Blinking Ewoks? Really, George?

By now, I’m sure that you’ve already gotten wind of the latest uproar from the ‘Star Wars’ universe, which exploded all over the internet yesterday. Despite the fact that, just the other week, representatives from Lucasfilm told Bleeding Cool that the new Blu-ray editions of the series would have no additional changes to the movies beyond those made for the 2004 DVD releases, early leaked copies are filled with all sorts of stupid, pointless little tweaks and alterations, such as more digital rocks for Artoo to hide behind and Ewoks that blink, all while genuine technical problems with the DVD masters (like lightsabers being the wrong color) have been blithely ignored. Honestly, I think that George Lucas is just screwing with his fans on purpose at this point.

Judge for yourself. Ask yourself what point any of these new changes serve. For example…

Jabba’s palace has a new, much larger digital door:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0BoOsNnsfsk

Obi-Wan makes a crazier screaming noise:

Vader yells “NOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!” (to match that much-mocked scene in ‘Revenge of the Sith’) as he tosses the Emperor down the shaft:

The Ewoks have super-creepy digital blinking eyes:

A bunch of new digital rocks have been painted in front of Artoo:

(How did he ever get behind those rocks?)

I think it goes without saying that the original 1977, 1980 and 1983 theatrical cuts of the first trilogy have not been restored or provided, because George Lucas hates them and hates any of his fans who would like to see them again.

Sigh.

[via Topless Robot]

79 comments

  1. Bitching about blinking Ewoks? Really Josh Zyber?

    Honestly, I don’t understand the complaint about Wicket blinking. It’s barely noticeable and detracts nothing from the scene.

    Vader’s “No” is an unnecessary change that I would not have done, but I’m not upset about it.

    The new Krayt Dragon call is not an improvement and the original is just fine. The new one actually does sound like a guy screaming like a little girl, I think. But, is it REALLY that bad?

    The new door for Jabba’s palace is a really unnecessary change. They just made it bigger… eh. Wasted time.

    Rocks in front of Artoo, well it looks like he could have squeezed through on one side of the rocks easily enough, so that doesn’t bother me, but again, unnecessary. So the Tusken Raiders ignored him when he was standing in a perfectly shaped hole in the canyon wall before. So? Why change it?

    Here’s the thing that bothers me the most about all these blogs complaining about the changes – fine, if it’s something you wouldn’t have done, I understand. But you’re childhood isn’t being raped and THE ORIGINAL EDITIONS WERE RELEASED ON DVD IN 2004. Everyone keeps going on and on in these blogs and articles about how Lucas refuses to release the originals. How many of these morons writing these blogs and articles are actually fans? Because how could they NOT know that? Nope. I think they’re all idiot journalist students or online gossip hounds cashing in on the complaint band wagon. Making a penny per hit from millions of real and casual Star Wars fans going to read them.

    So, here’s your penny, dimtwit. Next time, do a little research before you write.

    • Josh Zyber
      Author

      Those DVDs are out of print now. And the copies of the original films on them were substandard decade-old Laserdisc masters, well below even DVD quality.

      You’d know that if you did YOUR research.

    • Patrick A Crone

      Dear Mark,
      A non-anamorphic Laserdisc transfer to sub DVD quality is what was released in 2004. Considering that most televisions are now HD widescreen, these 2004 ‘original’ versions have to be zoomed in to watch properly and look horrible. I can honestly say that they are inferior to my Definitive laserdisc set. That wouldn’t be a problem except that my remaining laserdisc player is on its last legs and can’t be replaced once it breaks. So Mark, maybe you should do a little research yourself before you post a hate letter.

      Yours Truly,
      A dimwitted Star Wars Fan

  2. Patrick A Crone

    No matter what kind of outcry George Lucas hears regarding changes he makes to the Star Wars films, his defense is that these films are his property to alter as he sees fit and is under no obligation to preserve the original releases. I’m writing this review to argue that this isn’t the case. Before there was ever the ability to digitally alter any of the Star Wars films, George Lucas became a very rich man. Where did all this wealth come from? It came from the audience. As the audience we are the unofficial shareholders in LucasFilm LTD. As children we bought tickets to the films and bought toys to re-live the adventures we had seen. As adults we purchased many copies of the films for each format as it became avalible. With every dollar we told George Lucas that we loved these films the way they were and would continue to love them. At some point George Lucas turned on us. He stopped caring about what audience wanted and only paid attention to the money we gave him. He used the money to slowly destroy the films we all have loved since we were children. Enough is enough. I won’t purchase another altered version of these beloved films just so that the money can fund the next version of the film that Lucas releases. Those original films weren’t created in a bubble. They showcased the talents of hundreds of artists and film makers that set out to change the way science fiction films were made. George Lucas would be nothing without these people. I will no longer support the destruction of their contribution to one of the greatest film series of all time. Enough is enough.