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Star Wars Trilogy (Widescreen Edition) Customer Reviews (235 - 237 of 272 Reviews)

What a travesty. History blotted by such personal hubris.
The hubris of Mr. Lucas's decision to change and then blot out the history of his prior work. Star Wars is a culturally significant piece of art, due a slot in the Library of Congress. Theses and dissertations will be written by historians, sociologists, and film scholars for the next hundred years plying apart social shifts and technical advances in filmmaking as a result of Star Wars. But because of Mr. Lucas's decision, they will lack primary source material from which to work. And this is a travesty.

No one begrudges Lucas his right to change the material to suit integration with the current film trilogy. But to revoke access to the original material is a slap in the face to those who prefer the original films unmolested, and damages the historical record for those future scholars who seek to understand the times and technology in which these films were made. If this continues, his reputation and legacy will be tarnished beyond repair.

Some speculation: why would George Lucas do this? Why continue tinkering with his old films such that they are unrecognizable to those who saw the originals? I think it's partly artistic hubris; that is he feels it's his material and it's his right and he's the only one able to improve it. Partly to integrate the old trilogy with his new films, because clearly he didn't plan the whole series out from the start, contrary to prior assertions of his. Partly, I think that he conflates special effects technology with story telling: since all Star Wars films rely on effects to wow audiences more than intricate story telling, he looks back on his old films and sees only prior technical effects limitations instead of the artistic whole. Unfortunately, this is never ending and if pursued to the logical end will necessitate updating all six films for every technical advance in filmmaking to the end of time. He's chasing an imaginary dream of perfection to the detriment of filmmaking as an art form; he's allowed the perfect to kill the good.

One hundred years from today he will be taught in University not as a popular filmmaker who shifted culture, as much as a filmmaker who destroyed his own work in a Quixotic search for the continuing perfection of his one significant piece; without any new ideas, paths, or art to express. He will be seen as a sad story; the filmmaker as Phoenix: he touched the 70s Gods of Altman, Coppola, DePalma, Polanski, Speilberg, et all, only to fall back to earth and splat on the landscape of the worst film hacks in the studio system. What a shame.

The issue is far more important than the content of this specific DVD set. Lucas threatens to set a damaging precedent which may lure other film and music studios into changing culturally significant art. As one prior poster wrote, 'how about removing Ringo Star from the Beatles. Would it still be the Beatles?' Exactly right. And today the technology exists to do this. Combined with new strict interpretations of Intellectual Property Law, this allows content owners total control to shift and change historical works without regard to the historical record or future scholarly research. It's colorization redux, only this time with the master prints and not just copies. Star Wars is just a symptom, not the disease.

I'm not arguing for or against purchasing this disc set. Those who want it should gladly buy. Those who prefer the originals will keep thriving the used Laserdisc player and used Star Wars Laserdisc market. Expect a huge run up in prices; time to buy your tulips while they're cheap. Hopefully, some universities will be among those buying the old technology in order to save that which Mr. Lucas changed and then destroyed.

I will be among those bidding up LD players and the Laserdisc set; guilty as charged.

Needs to be reiterated
Lucas made a terrible error in judgment when he decided to make his altered versions of the movie the ONLY versions available. The "last chance to buy the originals" campaign years ago translates into "no-new-dough" for Lucas this time around.

I'm 32, saw Star Wars and Empire Strikes Back in theaters about ten times each. Those movies were so exciting and fresh... it's a shame that Lucas won't leave these gems alone, or at least give us viewers a choice.

But really, it's not THAT big of a shame. We do have choices in the form of other entertainment that truly does leave this series in the dust at this point.

Star Wars DVD Box Set (2004)
I won't buy this for two reasons:

1) Fox is probably ripping us off again. After two Alien box sets, three versions of X-men, and many other examples where they released multiple editions; there is no way I'm going to fall for it again. I know that if I buy this box set, in four or five years Fox will release a better seven disc version, with both versions of the films and loaded with extras. Which leads to the other reason I won't buy this.

2) I want the original versions of these movies. I don't want to see Greedo awkwardly shooting the wall before Han fires. I don't want to see Boba Fett looking into the camera as he walks by. I don't want to hear the Storm Trooper say "oomph" as he bumps into the door. I don't want to see Han walk over jaba's tail. I don't want to watch the terrible re-edit of the end of Empire. I don't want to have Luke say "You're lucky to be alive" rather than "You're lucky you don't taste very good." Worst of all, I don't want Luke to make that goofy scream as he's falling at the end of empire.

None of these things were in the original versions of the films. They are "special" additions. They wasted time putting in all those idiotic things, yet didn't fix the red boxes around the tie fighters and asteroids. George Lucas, who fought against the colorization of Black and White movies, ruined his own films by adding unnecessary baggage. I won't buy a Star Wars movie until I can purchase the original theatrical versions.

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