You want disturbance? I got your disturbance right here.

"American works of art belong to the American public; they are part of our cultural history...People who alter or destroy works of art and our cultural heritage for profit or as an exercise of power are barbarians, and if the laws of the United States continue to condone this behavior, history will surely classify us as a barbaric society...Today, engineers with their computers can add color to black-and-white movies, change the soundtrack, speed up the pace, and add or subtract material to the philosophical tastes of the copyright holder. Tomorrow, more advanced technology will be able to replace actors with "fresher faces," or alter dialogue and change the movement of the actor's lips to match. It will soon be possible to create a new "original" negative with whatever changes or alterations the copyright holder of the moment desires. The copyright holders, so far, have not been completely diligent in preserving the original negatives of films they control...In the future it will become even easier for old negatives to become lost and be "replaced" by new altered negatives. This would be a great loss to our society. Our cultural history must not be allowed to be rewritten...Why are films cut up and butchered?..Attention should be paid to the interest of those who are yet unborn, who should be able to see this generation as it saw itself, and the past generation as it saw itself."

When I first read the words above I thought to myself, "Boy, I'd like to put that guy in the same room with Uncle George."  Those are some pretty powerful words, words uttered by someone passionate of American films.  A someone who would accuse Uncle George of defilement, heresy, sacrilege and a whole slew of other words.  It would be awesome to see Uncle George taken on by...Uncle George? What?!?!

Yeah, believe it or not, those words (the complete text is available at savestarwars.com with an abridged version down below, also courtesy of savestarwars.com) were uttered by George Lucas at the Congressional hearings on March 3rd, 1988. I am utterly amazed by the hypocrisy of it all.

At this point, I am now on the fence about purchasing the upcoming BluRay set.  I'm thinking I might be able to find the extras somewhere else.  Besides, with the upconverting of my BluRay player, the DVDs are pretty darn good looking.  I find myself asking myself, "Do I really want to give Uncle George more of my money?  Seeing as none of the color corrections have been done, do I really want to see a pink lightsaber?  But, most importantly, do I want to see/hear Vader, the baddest bad guy ever to grace the silver screen, go out like a wimp at the end of Return of the Jedi?"

Yeah, I think everyone knows the answer to that.

-----

"My name is George Lucas. I am a writer, director, and producer of motion pictures and Chairman of the Board of Lucasfilm Ltd., a multi-faceted entertainment corporation.

I am not here today as a writer-director, or as a producer, or as the chairman of a corporation. I've come as a citizen of what I believe to be a great society that is in need of a moral anchor to help define and protect its intellectual and cultural heritage. It is not being protected.

The destruction of our film heritage, which is the focus of concern today, is only the tip of the iceberg. American law does not protect our painters, sculptors, recording artists, authors, or filmmakers from having their lifework distorted, and their reputation ruined. If something is not done now to clearly state the moral rights of artists, current and future technologies will alter, mutilate, and destroy for future generations the subtle human truths and highest human feeling that talented individuals within our society have created.

A copyright is held in trust by its owner until it ultimately reverts to public domain. American works of art belong to the American public; they are part of our cultural history.

People who alter or destroy works of art and our cultural heritage for profit or as an exercise of power are barbarians, and if the laws of the United States continue to condone this behavior, history will surely classify us as a barbaric society. The preservation of our cultural heritage may not seem to be as politically sensitive an issue as "when life begins" or "when it should be appropriately terminated," but it is important because it goes to the heart of what sets mankind apart. Creative expression is at the core of our humanness. Art is a distinctly human endeavor. We must have respect for it if we are to have any respect for the human race.

These current defacements are just the beginning. Today, engineers with their computers can add color to black-and-white movies, change the soundtrack, speed up the pace, and add or subtract material to the philosophical tastes of the copyright holder. Tommorrow, more advanced technology will be able to replace actors with "fresher faces," or alter dialogue and change the movement of the actor's lips to match. It will soon be possible to create a new "original" negative with whatever changes or alterations the copyright holder of the moment desires. The copyright holders, so far, have not been completely diligent in preserving the original negatives of films they control. In order to reconstruct old negatives, many archivists have had to go to Eastern bloc countries where American films have been better preserved.

In the future it will become even easier for old negatives to become lost and be "replaced" by new altered negatives. This would be a great loss to our society. Our cultural history must not be allowed to be rewritten.

There is nothing to stop American films, records, books, and paintings from being sold to a foreign entity or egotistical gangsters and having them change our cultural heritage to suit their personal taste.

I accuse the companies and groups, who say that American law is sufficient, of misleading the Congress and the People for their own economic self-interest.

I accuse the corporations, who oppose the moral rights of the artist, of being dishonest and insensitive to American cultural heritage and of being interested only in their quarterly bottom line, and not in the long-term interest of the Nation.

