So the Star Wars movies are coming out on Blu-ray or already came out or whatever and people are getting mad because George Lucas added even more terrible/hilarious changes like this one...
Here's the thing. I like Star Wars, a lot actually and definitely more than Star Trek, but since it was never really a part of my formative childhood experience (except for the original 2D Clone Wars maybe but not the horrible 3D one) I'm not so emotionally attached to it that the prequels offended me the way they do some people. Granted, although episode 3 kind of has its moments, they are terrible movies as Red Letter Media so brilliantly illustrates but I've always felt that getting legitimately mad was kind of dumb.
Yes, the original Star Wars were group efforts with input from people who were far better writers and directors than George Lucas. However, at the end of the day STAR WARS BELONGS TO GEORGE LUCAS! IT DOES NOT BELONG TO YOU FANS! That means that although it's kind of sad that he's ruining these movies (although ruin is a bit harsh) and he totally should let people get the originals, they are his movies to do with as he pleases. Plus, he is the single person most responsible for MAKING STAR WARS, so the credit he should get for that alone should trump most complaints. Calm down.
I say this because I know if I created a popular franchise, the last thing that would stop me from changing it would be angry, self-entitled fans. Art belongs to the artist.
George should feel free to change as many things as he wants to the films but at the same time he should make the original versions of the films available. Every other director and movie studio has done this, look at E.T., the remastered Star Trek blu-rays, Blade Runner, the Alien Anthology. George Lucas is the only one who refuses to release the theatrical versions of his films. Which is very confusing given that he once said this, "A copyright is held in trust by its owner until it ultimately reverts to public domain. American works of art belong to the American public; they are part of our cultural history. In the future it will become even easier for old negatives to become lost and be "replaced" by new altered negatives. This would be a great loss to our society. Our cultural history must not be allowed to be rewritten. The public's interest is ultimately dominant over all other interests. And the proof of that is that even a copyright law only permits the creators and their estate a limited amount of time to enjoy the economic fruits of that work."
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