If you want to read some George Lucas-bashing, just click here and see what the reviewers are saying about him over at Amazon.com.Why? Because he's released yet another edition of Star Wars, another bold and brazen attempt at emptying the pockets of his fans. Why don't we all wear udders?
First of all, in case you haven't heard, today was the release date of the original Star Wars movie as shown in theaters way back in 1977, on dvd. No additional footage, no cleaning up the picture, and just a Dolby Prologic soundtrack, no Dolby 5.1 or THX sound. I was shocked to see that this version managed to garner a lowly 2 1/2 star rating from the consumer reviewers at Amazon! How can this, one of the greatest flicks ever made, do so poorly?
In almost all the cases, it has nothing to do with the movie. It has something to do with people's outrage that Lucas is scam or con artist extraordinaire, going through another round of a Star Wars release. As of this writing, 246 people have seen fit to put in their two cents on the matter over at Amazon.com - no small number!
That said, there I was at Circuit City this morning, standing in line with all the other "suckers" holding onto our copies of the movie and also making sure we received our exclusive lithograph that came with each dvd sold. I was only a 1/3 sucker, though; I bought just the first movie in the original trilogy whereas everyone else around me was buying all three. Cries of "$48.68, please" rang out all around me as all three dvd's were rung up on the registers. I watched as the guy in front of me carefully inspected each lithograph (one for each episode) for the slightest mark or blemish, muttering something about how his wife would kill him if he didn't bring these home with him. He handed one supposedly imperfect one back to the cashier and took a different one. A moment later the cashier handed the rejected one to me. I didn't care. I just told the cashier, hey, it's free. I'll take it! I really don't know what I am going to do with it, though, because it's actually kind of big and ugly.
Anyway, instead of my usual monkuing I just want to say I am happy the original was finally released! To those who complain about it not being digitally remastered or enhanced or it having a primitive dolby surround track, I say this is supposed to be the original. It's supposed to be that way. To me that means it hasn't been doctored.
I was with the crowd that bought the first dvd release of the 1977 episode, the one that Lucas enhanced, the one that gave us a sparkling gold C3PO and R2D2 along with a densely-populated Mos Eisley, among other changes. Sure I liked it, but I have never been "comfortable" with it; it's just not the real Star Wars, you know what I mean? I didn't have a chance to watch the whole thing tonight but I did flip through various scenes and it brought smiles to my face! You can see smudges and imperfections on C3PO and R2D2! And shouldn't you? How can you go through the clone wars and come out unscathed? Then I watched as Luke, Obi Wan and the droids flew into Mos Eisley the way I remembered it - a rather barren, unsightly place, not the hustling bustling urban hub of activity that George Lucas changed it to in the redone version. Yes, the picture and sound are not up to today's technological standards but that's how it was back in 1977. So when I watched these scenes again, I felt like I was back in the theater, looking up in awe at what was then a huge screen (the Century Plaza theater in Century City) and being absolutely taken in.
I plan to settle down in an easy chair and watch the whole thing as soon as possible, and to savor the movie the way it really was. People can slam George Lucas all they want, but I'm glad he finally released this. After all, no one is being FORCEd to buy this, right? So instead of my usual monku ranting and raving, this time I will say thanks, George! It's nice to have the real version.
