Ok, this could only work if they had both the unaltered and special editions seamless branched.

I was thinking of a make your own cut feature.

You build your own cut from selecting which scenes you want from either version. The truth is, I'm not 100% happy with either version. I can't stand seeing the original actor who played the Emperor in "Empire Strikes Back", neither can I stand all the crappy CGI and the ending in "Return of the Jedi" where they replaced the original actor who played Anakin Skywalker with Hayden Christensen.

If I was able to make my own cut by picking and choosing scenes from both cuts then I could finally watch Star Wars the way I feel it should be seen.

Ok, this could only work if they had both the unaltered and special editions seamless branched.

I was thinking of a make your own cut feature.

You build your own cut from selecting which scenes you want from either version. The truth is, I'm not 100% happy with either version. I can't stand seeing the original actor who played the Emperor in "Empire Strikes Back", neither can I stand all the crappy CGI and the ending in "Return of the Jedi" where they replaced the original actor who played Anakin Skywalker with Hayden Christensen.

If I was able to make my own cut by picking and choosing scenes from both cuts then I could finally watch Star Wars the way I feel it should be seen.
I feel that the way it should be seen, is as intended by the filmmaker...regardless of the results. Of course, I also consider filmmaking to be art form and can't imagine altering it to suit my own needs or wants.

Well the problem is that there are two cuts and neither are "perfect".

Though, we all know that the "perfect" cut is highly subjective.

Well the problem is that there are two cuts and neither are perfect, but you can make your own perfect cut if they had that feature I described.
Well, I understand what you are saying. My point however is that I personally do not want to make my own cut...I'll leave that to the filmmaker. It's is their film and not mine. I'll respect their cut...they same way I will respect the OAR or any other aspect.

I wouldn't alter a film anymore than I would alter a classic painting. I see it as art and take it as is. That's just my opinion however.

Ok, this could only work if they had both the unaltered and special editions seamless branched.
Well, the branching wouldn't be seamless, unfortunately. The special editions were visually tweaked to high heaven (not even counting the new effects shots).

The newer versions have been de-grained and "restored" in God knows how many ways, so the picture would change drastically whenever there was a change between the old and new stuff.

Ok, this could only work if they had both the unaltered and special editions seamless branched.

I was thinking of a make your own cut feature.

You build your own cut from selecting which scenes you want from either version. The truth is, I'm not 100% happy with either version. I can't stand seeing the original actor who played the Emperor in "Empire Strikes Back", neither can I stand all the crappy CGI and the ending in "Return of the Jedi" where they replaced the original actor who played Anakin Skywalker with Hayden Christensen.

If I was able to make my own cut by picking and choosing scenes from both cuts then I could finally watch Star Wars the way I feel it should be seen.

Just impossible to do because there are just too many individual changes to both scenes and music that seamless branching could not be used on these movies. You would need a different disc for each cut of the movie.

Now letting you choose Han shooting first or having the original actors voice of Boba Fett in The Empire Strikes Back would be easy to do using branching but they couldn't have the alternate cuts because so many effects and music cues have been redone.

Funnily enough i watched Family Guy last week and they had a special Star Wars episode and they spoofed Star Wars and Han got to shoot first in it and since george Lucas must have approved them doing the episode because it featured the music and copyright material he must be aware of the Han shoots first controversy but he still chooses to have Greedo shoot first. Of course with each new release it gets closer to Han shooting first again so i estimate by 2023 Han should once again be shooting first.

I don't believe that I should be supporting Directors by continually watching their new butchered versions of such great films. I don't know why Lucas can't understand that these movies belong to the people now, and the majority says the new versions suck.

Imagine taking a masterpiece like "Moonlight Sonata" and adding a Kazoo during all 3 movements, only then do you get the feel of the butchering Lucas did to his original trilogy.

I don't believe that I should be supporting Directors by continually watching their new butchered versions of such great films that did not warrant such treatment.

Imagine taking a masterpiece like "Moonlight Sonata" and adding a Kazoo during all 3 movements, only then do you get the feel of the butchering Lucas did to his original trilogy.
If Beethoven added a kazoo...that's his decision to make. It's his masterpiece, not mine.

Lucas made changes to his own films.

I was thinking of a make your own cut feature.


As long as a free copy of Avid Symphony Nitris DX is included, I'm in.;)


...Seriously now, I'm with jrcorwin 1000% on this. Although I can't stand some of the changes that were made on the new cuts, I consider moviemaking an art form (well, excluding porn maybe:p), and it's applicable to any kind of movie, even the ones that I hate, the ones that are cheaply made, the ones that have no plot, the ones that are badly directed, produced, played, etc... So, from that standpoint, and from an audience's perspective, I cannot imagine the possibility of changing a single frame in a movie. Which doesn't mean I like them all the time, but I respect the filmakers' choices. I hope this will never become one of those interactive "special features" in the future.

See, I'm a musician, I make a living of composing film music. I work for TV, documentaries, animated films, etc. It's a creative process, and no one should be allowed to edit my music in any sort of way. I have the same the feeling for all the people involved a movie, especially the director.

Back to your point, I completely understand it, and I probably feel the same kind of frustration towards the original Star Wars Trilogy. But I strongly think It's not up to us to decide how a movie should be seen. If we don't like it, well too bad, but that's how it is.

While I don't agree with the changes that were made...they were made by the only person who should have the authority to do so. I don't feel that I (as a viewer/consumer) have the right to make changes to any film.

While I don't agree with the changes that were made...they were made by the only person who should have the authority to do so. I don't feel that I (as a viewer/consumer) have the right to make changes to any film.

