Poll: Original or Remake/remaster/update etc

[AfterAscon]

Fellow Escapists,

A topic arose recently which caused an unsettling amount of 'Nerd rage' within me. However, that topic will not be addressed here, by rather a topic which may act as a precursor to it.

The key questions for today are:
Should masterpieces/art/movies be updated to fit with the times, or should they be left in their original state, despite any flaws? Further topics for consideration are: does the updated version damage the integrity of the original?

To frame this topic I'll use the original star wars trilogy, movies which almost everyone should be familiar with. Even if you're not, an objective point of view is welcomed. Recently I've been watching old Stars Wars clips on YouTube and other websites to see the different between the original trilogy and the remastered version (the one where Lucas replaced all the special effects). A good comparison video can be seen here. [http://www.archive.org/details/reremaster] Now, I have to admit I was quite sad to see the amount of changes made to the original, especially the unnecessary pieces of CGI added to some scenes. To me at least this remake almost damages the integrity of the original because anytime these movies are shown on TV it will be, without a doubt, the remastered versions, dooming the originals to obscurity.

South Park touched upon this subject area in the episode 'Free Hat'. They highlighted, which I also confirmed elsewhere, that George Lucas criticised the colourisation of black and white cinema. As South Park highlighted, these changes are essentially the same, which undermine the original.

So, looking back at the highlighted questions, what is your take on this? Should we keep/protect the original or should cosmetic updates be allowed? You can apply this to any subject you want.

Edit: This isn't about Ep 1-3.

 

[Axolotl]

I generally dislike remakes, now sometimes they can be good for example The Thing or Twelve Monkeys but generally they're just a slap in the face to the original The Day the Earth Stood Still for example.

Now remastering on the other hand I can understand, sure Star Wars sucks from it but in most cases it can significantly enhance the film, take Blade Runner for example.

The worst are remakes of foreign language films purely because they're foreign, it's ust pointless and almost always gives an inferior product. And it happens almost every successful non-English language film as well, I mean I'd bet money we'll see an Oldboy remake within a decade.