Star Wars Uncut Project Complete

An anonymous reader writes "In 2009 we discussed the Star Wars Uncut Project, a crowd-sourced effort to re-create the entirety of Episode IV as series of 15-second clips filmed and submitted by fans. Well, it's done at last, and CmdrTaco has written his review of the two-hour film. He says, 'A great number of shots demonstrate technology well beyond what was available when the original Star Wars was made. Other shots are stylishly animated in CG. Others are rotoscoped in mediums from chalk to pencil to marker. There’s also a plethora of stop motion, claymation, and even some puppetry to go around. [A] few shots are only slightly modified from the originals, but those are the rarity, and generally done to pull off a specific joke. ... It's a glorious achievement.'"

Re:Early reviews

[Anonymous Coward]

It's utter garbage. Terrible fanservice even for the scifi con crowd. Sure there are diamonds in the rough, but there are better ways to spend 2 hours of your life.

SOPA

[gmuslera]

Is a great example on why SOPA, PIPA and all the bunch should not exist. There is a whole world of crazy things like this that could be done and won't because this kind of laws, that could enrich us all (and yes, i saw it). I think that George Lucas approved that this could be done, but there are too much other things that this kind of idea could be applied.

Re:Early reviews

[somersault]

Such as.. commenting on Slashdot? This is a really unique arts project, and it's probably worth watch through just for the laughs.

Re:cant wait

[LoyalOpposition]

I do believe copyright is necessary, but should only be about 15 years tops (no renew option).

Why is that? Seriously. Do you believe that authors and inventors would no longer create writings and discoveries if there were no copyright? I imagine that ancient Rome's monopolies on copyright were quite below par, but I doubt there would be many people claiming that there was no art in ancient Rome.

Or, look at it another way. The beneficiaries of writings and discoveries are the people who read the writings and use the discoveries. (That's interpreted loosely: obviously, one doesn't read a painting.) The copyright monopoly is part of the price we pay in order to do that. In the same way that I want to pay as little as possible when I buy a gallon of gasoline, I want to pay as little as possible when I read a writing. We shouldn't be looking at the most length for copyright monopolies, we should be looking at the least. In fact, I've seen reference to studies purporting to claim that two years is plenty long enough for a copyright in contemporary times.

I really think that the reason things have gotten so turned around is that our legislators and artists have conspired against us. By that, I mean that copyright owners have given large amounts of money to legislators who promote strengthening of copyright, and the legislators have in turn passed copyright laws that give much more profit to copyright owners who are then able to give large amounts of money to legislators. In fact, I've read that the original copyrights were for that very purpose. Monarchs granted letters of patent to their supporters.

I would like to see copyrights reduced to two years. I would also like a return to the previous requirement that a copyright notice appear on the writing. In fact, I would like to see a requirement that current contact information appear so that it would always be possible for people who want to copy to negotiate a license. If the contact information goes dead, then so does the copyright.

I would also like to see patent reduced to two years. I would also like it to be limited to things that can't be reverse engineered. Patent declarations tell us how to make something, and is part of the payment an inventor makes to receive a monopoly. If it's obvious how to make something then the payment is worthless.

I would also like to see trade secret eliminated entirely. Why are we paying the monopolists if we can't ever get the benefit?

I would also like to see trademark weakened considerably. However, I'm not sure how to do that. Maybe allow each company only a single trademark? And it has to refer to the company name somehow? The reason I'm suggesting this is that it's supposed to give consumers confidence that the quality of the product is sufficiently high, and that it's not being counterfeited by a lower-quality producer.

Finally, I would like to see free unicorns and rainbows. Frankly, I think I'll see the latter before I see the former, so long as the conspiracy of monopoly continues.

~Loyal