Tuesday, October 26, 2004
LucasArts with Blinders On
When reading this article, it's apparent that the original Star Wars negatives were completely cleaned prior to updating for the latest edition. That completely blows Lucas' argument that the originals are not release because it would be too expensive to clean them up for release.
Even more disturbing is the side blurb from LucasArts marketing manager, Jim Ward:
As with many restorations made with the cooperation of living directors, the Â?Star Wars TrilogyÂ? introduced content changes, mandated by Lucas, to conform narrative and look and feel in the original trilogy with characters and visuals introduced in the later films. Some were controversial with fans.
Jim Ward deflates the issue by scaling the controversy: Â?At the end of the day an artist has a right to do what he wants to do to his work. For many years, George has worked to achieve the original vision he couldnÂ?t achieve in 1977 or in 1997 (Special Edition).
So it makes maybe a good headline, but itÂ?s hardly a controversy. We sold over $100 million in one day of this DVD around the world, so I donÂ?t think anybodyÂ?s too upset about it. And any changes that George made, they might be controversial to about 5 people.
Jim, financial success does not equal the winning of this argument. The fact that people bought the darn thing speaks to how powerful Star Wars is regarded by the public. But there are far more than 5 people complaining of the changes. Even people who have bought them have complained of the changes. And not just fan boys. My mom can't understand why they have been changed either, and she is hardly a science faficionadocianado.
The changes are controversial to a large number of people, Jim. They just don't think it will do any good to be vocal about their complaints.
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