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Star Wars Original Trilogy Gets DVD Release Date
Angry Black Man writes "The Digital Bits is reporting that there is finally some official information from Lucasfilm regarding the release of the Star Wars OT (episodes IV, V, and VI) on DVD. The movies are coming to DVD in September of 2004. The animated series of Clone Wars shorts appearing soon on the Cartoon Network will also be released on DVD, possibly before the end of this year. The teaser campaign for Episode III will begin in January of 2005, leading up to the May theatrical release. Finally... Episode III will hit DVD in November of 2005."
The "official information" is from an anonymous source on Aint It Cool News.
From a bit further down the page:
Also, Lucasfilm has said in the past that there aren't a lot of behind-the-scenes materials available for the original films, so having a single bonus disc of extras (as opposed to three) would make life easier for them.
I thought I remembered quite a bit of info on various "making-of" shows that showed the original models, how they did cutting-edge special effects on a shoestring budget, and the occasional flaws that made it through (like a TIE fighter shadow where the fighter itself had been removed).
Of course, nowadays I guess we expect someone to be filming the entire filmaking process for the express purpose of creating the ultimate making-of special. When even a film like Monsters, Inc., where every frame requires painstaking design and hours of rendering time, has "outtakes", "deleted scenes", and "goofs". Soon, we'll have cameramen following the cameramen, so we can see "The Making Of 'The Making Of "Star Wars VII: Attack Of The Menacing Phantom Jedi Clone Empire"'"
You know... maybe, just maybe, Lucas & co. should spend more time telling a coherent story with believable characters, and less time worrying about how he'll look in the outtakes?
Stressed? Me? Of course not. Stress is what a rubber band feels before it breaks, silly.
I'm just surprised it took Lucas this long to release the original movies on DVD in the first place. It's easy money - we'd all like to get the original movies on a nice digital format. Instead they wait nearly a decade before they rerelease. With a track record for milking franchises like LucasArts has, this seems to be a rather foolish missed opportunity.
"By and large, language is a tool for concealing the truth." - George Carlin
DVD has the technology to allow you to watch the original cut of the film or the special edition yet Lucas will just say that the original cut wasn't his original vision for the film. Yeah right, the first film was nearly chopped around and turned into a TV series. The original Star Wars release doesn't have the Episode IV: A New Hope at the start either, that was slipped in later. The original versions need to be seen in the context of when they were made.