September 13, 2011
Outrage!
I used to care about this:
Previously, it was reported that the version of "Star Wars - Episode I: The Phantom Menace" included in this release would replace the puppet version of the Yoda character with a computer-generated creation. Then on Tuesday, an online report by Devin Faraci suggested a revelation almost as troubling as the news that Luke and Leia had been brother and sister all along: in a climactic scene from "Return of the Jedi," when Darth Vader hurls the evil Emperor to his demise on the Death Star, he would now shout "No!" (In all previous versions of "Jedi," Vader has committed this crucial deed in silence.)
[...]
Though it may sound like a minor detail among the millions in the "Star Wars" movies, this alteration has not sat well with many admirers of the film franchise. Among the angered fans is Simon Pegg, the "Shaun of the Dead" star and geek-culture icon, who wrote on his Twitter account that he always "loved Vader's wordless self sacrifice" and called the change a "clueless revision."
Why do we care about this anymore? I mean, I've written more on the subject of the Star Wars universe than I should be comfortable admitting in public, but even I've given up on howling into the void after decades of Greedo shooting first, Jar Jar, and Hayden Christensen.
Does it make sense that Lucas continues to tinker -- okay, inexplicably fuck around with -- his original creations? Not really, but this is the same guy who produced Howard the Duck and once considered the Star Wars Holiday Special a good idea. But the fact remains; they're his films. If he wants to replace Alec Guinness with a computer-generated Snagglepuss, it's totally within his rights to do so. And you have no recourse whatsoever.
Unless, you know, you don't want to pay money for the Blu-rays. But that would be just nutty.
But here's the problem: you can't reproduce nostalgia. Even if you were somehow miraculously able to track down the theater where you first saw A New Hope, and even if they were playing an unadulterated original cut of the first movie, and even if you somehow managed to get together everybody you were with when you saw that first movie, and even if you by some crazy happenstance were able to find that t-shirt you were wearing that fateful afternoon...it still wouldn't matter. You will never replicate that (for me) eight-year old feeling you had when you first saw the twin suns setting on Tattooine.
So stop trying. Pass the movies along to your kids if you're so inclined, and then stick with the DVD editions that are currently out there. Failing that, just ignore them. Just like Lucas ignores the plaintive whining of his supposed fans.
