Star Wars Getting Re-Edited Again? Good!

Re-doing elements now, over 35 years later in the case of the first film, alters both the intent and thrust of the movie.
If you look at the novelization of the first film (by Lucas and Alan Dean Foster from Lucas’ screenplay), many story aspects, including the Emperor, the Fall of the Republic, and the Luke/Leia relationship (you can’t believe they’re brother and sister in the novel or film) are vastly different than what resulted, decades later, in the prequels.
That’s because Lucas himself is not the same person he was back in 1976.
He’s changed.  In some ways for the better.  In some ways for the worse.  We all go thru it.  But when we have a mid-life crisis, we don’t have the money to change an entire universe to suit us.  He does.
Imposing that current, altered, worldview on his earlier works seems…ill-advised.
It was dumb when his buddy, Steven Spielberg, digitally-removed guns from goverment agents’ hands and replaced them with walkie-talkies in the video release of ET for no real reason except that, years later, he had little kids, and like any overprotective parent, he overreacted.
It was character-altering when Lucas had Han shoot first, making him less of an opportunistic sleezeball than he was originally-shown to be…by Lucas himself!
And, it was sad, that, instead of just “cleaning up” the Oscar-winning fx of the first Star Wars, he replaced the Oscar-winning sfx with digital work that, a decade later, looks dated.

To say I’m stupid because I won’t watch them as much as I watched my old VHS is both ignorant and narrow-minded. Buying a Blu-Ray set so my kids can watch it and I can watch it once in awhile doesn’t make me stupid. I still enjoy the movie but I prefer the original version.

Judging from your logic, I guess it’s not just Star Wars fans that are stupid

LOL.

Sorry, but not long after George Lucas passes away get ready for the remake/ reboot of the franchise.  Trust me, it’s on the way.  It’s undeniable.  It will happen.

Justin Beiber (or whoever is “Beiber” at that time) will play the role of Luke Skywalker.

* meant A-Grade special effects regarding Star Wars : )

That’s like, taking a Pablo Picasso and moving the faces around to look like actual faces…. George Lucas ruins art….

I feel like I just watched a deleted scene from How I Met Your Mother.

I was bedridden for over a week (mind you I was an adult at the time)
when my friend got wind of the fact I had never seen a single Star Wars and insisted I watch all of them during that time of sickness.                 http://bit.ly/qnLq5X

Star Wars isn’t perfect because Lucas was never a good director. By his own admission, he’d have gone to porn if Star Wars had failed, because then nobody would care if the filming techniques were good or not. He just wanted to be “a director.”

More importantly, the real problem with Star Wars is not that many of the fans see them through the eyes of their childhood. The problem with Star Wars is that fans are sick of Lucas trumpeting that his work is exempt from all the rules that apply to the rest of the cinematic world.EVERYone else treats the released film as the final product — UNLESS the director was overridden by the studio to a point that intention did not match release, at which point those HANDFUL of films (Blade Runner, Touch Of Evil) get a release much later that’s identified as being a SEPARATE interpretation of the original film.

But not Star Wars. No, for Star Wars the director can REPLACE the established version with a new print that completely alters the dialogue, score and visuals of the original — not to mention replacing performances with those by other actors (Vader’s ghost, Emperor between 5 and 6, etc.).

And that’s what fans are upset about. They’re upset that it’s being called the same film when it’s not. They’re upset that it’s the THIRD time the original trilogy has been altered as well, all under the guise of “improved technology.” Digital, 1080p is not the ultimate in visual technology: true silver nitrate, the stuff that film was made of ORIGINALLY, is… it’s got resolution that puts the modern stuff to shame if you see an actual silver print.

Differences between prequels and sequels happen all the time. Films become dated by their effects all the time. But they continue to be celebrated by the sum of their parts and the recognized creativity of those films.

The only one who doesn’t want that is George Lucas. And Spielberg, doing it in E.T. looked like an idiot — an idiot, he appears to have realized, that needs to never do it again.

No offense, but there are NO RULES whatsoever when it comes to cinema or any type of art/ media.  There are absolutely no constraints whatsoever on what an artist can decide to do, or decide NOT to do with his or her own work. 

The problem here is that many people have expectations, or a joint “code of conduct” they expect artists to adhere to, and when that doesn’t occur, as in Lucas’s decision to tinker with Star Wars, they get outraged. 

Fans can like it or lump it, but Lucas can, and should have the right to do whatever he wants to his own creation. And before someone throwns up the “Empire was directed by Irvin Kershner and Return of the Jedi by Richard Marquand so he doesn’t have the right with those films” I think anyone using that argument is fooling themselves into thinking that Lucas had little influence on those films. Marquand himself, on the set of ROTJ stated, “It is rather like trying to direct King Lear – with Shakespeare in the next room!”

But at the end of the day, it’s not Lucas’s problem or issue.  It’s the issue of the fans who are outraged.  There are no rules, therefore Lucas isn’t breaking any.  He’s just decided not to adhere to what many (not all) believe an artist should or shouldn’t do with THEIR own work. 

