I don't just mean the original films as we saw them in theaters circa 1997-98 with the Special Editions.

Rumors and (supposedly reliable and close to the top) Reports are flying that the OT DVD's will be "as George Lucas Sees them Today" and pictures have been leaked showing some drastic changes in the movies, even beyond the SE's.

Examples: scenes tying the prequels to the OT. Erasing Sebastian Shaw's face and replacing it with a teenage Hayden Christiansan for Anakin's spirit at the end of ROTJ.


How do you feel about these changes?

Considering how stubborn Lucas is being about this, refusing to release the un-modified versions of the films (as they have appeared on video for over a decade before the SE's came out)... is he right?

We all know he OWNS Star Wars, but how do you really feel about what he's doing to these classics?

Other filmmakers who "tweak" their movies have at least had the good sense and sympathy to the fans to release the ORIGINAL versions alongside their souped-up and revised versions.

Examples:

Apocalypse Now
E.T The Extra Terrestrial
Alien Quadraligy
X-Men
(probably more I forgot)

The point is, he COULD release the original versions, but he says he WON'T. So the only version of the Star Wars Trilogy we get on DVD may not be the version ANY of us have seen in theaters.

Me, I'm a bit upset. To my way of thinking he loses nothing by releasing the originals alongside any version he wants to make besides that. Fans will get both, and for all I care he can make every Stormtrooper look like Jar Jar if he wants to, so long as I have the option to buy the ORIGINAL films on DVD as they were shown in theaters in the 1980's (or as they appeared on widescreen LaserDisk and VHS in 1995 as the "THX Enhanced Trilogy").

Some of the SE stuff I liked, but others I did not, like the changed ROTJ ending and Jabba/dancer sequence (must be nostalgia for the old songs I guess) and the "Greedo shoots first" thing (unnecessary, looks bad, why mess with a great scene?) or the removal of the Imperial officer death shots (I guess having a human's shirt catch fire when he's shot by a blaster is bad to show kids? What's he thinking? He already got the PG rating back in 1977, back when the ratings were a LOT softer than they are now and his little change doesn't make the film "G" so what's he trying to pull? This while he's putting way more violence into the prequels than he ever showed in the originals, minus the "human bodies on the floor" battle scenes.)

Discuss...

I agree that he needs to release the different versions. Everybody who's seen them has latched on to a certain era of them. Depending on when they first saw them.

An idea (might be unfeasible) would be to release them where a disc has all the versions, and you choose which to play. The main core of all the movies is the same in each, so altering the playlist by adding/subtracting a couple chapters couldn't take up too much extra memory right? That's what I think should be done.

Well, I say that they should be released in the SE versions and the Original ones. I say cut the new stuff, eg. changing Anakin (RotJ) into Anakin (AotC) or change puppet Yoda into CG Yoda (Yes, I read it somewhere here on LF). I mean, changing the OT more than its already been changed would destroy those movies, litterally.

Then again this is just my oppinion, so who cares anyways?

-Clemme

I think the bottom line on why this sort of thing is happening is that GL has simply lost touch with the 'magic' that made the OT popular to begin with.

Originally posted by Kurgan
(as they have appeared on video for over a decade before the SE's came out)

That is completly wrong/unfair!!!!

I'll tell you my story and see if you agree with me after:

I am only 13 years old. I was about 6 or 7 years old when i got the Star wars OT videos. Then about 6 months - 1 year after, there were adverts on TV saying it was the last chance to get the trilogy on video, because then there would be the SE.

Now think - If I had been a year younger, I couldn't have got the original versions of the trilogy. At least if he brings the original version out on DVD, then all the little kids who have not seen SW yet, but will can see the 'REAL' versions.

I REST MY CASE

I agree completely with just about everyone above. Lucas should release the OT just as they were in the theater. I personaly wasn't alive when they were released but I have seen on VHS. Now the Special Editions weren't horrible but they were a change from the OT. The problem with Lucas lately is he is obsessed with technology and CGI. Just look at all the pre-quals, most of the movie is done with CGI. And now he's moving on to the OT and putting more CGI in these classic films. I wish he would just leave well enough alone and stop changing films that everyone already loves the way they are.

I say "upgrade" a few things, add some deleted scenes but that's it. If it changes more I'm going to scream. Besides, most of the fans don't want any new CGI crap in there.

Upgrades:

-Change Emperor's face in ESB
-Han shoots first
-Death Star 1's surface
-Revert back to the old RotJ Jabba's Palace music number. The old one was much more realistic and better.

Good things about the SE:
(Flame me, I've seen both old versions and SE)
-Added some deleted scenes in ANH
-Added Mos Eisley scene
-Added Cloud City scenes(That way we see a bit more of Cloud City then we used too).
-RotJ ending(bite me, music sucked but I loved seeing people cheer after the fall of the Empire)

Yes i agree lucas should make some tech. improvemtns. Make the film look nicer and clean up some of the shots and what not. But he shouldnt be changing the films we know and love

and ya the cheering was kinnda cool but one question....

Why were people cheering at Coruscant. To my knowledge it was still very much a Imperial loving place.

Think of it as we are looking into the future. :)

I think they wanted to show that Coruscant didn,t like the Empire much neither. They had oppressed aliens over there! I think...

Something els that should come as a technical change. The lightsabers in ANH. Those are down right horrible. We can actually see the the neon stick Alec Guiness used when he duelled Vader. The ignition too should but changed...ugh...

Has anyone seen the extended editions of Lord of the Rings? Because I think that if George is absolutly determined to release these 'super' editions, he should do the Lord of the Rings thing: Bring out the original versions and then a few months later bring out the changed versions - do what he wants to them, for all I care he can have klingons in them. But as long as the originals are brought out too.

And bentwookie, I also wasn't born yet when they came out in the cinema the first time round (i.e. the originals). And if he thinks that just because we wern't born then, doesn't mean we don't like them is a BIG mistake!