Entertainment news

KJ · September 19th, 2004, 09:41 AM

Why doesn't George Lucas simply say Oops i did it again like Britney Spears. Got the low down from the man on a link off Dark Horizons.com and boy WHAT A Hypocrit.

Lucas says he won't release the original films on DVD cause if anyone what them they're on VHS tape. And that because of piracy he felt it was time to release his beloved "special editions" on DVD with his newer cuts, but not the orignial 1977 versions. He fears the fact the special editons will be bootlegged so much thatif he didn't release them now he wouldn't draw a red cent by the time he brought them out on DVD. also stating the markets changed and he felt it was time to bring Star Wars to DVD.

Er George....If the originals are more beloved than the Special Editons what in blue blazes makes you think barring the hardcores fans. People won't buy up and get the originals on Laserdisc and bootlegged DVD?! Piracy still gonna run rampant because you've been a bonehead. -

I'll put up the article to read under this thread!

Other news and links include.

Quantum Leap. seems some interesting news is up over at DK and it does sound like sci-fi want to re-imagine things lie they did with Battlestar Galactica.

Unknown if Hammer had a hand in this but the news did say sci-fi channel may go this route?! (We await the "wrath" of Leaper fans at this one!)

Go here Quantum Leap news at:

http://www.darkhorizons.com/news04/040918c.php

And other interesting things i've read at horizons are:

Akira news:

http://www.darkhorizons.com/news04/040918j.php

Jurassic Park 4 news:

http://www.darkhorizons.com/news04/040918h.php

KJ

KJ · September 19th, 2004, 09:48 AM

Star Wars article of the DVD release.

"I'd already started this other idea, which was to do a kind of a classic action adventure film using sets," Lucas said over lunch at his 2,600-acre Skywalker Ranch. "I'd never worked on a set, I'd never worked at a studio. Never made a traditional movie. So I said, `I'm going to do this once, just to see what it's like, what it's like to actually design everything, work on a soundstage, do an old-fashioned 1930s movie.
"And I'll do it in that mode from the 1930s Saturday matinee serials, using kind of 1930s and '40s sensibilities, and I'll base it on sort of mythological motifs and icons. I'll just put it together in a modern form, and I'll have fun. That's how I got into that. I did it because it was an interesting move into an area that I thought I'd never go into."

Three decades later, Lucas is preparing to launch the last of his six "Star Wars" films. Next summer brings "Star Wars: Episode III Revenge of the Sith," completing the prequel trilogy that tells the story of young Anakin Skywalker's metamorphosis into the villainous Darth Vader of the original three films.
Fans have eagerly awaited the first three "Star Wars" films on DVD, a release Lucas initially intended to delay until he finished "Episode III."

Some will be miffed that the original theatrical versions are not included in the "Star Wars" boxed set, which features only the special-edition versions Lucas issued in the late 1990s, with added effects and footage, including a scene between Harrison Ford's Han Solo and crime lord Jabba the Hutt in the first "Star Wars."

AP: Why did you change your mind and decide to put the original three movies out on DVD now?

Lucas: Just because the market has shifted so dramatically. A lot of people are getting very worried about piracy. That has really eaten dramatically into the sales. It really just came down to, there may not be a market when I wanted to bring it out, which was like, three years from now. So rather than just sit by and watch the whole thing fall apart, better to bring it out early and get it over with.

AP: Why did you rework the original trilogy into the special-edition versions in the late 1990s?

Lucas: To me, the special edition ones are the films I wanted to make. Anybody that makes films knows the film is never finished. It's abandoned or it's ripped out of your hands, and it's thrown into the marketplace, never finished. It's a very rare experience where you find a filmmaker who says, "That's exactly what I wanted. I got everything I needed. I made it just perfect. I'm going to put it out there." And even most artists, most painters, even composers would want to come back and redo their work now. They've got a new perspective on it, they've got more resources, they have better technology, and they can fix or finish the things that were never done. ... I wanted to actually finish the film the way it was meant to be when I was originally doing it. At the beginning, people went, "Don't you like it?" I said, "Well, the film only came out to be 25 or 30 percent of what I wanted it to be." They said, "What are you talking about?" So finally, I stopped saying that, b! ut if you read any interviews for about an eight- or nine-year period there, it was all about how disappointed I was and how unhappy I was and what a dismal experience it was. You know, it's too bad you need to get kind of half a job done and never get to finish it. So this was my chance to finish it.

