that SE tie to the PT movies so perfectly, when if the OT were never changed in 1997 or 2004, I guarantee you would still be a 1-6 saga fan! I guarantee if the SE never existed, and just the O-OT existed, you wouldn't be saying, "Please George, change the OT movies so they match the PT movies!!" No you would be defending how great they flow 1-6.

marioxb

Well, for one they look better. I know most of the SE-ness was from 1997 except Emperor, Boba Fett and the end of Jedi. The point is, I like all of the SE changes and think they all make sence. I wish they were even more upgraded and that Yoda will be replaced in Episode I, both of which I'm sure will happen next year. I just think they way they look now (and this is remastering and updated effects as well) matches much closer to the prequels. I can watch them in numerical order and easily believe they were filmed that way. Sure if he hadn't upgraded the movies at all, I may have felt differently, but I think the movies are better this way, and I don't see them as changed at all. Merely better-ified. A new word I just made up.

ShaunoftheDead

i'll tell you you, i had no interest in these releases until the BB Tin came along. I am such a sucker for tins and neat packaging that i jumped. then i kept telling myself, i'll have the originals, like i remember them as a child, without the circular blast around the Death Star, without a stupid added Jabba the Hut scene and especially the Ewoks "yub yub" song. that is what i kept telling myself at least to justify the purchase.

i got it and compared it to the stellar cleaned up releases and it just wasn't a comparison. i realized i will probably never watch the OOT because the new SE's are so stellar. but, if i sell of the other SE's, then i will be happy and not feel as guilty because at least now and what i justify the most is...I WILL HAVE A CHOICE!

thomkai

Maybe you are missing the point of what's got people so upset. The O-OT COULD look better, too, if Lucas had spent some time, cleaned them up, anomorphized the transfer. But instead he did next to nothing, and threw them in with the SE's.
Now it's not as if the OT is supposed to look crappy because it was made in '77. It just DOES look crappy. It's not a matter of it being old, it's a matter of Lucas being lazy and selfish. I wouldn't have minded having the SE's come with a cleaned up transfer of the OOT.
As it has been said, remastering doesn't necessarily change the film. That' editing. Lucas remastered, then edited, the OT. Some people (myself included) feel that it is stronger without the editing. That's what wew want: remastered editions of the series.
Now everyone's entitled to their opinion, so you can say that the SE's are great and perfect, and to you, it's entirely true. It doesn't mean, however, that the OT never existed in a different form, or that it should be just forgotten about. I think it can all exist side by side. As you have proven, there are at least some people that will still always like the SE's.

coli

So you are saying that if Lucas never changed the OT in 1997 & 2004, you would have problems connecting the saga now 1-6? If so, I don't buy it, my theory is either you like the PT or not, and the ones that like it will have no problem connecting it with the OT. I think if Lucas would have remastered just the O-OT in 2004, I think you would be on other theads saying how much you love the saga 1-6.

I just find it funny that Lucas built Skywalker Ranch from the money he made from the O-OT versions, he has gained all his respect and accolades by critics and many fans from the O-OT versions, and even The Original Star Wars from 1977 is a movie that changed movies forever too. But he doesn't have enough respect to give the millions of fans who saw that version a proper release?

Mr. Thames

All the complaints I've heard about the O-OT versions' visual quality makes them sound like they are some horribly disfigured relative you keep locked away in the attic so people can't see them. But, I don't find this to be true. No, they don't look as clean and crisp as the painstakingly remastered SE versions. But they DO look decent. I would go as far as to say that they look as good as most DVDs of movies from the same time period. They certainly look better than my 12-year-old full screen VHS versions of the O-OT. Definitely worth the dinero in my book.

Do I feel like Lucas gave me the shaft? A little. But more like he shafted me after dinner and a movie.

marioxb

That's what I am saying. They look good. If it was still 1977 thru 1983, would you expect them to look any better than they do on the bonus discs? Probably not. Why should they look like a new DVD? They shouldn't. We have versions that look spectacular, it would be a waste of Lucas's time to do that again to the movies, since he now hates them.

