So... the original negs were transferred to digital in the 90s, which we already know. These transfers have since been used to created ALL the subsequent releases?

Oh, dear, me.

Wont be buying BRD of those then. The prequels perhaps!

As for the originals, the box set that I own (specials and originals) will suffice

My only complaint about Lucas would be that he sucks as a director. That's it.

The world he created is absolutely amazing and doesn't deserve all the bad acting, cheesy scenes and laughable dialog that suffered his hand. No one's perfect, and all the films are great even with those 'problems', so whatever.

I don't see how you can even begin to defend Lucas on the merchandising (business) side of things. I was watching the most recent episode of American Dad! on Sunday, and I saw this tie-in commercial. Aside from the cheesiness of the commercial itself, the very fact that it's a tie-in for a *re-release* of the PT films should say something in itself. This is of course not belaboring the very re-release of the films in 3D at this time, rather than, say, before Avatar started the bandwagon of 3D films in theaters. Looks like Lucas is doomed to follow in Cameron's footsteps when it comes to making money from films.

You dislike Cameron too? See how we make such grand assumptions about people's taste in things?

PROTIP #232: When eyes roll, it denotes sarcasm.

Yup... but you still clearly dislike him

I'm a little surprised James didn't comment on Lucas's involvent with the Indiana Jones franchise. I don't think there's a lot to talk about, but some of the biggest mistakes of the franchise were due to Lucas. Some examples are "Temple of Doom" going dark, the idea of aliens for "Crystal Skull", etc.

I want to repost two comments I made in Part 1. I'm doing this because I feel they fit with James talking about the home video releases of the "Star Wars" films over the years.

The first comment involves how I think it the original films should be restored and released and how it would be worth all the time, money and effort:


"If older films like "Citizen Kane" and "Casablanca" can be cleaned up and restored for blu-ray, then why not the original "Star Wars" films? I know it's been said the original prints were in bad shape, but if those were bad then surely the older aforementioned classic films would be in even worse shape. I know restoration would be expensive and take time, but I think the effort would pay off with the sales of these films. Going back to "Citizen Kane" and "Casablanca", those films probably aren't even going to pull in a tenth of what the original "Star Wars" films would pull if they were sold (no disrespect to these two classic films). But yet, the studios put forth a good effort anyway to restore them because I'm sure some studio heads care about preserving film as well as making money.

So would a restoration effort really be that much of an undertaking for Lucas? If he can blow $100 million of his own money on "Red Tails", then I'm sure he can blow some cash toward restoring the original films. I mean I don't think that would cost even half of $100 million, now would it? If he did put a lot of cash and effort towards a restoration, I think it's a good assumption he'd get back more than he would put in with the sales. Yeah, I know he probably won't restore them anyway, but we can all dream, right?"


The second comment involves how Lucas inevitably has to release the original versions in order to keep people buying additonal box sets:


"I think Lucas has to inevitably release the original versions because how else are you going to get people to buy further box sets, DVD sets, blu-ray sets, etc?

Look how long he held out on releasing the deleted scenes for these films when he's had them for so many years and never released them. For every new release Lucas needs a new hook to get people to buy another set. The second DVD set had the original films, the blu-ray set had the deleted scenes, etc. He still has yet to release "From Star Wars to Jedi" and other old documentaries on DVD/Blu-ray. Notice how he didn't upgrade and release the "Empire of Dreams" DVD documentary to HD when the blu-ray set came out. Could he be saving that for a future blu-ray release?

With every new change he makes to his films he risks losing more fans even though there will always be a bunch that will buy each new set. Sooner or later there may be a breaking point for some people that will make them put their foot down and stop giving their money to Lucas. One reason the blu-ray set sold well was becasue it's "Star Wars" in HD. If it were a third DVD release set I doubt it would have sold as much as the previous ones though I'm sure it would still do well. But still, a third DVD set would have needed a strong hook to sell like the previous ones."