AP: Why not release both the originals and special editions on DVD?

Lucas: The special edition, that's the one I wanted out there. The other movie, it's on VHS, if anybody wants it. ... I'm not going to spend the, we're talking millions of dollars here, the money and the time to refurbish that, because to me, it doesn't really exist anymore. It's like this is the movie I wanted it to be, and I'm sorry you saw half a completed film and fell in love with it. But I want it to be the way I want it to be. I'm the one who has to take responsibility for it. I'm the one who has to have everybody throw rocks at me all the time, so at least if they're going to throw rocks at me, they're going to throw rocks at me for something I love rather than something I think is not very good, or at least something I think is not finished.

( )

AP: Do you pay much attention to fan reactions to your choices?

Lucas: Not really. The movies are what the movies are. ... The thing about science-fiction fans and "Star Wars" fans is they're very independent-thinking people. They all think outside the box, but they all have very strong ideas about what should happen, and they think it should be their way. Which is fine, except I'm making the movies, so I should have it my way.

( )

AP: After "Episode III," will you ever revisit "Star Wars"?

Lucas: Ultimately, I'm going to probably move it into television and let other people take it. I'm sort of preserving the feature film part for what has happened and never go there again, but I can go off into various offshoots and things. You know, I've got offshoot novels, I've got offshoot comics. So it's very easy to say, "Well, OK, that's that genre, and I'll find a really talented person to take it and create it." Just like the comic books and the novels are somebody else's way of doing it. I don't mind that. Some of it might turn out to be pretty good. If I get the right people involved, it could be interesting.

GL

KJ

Tibbetts · September 21st, 2004, 07:27 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lord Kingjason

Star Wars article of the DVD release.

AP: After "Episode III," will you ever revisit "Star Wars"?

Lucas: Ultimately, I'm going to probably move it into television and let other people take it. I'm sort of preserving the feature film part for what has happened and never go there again, but I can go off into various offshoots and things. You know, I've got offshoot novels, I've got offshoot comics. So it's very easy to say, "Well, OK, that's that genre, and I'll find a really talented person to take it and create it." Just like the comic books and the novels are somebody else's way of doing it. I don't mind that. Some of it might turn out to be pretty good. If I get the right people involved, it could be interesting.

GL

KJ

I think this parts pretty cool. I hope it hits tv eventually.

Wonder who he'll get to run it?

With Respect,

Dragon Lord

ernie90125 · September 21st, 2004, 10:35 AM

Hi,

I may be going to get a bit of a battering here but I actually don't care that Star Wars isn't going to be released in its original form. I thought the special editions were great !

He is right that they are available on vhs (and legit Hong Kong DVD) if anyone wants them. But where he is wrong is about piracy. Fans WILL buy a pirate is they are deprived of what they want. I work (legally) in the bootleg side of the music industry. That is the principle I work by. Give the fans what they want, or watch them get it else where. I tell so many artists this....

I also really REALLY welcome his letting Star Wars into TV. Fans will know that there has already been :

Droids cartoon series
Ewok cartoon series (x2)
Star Wars Holiday Special
2 Ewoks made for TV movies.

I would really like to see TV episodes featuring familiar characters from the movies. For example what adventures did the 2 droids have between the 2 trilogies ?

You might think this impossible (and I wasn't impressed with young Indiana Jones) but the following characters are ageless :

Darth Vader
The Emperor
C3PO
R2D2
Chewbacca
Admiral Ackbar
Jabba (and co)
Boba Fett
StormTroopers (etc)
Yoda
etc.

That is just looking at the classic trilogy. I am VERY impressed with the new actor they have to play Grand Moff Tarkin, he could be included as well. Although I don't think you can properly include Han, Luke or Leia with other actors...

