The Official Boycott Star Wars Bluray thread

Okay first off full disclosure. I didn't buy these. I told my wife I didn't want them, but SHE bought them for me for my birthday. She said, "Well I thought you'd like the extra stuff." I wanted to send them back but she was feeling bad so I kept them. I got lots of, "When are you going to watch your movies?" So I broke down and opened them. Watched a little of the extra stuff, and put them back on the shelf where they will sit.

Now as someone who "wanted" to boycott this release, this is what I gained. I finally snapped out of my have to have everything Star Wars and I have to have it on the day it comes out. I realized that I'm totally OK with my LD rips and when I want to watch them, they will be there. The constant tinkering has finally woken me up to what nostalgia really is and what its value is in my own life. I feel a bit freer and have found myself enjoying my Star Wars memories a bit more these days.

John
 
Solo4114 said:
Question:

For those sneering at the "Boycott" (which, again, was never really much of a boycott as much as a thread to express frustration), what "victory" or "vindication" do you get from the failure of this not-really-a-boycott, exactly? I mean, what'd you win here, really?

There seems to be this sense of "Nyah nyah! OUR side won, suckers!" To which I cannot help but ask, in the immortal words of Chris Rock, "WHAT THE F$#% DID WE WIN?!"


I mean, are y'all really HAPPY that this will basically just say to Lucas "Keep up the good work!" and encourage him to (A) not release an archival version of the OT, and (B) keep mucking about with it? Or that (C) he'll continue to NOT effectively (from what I've heard, anyway) address technical problems with the transfer like color timing and crushing blacks and such? Or do you just...not really give a crap about any of that? For that matter, what genuine threat did you ever think some "boycott" would pose that you would then revel in its "failure"?
Click to expand...

Many won't have an answer for you because they have become mindless addicts that just have to have it.

GL gave them 1080p and a little more in the way of extras to suck them in. I bet if you asked any of them when the last time they sat down to watch these movies was, it had been a long time.
 
Here's my 2 cents.

For me, the single most powerful moment of these movies is the silent realisation by Darth Vader that his son is going to die. This scene, with the obliviousness of the Emperor, and Luke's pleading, and Vader literally being torn apart, culminating in one of the most kickass moments in the history of cinema, is, to me, perfect. Never mind the "tennis" shots or whatever, the music alone has made me tear up every single time I've watched this scene, ever since I was a kid. And nothing tops Vader, now fully Anakin Skywalker, lifting the Emperor over his head effortlessly with one hand, and throwing him down the shaft. Fist-pumping awesomeness.

Then Lucas came and ruined the scene by sampling a laughingly bad audio clip over it.

Needless to say, I won't touch this box set with a 10-foot pole. My memories of the movie are better.
 
Filandrius said:
Here's my 2 cents.

For me, the single most powerful moment of these movies is the silent realisation by Darth Vader that his son is going to die. This scene, with the obliviousness of the Emperor, and Luke's pleading, and Vader literally being torn apart, culminating in one of the most kickass moments in the history of cinema, is, to me, perfect. Never mind the "tennis" shots or whatever, the music alone has made me tear up every single time I've watched this scene, ever since I was a kid. And nothing tops Vader, now fully Anakin Skywalker, lifting the Emperor over his head effortlessly with one hand, and throwing him down the shaft. Fist-pumping awesomeness.

Then Lucas came and ruined the scene by sampling a laughingly bad audio clip over it.

Needless to say, I won't touch this box set with a 10-foot pole. My memories of the movie are better.
Click to expand...

This all checks out.

The truth it is.
 
ok ok i finally broke down and bought the box set of the trilogy.

randall said it best "All right, look, there's only one "Return," okay, and it ain't "of the Jedi," it's "of the King."
 
Found this quote today on a blog and thought it was funny:

Actor-comedian Paul Scheer also expressed the nerd consensus: “If George Lucas continues to change Star Wars at this rate, in the year 2028 it will just become Spaceballs.”
 
Scott Graham said:
Found this quote today on a blog and thought it was funny:

Actor-comedian Paul Scheer also expressed the nerd consensus: “If George Lucas continues to change Star Wars at this rate, in the year 2028 it will just become Spaceballs.”
Click to expand...

Perfectly stated.
 
I noticed this thread was still going though it's been a while since I last contributed but what I'm left with is still this - after close to 500 comments and over 21,000 views just on this thread alone, is there one post anywhere where ANY Star Wars fan says he does NOT want an archival version of the OT if only for archival reasons?

Ultimately, don't we all pretty much agree that preserving the original version for future generations is a good idea?