The public's interest is ultimately dominant over all other interests. And the proof of that is that even a copyright law only permits the creators and their estate a limited amount of time to enjoy the economic fruits of that work.

There are those who say American law is sufficient. That's an outrage! It's not sufficient! If it were sufficient, why would I be here? Why would John Houston have been so studiously ignored when he protested the colorization of "The Maltese Falcon?" Why are films cut up and butchered?

Attention should be paid to this question of our soul, and not simply to accounting procedures. Attention should be paid to the interest of those who are yet unborn, who should be able to see this generation as it saw itself, and the past generation as it saw itself.

I hope you have the courage to lead America in acknowledging the importance of American art to the human race, and accord the proper protection for the creators of that art--as it is accorded them in much of the rest of the world communities."

----------

In 2027, the anniversary of Star Wars, George Lucas proudly announces a new collaboration between Lucasfilm and Guvernator productions. The Ultra, Special, Limited, "Get to tha choppa" Edition of Episode I

I sense a disturbance in the force...

September 16th is pretty big day.  What? You didn't think I was going to forget or not write something about it, did you?  What's funny is that I wrote something in 2001 for Echostation.com (scroll down to "Start Saving your Pennies") now doesn't seem to far from the truth.  Before we go any further and to answer your question, yes, I am going to be buying the BluRay release.  However, I'm not buying it for the reasons you think. But we will get into that later.

Like most Star Wars fans, I already have a version for home viewing.  In fact, I have several versions:

• 1990 VHS Original Trilogy (PS) with the cool box art.
• 1995 VHS Original Trilogy (WS) with THX remastering
• 19?? LD Original Trilogy (WS) Japanese import
• 2000 VHS Episode I (WS) with goodies
• 2001 DVD Episode I (WS)
• 2002 DVD Episode II (WS)
• 2004 DVD Original Trilogy SE (WS)
• 2005 DVD Episode III (WS)
• 5005 DVD Original Trilogy (WS) the non-SE version

So yeah, I really don't need another version.  I especially don't need it if the rumors are true.  But you know what, I'm going to give Uncle George the benefit of the doubt.  I've been disappointed before (Episode I, Episode II, Episode III) so I guess I can't really be disappointed much more.  Then again, I might be forced to eat those words sooner, rather than later.

The reason I want the this new release is for the goodies.  I've been wanting to get documentaries made in 1977, 1980, and 1983 that were originally only available on Laserdisc (I may wrong on this, let me know if I am).  I'd also like to see some of the deleted scenes that all hardcore SW fans know about and have seen bits and pieces of, but never the whole thing.  I honestly don't have high hopes for this release.  I will probably regret getting this release but I've spent more money and less things I've cared about.

I haven't seen Episode I (or II and III) in years.  Nor have I really taken the time to sit back and really watch the movies.  I'm thinking now is good time to do that.  There haven't been any movies out that I've wanted to see, thus resulting in a lack of reviews.  So I guess I'll knock out two birds with one stone.  I'll be reviewing each disc in the set.  There are certain things I expect to see with these new HiDef releases.  There are certain video errors (SFX boxes, color-changing lightsabers, etc.) that better not be there anymore.  I figure Uncle George and his minions have had plenty of time and opportunities to fix this.  There are plenty of examples out there on how to do a release correctly.  The Lord of the Rings Extended Edition DVD is the perfect example of a complete and well done DVD release.  The Alien Anthology is the perfect example of a Blu-Ray release done right.  The Star Wars release should be somewhere in the same neighborhood.

I am a huge fanboy.  The lightsabers, TIE pilot helmet, posters, books and other goodies attest to that.  Am I going to gush all over these releases?  Maybe, but I doubt it.  I'm going to try to be as honest as possible.  Actually, I might be too brutaly honest after a string of disappointments.  We shall see...

This wouldn't surprise me at all...

I'll show you mine if you show me yours...

(Warning: I use the terms/words album, disc, and CD interchangeably in this post.)

Back in the day, about 2 decades ago, before the proliferation of downloaded music and at the beginning of the Rise of the CD, I used to buy records*, lots of records.  The best place to buy records in town was a place called Odyssey Records.  And yes, that is Queen Latifah on the album cover to the far right.  Yes, she was a rap artist before she was actress.  For the record, so were LL Cool J and Ice Cube.  What? You didn’t really think that those were “stage” names? Well, I guess they are stage names…

I digress…

So, I used to buy records. One thing I remember about Odyssey Records is that they would post these lists on the wall called “Desert Island Discs” (DIDs).  The basic premise is that if you were stuck on a desert island and could only take 10 discs (originally records, it morphed into compact discs) with you, which 10 discs would it be?  I loved this because by looking at the choices it gave you somewhat of an insight into a person.  I’m not a psychiatrist, but I’m sure you could have fun looking at the lists and trying to figure out the inner workings of a person.  Every so often I sit down and create a DID.  What’s interesting is that there are some selections on my list that always show up.  Wonder what that says about me?

