Star Wars DVDs

Lori Lancaster | September 13, 2004
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Anna Gregoline | September 13, 2004
I'm in the camp where all the "additions" aren't needed. Touching up film and adding richness to backgrounds is one thing - re-writing scenes is another, and I don't like it. I will never buy the DVD versions unless I can have the originals too, and that will never happen. Not that people like me will hurt sales at all.

Is George Lucas richer than God yet?

Scott Horowitz | September 13, 2004
My biggest dillema with the release of the trilogy is how to sort them. I have all my DVDs in a stand, arranged by alphabetical order, and then in sequel order. Does the trilogy go before 1 and 2 or because 4,5, and 6 came out first, should they go first?

Lori Lancaster | September 13, 2004
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Lori Lancaster | September 13, 2004
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Scott Horowitz | September 13, 2004
that seems to be the consensus I am getting. But I think it will look better on the shelf in number order. Oh, the problems I have to face in life.

Scott Hardie | September 14, 2004
If you ask me, the sin is not so much that Lucas has altered the trilogy, but that he has not made available any unaltered versions on DVD, so that each consumer could decide for themselves which to own, as with dual releases in widescreen and fullscreen. I guess we can say that Lucas is a true artist, more concerned with his creation than making a profit, because the unaltered originals would briskly outsell the altered versions if they were put side-by-side on a shelf.

As for sorting order, I'm the last person to ask. I have everything in alphabetical order, which would put the prequels in front of the original trilogy, but also puts The Return of the King before The Two Towers. I know that seems crazy, but just as Lori thinks of the prequels and the originals as two separate entities, I think of each single film in a series as its own entity.

Scott Horowitz | September 14, 2004
He could have done it like they did with T2. Original version, Special Edition and Extended Special Edition.

Anna Gregoline | September 14, 2004
I guess we can say that Lucas has lost all perspective and can't let his body of acclaimed work stand on it's own merits without him fucking with it.

I'm still a little pissed, sorry. I'll get over it.

Anthony Lewis | September 14, 2004
Star Wars.

Bleccch!

Melissa Erin | September 14, 2004
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Anna Gregoline | September 15, 2004
Me too.

Kris Weberg | September 15, 2004
Again, I loved "classic" Star Wars as a kid, but the older I get, the more I realize that they are superb action movies in all rights but not sacrosanct works of art or clever presentations of religious thought.

Paradoxically, that's why I hate the prequels and I hate the additions and reedits of the old versions -- pretty much all of Lucas' alterations, and his new backstory, are devoted to taking the paper-thin ideas that frame the rollicking action seriously, as though they were the draw and were worthy of serious consideration.

And yes, destroying Han Solo's roguish outlaw persona by making even the bar scene shooting justifiable homicide really screws up what made the character fun and compelling to start with.

It's as though someone rewrote the Labors of Hercules in the style of the Platonic Dialogues.

Or, more accurately, as though someone rewrote Sam Raimi's Hercules in that style.

Anna Gregoline | September 15, 2004
You had me...and then you lost me.

Erik Bates | September 15, 2004
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Anna Gregoline | September 15, 2004
Me too, I know nothing.

John E Gunter | September 15, 2004
I agree with you there, Kris. There is nothing wrong with an action movie occasionally. Ok, so maybe occasionally isn't the proper term, I like action movies all the time.

If I want to deal with anything deep, I'll go to the theatre.

I guess that's why I really don't care for the prequels, he's trying to hard to write a deep thought provoking story. It's one thing to try and put some kind of a back story in the movie, but it's not some kind of a classic story.

Guess George feels that he has to somehow justify the story by trying to create something deep. I'll probably have to rent them first before I buy to make sure it's something I want to own.

John

Lori Lancaster | September 16, 2004
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Scott Hardie | September 17, 2004
Labors of Hercules = classic adventure tales
Platonic Dialogues = boring and academic
Sam Raimi's TV series = Hercules for Dummies

(Forgive me if you're a fan.) Does that clear it up?

I don't know if I'd call the Star Wars films deep, more like "wide," in that they have a complicated inner story. That richness is great for the fans who eat it up, but it's one of the rare action films to have so complicated a story and still manage to benefit from it. (Even I agree that the Matrix series had far too much exposition in its latter installments. Who's supposed to take that stuff seriously?)

There are plenty of people who subscribe to the philosophy of the Star Wars films, and that's not unreasonable given its origin in real-world mysticism. Myself, I kind of need to see somebody instinctively deflect laser fire before I'll believe in the Force.

Scott Hardie | September 20, 2004
George Lucas recently told the press why he won't publish the originals. (Essentially: They're my movies, not yours, and I'm going to publish them as I want them to be.)

Anna Gregoline | September 20, 2004
Which is his right - but I hate that there won't be any of the original movies around in good condition when my kids could see them. The Star Wars magic is dead, in my opinion.

He's destroying history, in a way. All reviews about Star Wars, all it's acclaim for the original films is now obsolete.

Anna Gregoline | September 20, 2004
"And even most artists, most painters, even composers would want to come back and redo their work now. " - Lucas

I don't believe that's true. I might not be happy with how my work of 10 years ago ended up being completed, but I don't want to re-work it now. I want to concentrate on creating new things that make sense to my current position in life. I think that's true for most of the artists I know. I think Lucas might have a perfection complex.

Scott Hardie | September 22, 2004
I also doubt it; it sounds like rationalizing. Steven Spielberg's controversial retouching of "E.T." notwithstanding, I can think of few filmmakers who have changed their finished works, let alone authors, composers, or painters. The problem with retouching your work is that the act has no purpose except itself: You can't honestly say that the work is ever finished as long as the artist is willing to fiddle with it, and if the art is going to have any value besides academic, it has to reach a point of completion. It is not the millions of fans who love the original trilogy who should accept the new version, it is the trilogy's sole creator who should accept the old version.

Lori Lancaster | September 22, 2004
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Scott Horowitz | September 22, 2004
Yeah, I was a little disappointed in the box design. I would have liked it to be cooler with the Vader face. I have to say though, that the video quality is great. I also only paid $17 w/shipping (I love gift certificates :))

Lori Lancaster | September 22, 2004
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Erik Bates | September 23, 2004
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Lori Lancaster | September 23, 2004
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Anna Gregoline | September 23, 2004
That cartoon is hysterical.

Erik Bates | September 24, 2004
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Erik Bates | September 24, 2004
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Lori Lancaster | September 24, 2004
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Lori Lancaster | May 5, 2006
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Scott Hardie | May 16, 2006
I may be one of the few people more happy to see LEGO Star Wars II coming out that day than the DVDs. But the DVD release is a sweet victory for fans who kept the heat on Lucas for years.

Anna Gregoline | May 16, 2006
I'm stunned. I just heard about this here. I will be purchasing those original DVDs, that's all I want - the remastered and the original, especially of Empire. HOORAY I THOUGHT IT WOULD NEVER HAPPEN.