George Lucas Vs Original Fans
According to a report by The New York Times on May 4 (Star Wars Day), passionate "Star Wars" fan groups are pushing back against Lucasfilm’s special editions of the original trilogy. These editions include changes like the infamous scene where Han Solo is shot at by the bounty hunter Greedo first, rather than the original version where Han shoots Greedo without being provoked.
It's not just script changes that these fans are against. Robert Williams, a computer programmer from Philadelphia, is a member of a group called Team Negative One, which aims to watch "The Empire Strikes Back" (1980) as it was first released, complete with the original color and soft grain.
Williams has completed a 4K restoration of "A New Hope" (1977) and "Return of the Jedi" (1983). This involved hunting down original film reels that weren’t returned to the studio, digitizing them, and cleaning and rendering them at full 4K resolution.
Williams and his fellow members of Team Negative One search eBay and collections for the original Technicolor release prints. They scan these prints at 4K, clean them at 4K, and render them at 4K. Although they don’t post their work in full on public platforms, it is possible to download the restored versions on archive.org and the Original Trilogy forum. The movies are titled by the years they were released.
Williams explains his motivation on The Star Wars Trilogy website: “I wanted to show the film to my kids, and I wanted them to see the original version that I enjoyed at their age, not the one with the already dated-looking CGI, over-saturated colors, and a strong magenta tint.”
George Lucas' Response
George Lucas is not pleased with these fan restorations. In various comments and interviews, he has told fans to “grow up.” In 1997, the year the first “special edition” of the trilogy was released, he called the enhanced films the definitive versions. Lucas has argued that even the 35 million tapes of "Star Wars" will not last more than 30 or 40 years, and that a hundred years from now, the only version anyone will remember will be the DVD version.
In 2004, Lucas told The Associated Press: “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.”
Fan Perspective
Williams and other fan restorers are not entirely against Lucas’ changes. “They’re not really upset that he made the changes, because some of them are pretty cool and actually make the films better,” Williams told The Times. “They’re really upset that he didn’t also release the original version alongside it. Just put two discs in the box. We’d have been happy.”
The efforts of fans like Williams highlight a desire to preserve the original cinematic experience of "Star Wars" for future generations, ensuring that the legacy of these iconic films remains intact and accessible.
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Source: PetaPixel
Photo Credit: Lucasfilm
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