Star Wars Blu-Ray. Or why people hate George Lucas so much.

Over on Google+, there have been a lot people bashing George Lucas lately.  Don’t get me wrong, I am not going to be the one defending his honor.  I would like to kick him in the nuts for being such a greedy, arrogant, and short-minded douchebag.  

I am discussing the up and coming Star Wars blu-ray that is coming out.  For the purpose of this discussion, I will mostly be talking about the ORIGINAL trilogy, since I refuse to even the discuss the suckhole that the prequels were.   But the movies are coming out on blu-ray soon.  Yes, I know.  Star Wars on blu-ray, that is going to be awesome, right?  Or is it?  I guess it depends on your personal level of nerd rage you are going to have with changes Lucas is making to the movies.

First of all, understand, I am a huge Star Wars fan.  I watched the A New Hope when I was si.  Yes, I am that old…get over it.  I recall going to Empire when I was 9 and dressing up as Han Solo.  Then off to JedI, dressed as Luke.  I was rocking the outfits I must say.  But that love increased as I became and adult and met others that also loved Star Wars. I remember playing trivial SW trivial pursuit.  Oh, toughest question in that game?  If I can remember it quickly.

How many rats were in the cellar window in Return of the Jedi?  3.  I got that damn question, and was stunned.

I have read most (all but the one’s after the New JedI Order) books, some of the comics, played the rpg, been to a Star Wars themed wedding, and played most of the video games. Still pissed off that the Old Republic is not going to be on the PS3.  So, I am a fan.  Even though I did walk out of Revenge of the Sith, cuz it made me so mad.  I don’t own any light sabers anymore, since the last one I had was stolen by a girl back in Oklahoma.  Beware a woman scorned and all that.

Back to the point.  As mentioned, there were two articles.  Article 1 discusses a hands on look by the people from Ign.  Article 2 talks about changes Lucas is making to the movies for the release.

Take a few minutes to go check them out.  I will wait here.  Especially check out the videos concerning changes made.

Ok, done?  Let’s get back to the rant.

Article 1.  Ign got a first look at the blu-ray.  After reading the article, the biggest thing that I saw that proves to me why people hate George Lucas so much is this.  “Lucas has altered the film to be what he originally intended, so he's not about to go back to the previous version (even if fans remember it more fondly).”  To me, that pretty much sums up Lucas in a nutshell.  He doesn’t give a rat’s ass at what the fans want in this.  He only wants to tweak it so he can continue putting his mark on it.  Yes, Greedo still shoot first.  I am not even going into that, since that is one of the things that really pisses people off.

Now on the plus side, it sounds like they look phenomenal.  So, regardless of everything else, getting to see the Star Wars movies in HD, it something that I truly am looking forward too.

Article 2.  Ign talks about some of the changes Lucas is making to the movies.  A list of the changes are as follows.

• In the Phantom Menace they are replacing puppet Yoda, with a cgi Yoda.
• Blinking Ewoks.  I can only assume they didn’t before, and now they do.  Not sure about that one, but it is an odd thing to look at.
• Obi-Wan’s Krayt dragon call in A New Hope.  Not sure why this needed to be changed.  It sounds just odd now.
• Last and the lamest in my opinion.  When the Emperor was chain-lightening Luke, as if he was his bitch, Lucas decided to add some dialogue.  Cuz that is what that scene needed.  The dialogue you say?  Vader going “No. Nooooooooooo”, just before tossing the Emperor to his death.  Ok, really?  Do we really need to hear Vader do something that obviously lame?  Or worse, cliché?  I think him tossing the Emperor over the side pretty much shows how he felt about it.  

They spoke with Skywalker’s Sound’s, Matthew Wood.  This is what he said about the changes.  “Every time we watch the movies, he’s got something he wants to change, Wood said.  And so there’s obviously changes done to the films, visually as well as audio-wise.  So there are some changes in the Blu-Ray version you will find.  (laughs) That’s always fun.  It’s funny, because we meticulously put it all together like ‘here’s what it was’, and he’ll update it”.

Does it not sound like he is trying to convince himself it is a horrible things Lucas is doing?  I love the use of meticulous.

Overall, will the changes do much to how we watch the movies?  That is hard to say, it depends on how much more he is planning on changing.  Or if he does another “greedo” like change.  The Vader thing just looked dumb, who knows how it will turn out.

What do you think?