George Lucas Making More Changes For Star Wars Blu-Ray Release

[D.B. Barnes]

The reports of my death have been greatly exaggerated.

Just taking a break, is all.

[anais.jude]

The reports of my death have been greatly exaggerated.

Just taking a break, is all.

LOL, you reported it yourself.

[Russell]

Look IM I am very sorry if I offended you with my comments. Believe me, I do not set out to personally attack anyone, least of all you. It's just that I have a certain point of view, and while I admit it may be clouded on some level, I don't think it's entirely invalid.

Besides, many of us make fun of certain things ad nauseum (Revenge of the fallen, anybody?), and if Michael Bay is the target of endless ridicule, why shouldn't also Lucas be fair game? Either all of it is okay to make fun of Imrahil, or none of it is.

Thanks Anais for being there, you know, if everybody was like you, we wouldn't need heaven... we'd already be there. 

[anais.jude]

Thanks Anais for being there, you know, if everybody was like you, we wouldn't need heaven... we'd already be there. 

Um....we are still friends and all but that was extremely cheesy

[MrTorso]

[Russell]

Um....we are still friends and all but that was extremely cheesy

you're welcome. 

[D.B. Barnes]

[Russell]

That picture makes me a saaaaad panda.

[MartyS (Gromit)]

Besides, many of us make fun of certain things ad nauseum (Revenge of the fallen, anybody?), and if Michael Bay is the target of endless ridicule, why shouldn't also Lucas be fair game?

Interesting thought, but I guess the difference is I'm not sure you could point to anything Bay directed and say it was great, or even good? 

Best I can come up with is The Rock wasn't terrible....

I'll admit I have bashed Lucas a bit too hard at times, but it's just because the bar was raised pretty high with New Hope and Empire Strikes Back, and he hasn't come close to hitting that bar since. 

[Watchman]

Besides, many of us make fun of certain things ad nauseum (Revenge of the fallen, anybody?), and if Michael Bay is the target of endless ridicule, why shouldn't also Lucas be fair game?

Interesting thought, but I guess the difference is I'm not sure you could point to anything Bay directed and say it was great, or even good? 

Best I can come up with is The Rock wasn't terrible....

Michael Bay's made a few films I'll begrudgingly admit were entertaining. I can't say the same for Roland Emmerich. Why are people so tolerant of Independence Day & The Patriot & Godzilla 1998?

I dunno, I feel like it's one thing to trash a movie you don't like. RLM did that really well.  I think then to say that the guy who made it is insane or greedy or whatever--I mean, of course you can say it; doesn't make it true, especially when there's lots of evidence that he isn't.  But whatever. If this forum had "unsubscribe from thread" features I'd use it on this and be done with it altogether.

The longevity of threads thrives on conflict. That's why my Indiana Jones thread was destined to fail.

IMO, it's unhealthy to spend too much time assuming anything about celebrities (or anyone else, really), good or bad. Unless any of you have given Skywalker Ranch the Lisbeth Salander spy-tech treatment (or you've found a clever way to use the Patriot Act against the rich & famous), there's really no evidence pertaining to their personal lives one way or the other, good or bad.

There's only one truth: "You don't yell at Windu."

-I mean-

Nothing is true, everything is permitted.



(And I don't know what the deal is between Imrahil & Gunflyer. Listen to Anais, fellas. There are better things to fight over than an unreachable public figure.)

[Russell]

I think we should turn one crucial question on its head. Is it ever okay for a movie to be altered to make it better? I mean obviously we've had many cinematic masterpieces changed over the years to varying degrees of how radical the changes are. You've got movies like Blade Runner where the ending was really changed, but the fans seemed to really like the changes, so I've heard.

But then of course you've got movies on the big and dumb end of the spectrum like the Transformers trilogy, and I suppose with some slick editing software and audio editing you could make really good movies out of them. But in fairness, should we be okay with such a thing even though they're universally panned as garbage?

[MSTJedi]

I think we should turn one crucial question on its head. Is it ever okay for a movie to be altered to make it better? I mean obviously we've had many cinematic masterpieces changed over the years to varying degrees of how radical the changes are. You've got movies like Blade Runner where the ending was really changed, but the fans seemed to really like the changes, so I've heard.

But then of course you've got movies on the big and dumb end of the spectrum like the Transformers trilogy, and I suppose with some slick editing software and audio editing you could make really good movies out of them. But in fairness, should we be okay with such a thing even though they're universally panned as garbage?

Eh . . . editing can only go so far. Look at the fan edits of the prequels. Good editing makes them much more watchable, but there's still the wooden dialog and bad acting that no amount of editing can fix.

[Russell]

Eh . . . editing can only go so far. Look at the fan edits of the prequels. Good editing makes them much more watchable, but there's still the wooden dialog and bad acting that no amount of editing can fix.

That is a very good point. I think a neat question is how much can you change a story with additional dialogue and scenes spliced in? Suppose you can acquire really good voice actors to mimic the original voices. Optimistically with some creative editing from... well, other videographic and audio sources you can salvage the Titanic. Yet, in my optimism I find much to be dubious about. It sounds like a disaster waiting to happen.

[Darth Geek]

  Even if it is possible to change a movie in some way to actually make it better, I don't think it's a good idea. It's really a violation of the original author, regardless of whether you happen to be making it better or worse (and that would be up for debate anyway). And it's really not the same movie anyway. I think the changes Lucas has made to the original trilogy are the only examples I can think of where the new version isn't an alternate "directors cut" or fan edit or whatever, that the originals were made unavailable, so it's a real change.
  As much as I hate Bay, I would never want to actually change his movies. I would want to make new movies that were actually good. And have him killed, of course.

[MartyS (Gromit)]

I think we should turn one crucial question on its head. Is it ever okay for a movie to be altered to make it better? I mean obviously we've had many cinematic masterpieces changed over the years to varying degrees of how radical the changes are. You've got movies like Blade Runner where the ending was really changed, but the fans seemed to really like the changes, so I've heard.

There are many movies like that, Close Encounters has almost as many different versions as Blade Runner.  The changes to Close Encounters don't really change the movie as much as the ones done to Blade Runner, but they are different. 

It's been going on a long time, there are two almost completely different versions of The Big Sleep, one was never released and for most people only became available on the flip side of the DVD.  The 1945 version does have a much more coherent story, but the 1946 version has more Lauren Bacall, tough call on which is better...

There are parts of each version of Blade Runner I like that are not in the other versions.  They are all in the box set so no problem.  I know there are people that claim to like the original theatrical release the best, I think the final version overseen personally by Scott is the best but would be even better with a few bits of the original tossed in.  If Scott had destroyed all copies of all the previous versions I'd probably be cursing him out as much as Lucas...

The question hasn't been is it OK for Lucas to make changes, it's his insistence that the original versions will never be released again.