Spoilers 'Obi-Wan Kenobi' series [Spoiler Discussion]

[Reverend]

Just so we're all on the same page, this is what a "mix tape" of Star Wars looks like.

To view this content we will need your consent to set third party cookies.
For more detailed information, see our cookies page.

Accept third party cookies

Tightly and well edited. Tells a unique and clear narrative. Short.

Fan editors can also change whatever the fuck they want, and people just need to deal with that reality.

In the privacy of their own hard drives; for sure. On the internet; mostly . . . at least until the cease an desist arrives. Understand that these things are allowed to exist as a courtesy from Lucasfilm. People do not have the right to re-edit and redistribute (freely or otherwise) material that someone else owns, let alone whole movies. Claiming "fair use" will only get you so far. Indeed I'm honestly surprised Disney have tried to curtail LF's traditionally tolerant outlook. They're usually intensely litigious about this kind of thing.

Of course I wasn't the one talking about that in regards to fan edits, just expressing my disinterest of a purely creative front. I was also responding to someone inferring that Lucas's revisions fall under the same category. They do not.

Do try and keep up.

 

[Tosk]

I dunno, it feels more like they cause anger in you rather than just disinterest.

In the privacy of their own hard drives; for sure.

Exactly.

Do try and keep up.

I was aware of the flow, I just chose to focus on one element.

Personally, I find Lucas' edits to be far more egregious than any fan edit could ever be. The fan edits don't remove access to the original work. And I say that as someone who has seen very few fan edits that I've actually liked.

 

[fireproof78]

A fan edit is just another form of fan expression.

Some are ok, and some are terrible.

None are pieces I would put on the same level as the original edits. But as fan expression? Why not?

 

[TREK_GOD_1]

I dunno, it feels more like they cause anger in you rather than just disinterest.

Indeed. Star Wars as a filmed franchise has generated more inferior content than anything else, and the longer it is milked, the more the few jewels will be far outweighed / outdistanced into a fragment.

Personally, I find Lucas' edits to be far more egregious than any fan edit could ever be.

Yes, and we all know the bullet points (Han not shooting first / unnecessary Jabba scene in Docking Bay 94, which repeats everything Greedo just said to Han / Boba Fett fan stroking / R2 hiding behind a CG rock / added, but butchered Yavin scene with Luke, Biggs and Red Leader, etc.)

I believe he is one of the only living, major filmmakers who refused (in this latest, 21st century generation of remastering) to to release theatrical cuts. Coppola once pulled the same thing with older releases of The Godfather films and The Outsiders, but the theatricals have since been remastered and released on 4K.

 

[Captrek]

I believe he is one of the only living, major filmmakers who refused (in this latest, 21st century generation of remastering) to to release theatrical cuts. Coppola once pulled the same thing with older releases of The Godfather films and The Outsiders, but the theatricals have since been remastered and released on 4K.

He is certainly the only filmmaker selected by the National Film Registry to refuse to provide copies of his films for archiving and preservation.

 

[Commander Troi]

Which is why I will hang onto my original VHS tape of Star Wars until I die and then will donate it to a worthy cause.

 

[TREK_GOD_1]

He is certainly the only filmmaker selected by the National Film Registry to refuse to provide copies of his films for archiving and preservation.

True. So much for the respect of original art.

 

[fireproof78]

He is certainly the only filmmaker selected by the National Film Registry to refuse to provide copies of his films for archiving and preservation.

Anxiety of an artist. It's sad but I understand it.

 

[oojason]

A quick note on Lucasfilm's stance on Fan Edits:-

‘Jeanne Cole, a spokesperson for Lucas’ company, Lucasfilm, added: “At the end of the day, this is about everyone just having fun with Star Wars.” She said the company did not pursue fans “as long as nobody crosses that line - either in bad taste or in profiting from the use of our [IP] / characters.”

^ http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/film/1375742.stm ('Mystery of Star Wars Phantom Edit’ article, in June 2001, at the BBC)



George has also invited fan editors to Skywalker Ranch in the past - notably to a screening of ROTS - pre release.

So fan editing and preservations etc doesn't seem to be much of an issue.

Websites with communities involved in hundreds of preservations, fan edits, and other fan projects (for both Star Wars and non-GFFA projects) - such as originaltrilogy.com, fanedit.org, and FanRes have been around for a long time (20 years in the OT.com's case). Of course, there are rules to follow... and where applicable and possible, ie... 'Before obtaining any fan edits, you must be in ownership of the official retail release.'



'George Lucas Predicts Fanediting Back in 1995' (skip to 41:01):-

To view this content we will need your consent to set third party cookies.
For more detailed information, see our cookies page.

Accept third party cookies

As for 'the films are Lucas' - so he can do anything he wants with them' type of claim... a few of us disagree with that - including George Lucas himself:-

An abridged screenshot from JW Rinzler’s ‘The Making Of Episode III’ book; a quoted conversation between Frank Oz and George Lucas…

^ At the time of above conversation George Lucas had already made changes to directors Irvin Kershner’s ‘Empire Strikes Back’, and Richard Marquand’s ‘Return Of The Jedi’ - and would also make go on to make further additional changes to both films.

Neither the 'Empire Strikes Back' or 'Return Of The Jedi' are officially available as their respective directors intended, or indeed made, on a modern and quality digital format.



