Re: How Soon Before Everything Worth Watching is On A DVD

"Mike Kohary" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote in message
news:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>
> The Jabba scene aside, this is largely a myth.  I'd go over it all again,
> but I've done it too many times already, so you could Google it up if you
> really want to.  Maybe I should just make a page on the subject and refer
> folks to that instead.  :)  But the simple fact is, most of the changes in
> all the Special Editions are revisionism, nothing more.
>
> But even the Jabba scene...look, when you make a movie, you simply don't
> include every scene that you film.  Some scenes don't work for one reason
or
> another, and for efficiency's sake if nothing else, you cut stuff.  Every
> film has deleted scenes, and for the most part are better films for it.
> When you leave everything in, the film gets self-indulgent and bloated
> (think Titanic or Meet Joe Black, 2-hour films that run for 3 hours).  The
> Jabba scene was wanted, but he didn't have the budget, time or technique
to
> pull it off, so it got cut.  Since the scene is entirely unnecessary
anyway
> (that Jabba had a price on Solo's head was already established through
> dialogue elsewhere in the film) and comes at a point when the action is
> picking up, it's a good cut.  With the scene added in, the film slows down
> at a crucial moment and the exposition gets bloated.  This is a problem we
> see extensively in the new films, where Lucas has the budget to do
whatever
> he wants - 2/3rds of the new films are simply boring.  It's pretty clear
> that Lucas' sense of pacing is off, and it seems that having limits on the
> earlier films was actually a benefit, not a detraction.
>
> > But it seems he could not because he had
> > a tight budget, and on top of that the Special Effects Technology was
> > not up to the level of what he had available to him in Empire and
> > Jedi, so I can understand why he wanted to restore those cut scenes he
> > had wanted to be in the first movie at the time of its original
> > release!
>
> Even if that were the case, so what?  All art is a product of its time.
> Lucas should accept this and move on.

To expand on this some more (and I'm sorry for going on and on and on about
this - read only if you're a Star Wars geek like me, otherwise feel free to
skip and killfile anything from me with Star Wars in the body ;) I was just
reading theforce.net and came across this item:

---------------------------------------------
Classic Trilogy Ultimate Edition in the Works
Thu, Nov 20, 03 09:33:04 PM EST

It has been reported all over the web and on this website for months, though
now there's a resurgence in the rumors that an eventual and final release of
the Classic Trilogy is coming. Where these rumors are coming from now is a
person emailing a list of changes to websites and telling them work is being
done. And while we can defintiely confirm that ILM is working on the movies
for plenty of enhancements, the list may not be accurate.
Here's the run down of possible and very rumored changes:

Episode IV: A New Hope

The Imperial March has been added to Darth Vader's first appearance on
Princess Leia's ship.
When Obi-Wan is talking to Luke about his father Anakin's Theme plays in the
background and then it turns into the Imperial March as he talks about
Vader.
The lightsaber effects have been redone and the frame jumps of lightsabers
being turned on has been removed.
There's a new scene which has been shot during the filming of Episode III in
which the Emperor dissolves the Senate.
In the Cantina, the Duros (green aliens guys) have been replaced with
Neimoidians and some aliens from the prequels have been added.
The bleeding arm on the floor in the Cantina has been replaced with a
non-bleeding arm because it's now canon that lightsabers cauterize wounds.
The original shooting scene between Han and Greedo has been restored.
Jabba the Hutt has been given a makeover and Han no longer steps on his
tale.
In place of R2 wobbling down the stairs to the Falcon's hangar, a CG R2
navigating the stairs like he does in Attack of the Clones was added.
The white boxes around space ships have been removed and new CG shots have
been added.
The scene of the Falcon being chased by the two Star Destroyers was
modified. The Falcon now does spinning moves, avoiding the Star Destroyers'
fire.
When the Death Star destroys Alderaan there's a new scene of Yoda's reaction
to the disturbance in the Force that is created by all those deaths and then
it cuts to Obi-Wan reacting to it as well.
The Dianoga has gotten a CG makeover and were are now able to see more of
the creature.
The Death Star's paneling and computers have been slightly altered to show
similar displays to those in the prequels.
The words "Tractor Beam" with Aurebesh lettering.
More stormtroopers have been added to the Death Star.
Temuera Morrison's voice is being recorded for use with all the
stormtroopers.
The Obi-Wan/Vader duel has been spruced up. It is much more epic and there
is much more movement. A modified version of Duel of the Fates is being
considered for the scene.
The Death Star plans that are taken from R2 have been updated. When the
Rebels are reviewing the Death Star plans they look similar to the plans we
see in Attack of the Clones.
The Death Star battle is much more epic with more Tie Fighters and more
Rebels being blown to bits. We get to see old Naboo starfighters being used
by the Rebels.
There's a new scene (shot during Episode III) where Darth Vader goes to
Coruscant and lands his ship in the same building Count Dooku does at the
end of Attack of the Clones. Except now the building is all fixed up and it
is now Palpatine's palace. He meets with Palpatine to ask for forgiveness
for his failure and inform him of a new potential who is strong in the
Force.
Chewbacca now gets a medal.

Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back

The taun-tauns are now CG.
The battle of Hoth is much more epic. We see the Imperial ships land on Hoth
and release AT-ATs. The AT-ATs have been sped up a bit. There's a ground
battle between the Rebel soldiers and stormtroopers featuring new ships and
vehicles.
Temuera Morrison's voice is being recorded for the older Boba Fett and all
the stormtroopers.
The white boxes around space ships have been removed.
The slug monster is CG.
Ian McDiarmid has refilmed scenes as the Emperor. The conversations between
Vader and Palpatine is now longer and features a few connections to the
prequels.
Yoda's face is now animated in CG allowing more expression of emotions yet
his movements remain the same. Also two deleted scenes featuring Yoda
instructing Luke have been restored.
A new scene was shot in which the stormtroopers, after they capture Han,
Leia and Chewie, bring Vader the box containing C-3PO in pieces. Vader
orders the stormtroopers to bring the broken droid to Chewbacca's cell so
that he can fix him.
The lightsaber effects have been redone in certain parts.
Luke's fall from Cloud City has been reshot against bluescreen using a
stuntman.

Episode VI: Return of the Jedi

Jabba the Hutt is now a combination of the puppet and CG.
The Rancor is CG and looks disgusting as ever.
Yoda is CG. Yoda disappears leaving his clothes behind like Obi-Wan now.
The ewoks are now mostly CG and there are a lot more of them.
The plan is to insert the love theme Across the Stars when Luke is talking
with Leia about their mother.
Temuera Morrison's like before is now the voice for Boba Fett and all the
stormtroopers.
In the battle of Endor there are thousands of Ewoks and they are more
vicious than there midgets-in-suits counterparts. More bite the dust now.
White boxes around ships removed.
The black blotches around Palpatine's face are gone.
Some of the lightsaber effects have been redone. The shadows that the
lightsabers made on the floor are gone.
During Anakin's death scene it starts with a sad rendition of the Imperial
March and slowly evolves into Anakin's Theme.
Sebastion Shaw who played Anakin when he was unmasked has been replaced with
Hayden Christenson in make-up to make him look older. Anakin has much more
dialogue. He apologizes for the destruction he caused, he thanks his son for
turning him back to the light, he tells his son to rebuild the Jedi and he
says he loves him and his sister. Just before he dies he says, "It is
finished...".
We see more planets celebrating at the end of the movie. We see an aged Jar
Jar, who is now the leader of the Gungans, on Naboo celebrating with the
people of Naboo and the Gungans. We see an old Watto, who is now unable to
fly, sitting in a hover chair cheering on Tatooine. During these scenes
Across the Stars plays transitioning to the victory celebration music at the
Ewok tree village.
Anakin's spirit is now played by Hayden Christenson with make-up to make him
look his age. He looks on proudly at his son Luke with the spirit of Padme
by his side.

