Oh, I understand now. We weren’t having a discussion about context. It was about symantics all along. You think she chose her words poorly and dragged Lucas’ good name through the mud to elevate her own position.

Nah, I disagree. I’m with diabolik (#82); she was using nerdspeak to get her point across, and to that end she did so very effectively.

I wish I’d figured this all out earlier, before I helped beat this tired subject to death. Yeesh. Sorry, y’all.

you can change your name to Kirks Crotch, but cant hide how nonsensical your overly long diatribes are.

it is clear you dont like anything. I suggest you throw your tv and computer out the window before the world offends you any more

Couldn’t disagree more. The effects SHOULD be noticed, and they should be noticed in a good way. Again, it’s my opinion that the new effects are Average at best… and lots of people do seem perfectly happy with the new effects…, but while the point of this project is to make suitable transfers for HD, I don’t think CBS-D are going into this project thinking they can get away with second best, I do however think that Paramount is only financing it to that effect.

Also to your point, if there is an effort to bring in a new audience as you sort of suggest, then it would make sense to go with your A game an younger audiences are definitely more critical regarding today’s special effects. Being that there is a reasonably vocal community arguing that the new effects are weak, there must at least be some truth to my point.

Doug

It’s not that Mrs. Okuda criticized Lucas on his one mis-step. She and anyone else can certainly do that. It’s that she did it in the context of deflecting criticism from her own actions to prevent “purists” from being upset. In essence she said, “you may not like what we’ve done, but at least we’re not doing what he did” which is a really unfortunate defense. She could’ve easily said, “We wouldn’t do this if we were asked to change the stories themselves.” No prob. I agree. But she had to drag another artist and his work into it. That’s not cool.

As for the Greedo scene, I’m not disagreeing that I would personally like to have seen the scene left alone. I don’t think the current DVD version is as horrible or character-altering as you suggest, but that’s me. But when it comes right down to it, I support Lucas’ right as the author to tell his story in the way he thinks is best. As an artist and filmmaker myself I understand the pressures and artistic compromises of working on a set. I look back on my films and see nothing but the things I’d do differently or change if I could. In the case of Lucas, it’s well documented that the filming of the original film was not a smooth nor happy one. It’s also well-documented that no one, even George Lucas, expected the film to be the sort of phenomenon it turned out to be. He was particularly surprised by the film’s appeal to young children and families. Now, it’s one thing to make a film that you expect to appeal mainly to teens and young adults and another to suddenly realize that it appeals to a much broader cross-section of the population — in this case, pretty much everyone. Lucas and Spielberg are both on record as saying that they only later became aware of how their work affects children — most of this awareness coming after they had kids themselves. I know as a parent that they way I view images I see and images I create has changed a great deal since having kids. I think it’s entirely understandable that Lucas, after realizing his film would be seen by much younger eyes than originally intended, would want to soften the violence of that particular on-screen moment. I also understand his desire not to be locked into a creative decision he made one day on the set 30 years ago in the middle of a tough and compromise-filled shoot. Unlike most other filmmakers, he has the resources to do something about it – to revisit that one decision and change it after many years of thought. Is it a debatable decision? Sure. But Lucas is the one whose name is on the work and he’s the one who takes the heat good or bad. If I were in his shoes, and I suddenly became aware of how the audience for my work was different than I expected, I might make the same move. I should be so lucky to ever be in his position!

Regardless of his motivation, which is speculative, in the end it must be up to the artist to call these shots, not the fans. Regardless of popularity, financial success, awards or emotional investment on the part of audiences, Star Wars is one man’s story — a story that has been a work in progress for 30 years. He has earned the right to tell it the way he wants and release it the way he wants. Unfortunately, some fans just aren’t willing to accept that and, at least until the release of the original cuts on DVD last fall, were willing to break the law and buy bootlegs. It’s not up to fans to decide which version is the “real” Star Wars or to pretend certain versions or episodes don’t exist. No one is forcing them to watch the new versions or the prequels, but it’s really unfair to demand, as some fans do, that Lucas release the earlier versions just because they don’t agree with his later creative decisions. Fans are entitled to accept or reject Lucas’ changes — they can buy his products or not — but they are not entitled to force Lucas to continually release versions he no longer considers “the story” just so they can ignore whatever “mis-step” he’s allegedly made since.

(#78)

What arbitrary, simplistic “rules” am I trying to impose on Mrs. Okuda? I’m criticizing her for her comment. If anything SHE is the one imposing a rule on what should or should not be considered acceptable in terms of altering earlier works. She can make the judgment call for herself, but she shouldn’t need to have to cast scorn on another artist or point a finger toward his mis-step in order to justify that judgment.

In my opinion, Denise Okuda AND George Lucas have mostly made good judgment calls. Even though I think that Greedo shouldn’t have shot first.

I see your point regarding the apparent hypocrisy of Ms. Okuda’s statement. You are absolutely right; Lucas can change whatever he wants to within the Star Wars universe. However, I still believe she used Greedo shooting first as an example of what not to do because, of all the new FX and scenes in the newer versions of the original Star Wars trilogy, that was really the only one singled out as a bad idea.

And that, I think, is the crux of the matter. She didn’t say that ALL of the changes Lucas made were wrong, just the one involving Greedo shooting first because it changed the narrative of the scene and, quite frankly, because it looked ridiculous. If Greedo was such a poor marksman that he couldn’t hit Han while sitting two feet away from him, he deserved what he got. Plain and simple, it makes more sense for Han to shoot first, even if it makes him more cold-blooded at the outset.

The long and short of it is, Denise Okuda was criticizing one particular change Lucas made, not his entire effort. The “Greedo Shoots First” controversy is pretty much universally cited as the one serious mis-step Lucas made to the original trilogy. It’s a perfect example of what to avoid when you decide to alter an established piece of art, whether it’s your own or someone else’s.

They didn’t have to say “Lucas was wrong” to get that message across. You, me and every fan knows that the Greedo scene has become a shorthand for needless or bad revisionism, fairly or unfairly. For many fans it’s a punchline. Denise knew exactly what she was doing by invoking that particular controversial scene while defending her own actions in front of a crowd of fans and geeks. What she was saying, in effect, was, “Hey, before any of you “purists” take a shot at us it could’ve been worse — we’d never make the mistake Lucas made.” It’s a not so subtle way of heading off any potential criticism toward them by pointing to another artist’s alleged mistake. And that’s lame.

And I agree we’re all free to prefer all the things we like to enjoy. I prefer the original Greedo scene too, but I have no problem whatsoever with Lucas changing it in a way that he feels is better — even if it means I never see the original again. He should tell the story the way HE wants to tell it.

And I enjoy Remastered too — which I guess is something on which we can agree.

best!!

=h=