Showing posts with label George Lucas. Show all posts
Showing posts with label George Lucas. Show all posts

Wednesday, January 29, 2020

Cultural Vandalism | The Ruin of Star Wars and Doctor Who


As I pointed out in my Is It Ethical to Recontextualize Star Trek Canon?, this is a dangerous road we are going down here.
IT IS UNETHICAL, there are proper moments for retcons, but doing so in the service of a political agenda is evil and dangerous.

There's no reason whatsoever to remove William Hartnell as the First Doctor. NONE beyond doing so in a "What if..." none canon violating dream experiment ratings grab. 

I said it before, and I will say it here. This is Stalinist in its bold revisionism of the past and should be soundly rejected by all true Geeks across all fandoms wherever it comes about.

Be it in Doctor Who, Star Trek, or Star Wars, and ever other place in-between.

When I say this. I want you to keep something in mind. I write almost exclusively female protagonistsBut they are protagonists in their own right do not exist to rip down the history of male figures. Oh they are also usually (very) flawed. However, we won't talk about the profusion of Mary Sues just now.

For me this is about the preservation of history, as it existed. Spock never had an adopted sister but he does have a half-brother, yes even Gene Roddenberry was wrong to try to paper over Sybok and George Lucas was wrong to stop Han from shooting first


Thursday, December 19, 2019

Star Wars: The Original Trilogy [Harmy Despecialized Edition]

Star Wars, Science Fiction, Movies, A New Hope, Empire Strikes Back, Return of the Jedi


I used to have no problem with the Star Wars: Special Editions. After all, Star Wars was Lucas's baby, he could do with it what he pleased.

And than, Disney happened...

Given the current wreckage that is Star Wars, outside of The Mandalorian, I've lately been reconsidering "The Special Editions" and have come to regard them as no less cultural vandalism than the recontextualization that Disney itself has been attempting, and will probably complete by the end of The Rise of Skywalker.



Enter: Star Wars: The Original Trilogy [Harmy Despecialized Edition], a fan restoration of  the movies to a state close to their original theatrical presentation.

You know why I support this?

Because George Lucas, refused to provide an original unaltered print of Star Wars (A New Hope) to the Library of Congress as part of their film preservation project when asked. Sure he'd let them have a Special Edition - But not the movie as it first appeared.

Killing the past is bad when Disney does it. Its also bad when Lucas tries to paper-over it.

I'd now go as far as to say, these restored versions of the Original Trilogy are probably the best manner to experience these films.

They are easy enough to come by and can even by found at the Internet Archive. If you are a Star Wars fan do yourself a favor and find them. Keep', viral!

https://originaltrilogy.com/topic/Harmys-STAR-WARS-Despecialized-Edition-HD-V27-MKV-IS-OUT-NOW/id/12713