Well, like I said it would only be a bonus feature. I know a lot of people wouldn't mind making their own cut of the film by using both the theatrical and special edition cuts and picking and choosing their favorite scenes depending on the version of the film.

Well at the very least just give me the theatrical cut and I will be happy.

I just hope we get both versions on separate disks

Well at the very least just give me the theatrical cut and I will be happy.

pssst.. George... How about a 3rd version of Return Of The Jedi, this time without the laughable song and the CG "lady"? hmm? no? oh well...:rolleyes:
;)

I have not watched the films in years. The Special Editions are anything but special tome. I despise them in every way, despite the obvious fixes to certain FX shots. The changes to the actual stories, pacing, etc. are so immature and moronic that viewing them makes me sick to my stomach.

"pssst.. George... How about a 3rd version of Return Of The Jedi, this time without the laughable song and the CG "lady"? hmm? no? oh well..."

That is the worst added scene of all the special edition alterations, I hate it with a passion.

You know Lucas might as well have went full throttle with the special editions and just have randomly inserted Jar Jar Binks throughout the films.

I understand not liking the changes, but jesus...they are his films and his decisions to make. If you don't like...move on.

I understand not liking the changes, but jesus...they are his films and his decisions to make. If you don't like...move on.

Yeah, but who is he making these changes for? I can tell you it's not for the fans.

He just wanted to market his movies to young kids, so he had to water down his movies for the weak youth of today.

Just like Spielberg did with "E.T." where he "magically" changed the guns into walkie-talkies. "Kids of the 21st century can't handle such material." Yeah, when you raise them like infants until the age of 10 will cause that.

I understand not liking the changes, but jesus...they are his films and his decisions to make. If you don't like...move on.

The fact that I respect the decisions he made doesn't prevent me from discussing them and even have a little laugh. Can you imagine Jar Jar poping up from that sewer instead of the original "creature"?;) Okay, I'll stop now...

Again, I couldn't agree more with what you said above...
Cheers!:)

If Beethoven added a kazoo...that's his decision to make. It's his masterpiece, not mine.

Lucas made changes to his own films.

But wouldn't it suck if he forbid anyone to release the original non-kazoo version of his masterpieces, and the only decent quality versions of his songs in existence were filled with an obnoxious blaring kazoo? That's where we're at with the Star Wars trilogy. The original trilogy will never be released on Blu-Ray, they weren't released on DVD either. The "Laserdisc" version (sourced from the Laserdisc source) was released on the re-edited DVD's as bonus features, and it wasn't even anamorphic. Lucas said that's the best release the original unaltered trilogy is going to get.

Of course it's his decision, no one thinks it isn't. It just seems like a hugely pointless decision to make when so many people don't like the changes he has made.

It's his right to make it worse if he wants to, just seems lame not to give his fans a choice.

Yeah, but who is he making these changes for? I can tell you it's not for the fans.

He just wanted to market his movies to young kids, so he had to water down his movies for the weak youth of today.
He made the changes for himself apparently. It doesn't matter who else he made the changes for. The fans don't own the films or have a right to them.

The weak youth of today? :rolleyes: Come on...let's not be so dramatic.

I pretty much agree with everything jrcorwin said. However, like emgesp said, I don't see the harm in including this as a special feature as long as the director-preferred versions are available too.

But that's where the real problem with these movies comes in. Lucas did not direct EMPIRE or JEDI.

Irvin Kershner has said that on the whole, he prefers the Special Edition of EMPIRE, although there are some changes that he would not have made. Because of this, I'd love to have this special feature, so that the viewer could finally get the film as close to Kershner's vision as possible.

JEDI is a whole other problem entirely, because Richard Marquand died well before any changes were made. So I don't think that that movie should have ever been touched.

JEDI is a whole other problem entirely, because Richard Marquand died well before any changes were made. So I don't think that that movie should have ever been touched.

And the other problem is that George Lucas' intentions as a filmmaker are often sort of confused, but as a moneymaker they are crystal clear. But since he (and/or Lucasfilm) most likely own the rights of all the Star Wars movies, he can do whatever he wants with/to them...

I'm reiterating what's already been covered in this thread, but they wouldn't be able to branch both versions onto the same disc because there really have been that many major and minor changes made. It's funny you should bring up the idea though, because I was thinking that would be cool for the LOTR movies if the eventual 2011/2012 blu-ray has both cuts branched and isn't just the extended version.

I think I am one of the few people that actually likes the Special editions. I don't like the fact that they botched the Cantina scene by poorly slapping a crappy edit of greedo shooting at Han. However, that is really just a complaint about their execution of it rather than it changing Han's character, since Han really doesn't display that characteristic ever again.

Ok, this could only work if they had both the unaltered and special editions seamless branched.



Aside from the changes some stated that would make branch seaming nearly impossible, keep in mind the color timing is different between the original and SE. The SE tend to be more bluish, where as the originals are more of a gun metal tone.

I'm not sure how accurate this is, but here are the changes described.

http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/List_of_changes_in_Star_Wars_re-releases

I don't believe that I should be supporting Directors by continually watching their new butchered versions of such great films. I don't know why Lucas can't understand that these movies belong to the people now, and the majority says the new versions suck.




No, the movies still belong to George Lucas. And, if you don't want to support him, it's really simple--stop buying the movies when they release new versions.


You're not entitled to the version you want. Suck it up.

Trying to be consistent in our policy to close threads about titles that haven't been annouced yet...we'll put this debate to bed.