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i am thankful for savestarwars.com for this. i had no idea George Lucas was so concerned with artistic preservation.
George Lucas from 1988. i’ve placed in red a few of the more interesting parts.
Quote:“My name is George Lucas. I am a writer, director, and producer of motion pictures and Chairman of the Board of Lucasfilm Ltd., a multi-faceted entertainment corporation.I am not here today as a writer-director, or as a producer, or as the chairman of a corporation. I’ve come as a citizen of what I believe to be a great society that is in need of a moral anchor to help define and protect its intellectual and cultural heritage. It is not being protected.
The destruction of our film heritage, which is the focus of concern today, is only the tip of the iceberg. American law does not protect our painters, sculptors, recording artists, authors, or filmmakers from having their lifework distorted, and their reputation ruined. If something is not done now to clearly state the moral rights of artists, current and future technologies will alter, mutilate, and destroy for future generations the subtle human truths and highest human feeling that talented individuals within our society have created.
A copyright is held in trust by its owner until it ultimately reverts to public domain. American works of art belong to the American public; they are part of our cultural history.
People who alter or destroy works of art and our cultural heritage for profit or as an exercise of power are barbarians, and if the laws of the United States continue to condone this behavior, history will surely classify us as a barbaric society. The preservation of our cultural heritage may not seem to be as politically sensitive an issue as “when life begins” or “when it should be appropriately terminated,” but it is important because it goes to the heart of what sets mankind apart. Creative expression is at the core of our humanness. Art is a distinctly human endeavor. We must have respect for it if we are to have any respect for the human race.
These current defacements are just the beginning. Today, engineers with their computers can add color to black-and-white movies, change the soundtrack, speed up the pace, and add or subtract material to the philosophical tastes of the copyright holder. Tommorrow, more advanced technology will be able to replace actors with “fresher faces,” or alter dialogue and change the movement of the actor’s lips to match. It will soon be possible to create a new “original” negative with whatever changes or alterations the copyright holder of the moment desires. The copyright holders, so far, have not been completely diligent in preserving the original negatives of films they control. In order to reconstruct old negatives, many archivists have had to go to Eastern bloc countries where American films have been better preserved.
In the future it will become even easier for old negatives to become lost and be “replaced” by new altered negatives. This would be a great loss to our society. Our cultural history must not be allowed to be rewritten.
There is nothing to stop American films, records, books, and paintings from being sold to a foreign entity or egotistical gangsters and having them change our cultural heritage to suit their personal taste.
I accuse the companies and groups, who say that American law is sufficient, of misleading the Congress and the People for their own economic self-interest.
I accuse the corporations, who oppose the moral rights of the artist, of being dishonest and insensitive to American cultural heritage and of being interested only in their quarterly bottom line, and not in the long-term interest of the Nation.
The public’s interest is ultimately dominant over all other interests. And the proof of that is that even a copyright law only permits the creators and their estate a limited amount of time to enjoy the economic fruits of that work.
There are those who say American law is sufficient. That’s an outrage! It’s not sufficient! If it were sufficient, why would I be here? Why would John Houston have been so studiously ignored when he protested the colorization of “The Maltese Falcon?” Why are films cut up and butchered?
Attention should be paid to this question of our soul, and not simply to accounting procedures. Attention should be paid to the interest of those who are yet unborn, who should be able to see this generation as it saw itself, and the past generation as it saw itself.
I hope you have the courage to lead America in acknowledging the importance of American art to the human race, and accord the proper protection for the creators of that art–as it is accorded them in much of the rest of the world communities.”
okay, George. where’s my Blu-ray of the original Star Wars trilogy from the original negatives?
My essence still senses Bucho's women.
Lots of people bring this up. He never mentions that it’s not okay to change your own stuff. That’s the line he’s drawn. He’s perfectly within the rights of “artistic integrity” to change whatever he wants, because it’s his creation. And, watch the 1995 VHS release trailer —
[YouTube]zKr5R1VNPjI[/YouTube]
It even says it – last chance to own the original trilogy. Can’t say he didn’t warn us…
Now, the whole argument if whether or not there’s a serviceable print of each movie with which he could make a Blu-Ray is beside the point. I’d like them, too, but it’s just not going to happen.