The 3D release of the Star Wars sextology just like the Titantic release is a blatant money grab pure and simple.There is no other way to see such as an unnecessary business action to fleece the audience by giving nothing special but asking a premium $16 admission.Wait till you see the Super Bowl where Lucas and Volkswagen have teamed up with a new commercial where the new VW Beetle shows up in the Mos Eisley cantina scene.VW won't talk about their unholy alliance with Lucasfilms but I wonder if they will start using Jedi Mind tricks into getting you to think they are actually good cars. Lucas is definitely not saying"Show me the money"

http://bottomline.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/01/31/10273608-volkswagen-has-its-head-in-the-star-wars-again-with-super-bowl-ad#.Tyfh83T_6JE

Another blatant money grab people don't talk about was when there was a second release of the "Indiana Jones" films on DVD. The only difference between the second set and the first is the second set had some additional featurettes put in that mainly just promoted the then upcoming release of "Indiana Jones 4". Beyond that and changed cover art, everything else is exactly the same as before.

I guess I just don't understand. I'm pretty sure that no one is forced to buy any of these versions. Who's to blame if you own too many versions of these films? Certainly not Lucas.

I'm a big fan of the original trilogy, but I never bought any of these versions until I had a home theater good enough to justify it. Now the BD versions are the first (and last) ones I own, and I'm perfectly happy. A 3D version is coming to theaters? You couldn't pay me to see them.

Caveat emptor.

No, actually I don't. The point of my original post was that the timing of the 3D release of the Star Wars films in theaters casts aspersions of greed onto Lucas since it's coming after Avatar started the 3D bandwagon. I didn't once mention or even imply any feelings I have about James Cameron.

I thought the DVDs that arrived shortly before the fourth film were the FIRST DVDs of the old movies? Could be wrong though!

Also why was using aliens a mistake? The franchise had already used ghosts AND a cup that grants eternal life... so yeah I can see how something as equally 'out there' as aliens could be seen to be out of place



Oh okay. I was thrown by the fact that he IS a complete charlatan, ergo I had every reason to take your sarcasm as statement of truth (he being Cameron).

Fans who were dissatisfied with the contents of the 2004 release and bought it anyway have only themselves to blame.

As far as the darkness of Temple of Doom goes, that was the doing of both Lucas and Spielberg. Mind you, you're not going to find many people complaining about the darkness of the second installment of... you know. That other series.

Yeah, because 'God' laying waste to a small band of Nazis for opening the Ark of the Covenant (NOT because they're Nazis, mind you ) and then vacuuming them all up into the sky was SOOOO much more plausible than aliens coming to this planet and burying spaceships beneath us.

Once again James, I pretty much agree with everything you said this time. I really don't feel as if I've bought the films too many times... only once for every new format... pretty much like any other movie! so I don't see why fans complain so much... I mean, no one is FORCING us by gunpoint to buy them....

Ha, I beat the system there, buying the box set of all four Indy films, and then acquiring the Bonus Disc from the original release second-hand on Amazon.

Too bad I can't say the same about Star Wars. I held out for a long time when it came to the 06 DVDs, but after Netflixing the bonus discs, I finally caved and bought the Two-Disc Limited Editions early last year (when they were still $15 each, fortunately).

If you guys don't know what I'm talking about regarding the second Indiana Jones DVD set, here is what it looks like:

First DVD set:

http://www.amazon.com/Adventures-Indian ... 19&sr=1-11

Second DVD set:

Raiders - http://www.amazon.com/Indiana-Jones-Rai ... d_cp_mov_0

Temple - http://www.amazon.com/Indiana-Jones-Tem ... _mov_img_c

Crusade - http://www.amazon.com/Indiana-Jones-Las ... 419&sr=1-4

Don't forget about Red Letter Media's recent Mr. Plinkett review of "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull".

http://redlettermedia.com/mr-plinetts-i ... ll-review/