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...composer John Williams told a
Dutch magazine he hopes to insert the Imperial March music into A NEW
HOPE.

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Lucas is, of course, denying all this stuff, but when you have the composer of the score, actor Jimmy Smits (Bail Organa) and others saying there will be another edition of the trilogy, who really listens to Lucas' "mild denials."

So save your pennies (more like dollars), 'cause sure as heck Lucas will try to scam more moeny out of everyone with the "Special Special Edition" Limited Edition Full-Score-CD's.

With all the other changes (and very credible reports of new scenes including new Vader/Emperor dialogue for SW) I suppose it was inevitable.

I know I'm gonna get slammed for this, but I've never been all that in love with the Imperial March. To me it's a little too cartoony and I much prefer the nice little stormtrooper theme from Star Wars--especially IN Star Wars. I think the Imperial March gets overused in Empire (it's actually pulled out of a number of moments because Lucas must have thought 'okay, I get it already').

Let it be known, there are things I like and dislike about the Star Wars "Special" Editions. On the whole, both in sound and new visual effects the three films were a total rush job, a cash in thought up by greedy executives at 20th Century Fox who convinced Lucasfilm to put out a 20th anniversary re-issue. When Lucas agreed to the deadline for release he did so wanting to tweak the three movies, and they subsequently stood as little more then testing ground for effects they were working on for the prequels upon release.

Jedi was finsihed with Lucas never knowing if he would ever re-visit the first three episodes of the saga. When technology was nearing the bounderies in which he saw it possible to maybe bring the first three episodes to screen, he finally went ahead. The technology at his side today is allowing him to do things never thought possible back in the 70s and 80s, and he's developing the stories of the first three films, who events parralel with the latter 3 episodes.

With the above in mind, I would actually welcome one final revision, this alleged "Archival Edition" if you will. The six films are one, a giant epic saga, and if he wants to branch the films together allowing for more seamless transitions between the prequels and the sequels, then I am all for it, providing a lot of time was spent on doing the job right and not rushing the effects, trying to show off what his ILM tech heads can do these days. Gone would be the desire of adding something new purely for the sake of adding something new...

You can shout blasphemy as you read my words, but whatever. I would embrace such a vision done right, and I would also stand by the demand that high quality masters of the original theatrical releases of all 6 films be availble to us at the same time. What I don't like to see is revisions casting the original release into a dark void, never to be seen again. This is why I don't approve of Lucas locking the original releases of the trilogy away...for now.

I don't see the special editions as sign of what we could expect from a future revision of the 6 films. This time ILM would have nothing to prove in what they are capable of, and Lucas would be under no preassure to hit a release deadline. Williams would be allowed to score additional sequences instead of the god awful looping of music done for the specials in 97.

We can embrace a revised release of Fellowship of the Ring with new music but we can't do the same for the Star Wars saga?

Dan

PS: Not sure why Lucas is suddenly in denial when cast and crew members have openly confirmed this, and Lucas confirmed that he planned to shoot new footage to TV Guide a while back.

NP: Star Wars Attack of the Clones

A New Hope is more about the Empire, not Vader. The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi are about Vader, which prompt the theme in those films.

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Originally posted by Dan Brecher:
Yeah, down with Blade Runner Director's Cut, down with the extended cuts of Superman, Aliens and Terminator 2.

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Your sarcasm is noted, Dan, but there's a big difference between adding deleted scenes to enhance the characters and storyline (as with the films you mentioned) and digitally re-tooling them and changing characters motivations (Greedo shoots first?!?) to make them "better".

My rant is mainly against the attack on revisionism because it's all around us, and when it's good we embrace it, and when it's questionable (Star Wars SEs, E.T) we attack it. It's just something I can't get my head around when people will complain of new music being added into A New Hope and welcome the idea of the alteration of cues and the addition of new music cues to Fellowship of the Ring.

Dan

they are his movies, let him do what he wants to do with them. If you don't like it, don't go watch them.

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Originally posted by Dan Brecher:
Do not forget that the theme is just as much associated with the Empire as it is Vader, it is titled the 'Imperial March' after all. Heck, the first time one even hears it in Empire Strikes Back is of a shot of the imperial fleet forming near Hoth.

