George Lucas is a Prick

First of all, I like Star Wars. I don't love it. I grew up with it and I think it's a wonderfully deep universe (and lightsabers are badass, of course.) I didn't dress up and go to the premier of the new prequels, and I really wasn't all that upset when they sucked (yes, they sucked. No, it's not nostalgia talking.) I thought some of the tweaks he made in his Special Edition release were cool, and some were retarded (like Han not shooting first) but I didn't take it personally, like many fanboys seem to have. But man, George Lucas is a prick. Really, he is. He refuses to release a high-quality version of the original trilogy, instead mandating that the 1997 Special Edition has "replaced" it. According to Lucas, this version truly represents his original vision. Currently, the highest quality copy of the original theatrical release that one can obtain is from the 2006 DVD release, which contains a laserdisc transfer. So it's decent, but not fantastic. I'll let the man speak for himself: "...So what ends up being important in my mind is what the DVD version is going to look like, because that's what everybody is going to remember. The other versions will disappear. Even the 35 million tapes of Star Wars out there won't last more than 30 or 40 years. A hundred years from now, the only version of the movie that anyone will remember will be the DVD version [of the Special Edition], and you'll be able to project it on a 20' by 40' screen with perfect quality. I think it's the director's prerogative, not the studio's to go back and reinvent a movie." First of all, George Lucas only directed the original movie - Irvin Kershner directed Empire and Richard Marquand directed Return of the Jedi. So by doing his best to have the originals fade out of existence, George Lucas is exploiting his legal ownership to wipe out their vision. I think we can all agree that deliberating destroying another person's art is dick behaviour, yes? Second, it's not like anyone's saying that Lucas can't go back ad change his movies to his heart's content. Plenty of directors do that. It's called a "Director's Cut" for a reason. Lucas is trying to pretend like the original theatrical never existed. Which it did. Lots of people saw it. Third, George has been adamant that the original release represented only "25-30% of his vision." Yet what is added in the Special Editions? Some CGI doodads, some character assasination, and replace some actors with wooden planks to aid continuity with the prequels. The story arc is the same, the characters are (mostly) the same, the dialogue is slightly shittier, but overall, his vision isn't that different. Fourth, The special edition is not what was released in 1977. It wasn't the Special Edition that catapaulted Lucas to fame, bringing him untold wealth and the power. It's not the Special Edition that has affected a generation and inspired such rabid fandom. As much as Lucas wishes it weren't so, it's the original release that made cinematic history, and his recut is barely a footnote. "It’s like this is the movie I wanted it to be, and I’m sorry you saw half a completed film and fell in love with it. But I want it to be the way I want it to be." Well, it's not, to be honest. When people talk about the impact that Star Wars had on film making, they're talking about the original. Trying to say "no, no, THIS is what everyone was talking about!" is absurd. Even if the Special Editions were better movies, the originals would still be more important, historically. There's a story about a University that was doing a "history of cinema" film festival, and they wanted to show Star Wars because of its major impact. So they asked LucasArts for permission to screen the original theatrical release. LucasArt's response? Festival: Hello, we are doing a "History of Cinema" festival, and we would like to screen the original Uncut Theatrical Release of Star Wars in order to commemorate it's massive impact on film and film making. LucasFilm: Certainly, we would be happy to rent you the 1997 Special Edition release. Festival: No, no, no, I don't think you understand - we want to show the original movie that was such a cultural milestone. LucasFilm: Yes, we understand, and for all intents and purposes the Special Edition is the original film, the way George Lucas wanted it to be. Festival: So the movie that changed the world of cinema in 1977 was released in 1997? LucasFilm: *muffled sounds* Festival: What was that? LucasFilm: Sorry, that was George Lucas' penis in my mouth. He comes by every day about this time. As for your question - yes, that's correct. So yeah, I'm a little pissed that George Lucas, sitting on top of the most advanced film making studio ever and possessing a pile of money that would make Scrooge McDuck -or whatever the hell his name is- envious, won't create a high-quality release of the very movies which brought him such fame and power. It would be nice to have, but more importantly, George is trying to re-write cinematic history to appease his own control fetish (having already indulged his incest and pedophilia fetish several times.) And the scary part is that he's succeeding. So to sum up: George Lucas is deliberately attempting to destroy a piece of cinematic history in order to appease his own ego. George Lucas is a prick.