Disagree. If you can’t see why it’s so unnecessary to keep tinkering with a project, any project let alone a cultural icon Graeme, I’m not sure you’re qualified to comment on it. Nice job in missing the key point that has fans riled up too, that everyone here has already pointed out.

I’m all for cleaning up a film, maybe tweaking the scenery a little (Cloud City benefited the most from the changes). BUT Lucas goes too far and no one tells him that because they are scared of losing their jobs.

He adds shit (both visual and audio) that has no reason to be there, he changes moods in scenes, he clutters the film, he replaces actors, he adds unnecessary scenes that changes the pace of the movie. It’s too frakkin’ MUCH! You REALLY can’t see that Graeme? REALLY? Take a course in a film appreciation program it would benefit your opinions and reviews.

I’m now almost 100% convinced that Lucas had an uncredited co-director/writer for A New Hope because the proof is in the pudding after witnessing the poorly directed/written prequels and these “special editions.”

Lucas didn’t ruin my childhood, my childhood was a happy place of watching one or more of the original trilogy almost every day, and on the days we didn’t do that, we played Star Wars instead, having “lightsaber battles”, or using our action figures and toys. What he did do, however, was tarnish the memory of those movies. I can certainly understand adding more TIE fighters or some rocks, but making Vader go “Noooooooo!” again, when all the fans hated it in the prequel? That just shows a deep lack of respect for his fans. Sure, Star Wars is Lucas’ property, but it also belongs to every Star Wars fanboy and -girl out there. Well, not that Lucas cares, but I’m doing the one thing I can do in this case; I’m not getting the Blu-Ray box, the DVDs will have to do for me.

They are George Lucas’ movies and if he wants to change them, that’s fine. My argument is that he should give the public a choice. Release the original theatrical version on bluray, also. I would buy both. I bought the both the theatrical and extended versions of LotR on bluray. It can’t hurt anything – fans are happy and he makes more money. Win win!

“I always wonder whether or not it was actually the movie they loved, or a very specific idea of the movie that they want to impose upon the world.”

Yes.  I love the idea that a Sarlaac isn’t a giant pirahna plant from Super Mario Brothers and the world must see it my way!  And R2-D2′s beautiful body must not be obscured by rocks!  Hear me!

My general distaste for the edit and the prequel trilogy is that Darth Vader used to be such a badass.  But they turned him into a whining pansy.  Of course, that has much to do with the kid that played him in PM and the horrible Hayden Christiansen in the other two. 

I have the original films, on DVD. Lucas didn’t come to my house and take them away…

The “the old films still exist” argument is complete BS. VHS tapes will rot and degrade, and once those DVDs with the laser disc prints are gone, so are the pre-special edition versions.

Star Wars films are a legacy product. Lucas has the right to make whatever “improvements” to them that he sees fit.

With that said, there isn’t much cosmetic editing that can be done to improve the scripts of the second trilogy of films … and with THAT said, anyone who has watched Return objectively will admit it was at least as bad as Phantom Menace.

It’s Star Wars, everyone without Hero blood in them misses their shots.

Oh, for Pete’s sake, they’re JUST films, people!

If only they totally re-edit the child actor in Phantom Menace, that would be progress.  BTW, Han shot first, I don’t care how the try to doctor it to make is seem otherwise.

I don’t mind the background changes, but having Vader shout ‘no’ or sticking Hayden Christensen at the end of ‘Return of the Jedi’ or replacing the Emperor in ‘Empire Strikes Back’ has nothing to do with bring Star Wars closer to Lucas’ original vision.

I actually loved the 1997 Special Edition, it’s my favourite version but the later DVD release and now the BluRay are just trying to bring the original trilogy in line with the prequels.

It takes the movies too far away from what they were for my tastes and I wish Lucas would just release all the versions, as was done with ‘Blade Runner’.

Blah blah blah. How can you take this stance? You obviously do not understand what Star Wars is and what it has done for film and nerds for generations. You don’t ask God to make the holy grail more flashy with sequins because it’s the cup of Christ. Leave it alone! George Lucas is a fool for messing with his movies again. Just wait until he talks Steven into crapping all over the Indiana Jones movies.

Agreed. If fans were really so bothered about the original trilogy in it’s original form, then they’d have kept them on VHS like I have. I’ll have both versions. So I can enjoy Han shooting first and a speeder without vaseline hiding the wheels.

Yeah, I’m not comfortable with the feelings this brings up inside me.

Like I said: they’re JUST films. I couldn’t give a rat’s arse what you or others think about these movies, whether they are seen as quasi-religious twaddle or dumb-as-crap wastes of time – all I’m saying is that, to me, they are just simply films. Who cares whether people are stupid enough to buy them over and over again? That’s their problem, not mine. Sigh…

Best thing I’ve EVER read on Spin-Off!