Would you re-do the first 3 Star Wars films that were made? (granted, they are the end films of the whole sequel jazz but … you know what I mean)
I would. How cool would that be?
I’d cast someone else as Han Solo, so I didn’t get the snot annoyed out of me. And that wookie would be history, I’d throw him over a cliff with Jar Jar Binks.
Og no. The complaints came flooding in when he digitally remastered them. If he remade them we would probably be looking at civil unrest. Maybe even the end of civilization.
I think I must behead you now, drive a stake through your heart, stuff your mouth with garlic and destroy the server containing this thread before George Lucas catches wind of this idea. It’s the only way to be sure.
You’ve already got another thread on almost this topic.
I think “cool” is the absolute last word I would apply to such a proposition.
If I were George Lucas, I’d release the original 3 unremastered movies on DVD. There’s a big market of ubergeeks cough cough who are refusing to buy the altered versions; not to mention all those who do own them but would pay again because, well, they’re the original versions. You know, the ones his fanbase grew up loving and hated to see graffitoed with half-assed CGI.
I’m half convinced he’s planning to “break down” and “let the fans convince him” to release the originals within the next couple of years anyway, so he can make a metric crapload of money and look generous to boot. The other half suspects he really IS an idiot.
Yeah, I’d take a Criterion Star Wars box set with all three versions of the original trilogy, and I’d pay through the urethra for it, too.
My widescreen VHS copies of the originals are treasured. I really should transfer them to DVDs before they get fucked up. Still wouldn’t be anything like having a nice restored transfer, of course, but it would be reassuring.
The only people that should be allowed to remake the original trilogy are those kids who did the DIY Raiders of the Lost Ark. Or maybe their kids.
So, idle question: The original special effects from the films have many visual artifacts of the optical era–extremely visible matte lines, for example. These are clearly visible when you watch the video versions of the original theatrical releases.
Would you expect these to remain in such a release of the original versions, or would you want these “cleaned up” (note I don’t use the word “restore”, since restoration means maintaining the visual look of the original). Similarly, what about sound? No 5.1, just the multi-track stereo that was of that era (late 70s/early 80s).
Would you (and any other SW fan that wants to reply) be happy with such a release, or would you want all the digital clean-up? And if the answer’s the latter, than isn’t that still an “enhancement”, even if it’s not as intrusive or revisionist as the various Special/DVD editions?
Original, no clean up… no nothing. Released as they were orginally.
No! I’ll never join you! Aaaarrgghhh!!! gets sucked by vacuum Wheee! shoots out Aaaarrgghhh!!!
Thank God you’re not George Lucas. If George Lucas has done anything rights its Harrison Ford and Wookies. Wookies are bad ass.
Wookies are even more kick-ass than unicorns. Ford was the perfect Han Solo. Ditto Sir Alec as Obi-Wan and James Earl Jones as the voice of Vader. Mark Hammill was perfect as Luke because Luke was a whining little bitch who lusted for his sister. Carrie Fisher was perfect as Princess Leia Organa because Princess Leia showed up live on national TV stoned out of her gourd and couldn’t keep her accent straight.
Really, they were great when I was 12 and 15 years old, but the original Star Wars (post-release renamed Episode 4) hasn’t aged well.
Well, also perfect because whenever I see the scene with her in the Death Star cell, or the scene at the end where she’s handing out the medals, or in Jedi with the gold bikini, I melt into a puddle of goo. Very happy goo, mind you.
As to the “clean-up” question, I think I would prefer the true originals, but I don’t particularly mind things like cleaning up the matte lines, enhancing the contrast, or surrounding the sound. But I’m absolutely opposed to adding, deleting, or substantively changing things: Keep the original Death Star explosion, no exterior windows in interior walls in Cloud City, Jabba doesn’t show up until Jedi, and Han shot first.
And no dated CGI monsters in the Mos Eisley exterior shots, and guys in rubber alien make-up inside the cantina: God, that’s jarring.
Actually, it might indeed be cool. From a certain point of view…
The point of view where you keep your eyes shut, and everyone else’s heads explode. Have you ever seen the South Park episode “Free Hat”?
Amen. Amen.
The thing is - much as I love the movies, mostly because of nostalgia, they really are awful, in many ways.
SW: The acting is wooden at best, and terrible most of the time. Harrison Ford might be a movie star, but as an actor, his range is… shall we say limited to sullen or glowering. It really doesn’t matter what happens in the cantina scene, because it’s extremely obvious that Ford is waiting for his cue
The same in the big garbage room, every one is standing around, ready to grab whatever they used in the previous take and re-do it for the umpteenth time. Mark Hammil can’t act, Carrie Fischer can’t act. Sir Alec can, but was given awful material to work with. The whole thing is cheesy beyond belief and had it been released today, it’d sink like a stone at the box office.
TESB: It’s without a doubt the best in the whole franchise, maybe because Larry Kasdan had a hand in the script, maybe because they realized how limited the actors were and wrote a screenplay that didn’t demand too much from them. Yoda is kinda cute, but… it’s really to close to the Muppets for comfort.
RoTJ: After the peak in the second installment, it went downhill. Fast. Lucas was running out of ifdeas and recycled a lot of stuff from SW. The deathstar of course, but there is basically not enough story to fill a two hour movie, hence the long intro where they’re saving Han. Sure, we got CF in gold bikini and the fight above the giant, fanged, vagina was kinda good, but it didn’t advance the storyline one bit.
And then, there are the damn ewoks. I remember a rumour going round that Lucas knew that Spielberg got burnt on the merchandising from E.T. The dolls were really ugly and didn’t sell as expected. Supposedly, ewoks were added so that there would be cute and cuddly stuff at Toys’r’Us.
Looking at what Lucas has done as a filmmaker, on his own, it’s no surprise really that the three prequels are getting so much venom. Lucas is a talentless hack, who has had two ideas in his whole life: Making a movie about his teen years and recycling old space opera he grew up with. His on and off movie making partner, Spielberg, is also a hack, but he has talent and, even if I think he fails, an urge to make movies about more important stuff than space droids and giant ducks.
So, to get back to the OP, Lucas could never improve on the original, because it’s dreck to start with and he doesn’t have the talent to remake and improve them. Now, another director, a better writer and some good actors might make it. Lucas will never let that happen, though.
Without arguing about the subjective merits of Star Wars and American Graffiti, I still have to jump up and down a bit about your overlooking of THX 1138, which is arguably his best movie, and compares well with the work of auteurs like Tarkovsky and Kubrick.
Well, THX 1138 is fairly good, IMO. However, it feels as if he set out to do an arty movie, for the sole purpose of impressing his teachers. That could be hindsight, of course, knowing what a greedy, money hoarding, evil entity he is.