Personally, I've found this article on Wired, by Drew Stewart, to be fair & reasoned on the subject of wanting an official, modern, high quality release of the unaltered theatrical cuts of the Original Trilogy (and all the various cuts of the OT)...
Disney+ Should Offer the Star Wars Original Cuts—All of Them

As well as his follow-up 'sequel' article - at www.releasetheoriginaltrilogy.com ...
#ReleaseTheOriginalTrilogy • What We Want And How To Make It


^ The unaltered theatrical version could easily be released as part of the ‘Vintage Collection’ up on the Disney+ streaming service - all the various cuts could be - and it would have no bearing on the 2019 Special Editions being the ‘official’ or ‘default’ version, or now being George’s ‘vision’.

Disney+ even features the original 2003 ‘Clone Wars’ animated series - available in HD (a series de-canoned for the later 2008 animated ‘The Clone Wars’ film and series)… so why not also include the various previous cuts of the Original Trilogy on there too?

Even a physical media official release of the unaltered Original Trilogy could easily and clearly be labelled as ‘non-canon’, ‘Legends’ or ‘Essential Legends’ etc - like countless other official Star Wars content over time is now re-labelled, re-released, and re-sold. (In the highest quality possible - on a home digital format - done with the love, care, and attention to detail it so deserves).

It is why the films are important to the people who grew up with them, why they wish to have the option to experience them as they originally were released - as well as preserving important and cultural film history for everyone to view and enjoy. A reminder that the various ‘Special Edition’ versions (1997, 2004, 2011, and 2019) are NOT the award-winning, iconic, landmark & ground-breaking original version of the films.

It is not about the ‘theatrical cuts vs the various special editions’ or which is ‘the best’, ‘preferred’, ‘canon’, ‘definitive’ version or 'George's vision'. It is simply about giving the fans the opportunity to own and view any & all of the differing versions of the Original Trilogy - whilst also affording landmark film history to be once again enjoyed and experienced by everyone.

 

[oojason]

This upcoming fanedit by PixelJoker95 looks like it's going to be DA BOMB. The guy was apparently one of VFX artists on Andor.

https://www.youtube.com/@PixelJoker95

Looking forward to seeing that myself, mate. Looks very promising and should be a fun watch.

 

[Jedi Marso]

In my experience, some of the best fanedits of SW have involved minor changes to the content and major changes to stuff like color grading, etc. The SE's were horribly jacked-up color wise.

Not that anyone cares, but my current 'go to' versions of the OT are:

EP IV: Adywans ANH Revisited (Purist)
EP V: Adywan's ESB Revisited
EP VI: Q2 ROTJ

The first 2 are pretty much not going to change at this point. I'm still on the lookout for a cut of ROTJ that I like better, but so far Q2 has come the closest by far. Adywan's work is amazing.

For the PT, I have a few different ones that I cycle through for re-watches. To date, I have not seen any cut of episodes 7-9 that doesn't make me puke as much as the theatrical releases.

 

[oojason]

Yeah, adywan's Revisited is a great watch. Amazing attention to detail - and so many 'fixes' and improvements on image quality too...

Very much looking forward to seeing his ROTJ:R.

 

[Set Harth]

To date, I have not seen any cut of episodes 7-9 that doesn't make me puke as much as the theatrical releases.

There's a non-tealed version of TROS out there, for whatever that's worth.

 

[Ithekro]

The thing about the 2003 Clone Wars is that when they were making The Clone Wars in 2008, they generally assumed that the 2003 stuff happened both before and after their new series. At least at first.

 

[Tosk]

Yeah, adywan's Revisited is a great watch. Amazing attention to detail - and so many 'fixes' and improvements on image quality too...

Very much looking forward to seeing his ROTJ:R.

Oof. Personally, I find the shot on the right to be quite ugly. A.I. upscale artifacts galore. As often happens too, the A.I. doesn't understand distance, so it sharpens some stuff and not others regardless of position.

 

[cooleddie74]

To view this content we will need your consent to set third party cookies.
For more detailed information, see our cookies page.

Accept third party cookies

 

[JesterFace]

Which is why I will hang onto my original VHS tape of Star Wars until I die and then will donate it to a worthy cause.

When DVD versions of the original trilogy arrived I thought the VHS versions of the original trilogy were useless, apparently a good thing I kept them. I have Episodes 4 and 6, hopefully TESB is still around here somewhere.

 

[fireproof78]

is why the films are important to the people who grew up with them, why they wish to have the option to experience them as they originally were released - as well as preserving important and cultural film history for everyone to view and enjoy. A reminder that the various ‘Special Edition’ versions (1997, 2004, 2011, and 2019) are NOT the award-winning, iconic, landmark & ground-breaking original version of the films.

That's what VHS is for.

When DVD versions of the original trilogy arrived I thought the VHS versions of the original trilogy were useless, apparently a good thing I kept them. I have Episodes 4 and 6, hopefully TESB is still around here somewhere.

It's why I pick them up at thrift stores.

 

[Captrek]

Anxiety of an artist. It's sad but I understand it.

I don’t. Can you explain it?

 

[fireproof78]

I don’t. Can you explain it?

There are very few artists that I have known who do not have a measure of anxiety around their work. It isn't good enough, perfect enough, or assembled together well enough for public consumption. They analyze it, critique, find every flaw in it, and tear in a part no matter how much praise or accolades are given to it.

So, feeling like those films are not perfect having them enshrined forever would feel like a special type of torture to a person with anxiety.

People constantly say Star Wars films are ground breaking. But, that's not how Lucas saw them. He felt them imperfect, and struggled greatly with anxiety on the production. As much value as we as fans place on them, the artist feels anxious.