Again, these are more of a wish list than accurate information.
We also wanted to tell you something perhaps even more significant. Episode
I: The Phantom Menace is getting a full overhaul as well. We'll leave you
with that for now.
--------------------------------------

Ok, I'll admit that - AS REVISIONS - much of this sounds compelling.  AS
REVISIONS.  By that, I mean that sure, I'd be very interested to see all of
this stuff added to the films - AS LONG AS THE ORIGINAL FILMS ARE STILL
AVAILABLE FOR VIEWING ALSO.  They are an important piece of cinematic
history and should be preserved in their original form as well.  When film
students 100 years from now study the Star Wars films, they should be able
to analyze the revolutionary impact of Star Wars circa 1977, because the
1997 SE and this new proposed edition simply does not represent what
audiences viewed and were awed by in 1977.  Again, I'll save the entire
argument for the page that I now think I'm destined to make on this topic,
but that's it in a nutshell.

About some of these proposed, rumored changes - some of them seem to make
common sense and go under the category of "restoration" (i.e. removing matte
boxes from ships in space), most of them are clearly revisionist and
unnecessary and simply the whim of the filmmaker, and some of them are
downright anal retentive (i.e. most of the changes to The Empire Strikes
Back, which is a near-perfect film in its original form).  One aspect of the
series is simply ridiculous and in my opinion futile:  the blatant attempt
to make the series a 1-6 viewing experience, as opposed to original trilogy
and prequels.  The films make great sense when viewed in the order they were
released, and would require massive editing to make them viewable in
episodic order, which also removes much of the impact and dramatic surprise
from the series (namely, the introduction of Yoda and Darth Vader's
revelation to Luke in The Empire Strikes Back, both of which were highly
effective script elements that will be virtually eliminated as factors if
this editing takes place, greatly reducing the high impact of that film in
the series).

It seems to me that Lucas is simply not thinking clearly on this subject -
he's trying to make something that's "perfect" in his mind, when all he's
really doing is neurotically contributing to their deterioration.  When you
think about it, what he's doing to his films is really no different than
what Michael Jackson has been doing to his appearance - in trying to make
improvements to something that didn't need improving in the first place, he
is actually hurting the end-product and making it worse.  Obviously he feels
some kind of compulsion to do all of this, and since he literally owns the
films, he has the ability to do it - and that's too bad.  I wish someone
else was around to keep his compulsions in check.  At the very least, I hope
the original films still exist as masters, and are not destroyed as I've
heard rumored before (every time I read that particular rumor, my heart
sinks into my stomach, even knowing it's probably not true).

I and millions of others grew up on the 1977 movie blockbuster called Star
Wars.  That film can never be replaced by any new version - no matter what
kind of revisions are made, that original film and its subsequent sequels
are what enthralled multiple nations and brought sci-fi filmmaking back to
prominence.  Not the 1997 Special Editions, and not these forthcoming
Ultimate/Archive Editions (calling them Archive is simply banal, since they
are anything but archival).  No matter what kinds of revisions are made -
and he's entitled to do whatever he wants for future releases - these
originals must be preserved, because they, and not the subsequent revisions,
are among the most significant works in cinematic history.

When somebody in the year 2100 wants to view the film that impacted cinema
more than any other film in the latter quarter of the 20th century, they'll
want to view the 1977 film titled "Star Wars".  To deny us of that
opportunity would be nothing short of an art crime perpetrated by George
Lucas.  I sure hope he sees the light on this subject, and includes the
original, untouched versions on these forthcoming DVDs.

Well, he can remove the matte boxes from ships in space.  ;)

In the meantime, again, you can visit http://www.kohary.com/starwars_dvd/ to
see how to make your own DVDs of the originals.  It's not exactly a new
anamorphically-encoded master, but there's a very real possibility that it's
the best we're ever going to have.

Mike