I have no big issue with the alterations. I’ve got versions I prefer which I will usually watch (on VHS!!!). I should make a digital copy before the tape jams or the recorder fucks up.
But I do like looking at new versions and seeing the alterations….some of them are for the better!
BIG JOBBIESI was going to make the exact same point Rob makes… Lucas very clearly stands on the same ground he stood on when he wrote that 24 years ago. If he were somehow ousted from his companies, and the copyrights were transferred to the company instead of him. THEN changes were made, you’d likely see him outraged. As it stands, both the passage above quoting him, and his behavior during the ‘evolution’ (or de-evolution if you prefer) of his films has been his artistic right. For better or worse, and should be protected, eve when poor choices are made with regard to the changes.
I’m just personally done with the movie series. I’ve gotten everything I can out of them, and repeat viewings now are tired for me so I just don’t do it. I would much rather Lucas spend his time contributing to the ideas of others, facilitating the furthering of new stories, or seeing if he himself has any new ideas worth telling. Tinkering with what’s already been done is a safe bet at being a successful filmmaker through the eyes of an incredible marketer, and regardless of his feeling to be able to continue to refine his own art, continues to feel like a series of business decisions rather than artistic refinement.
That said, in a few decades he may be seen as the pioneer of the ever-evolving film. So who knows how history will really see his decisions.
i understand he’s consistent with what he said on a literal level since he is the copyright holder. but the spirit of what he was saying is crystal clear and he is a complete hypocrite.
i know all of us fans have been through this until we’re blue in the face and i know we’re all frustrated but damn i wish he would just leave the original trilogy alone.
i could live with HD versions on my DVR if they were letterbox but i’ve only seen them in a cropped 1.85 aspect ratio.
at this point i don’t even feel like pirating the blu-ray versions. 🙁
i couldn’t tell you the last time i watched any of them. and i have no desire to watch them right now. i don’t really know why reading that bothered me so much. i think it’s just a knee-jerk reaction because i’m just used to the process of George announcing changes and me just going to DammitGeorge[at]PleaseStopPunchingMyChildhoodInTheCunt[dot]com place in my head. you know?
My essence still senses Bucho's women.
I was going to actually do one of my mini shows about this, but totally forgot…
For me, I still love the movies. Are you really going to say that Darth Maul sucks? And that when the Jedi show up in the arena in Clones your geek-wiener doesn’t twitch at all? And that opening scene in Revenge – c’mon! I still think that even with all its faults, those movies have more going for it than most movies that come out.
Here’s the question I most want to ask those who want the originals so bad – have you actually watched them lately? I have. Even in less than 480p, the effects look SO bad blown up to 1080. The majority of the SE changes are actually good, as they clean up some of the horrible effects to make them actually watchable. Sure, there are new scenes that don’t make much sense, but like I said, the majority are very welcome.
If you think about it, the New Hope was SO low budget – it’s amazing that it worked at all. You can say what you want about Lucas, but it really was lightning in a bottle. Give you an example – watch the scene where the Falcon has escaped the Death Star. Even better, do it with the sound muted – part of the reason that scene works is the music, because visually that whole scene is just dead. Look how many times there are closeups of Leia and Chewie looking left and right. It actually looks like the Falcon is stationary. If you’re not convinced at that point that music is CRUCIAL to a movie, look no further than that scene.
So now, fast forward 18 years (from ’77). You’ve made so much money off of this monster train, you have a budget that’s only dictated by how much you want to spend, and you’ve got this crazy idea to finish out the saga. You know that there’s this new digital technology called DVD that’s as much as four times the resolution of the current technology available on home video, so all of those shitty effects we did may have worked for home video, but they’ll be glaringly obvious at that higher resolution. At the same time, you realize that bringing out a new Star Wars movie is still risky business. What would you do?
Well, let’s clean up the movies we’ve got and re-release them theatrically. Not only will we make some extra scratch we can use to make the new episodes, but it will bring Star Wars back to the consciousness of the world. New scenes will bring out all the people that loved the movies, if nothing else than to just recapture that feeling of seeing Star Wars in the theatre, plus they won’t look so dated so hopefully we’ll get the kids THESE DAYS hooked. Now, we could just clean up effects, but shit, while we’re at it, let’s fix some of the shit that’s been bothering me for twenty years.