Since Lucas seems to make judgements based on his perception of what fans want, fans need to speak up and with a single voice on this particular detail so he'll think it's worth it monetarily to preserve the OT as it was.

Wouldn't that be better than us relying on bootlegs like Harmy's "despecialized edition" which, despite his best efforts can't measure up to something Lucasfilm could do if they even just did it as a side project?

It seems to me if we can't agree on this and convey it to Lucas, we'll never have anything but the new versions to show our kids and grandkids one day and I think that'd be a real shame. Lucas might not be able to pry an old DVD or VHS out of your hands but they can keep the original versions buried until it's too late to do anything about it.

Can ANYONE honestly say that keeping the OT preserved in current A/V technology is a bad idea?
 
Of course we can't say that it is a bad idea. We also cannot tell Lucas what to do with his property. It's just the nature of the beast, man. Some evils you have to deal with.
 
I think Rob's point here is that for all of the bickering between "haters" and "fanboys" (or whatever denigrating nickname each has for the other), we really all OUGHT to be on the same side.

What I think the "fanboys" miss is the fact that, while the "haters" dislike the newer stuff, they do love the older stuff and just want a properly restored version of that older stuff without any additions, etc. Lucas can play with the OT as much as he wants. Turn it into Spaceballs, Wagner's Ring Cycle in Space, or Icecapades. Whatever. It's his nickel. But what the "haters" want most (and basically the reason WHY they hate) is the old versions of the OT. That's it. That's all they want. You can keep the SEs and the PT, and Lucas can do what he likes with them....just give the "haters" the OOT.

What the "haters" lose sight of, I think, is that merely buying a copy of the blu-rays does NOT (or at least OUGHT not) automatically mean that the "fanboys" DON'T also want an "archival edition." They just want the other stuff, too. They like the PT, like the changes in the SEs or don't mind them, but that doesn't mean they'd turn down an archival OOT.


The real problem here isn't the "fanboys" or the "haters." It's Lucas. He can point to sales of the blu-rays (or the DVDs before them) and say "See? People like my new version." And that may be true. But what he doesn't realize or refuses to admit is that people ALSO like his older version (and in some cases ONLY like his older version) and that there is a market for it.


Honestly, who among anyone who's bought the blu-rays thus far would not ALSO go out and pre-order a set if it was announced tomorrow that the archival OOT was coming to blu-ray? Which "haters" here would really say "Screw Lucas! I'm not buying the archival set JUST TO SHOW HIM!"

Nobody. That's who. EVERYONE here would go out and buy the archival OOT if it was announced. And that's the part that Lucas doesn't get yet. And while "fanboys" and "haters" get on each others' cases about their lack/overabundance of fandom, both are losing sight of the fact that EVERYONE could be happy if they all worked from the common ground of wanting the archival OOT. Well, that and if Lucas actually agreed...

But seriously, any "boycott" or petition or whathave you about the archival OOT is NOT about denying people the SEs or denying them all future DVDs, blu-rays, 3DTV, digital holographic streaming, wetware implants or whatever the hell eventually shows up. It's about getting the archival versions on current generations of home media. Everything after that is gravy.
 
The whole debate is stupid.

There IS no debate.

Because Lucas WILL release an archival version.

We just have to wait until he runs out of OTHER ways to milk us for our cash.


And really - I think that is why the boycotters are boycotting. They simply refuse to provide LFL more revenue UNTIL GL gives them what they want.


So in other words, believe me - when GL runs out of ideas on how to cash in on his ONE cash cow (actually, one-of-two), THEN he will release the original, theatrical version.

Creative genius he is not.

Business maven, he is...

.
 
The blu-ray sales have told him that he doesn't need to release anything he doesn't want to. I don't think he has a grand scheme to get people slathering for the original, untouched releases.
 
I don't think he does either, but on the other hand, he might recognize the existence of a market -- and one that includes both the boycotters and the people who bought the blu-rays. The smartest move would be to release them as a standalone to capture ALL of that market rather than as a tacked-on portion of the current blu-ray set.
 
Qui-Gonzalez said:
Of course we can't say that it is a bad idea. We also cannot tell Lucas what to do with his property. It's just the nature of the beast, man. Some evils you have to deal with.
Click to expand...

Exactly. Nobody says it's a bad idea.

Nobody that I've seen is attacking Lucas' ownership of the movies so I fail to see the reason for using that as an excuse for us to not try to let Lucas know that we ALL want the OT preserved.

You just agreed it's not a bad idea so there really shouldn't be any "buts" involved... It is his but it's also a commercial franchise and letting him know that we all agree that we want this one thing seems to me might greatly increase our odds at one day seeing it happen.
 
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