Quote:
Originally Posted by Geoff D
The neg for Star Wars was disassembled, chemically cleaned, and cut back together with the SE 'enhancements'. The only sections which were scanned were the bits with digital additions, NOT the entire film. There are no pristine restored original versions sitting in a vault somewhere. To think otherwise is foolish conspiracy nonsense. Lucas never said that the originals were "destroyed" either; I think the worst thing he's ever said about them is the more non-committal "To me, [they don't] really exist anymore".
Sure, putting the movies back together as they were wouldn't be a difficult challenge, providing that Lucasfilm has kept the originally shot VFX elements in as good condition as they were when they were recomp'ed for the '97 SE.
What I love about the whole 'Lucas is a money grabbing *****' argument is the fact that he won't restore and release the originals. Because if he does so, then every fanboy in existence will obviously lay down their cash and make Lucas richer than God. Right? Riiiiiiiiiight?
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3) Q: Won't the original versions look really crude and in poor condition? Isn't that why Lucas had to enhance and restore them for the Special Edition?
A: The original version negatives today look about as good as the Special Edition negatives. That is because they are the same thing! The only differences are the new Special Edition shots. In 1995, Fox started restoring the entire negatives for the Star Wars films, which saved them from their state of disrepair. Luckily, this means the original versions can be presented in nearly the same quality as what you saw in theatres in the 1997 re-release. Were Lucasfilm to not to use the negatives, there are other 35mm materials available for use. Although some are in states of disrepair, many are not, and while not being as high quality as the negatives, should be very presentable. For instance, George Lucas himself kept a special Technicolor print of the original film, which does not fade at all and would look exactly as it did when it was first printed.
Q: Restoring or presenting the original versions in high quality is very expensive isn't it? Lucas does not have the money or desire to do so.
A: Lucas speaks about how expensive it would be and all the work that would need to be done, but in fact it would be relatively easy and inexpensive. One, presenting existing prints in high-def with modest cleanup would cost in the hundred thousand dollar range. Relatively speaking, this is very inexpensive, which is why obscure films like Police Academy 5 are available from original 35mm elements. Restoring the films from the negatives is not too expensive as well--because it was largely already done. In 1995, Twentieth Century Fox spent $20 million restoring and enhancing the Star Wars trilogy for the anniversary re-release. All that would need to be done today is retrieving the missing original pieces (roughly five to fifteen minutes per film), cleaning them if necessary, and editing them into a scan of the existing negative. Further cleanup could be done, but this is not strictly necessary, as the 1997 release had no major digital cleanup. So, the pricetag to finish the restoration of the trilogy from the negatives would be in the range of a million dollars, to throw a ballpark figure out there. To put this in perspective, the 2004 DVD set sold $100 million in its day of release. To put it in greater perspective, Lucas is a billionaire as it is. Lucas also need not involve himself in this, as film restorationists could handle the project themselves and seek to match the new digital copy to archival material.
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Then again a lot of the threads in this forum have gotten extremely ridiculous over the last little while so I suppose it make's sense this one would as well.
I like your interpretation as to why Hayden should be there, it makes sense no doubt in the current vision of the films. But I prefer the original because it meant more to me having Anakin go on a journey from good to evil and then back to good. But returning to good with all the warts and ugliness of the journey the character took, showing that there was a lesson learned. But we are def both right. It is just personal prefence for the viewer, more reason for Lucas to include a few different edits to the blu ray (would do his work more justice I think), but I will happily take what I can get. 
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