Dan

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Duly noted, Dan. But for every time the March is played for the Empire, there are nine more times it is played specifically for Vader. That's why the official name of the theme is "The Imperial March (Darth Vader's Theme)."

And to add on what the other Dan said, if George has extra footage that he shot in 1976, then put it in. Creating or updating visuals (like Spielberg did for ET) or shooting entirely new scenes makes Star Wars a completely different film. And a less interesting one at that.

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Duly noted, Dan. But for every time the March is played for the Empire, there are nine more times it is played specifically for Vader.

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Sure, and when we have the prequels finished there will actually be a rather even pallete in terms of the division in which the theme is associated with Vader and the Empire itself. Whilst the EpisodeII score sees subtle hints of the theme related to Anakin's doings, the full bombastic rendition of it at the end is releated to the Empire, and this will flow into Episode 3 at the climax of which will see the theme once again associated in its full form with Vader. This brings us full circle in a way and still leaves a void in the lack of the theme appearing in EpisodeIV.

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And to add on what the other Dan said, if George has extra footage that he shot in 1976, then put it in. Creating or updating visuals (like Spielberg did for ET) or shooting entirely new scenes makes Star Wars a completely different film. And a less interesting one at that.

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I'm not sure he shot that much back in the 70s and 80s, if anything. The main discussion from prequel cast & crew point to the additional footage being done after EpisodeIII is complete.

You can't say scenes you have not seen will make less of an addition to the overall story in making it less interesting.

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For the record, I too enjoyed SOME of the Special Edition changes--I have very little complaints about what was done to the Death Star battle, for instance.

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The trench run stuff was a bit of a mish mash. Some good CG moments, yet suddenly we cut from CG back to plastic death star surface models and egg boxes.

Less was more for me in the Special Editions. The best addition was in Jedi where we see a herd of Bantha moving across the desert sands on Tatooine.

Dan

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Originally posted by Scott:
Oh for crying out loud,

they are his movies, let him do what he wants to do with them. If you don't like it, don't go watch them.

Scott

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NO!! NO!!
IT'S MY MOVIES!!
MY MOVIES!!

I HATE GEORGELUCAS!!
DIE LUCAS DIE!!

1) Better sound...hey guys, the score sounds better. That should be worth something around here.
2) Sure, some of the extra effects were useless fluff (the song/dance number) but most of them, while not up to ILM standards, still improved the films.
3) I for one am with Mr. Brecher on this, I welcome more changes that will make the films seamless. Ideally, all six would have been made ala The Lord of the Rings, but revisions are the only alternative method of bringing about a seamless story.

Bring on the Imperial March for ANH and seens with Coruscant and the Emperor in ANH and TESB.

I HATE GEORGELUCAS!!
DIE LUCAS DIE!!

HaHaHaHa...now that was funny...

I saw ANH and TESB in theatres when they were re-released, but I never caught RTOJ...

The Death Star battle in RTOJ is perhaps my favorite scene from any of the films... Hell, those models in that scene stand up better today than any 80's SFX I've seen..

The biggest issue with the SE is the Jedi Rocks dance number. Sy Snoodles is now all CG and she has this little hairy creature called Yazzum or something beside her who sings like Louis Amrstong (only in Huttease). Absolute waste of time! The original version was great, it was more sleezy, more fitting to the atmosphere of Jabba's palace.

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Originally posted by André Lux:
NO!! NO!!
IT'S MY MOVIES!!
MY MOVIES!!

I HATE GEORGELUCAS!!
DIE LUCAS DIE!!

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1. If they were your movies all the jedi would have Light Sausages.

2. If Lucas died then he might let Speilberg direct ep 3!!

In light of how far digital transfer technology has come, he's now free to do this, and this technology will get better by the time he actually comes round to wanting to do it (5 years is my guess when we will see these final revisions).

Lucas is free to do what ever he wants to do to his films..... my main beef with him is that he's doing so with the implied intent of NEVER allowing us to see the ORIGINAL versions again.

