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

[Watchman]

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?

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.

Exactly. The crux of the matter is choice. Being given the option to watch whatever version we choose. My favorite version of Blade Runner is the '91 Director's Cut. I don't care for some of the changes to the 2006 Final Cut, but it's nothing to raise a shitstorm about because Scott accepts & understands that different fans have their own preferred versions, and he's democratic enough to allow us access to all of them & then some.

[Pak-Man]

The changes made to Star Wars were purely cosmetic, though (I don't entertain the notion that Han chosing to shoot back rather than just plain shooting alters the character greatly). The only completely new thing in all the SEs was the Han and Jabba dialogue in Ep. 4, and that was really more of a deleted scene, the new Song in Jabba's Palace (I'm not a fan, but it didn't really alter anything) and the new ending. The rest was a tweek here, a graphical implant there. The movies are all fundamentally the same.

I do find it interesting that director's cuts cause such a controversy in this medium, but are pretty common-place in it's younger sister artform, the Video Game. When Resident Evil: Rebirth came out, I didn't hear anyone saying, "They have no right to go back and fix that game! It's perfect the way it was!" It was more, "Ooh. Prettier graphics and better translation!" Maybe it's just the nature of Software and patches and mods that we accept that the video game we play today might not be the same version we'll play in 10 years.

Flip side of the coin, if a successful painter wanted to go into a museum where his/her art was displayed and tweak a couple things, that would be odd. But then there's nothing a painter can do today that they wouldn't have been able to do within their own lifetime. That might be the rub...

[Prince of Space 5049]

Is it ever okay for a movie to be altered to make it better?

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.

The crux of the matter is choice.

If Lucas was only interested in money, to Imrahils point, he could make a mint by releasing the original unedited versions on Blu-Ray.  Or he could release every possible incarnation in one giant box set, on DVD/Blu-Ray, with digital copy etc., etc., ad nauseum.  I truly don't have any idea what goes on in the head of this man.  Just reading this thread through the past couple of pages again makes my head hurt.

[Smith Dr John Smith]

  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.

Good call.  Can he be killed by a headache somehow?  I swear the first two transformers movies have given me the worst headaches I have ever had in my life and I would like to pay him back for that.

[Russell]

If Lucas was only interested in money, to Imrahils point, he could make a mint by releasing the original unedited versions on Blu-Ray.  

Just because he hasn't yet doesn't mean he won't eventually. And if you'll go back and read, which I do not suggest if it gave you that much of a headache I didn't say money was his only interest, I said it was his primary motivation, much like a pie chart where a big chunk = money and two other slices = interest in filmmaking and the other slice being... ahem "completing" the saga.

Don't get me started again please, much like Imrahil, I really want to move onto other subject matter in this thread.

[Prince of Space 5049]

Please forgive.  I'm not trying to start something or choose sides.  I just wrote what came to mind as I was reading through the thread again.  Complicated subjects don't have simple answers.  Opinions run too strong on both sides.  I really don't want to stir the pot.  I just read some things, think them over, and have shifts in thought.  I had come to hate Lucas, now I just think he may be misguided.  If I read more, I'll probably change that thought too.  Let's face it, this thread has run the gamut from everything is perfect the way it is, to let's reedit the entire saga.  Like I said before, there are no simple answers.  I am trying to view it like sports talk after your team lost an important game.  We like to talk about what should have been done different.  Dissect the game plan, who should have been in there etc.  Just like with sports talk though, opinions can get extreme.

I am a part time artist.  One of the things I had to learn is that I will never be satisfied with a work of art I do.  If I continue to stare at it, I will want to make changes.  An excellent teacher of mine convinced me that there comes a time (earlier than I think) when I have to stop, leave it alone, and move on to a new painting.

[MartyS (Gromit)]

I am a part time artist.  One of the things I had to learn is that I will never be satisfied with a work of art I do.  If I continue to stare at it, I will want to make changes.  An excellent teacher of mine convinced me that there comes a time (earlier than I think) when I have to stop, leave it alone, and move on to a new painting.

If only Lucas had learned that long ago...  At some far away ranch....

My mom was an artist, I can't remember her ever wanting to fix or change a painting once it was done, must be a thing all painters have to learn...

[Russell]

Please forgive.  I'm not trying to start something or choose sides.  I just wrote what came to mind as I was reading through the thread again.  

It's okay. We all obviously have very strong feelings on the subject anyway.

[MartyS (Gromit)]

I really want to move onto other subject matter in this thread.

Any new ideas?   I think everything has been covered at least thrice in the 90+ pages of this thread...

The fact that it has lasted this long shows just how much people want the original versions of the movies that are watchable on a big screen.   People can bash each other over Star trek but in the end you can still watch the stuff you like and ignore the stuff you don't, it's all out there, you can even watch the original series effects on blu-ray in all their over exposed, grainy composite print glory if you want...

[D.B. Barnes]

I really want to move onto other subject matter in this thread.

Any new ideas?

Oh, wait. You said "new ideas." Never mind.

[Russell]

Oh, wait. You said "new ideas." Never mind.

Ppffttt,  Cheap joke is cheap. Thank you Barnesy Rubble. 

[MartyS (Gromit)]

So, Abrams rebooting Star Wars, how would that go....

Luke travels back in time, makes it so Anakin loses the pod race, starting a new timeline....

And Jar Jar is some kind of experiment cooked up by this crazy underwater "station"....

[Watchman]

I really want to move onto other subject matter in this thread.

Any new ideas?

Oh, wait. You said "new ideas." Never mind.

You should have left it captionless.

[D.B. Barnes]

So, Abrams rebooting Star Wars, how would that go....

Luke travels back in time, makes it so Anakin loses the pod race, starting a new timeline....

Couldn't Luke hit him with a speeder or something so Anakin would never be able to participate in the pod race, hence sparing us all the tedium?

[MartyS (Gromit)]

So, Abrams rebooting Star Wars, how would that go....

Luke travels back in time, makes it so Anakin loses the pod race, starting a new timeline....

Couldn't Luke hit him with a speeder or something so Anakin would never be able to participate in the pod race, hence sparing us all the tedium?

Luke can't actually kill his own father, just mess up his timeline so all the characters are still there but do different stuff, sheesh, don't you know anything about reboots....