I'd love to see some episodes set inbetween movies to flesh out the storyline.... I'd rather they spent millions on that then cleaning up old movies we already have better versions of....

julix · September 21st, 2004, 01:03 PM

KJ

Not really sure why you are puking after GL made his comments about fan reactions...............If you had written a Sci-Fi story do you think I or anyone else on the boards would have a right to change it or protest it. Yes we could give opinions and suggestions......would you be swayed by it? Why is it different with GL and Star Wars? If you would be swayed by fan reaction, who would you listen too and why? And you realize when you try to make everyone else happy you end up making no one happy least of all you. Yes it would be nice if he or any other Sci-Fi writer or producer would do what the fans want all the time(but again how would you do that-when fan opinions vary so much) In this case it is his work and I bet he is getting somewhat tired of fans who do seem to criticize and want it thier way when in fact he is the writer and creator so he should have it his way.....isn't that the point of creating something?

Archangel · September 21st, 2004, 02:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ernie90125

Hi,

I may be going to get a bit of a battering here but I actually don't care that Star Wars isn't going to be released in its original form. I thought the special editions were great !

Ernie, a lot of us first saw A New Hope at it's first release in the theaters. It didn't have these (admittedly) cool sequences that showed the breadth and scale of that world, but we were left to imagine, and I liked what I imagimed Mos Eisley to be.

In it we saw worlds that made us gasp, and characters that made us wonder (and for some of us younger ones at the time, fear). In a Large way, Lucas has taken alot of that away from us now, with his monkeying with the film.

Not to mention making Han Solo PC by having Greedo shoot first, which I also have an issue with.

I can't speak for the others, but among other things, I do miss being able to create those worlds in his universe, and if I can find another set of unaltered movies, I will be snapping it up.

And yes, I do realize that the sentence structure is not too good

julix · September 21st, 2004, 03:01 PM

Here is a link my hubby told me about....

www.pvponline.com

thomas7g · September 21st, 2004, 03:35 PM

Quote:

Quantum Leap. seems some interesting news is up over at DK and it does sound like sci-fi want to re-imagine things lie they did with Battlestar Galactica.

Unknown if Hammer had a hand in this but the news did say sci-fi channel may go this route?! (We await the "wrath" of Leaper fans at this one!)

Sam's already been a woman.

ernie90125 · September 21st, 2004, 04:19 PM

Archangel, I was exactly the same. I never saw the originals in the theatre (too young) but I did see them first time they were on TV.

I played with the Star Wars figures throughout childhood, and I too imagined the worlds and the adventures.

Bur despite that, I don't really have a problem with him expanding stuff. Maybe the song and dance part of Jabba's Palace is a bit much, but if he has made them the best he can, with the creative satisfaction he wanted achieved, then I don't mind.

But I'll warn you all, he is not done yet - we still have the 6 movie set, with further tweaks to come....

I bet a fair few copies of the legit Hong Kong release will find they're way onto people's shelves anyway....

shiningstar · September 23rd, 2004, 07:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ernie90125

Hi,

I may be going to get a bit of a battering here but I actually don't care that Star Wars isn't going to be released in its original form. I thought the special editions were great !

He is right that they are available on vhs (and legit Hong Kong DVD) if anyone wants them. But where he is wrong is about piracy. Fans WILL buy a pirate is they are deprived of what they want. I work (legally) in the bootleg side of the music industry. That is the principle I work by. Give the fans what they want, or watch them get it else where. I tell so many artists this....

I also really REALLY welcome his letting Star Wars into TV. Fans will know that there has already been :

Droids cartoon series
Ewok cartoon series (x2)
Star Wars Holiday Special
2 Ewoks made for TV movies.

I would really like to see TV episodes featuring familiar characters from the movies. For example what adventures did the 2 droids have between the 2 trilogies ?

You might think this impossible (and I wasn't impressed with young Indiana Jones) but the following characters are ageless :

Darth Vader
The Emperor
C3PO
R2D2
Chewbacca
Admiral Ackbar
Jabba (and co)
Boba Fett
StormTroopers (etc)
Yoda
etc.

That is just looking at the classic trilogy. I am VERY impressed with the new actor they have to play Grand Moff Tarkin, he could be included as well. Although I don't think you can properly include Han, Luke or Leia with other actors...

I'd love to see some episodes set inbetween movies to flesh out the storyline.... I'd rather they spent millions on that then cleaning up old movies we already have better versions of....

Ernie I disagree with you but you are entitled to your opinion.

bsg1fan1975 · September 24th, 2004, 03:16 AM

Me too but I reiterate what Shining said!

shiningstar · September 24th, 2004, 04:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by thomas7g

Sam's already been a woman.