Now, before I post my list, there have to be rules.  What good is creating a list if you don’t have rules?

1)      Ten (10) discs. No more, no less.

2)      It has to be available in the retail market.  Not sure if it available? Go to www.cduniverse.com

3)      It has to be available in physical form.  Digital only albums are not eligible.

4)      Multi-CD selections are ok as long as they come in a single, retail package.

5)      “Live” or “In Concert” albums are not eligible.

6)      Only 5 selections can be “Greatest Hits” CDs.

7)      Original issue CDs only. No “Deluxe”, “Ultimate” or “Anniversary” or any reissue editions.

8)      U.S. retail CDs only. No “Japan” or “Worldwide” editions.

9)      One artist per album.  No “Various Artists” albums.

10)   These are my rules. I have the right to change them.

For the record: Yes, I know that Desert Island Discs was originally a British radio program. Yes, I know it was 8 selections, not 10. Yes, I know the selections were single tracks, not complete albums.  I didn’t know all this until a few years ago.  But, whatever.  My blog, my rules so there.

So without further ado…

Jathniel’s Desert Island Discs

1)      Substance 1987 – New Order

2)      It Takes A Nation Of Millions To Hold Us Back – Public Enemy

3)      Thriller – Michael Jackson

4)      Breakaway – Kelly Clarkson

5)      Appetite for Destruction – Guns N’ Roses

6)      Desde El Principio/From The Beginning – Marc Anthony

7)      Star Wars Trilogy: The Original Soundtrack Anthology – John Williams

8)      The Ultimate Hits – Garth Brooks

9)      Minutes to Midnight – Linkin Park

10)   The Best of Poison: 20 Years of Rock – Poison

Yeah, I know. That list is all over the map.  What can I say? I have very varied tastes in music.  Now for the breakdown…

1)      Growing up, I didn’t have much choice in the music I could listen to. It was either Oldies (when I was with Dad) or Spanish (when I was with Mom). New Order was one of the first groups I remember listening to when I got my own radio.  It was so different from anything I ever listened to.

2)      Another album that made an impression on me when I was young.  The lyrics on this album are so deep and Chuck D’s voice so powerful, it was impossible to grow up where I did and NOT hear of this album.  Yeeeeeah Boyeeeeeee!

3)      There is a reason this is the greatest selling album of all time. If I need to explain it then you will never understand.

4)      Don’t judge.

5)      One of the albums I had during my brief “rebel” phase.  This was a tough choice because my favorite GnR song isn’t on this album.  Yeah, I could have gone with a Greatest Hits album right here, but that would have taken the spot away from…

6)      A tough choice here.  I would have gone with “Sigo Siendo Yo” because it has selections from “Libre” and “Mended”. The problem is that one of my favorite songs can only be found on this non-live album.  I couldn’t go with the live album because of Rule #5.

7)      Do I really need to explain this one? Didn’t think so.

8)      I’ve been into Country music for years.  It’s not your daddy’s country.  Garth is able to sing country, rock, and ballads without missing a beat.  There were other country albums I considered, but none really stood out as much as this one.

9)      This was the toughest choice.  At least half the tracks on all of their albums (4) absolutely rock.  The problem is that they don’t have a “Greatest Hits” album…yet.  When that happens I will have to redo this list.  I could have used the "LP in LV" but it breaks rules #5 and #3.

10)   Growing up during the Hair Bands/Glam Rock era, I was exposed to a lot of rock. This was a toss-up between this, Def Leppard, and Bon Jovi. Besides, the Bon Jovi “Greatest Hits” album doesn’t really have all the hits unless you get the “Ultimate” edition.  See rule #7.

Some honorable mentions (and why they don’t qualify)…

1)      Freestyle Explosion series – Various Artists (Rule #9)… Absolutely love freestlye music.  However, considering most freestyle artists only had one or two hits, it would have been a waste to put them this list.  Thank goodness for the Freestyle Explosion series from Thump Records.

2)      La Combinacion Perfecta – Various Artists (Rule #9)… The greatest Salsa album ever recorded. Period.

3)      Love – The Beatles (Rule #5)… Technically this really isn’t a live album, but it is the soundtrack to a live performance.  If you are a Beatles fan and you’ve never heard this album, you are doing yourself a disservice.  Download it. Now.

So there you go. What are your DIDs?  I’d love to know.

Oh, and have you figured out which songs I am referring to with discs #5 and #6?  Bonus points to those that figure it out.

 

*Records a big round things made out of vynil that we used to listen to music.  They look like"really big CDs" as a really young co-worker described them.