This was inspired by the "How would you remaster the OOT" thread.
Ok guys, you know I like to speculate. The reason we're all here is that we want George to come around and give us all what we want, and whether we like it or not, he's the man with the legal rights, so the decision (at least for the next several decades) rests in his hands. The 2006 release, I've come to realize, can be looked at either as a glass half full or a glass half empty. I remember people on this forum saying that it was, at the very least, a step in the right direction. But for whatever reason, that opinion seems to have shifted over the last two years.
So far, we have a comment from McCallum about "100 hours of documentaries." This got me thinking about the possibilities for the Blu-ray, which - even if it's ported to standard dvd (and I doubt it will be) - is what everyone will be making the biggest deal about, just as they did back in '04 when the movies were finally on dvd. Dual-layered blu-ray discs have enough capacity that if you had six of them you could easily hold 100 hours in good quality 480 SD video. Even if they ported the blu-ray to dvd, I don't think they'd bother including any of that documentary stuff since they would need several extra discs per film just to hold all of it.
The movies will most likely be released individually, with the option of getting them altogether in a big set. I honestly don't see Lucas doing much alteration to any of the prequels (beyond what he's already done, anyway. see: the current dvd releases). He'll get Lowry to clean up TPM and AOTC (Yes, even though it was shot digitally. Lowry said that back in '04, as I recall, so it's their words and not mine). He could EASILY branch the theatrical cut of TPM seamlessly, so I would hope he does so. Digital Yoda is the only additional change I'm expecting to see in the updated cut. But eps II and III I'm expecting to remain the same.
And that brings us to the OT, reason we're all here. Ok, here's what I see happening. George will either take RAH up on his offer or he'll just dig up the interpositives from the archives and get his own people to handle the transfer. They'll master the movies in 1080p and that will be that. For the audio, there will be at least a regular lossy 5.1 (that's using the Blade Runner blu-ray as an example) if not a lossless or uncompressed variant. Those discs will be tacked onto the primary discs which will be the latest update of the 2004 version. So it would be two discs each for the prequels (with both versions of TPM seamlessly branched) and three discs each for the originals.
Why do I think he will come around? Well, for lack of a better answer, it's that I view the GOUT as a glass half full situation.
As for a timetable, my first guess would be when the live-action show starts. The latest rumor is that Indy IV is hitting blu-ray in October, but the originals aren't hitting until later. Maybe that will be 2009 and then Star Wars will be 2010?
