The lightsabers' hums are less sharp and their glow less bright, the shiny surfaces of 3PO's body are less vivid, and the punctuative sound of John Williams' leitmotifs are less emphatic - but it's the way the movie was originally designed, for better or worse, and technology is always a poor substitute for creativity. The new 'old' version restores all of the things that I loved, or at least preserves them: the magical if technically rudimentary special effect that made Luke's land speeder fly the operatic if unhurried attack by miniature X-wings on the Death Star and of course Han shooting first. Star Wars is the first movie I ever saw, and my favorite for many, many years. So now that these original versions are available on DVD, what is there to think about them? Should we be happy they exist at all in a legitimate version? Decry the less-than-stellar way they have been produced? Use this as an opportunity to judge once and for all which edition is the definitive one? I am inclined to agree that in many cases fans will never be happy, just as I believe that a filmmaker has an obligation to satisfy the fans who made his films a success but looking at the spanking-new Star Wars Episode IV - A New Hope DVD, the only feeling I can immediately identify is gratitude - maybe not for Lucas, or Fox for distributing the disc, but just in general - for now having a real-deal copy of the film that I loved as a child in the version that first enchanted my imagination. Unfortunately, keeping in the filmmaker's proud tradition of withholding, misdirecting and otherwise, yes, offering what audiences want but not necessarily when they want it, he chose to release them in non-anamorphic widescreen, without any retouches, changes or improvements since their original remastering in 1994 - which most know is substandard in the context of today's expansive home-theater offerings. When Lucas announced after some reluctance that his namesake company would finally release the original versions of the first three Star Wars movies, unencumbered by CGI changes and digital upgrades, many (including yours truly) were rightfully thrilled: finally the time had come for Lucas to recognize his fans' wishes. In this final capacity, George Lucas is either the best or worst at employing the cinematic tenet having released some five or more VHS versions of his original Star Wars films, and as of press date three iterations on DVD, he is a superlative sleight-of-hand artist, manipulating his fan base to enormous financial success (if not necessarily emotional connections - well, not positive ones, anyway).
STAR WARS REVISITED EDITON PROFESSIONAL
This applies to characters making emotional connections, finding financial or professional success, and yes, sometimes, releasing a certain edition of a certain hot property at a certain time. It's a classic filmmaking technique to give the audience what they want, but not when they want it.
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