The last week or so has seen the news splash around the internet that Star Wars will arrive on DVD in September 2004, without the real question being answered: which version? Despite the breathless headlines “Original Trilogy on DVD,” nobody knows if we will in fact get the original trilogy as released in 1977 to 1983 (although those willing to take a punt have tended to state that we will get the 1997 Special Editions instead).
I won’t thrash through the arguments as to why the originals should be released: it’s too familiar an argument and I’ve put it repeatedly elsewhere. What I would like to comment on briefly is the reasons I have some slight hope that Lucas may actually surprise us and release the true original versions. The talk continues – over official denials – of “Ultimate” or “Archival” versions of the trilogy coming out after Episode III. It makes sense, fitting with Lucas’ own special warped brand of perfectionism, his long-standing reluctance to release the trilogy prior to Episode III because he “didn’t have time,” and the sheer number of “corrections” that he did not make in the Special Editions.
A September 2004 release precludes any heavily reworked content in this release, given Lucas’ heavy involvement in Episode III and (to a much lesser extent) Indiana Jones IV. I assume the default assumption of many websites that this means the 2004 release simply must be the Special Editions is based on Lucas’ repeated habitual statements that the originals would never again be released. Yet there have been some hints that Lucas’ thinking on such issues has shifted. Significantly, the Indiana Jones trilogy has reached consumers with only the lightest of digital interventions (a move Jim Hill attributes to the infamous “South Park” episode mocking Lucas and Spielberg’s digital tinkering with their early classics). Spielberg may have influenced Lucas on this point: while he practically invented the modern craze for “special editions” (with not one but two re-releases of Close Encounters) he has always at least paid lip service to keeping the originals available. There has also been quiet acknowledgement from Lucasfilm that the man himself is monitoring progress of online petitions to get the original versions released.
But it’s the timing that really has me hopeful. There is nothing to be said for a release of the Special Editions in 2004. The fans want either the originals, or the “Archival” version, or both: they know the Special Editions are a stopgap measure without the virtues of either. If he releases them in 2004, his “Archival” version in 2006 or 2007 is not nearly as much of an event, and he has still left all the purists who love the original cuts out in the cold. By contrast, if he goes with the originals now, he is loved for it, and everybody can get hyped two years later for the six movie archival set that will follow Episode III and finally complete the cycle. Am I sure he’ll do it? Far from it. But it is the answer that let’s everyone – Lucas more than anyone – win. (Go to www.originaltrilogy.com to try to ensure it comes out the right way).
So that’s a dream. Now for a nightmare: Steve Martin in The Pink Panther. When this was first being kicked around, it was being considered for Mike Myers, and if anyone could have made it work, Myers could have. But United Artists burnt their bridges by taking a petty legal swipe at Myer’s Goldmember (for its infringement of Goldfinger), and now they have announced that the project is to continue with Steve Martin on board.
Perhaps this has been stitched together by out of touch execs think they’ve swapped like with like, and if they were comparing the Martin of the 1980s to the Myers of today I’d agree. I’m an enormous fan of Martin’s work of the 1980s and early 90s (particularly L.A. Story, Roxanne, and The Man With Two Brains), but lately his has looked a sadly diminished talent. Were they fooled by the respectable takings of Bringing Down the House? They might as well have picked Dan Aykroyd.