Should always be an option, and it should never be the only available cut. Why not give the option?
The art belongs, in a moral sense, to its makers and its audience as much as its owners when it enters common culture. Warts and all. We pay for it with the rent it owes from living inside our heads; all that free IP and raw capability that gets pumped into the fandom.
I had the same identical problems with Lucas when he "destroyed"[1] the original 1977 theatrical releases in favor of the "Special Edition" or whatever it was called.
[1] Which of course no one believes he did, they're still in Skywalker Ranch somewhere. Leaving "Harmy's De-Specialized Editions" to become the definitive release of that art.
> [1] Which of course no one believes he did, they're still in Skywalker Ranch somewhere. Leaving "Harmy's De-Specialized Editions" to become the definitive release of that art.
4K77/80/83. Scanned at 4K resolution from 35mm prints, cleaned, and color restoration applied based on non-faded references. Even closer to the original experience than owning a 35mm copy (because it'll be badly faded and probably have quite a bit of damage). Much better than the official versions of the "originals" on DVD and blu-ray, which retain some later modifications, and which look much worse—for some reason they keep releasing them way too dark.
The art belongs, in a moral sense, to its makers and its audience as much as its owners when it enters common culture. Warts and all. We pay for it with the rent it owes from living inside our heads; all that free IP and raw capability that gets pumped into the fandom.
I had the same identical problems with Lucas when he "destroyed"[1] the original 1977 theatrical releases in favor of the "Special Edition" or whatever it was called.
[1] Which of course no one believes he did, they're still in Skywalker Ranch somewhere. Leaving "Harmy's De-Specialized Editions" to become the definitive release of that art.