First of all, I definitely agree about the hostile nature of the fandom. I'll say right up front that I'm an OT purist. I own the 2004 DVDs and I've watched ROTJ once, because I was morbidly curious, the others not at all. Otherwise I just have no desire to watch the tweaked versions or the prequels or read/watch/play/listen to most of the EU. If someone wants to know what I did and did not like about any of those things, I'm happy to have an adult discussion about them, but for the most part, I like what I like and it doesn't hurt me one bit if other people like other parts of the saga as much or better. It's a big universe and I don't see why so many people have a problem co-existing in it.
The problem I have with the continually tweaked versions is not that they exist. I could give you a long list of the ways in which I DON'T think they were improvements...but whatever. If other people like those versions better or at least just as well, that's none of my business. I'll watch my version, you watch yours. No, the problem I have is that Lucas is basically tying to wipe the old versions out of existence.
Yes, they're archived somewhere, fine. Are those archives that anyone who wants can access? I haven't seen the DVD release of the O-OT, but from what I understand it...doesn't stretch to fit the screen? (I'm not talking about anamorphic, I don't WANT it anamorphic because that's not the aspect ratio it was originally filmed in anyway, but the picture has a black box all the way around it, instead of the letterboxes only at the top and bottom which would be necessary anyway to present the full picture that was shown in the theater...right? Correct me if I'm wrong) If that's the case, it's got to be annoying to watch, especially if you don't have a very big TV to start with. Yes, there are VHS and laserdisc releases...which I own, and which still play, but not everyone can say that. To someone new coming into the fandom, they don't necessarily have easy access to all possible versions and therefore can't MAKE the choice of which they prefer to watch like older fans who hang onto old technology can.
I also think it's very disrespectful to the other people who worked on the original films. I'm sure they signed away any right to their creative work when they came to work for Lucas, I'm not making a legal argument there. But Richard Marquand was dead when the ROTJ special edition came out, and that is UNDOUBTEDLY the film...the single THING for which he is most commonly remembered. I think it's incredibly disrespectful not to keep the version that he worked on available, since there's no way of knowing whether or not he would have wanted the changed version to be the definitive one or not. This goes for the special effects artists that did the non-CG version of the Battle of Yavin, to poor Sebastian Shaw, to everyone else who worked on these very collaborative films.
I have less of a problem with the PT, because I get the impression that everyone who worked on THOSE knew from the start that they were there to get Lucas's vision on screen, whatever their personal creative impulses were telling them. But it still would be nice for the fans if all versions were kept available, affordable, and playable on whatever the latest technology is, just for anyone who wants them. With the technology we have today it should be possible to store multiple versions digitally and to keep them available for all times, and it shows a disregard for the fans who provide his livelihood and for his creative collaborators who helped to make the films as great as they are that GL doesn't seem to care about preserving the past versions.
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timeasmymeasure
no subject
Date: 2011-09-05 10:37 am (UTC)The problem I have with the continually tweaked versions is not that they exist. I could give you a long list of the ways in which I DON'T think they were improvements...but whatever. If other people like those versions better or at least just as well, that's none of my business. I'll watch my version, you watch yours. No, the problem I have is that Lucas is basically tying to wipe the old versions out of existence.
Yes, they're archived somewhere, fine. Are those archives that anyone who wants can access? I haven't seen the DVD release of the O-OT, but from what I understand it...doesn't stretch to fit the screen? (I'm not talking about anamorphic, I don't WANT it anamorphic because that's not the aspect ratio it was originally filmed in anyway, but the picture has a black box all the way around it, instead of the letterboxes only at the top and bottom which would be necessary anyway to present the full picture that was shown in the theater...right? Correct me if I'm wrong) If that's the case, it's got to be annoying to watch, especially if you don't have a very big TV to start with. Yes, there are VHS and laserdisc releases...which I own, and which still play, but not everyone can say that. To someone new coming into the fandom, they don't necessarily have easy access to all possible versions and therefore can't MAKE the choice of which they prefer to watch like older fans who hang onto old technology can.
I also think it's very disrespectful to the other people who worked on the original films. I'm sure they signed away any right to their creative work when they came to work for Lucas, I'm not making a legal argument there. But Richard Marquand was dead when the ROTJ special edition came out, and that is UNDOUBTEDLY the film...the single THING for which he is most commonly remembered. I think it's incredibly disrespectful not to keep the version that he worked on available, since there's no way of knowing whether or not he would have wanted the changed version to be the definitive one or not. This goes for the special effects artists that did the non-CG version of the Battle of Yavin, to poor Sebastian Shaw, to everyone else who worked on these very collaborative films.
I have less of a problem with the PT, because I get the impression that everyone who worked on THOSE knew from the start that they were there to get Lucas's vision on screen, whatever their personal creative impulses were telling them. But it still would be nice for the fans if all versions were kept available, affordable, and playable on whatever the latest technology is, just for anyone who wants them. With the technology we have today it should be possible to store multiple versions digitally and to keep them available for all times, and it shows a disregard for the fans who provide his livelihood and for his creative collaborators who helped to make the films as great as they are that GL doesn't seem to care about preserving the past versions.