If none of the changes ever happened, I probably wouldn't know any better and would have been happy. Although Ian ALWAYS should have been the Emperor in Empire Strikes Back, and there never should have been eyebrows on the unmasked Anakin. As far as the eye color, they should have gave Hayden (and Jake Lloyd) contacts, but after the fact, it was much easier to digitally change one shot of the old man Ani versus the entire first three movies.

Most of the other changes I probably wouldn't have noticed. I'm just glad that they happened. Improved special effects= coolness. Added scenes= more coolness.

I just think that there should be and is two extremes. If you want the original versions, watch them in a slighty inferior format. We were all happy with them this way on laserdisc and VHS, and they look even better now on DVD. Isn't that enough? To me, it is.

If you want them remastered in anyway, you can have them that way as well. You just have to take the added scenes and effects with those versions as well. You can't have your cake and eat it too.

thomkai

You're still not making sense. Just because a movie is old doesn't mean it has to look old. Someone used ET asa an example. I'm sure if Lucas had at least made them Anamorphic, and maybe dropped some better sound options on there, a lot of people would have been happier. And just because people were happy with them on laserdisc and VHS in the early 90's does not justify a poor release in 2006. I don't know if you've noticed, but there have been huge advancements in technology in the last 10 or so years. We are on the verge of an HD era. Lucas can take a little of that money he got from FANS and put it back into his original work. It's ridiculous to believe he is in the right here. He is just greedy and selfish, and it has NOTHING to do with limitations of technology.

coli

First of all, just because you put 1997 or 2004 effects in a 1977 movie, doesn't mean it looks better to everyone. Some of the effects looks so ridiculous because it wasn't made when the movie was shot. And for added scenes: Greedo shooting first? Bad CG jabba? Lucas taking out Vader saying, "Bring my Shuttle!!" in ESB? The new song in Jabbas Palace in ROTJ? Hayden in ROTJ? There are all needless changes that in some ways makes me think Lucas is tampering with the damn movies now for no reason at all.

As for your theory of watching the originals on VHS or Laserdisk, why even have DVD then? Why would Paramount remaster The Godfather, if every fan probably has it on VHS or Laserdisk? Why would anyone want the Wizard of Oz on DVD if they have them on VHS or Laserdisk? The whole point of DVD is to get more resolution than previous formats so the picture does look better!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Laserdisk was fine in the 90's cause nothing was better. Black & White TV was fine in the 1950's, cause nothing was better, should we all go back to Black & White TV's now? Should we all shut off our air conditioning for the summer, to relive the old days when our parents didn't have it? DVD is the format now that is the best, just as HD-DVD will probably be king in about 5 years, and the O-OT and SE deserve to get their proper treatment then.

No offense, that is one of the most ludricrous arguments I have ever heard.

Mr. Thames

Even if I had never seen the O-OT I would have thought something was strange with the SEs. Some of the CG stuff looks very out of place to me. The landspeeder approach to Mos Eisley. The extended approach to Cloud City. The new Sy Snootles musical number. The whole new ending to Jedi. And while I liked the redone Jabba of the DVD release much better than the version in the original 1997 Special Edition, to me the movie flows better without that whole scene (even though I love that it adds Boba Fett to ANH).

A few things I did like- I LOVED the overhead shot of The Falcon taking off from Docking Bay 94 at Mos Eisley. Liked the shot of the X-Wings rounding Yavin on their way to the Death Star. Liked the CG windows in Cloud City. The herd of Banthas seen by Jabba's sail barge in th Dune Sea (even though they we bad CG). Best of all I liked the erasing of the black lines around certain effects; the rancor, snow speeders, etc.
To me, a big reason to upgrade from my VHS tapes to DVDs is that video tape degrades over time. And DVD quality is better then VHS simply because of the technology involved. Even if they are recorded from the same source, the DVDs will look better.

Another reason to upgrade is the technology. VCRs are quickly going the way of the dinosaurs (I've never even seen a laserdisc player). When your old player breaks and you can't find a new one, how will you play all your movies? That's the bad thing about new tech. It phases out the old.