You know, short of remaking Episodes 4, 5, and 6 altogether, why doesn’t Lucas just go back to his principle photography footage and re-cut the Original Trilogy entirely? New cut, new visual effects, new sound effects, newly recorded soundtrack, etc. (..although I figure this might be easier said than done.)

I watched the Special Editions on DVD just a few weeks ago, and I still find myself thinking that the newly added digital effects in Episode IV stand in stark contrast to the rest of the movie and by no means complement the overall “tone” of the film. I am further baffled when I see TIE-fighter matte boxes during the Falcon’s escape from the Death Star and wonder why “tweak this” or “alter that” if you’re still going to leave those 1970s matte boxes for all to see? It’s like trying to force-fit pieces together from two different puzzles that were manufactured 20 years apart.

In short, I just don’t seem to understand Lucas’ rationale on ANYTHING anymore, whether it’s his choices on what to “fix” in the Original Trilogy or his outright refusal to release the original films anamorphically on DVD or Blu-ray...

All of that said, I don’t know if I’ll end up getting the Blu-rays or not. Maybe...

Well, I'm not buying anything Star Wars save for the original cuts, properly restored, which we all know are never coming. Money I needn't spend I suppose. Move along.

One thing I do hope gets added to these Blu Rays are new commentaries.

They seriously need to get Mark Hamill to record something.

Totally agree!!

Saw this on HTF:

^Enjoyed that!

^

I thought they were pretty good. A lot of neat background info, like in ANH Princess Leia is 19 years old and has a PhD in Poli-Sci. Some interesting stuff like that.

Fresh set as well as the previously done versions.

Fisher shouldn't be the only actor doing commenting on the work.

I want a commentary track from Anthony Daniels, Kenny Baker and Peter Mayhew where all three get to unload about how miserable they were. Might actually make the Tatooine scenes in A New Hope entertaining.

That's what I was thinking, having all the actors come in to do commentary could result in some bad memories coming to the surface, some venting, complaining about George... who knows. We'd enjoy it, but they might not.

Harrison Ford doing commentary : "What the fuck, Greedo didn't shoot first. Who the hell changed this shit?"

I don't think Lucas would allow bad comments about him on his films. Considering that he controls them. What I was amazed about allowing bad comments about any films were the Wachowskis getting critics that didn't like The Matrix and the other films to do commentaries. That surprised me. I heavily doubt Lucas would allow any badmouthing of him on any commentary produced by him.

It would be nice to hear FOrd talk about how he begged Lucas to give him a death scene in ROTJ.

It's funny how I used to get so angry every time Lucas announced a new release of Star Wars that didn't include the OT. These were movies that profoundly influenced me as a kid and were responsible for me loving and appreciating so many other movies and soundtracks as well.

But now, I don't purchase Star Wars stuff anymore - not due to some kind of protest or boycott. It's just that over time, I've lost all passion over these movies with all the moronic take-you-out-of-the-moment changes and the travesty Lucas has become in regards to preserving film history. Just imagine - in a few more years we will have lived in a world where the special editions have been recognized as the "official" versions longer than the originals!

It seems really ironic to me that George Lucas could be responsible for making me stop caring about Star Wars!

Agreed and Ditto.

I can see where you're coming from, but I still buy stuff like the new Clone Wars series, cause it's not just dipping into the old stuff over and over. I've bought one version of the movies (the silver box of 4-6 and the individual release of 1-3) and I've bought all the Clone Wars stuff. I passed on the original OT versions since they weren't 16x9. So I'm doing what's known as a "buycott". I buy what's good, I simply ignore what's not. I sent one letter when we first learned about them using the old transfers for the OT, but now I just simply let it pass over me with each subsequent release.

Like you said, Lucas is making us lose the passion.

Are you buying it because you enjoy it, or simply because it's new Star Wars material?

I enjoy it, and I want to send a message to Lucas that new material that is properly presented will get my money (as opposed to just watching it on TV, or downloading it, whether illegally or through iTunes).

I'm pretty sure that if you download it through iTunes, Lucas gets your money.

I think his point is that iTunes purchase is not a "proper presentation." i.e. a good Blu-ray package is the preferred format for the highest quality.

Basically that, though I started buying Clone Wars on DVD before I had a BR player. I've been debating selling the DVDs and doing Blu going forward though...

In a far enough future, there will be only 3 official Star Wars movies even if they might not be the original versions.