I think when you look at it that way, it’s simple to see why the SE’s were done, and maybe some of the reasoning in adding things he did. Look at Han and Greedo – whatever your stance on this, George’s stance was that it made him look too much like a cold blooded killer. Times had changed since 1977 – and George himself had changed.
Here’s an example of this – in the Close Encounters of the Third Kind Blu-ray, Steven Spielberg said that if he had made the movie today, he wouldn’t have had Neary get on the ship and leave his kids behind. When he made the movie, he was single, and thought that there was nothing better than getting on a spaceship with a bunch of aliens. You could say, “well, there you go, he didn’t go back and change it!” True, but he doesn’t own the rights, so there’s no way to go back and do that.
Same with Blade Runner, the Alien series and any others you want to bring up. In NONE of those examples is the creator of those the owner of the rights to the movies. The STUDIO typically owns all rights and can rerelease the movies as much as they want.
So, Star Wars really is unique in this respect. The creator retains all the rights and can do whatever he wants. And, no one is forcing you to buy the thing! I love it when people say that…
Do I agree with all the changes? No. Do I want these movies I’ve watched on and off my whole life in the highest possible quality available today? Hell yes. Do I want to see a bunch of deleted scenes and shit that’s never been released before? Oh, god yes. All for $80? Are you kidding me? Why WOULDN’T I buy this set is the question.
And the funny thing is, I know exactly what would happen if I got the originals on Blu. I’d go, “Huh. Wow, those matte lines look terrible. Man that Vaseline under the sandspeeder is shit. Okay.” And then next time I watch them, I’ll put in the SEs, because they just look better.
And here’s the real key – the people who bitch and moan and complain about the changes and complain about the originals not being there – SUCH a small number. How many I wonder, who stick to their guns and say, “Dammit, no, I’m not gonna buy them!” will end up getting them for Christmas. How many will actually have the willpower to not open them and take them back to the store? Not buying them ain’t gonna do shit, is what I’m getting at.
So there. That’s my long drawn out thoughts on this.
you know what, Rob? fuck you and your valid points and knowing that i’m gonna buy these on blu-ray friday no matter how much i bitch and moan while enjoying them.
you’re exactly right, though. i couldn’t tell you how many director’s commentaries i’ve heard where directors quit editing simply because of the studio deadline. they always say there’s more to be done on a film. so i guess we should feel lucky that George is unique in his position of caretaker of his own creative work.
and the original trilogy DVDs sure do look miles better than my VHS copies.
i wish i could hate you, Rob.
i wish i could quit you.
My essence still senses Bucho's women.
I’m a geek and I could talk about this stuff ad nauseam. I’ve thought about this WAY too much, but I think it makes a lot of sense. And when you look at how many humanitarian things George has done, it really makes you think that he’s not so bad.
Quitting me is hard to do. 😀
I’ll betcha I can stick to my guns on not buying them. 🙂
Besides, I know where you, your giant TV and sweet ass live… so I have a solution for wanting to see them, and the will power to not buy them.
Damn I’m awesome.
Not sure about the whole new take of Alderaan shooting first! That may be one change too far!
BIG JOBBIESyour gif (hilarious btw) just made me realize that i’ve never thought about the death star’s propulsion system. i’m sure there’s some explanation in official canon. but i have no idea what it could be.
well, damn. did a quick search. Death Star Propulsion.
My essence still senses Bucho's women.
I think it is propelled along using Gungan farts which are collected and released through small propulsion jets situated throughout the surface of the Deathstar.
Thats why we don’t see the Gungan during the time of the Empire. Palpatines first task was to round up and enslave the entire Gungan race so that he could harvest their farts.
BIG JOBBIESApparently it’s easy to harness their farts and stay away from the solid wastes, as they exit a small thermal exhaust port, just below the main port.
I haven’t purchased, or received, a Star Wars movie since the original trilogy came out on VHS, and I plan to continue that long tradition.
I’m reminded of something the author Ray Bradburry said, when looking at one of his older works. He said he was tempted to change this and that about it but decided not to, because how he wrote that story represented the author he was at that time, and now he’s a different author.
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