When it comes to complaining about retcons, comic fans are inevitably told that the old stories aren't changing and no one is taking their back issues. And for comics, it misses the point but it's technically correct; you can pry my longboxes from my cold dead hands. But for Star Wars - and i'm talking about the real Star Wars here - it's a different matter (unless you've managed to hang on to a VCR, i guess). Matthew Yglesias has more.

But, that Episode 1 is!

Hiyo!

I agree that copyrights last too long. But I don't see 40 years for a film as unreasonable. Lucas is wealthy but what if we were talking about an old man who needed the income from a film he made 40 years ago for his retirement? The real problem is Lucas's attempt to rewrite history (e.g. Greedo shot first).

I think 40 years is too long for a film. You have to weigh the interests of society against that one man. Would people stop creating films if they couldn't ride on the returns of one film for 40 years? I don't think so, but 40 years is a long time to prevent other people for developing new ideas on top of the ideas in that film.

And in most cases these rights wind up getting owned by immortal corporations. Copyright laws don't protect the Jack Kirbys of the world, they protect the Marvel/Disneys.

that first comment is a very witty observation disguised as a bad joke.