I'm all for special editions and director's cuts - but only as long as the ORIGINAL THEATRICAL VERSION is still available, for us "purists" out there. (Lucas should take a note from his buddy Spielberg, who at least seems to be doing that with the E.T. 20th Anniversary edition.....)

I for one would love to see all of the films model work replaced with current technology, as long as it was done frame for frame (with some exceptions of course)

Let's update the lame Rankor beast, and as I mentioned before the horrid effects for the super star destroyer colliding with the death star.

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Lucas is free to do what ever he wants to do to his films..... my main beef with him is that he's doing so with the implied intent of NEVER allowing us to see the ORIGINAL versions again.

I'm all for special editions and director's cuts - but only as long as the ORIGINAL THEATRICAL VERSION is still available, for us "purists" out there. (Lucas should take a note from his buddy Spielberg, who at least seems to be doing that with the E.T. 20th Anniversary edition.....)

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Yeah absolutely, in 100% agreement. I extend this to 5.1 re-mixes for some movies on DVD too. I always like for the original mix to be present and I truly get a bit miffed when it's not included (various titles of the Kubrick collection re-issues...etc).

When Lucas is ready to close the book on Star Wars once and for all I am actually confident such a definitive edition re-issue (probably on high definition DVD) will include the original theatrical releases for preservations sake.

He's been dreaming of some sort of epic definitive release of all 6 movies for years. Rick McCallum even said it was in the wait for HD-DVD. This was Lucas' main reservation in not wanitng to release any Star Wars movie to DVD until he realised how popular the format had become, though even now he is insistant on only putting the prequels onto DVD.

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However, I would only have an interest in watching them with the audio remastered and video cleaned up. I have no desire to watch Star Wars in anything but digital sound after the Special Editions....there's simply no point.

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Are you serious? The re-masters from the mid 90s were fabulous, they look and sound stunning (I have that CAV LD box set they did).

I actually find the original pro logic mixes out do those 5.1 mixes done for the 1997 re-issues. In 97 they replaced sound effects, looped the music poorly and the overal presentation has a very muddy feel to the sonics. I own the SE LD box set, I freely admit these are the ones I usualy watch, but regardless, I run a fairly high end home theatre and the sound just isn't that great. I expect the sound will be done yet again for any future revision.

Dan

NP: Star Wars 'Attack of the Clones'

In the end, we all seem to want Lucas to satisfy our every demand. I'll take what he has done than nothing at all.

A good friend of mine pointed out that countless hours of trial-and-error and innovation had gone into the special effects back in the hot summer of '76 and now none of that historic spfx pioneering can be seen. It's a loss to Hollywood history if nothing else.

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One rumor I remember reading is that we he was waiting for the next-generation high capacity DVDs that could mutiple versions of the same film--to the extent that you would even be able to watch a version of the film with no special effects. That would be quite interesting for the prequels...constant blue screen everywhere!!

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Yes, according to McCallum the effects-less version is something Lucas would like to put together, along with a music only version to hammer the idea home that you really can follow all 6 films by watching the action on screen and just listening to the music.

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Sad to think there are artists whose entire contribution to the staggering success of STAR WARS now lies rotting on the cutting room floor.

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Fear not, it's far from rotting. Lucasfilm ARE keeping the original elements contained in solid condition in their own vaults.

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Originally posted by Ed:
For the record, STAR WARS did NOT carry the "Episode IV" heading in 1977. EMPIRE was the first, unless the summer '79 SW re-issue had it (I can't recall). I'd love to see and hear SW the way it originally was, primitive Dolby and all.

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I think the "ANH" subtitle was added when the film was re-released just before "Empire."

It's amazing how many young people completely ignore the facts. I've got the novelization from back then, and there's no mention of "A New Hope."

Plus, it's autographed by David Prowse.

It's a pity that Lucas screws with the films. It's basically re-writing history.

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Originally posted by Kevin:
It's a pity that Lucas screws with the films. It's basically re-writing history.
Kevin

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Which we have been doing for years in our colleges and universities. Hmmm, maybe that's where he got the idea from.

Scott