Original Star Wars!

[AEA AGMA SM]

Posted: 8/17/14 at 1:09am

Disney is reportedly getting ready to give fans what George Lucas has refused to do for years. Sources are saying that they are currently working on a Blu-ray transfer of the original trilogy, without ANY of the additions and changes Lucas made throughout the years. I have personally been waiting for this to happen since it was first announced that Disney had bought everything from Lucas. Please, please, please let this be true and be ready by Christmas!

Screw you, George Lucas!

[Taryn]

Posted: 8/17/14 at 1:54am

THANK GOD

[Alan Henry]

Posted: 8/17/14 at 2:05am

This will make me sound like I live under a rock - but I've never seen a Star Wars film. I've just never gotten around to it. I will at some point, and soon - I hope.

[ray-andallthatjazz86]

Posted: 8/17/14 at 2:55am

I have refused to buy the trilogy given the ridiculous changes Lucas made to the films after the prequels were released. It sounds ludicrous. I hope this is true! It'd be wonderful to watch the movies without seeing Hayden Christensen at the end of JEDI, or some of those changes.

[AEA AGMA SM]

Posted: 8/17/14 at 8:52am

I'm curious to see the reaction of some of the younger generation who've only seen the altered versions. How will the original play out in their eyes?

[ErikJ972]

Posted: 8/17/14 at 9:22am

This makes me really happy.
Did anyone see The People Vs. George Lucas? I thought in that film they said George had destroyed all copies of the original version...

[AEA AGMA SM]

Posted: 8/17/14 at 9:26am

If I remember correctly George Lucas was the one who claimed that no copies existed, but I found it very hard to believe. It just seemed like he didn't want to give the fans what they wanted since it would look like he had made a mistake in making the changes in the first place.

[Luscious]

Posted: 8/17/14 at 10:41am

I prefer the bastardized, altered versions of the films with all of the changes and additions.

Updated On: 8/17/14 at 10:41 AM

[Kad]

Posted: 8/17/14 at 11:47am

The alterations were not only totally unnecessary, but didn't jibe with the galaxy that had been created in the films. They were all the shiny, glossy, plasticy, unreal CGI that define the prequels.

The original, unaltered films hold up VERY well.

[Taryn]

Posted: 8/17/14 at 11:57am

You are wrong.

[sabrelady]

Posted: 8/17/14 at 12:29pm

I am very pleased to hear this so i can force my nephew who keeps telling me i don't know what I'm talking about to finally SEE WTF I've been talking about.

[Islander_fan]

Posted: 8/17/14 at 1:03pm

I used to work at a pre school. Even then, the boys that age were very much into anything action. This included Power Rangers and Star Wars. However, one thing that bothered me, was that their only knowledge/introduction to Star Wars stemmed from The Clone Wars cartoon that aired on Cartoon Network. This was a show that, from my understanding, took place in the new Star Wars universe between episode two and three. As a Star Wars fan who knows Han shot first, I fear that Lucas got the younger set to grow up around the new Star Wars universe rather than the superior and original one. But, we shall see.

[darquegk]

Posted: 8/17/14 at 1:18pm

I was perfectly happy with the initial changes during the 1990s remaster for the Special Editions. They didn't make any truly egregious changes, and were able to achieve some things that Lucasfilm had intended but were unable to produce previously, i.e. Jabba the Hutt in A New Hope. I wouldn't mind seeing those again too.

On the other hand, the glossed-up 2000s remaster was unnecessary in all ways.

[CapnHook]

Posted: 8/17/14 at 1:55pm

There were changes? Are my VHS tapes of the original, or with the changes??

[Mr Roxy]

Posted: 8/17/14 at 2:23pm

I saw the original and I never saw any of the other versions of it. I saw Spaceballs but that does not count.

[Gothampc]

Posted: 8/17/14 at 2:24pm

I never knew there were any changes.

[AEA AGMA SM]

Posted: 8/17/14 at 2:32pm

Capn, it depends on when you got the VHS tapes. The last time the unaltered films were widely available was the remastering/restoration that was released (pre-DVD) in the 90s, sometime around 94 or 95 as I recall. Every DVD and Blu-ray release has had George's tinkering in place to some degree.

And I HATE that Jabba scene he added back into the original film. None of his attempts at a CGI Jabba have come close to matching the puppet work done in Return of the Jedi, not to mention that the scene is completely superfluous; it is just a rehash of information we got just moments before in the Greedo scene.

[Musical Master]

Posted: 8/17/14 at 3:01pm

This is going to be on my "must buy" list soon. Disney has heard the fans and they are giving them what they want.

[Mr Roxy]

Posted: 8/17/14 at 3:03pm

Capt Hook still has VHS tapes. Good for you. Now I do not feel so bad.

[Islander_fan]

Posted: 8/17/14 at 7:07pm

For what it's worth, they did release the original, unaltered versions on DVD. When they released the the special editions on DVD, it was a two disc set for each movie. One was the special edition, the other was the original, unaltered version. My brother who's a big Star Wars fan found someone selling the three original ones on DVD on Ebay and when he moved, he gave them to me. But, having them on Blu Ray would be better.

[AEA AGMA SM]

Posted: 8/17/14 at 7:30pm

The versions on that 2006 DVD release were taken from the laserdisc masters from back in the 90s. They were not cleaned up at all, were not anamorphic (so on a widescreen TV you had to manually zoom the picture or watch it with black bars on the sides as it was formatted to fit the old 4:3 TVs. It also suffered from a lot of picture problems such as frame jitter, extreme digital noise reduction which removed a lot of detail, and motion blur and ghosting. It was clear that Lucas did not allow any money to be spent on that release in an effort to make the Special Editions look better and stem the bootleg market that had popped up of people selling DVD transfers they had made of their own laserdisc versions. It was a slap in the face to the fans who simply want the movies that they first saw and fell in love with.

I think the greatest irony is that George Lucas fought against people like Ted Turner who wanted to go and colorize old black and white films.

Spielberg saw the error of his ways and never kept the original version of E.T. from the fans after he made his special edition. Friedkin doesn't try to hide the original cut of The Exorcist from the public (though he still says he prefers The Version You've Never Seen Before, or whatever he calls it these days). Why couldn't George swallow his pride and admit that many fans liked the movies the way they were and didn't care that they were "incomplete," as he stated?

[CarlosAlberto]

Posted: 8/17/14 at 7:30pm

^ I have those 2 Disc editions. Yes, the first discs contain the "new" altered versions. The second discs contain the original versions. I'm glad to know these original versions will finally make it to blu-ray.