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I think when he meant video he actually meant video.
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The appeal of STAR WARS has gone beyond anything I could have ever imagined. I am pleased that for the final video release of STAR WARS in its original version, we can present it with the best sound and picture quality yet available, thanks to THX Digital Mastering.
In the years to come I hope you, your children, and your children's children will enjoy not only this trilogy but also the adventures yet to come in the continually unfolding STAR WARS universe.
George Lucas (signed)
In the years to come I hope you, your children, and your children's children will enjoy not only this trilogy but also the adventures yet to come in the continually unfolding STAR WARS universe.
George Lucas (signed)
If we look closely, there's several interesting statements here that explode myths later promulgated by Lucas and his employees.
"I am pleased that for the final video release .... "
At the time this statement was published, "video" was widely considered synonymous with "VHS." It took a number of years for the popularity of DVD to divest the term "video" of its association with tape (a linguistic shift not yet fully completed).
In 1995 it was known that a new video disc format was coming, but not when it would arrive or what it would be called. I believe that, in 1995, Lucas was open to the possibility of releasing his original original trilogy on this new format. The 1995 release was the last video (read: VHS) release of the trilogy, but he had not yet decided it would be the last period.
"... we can present it with the best sound and picture quality yet available ... "
How odd to see that statement, in light of today's furor over the slipshod treatment of the original original trilogy.
"In the years to come I hope you, your children, and your children's children will enjoy not only this trilogy ... "
Note that Lucas wrote "this trilogy," instead of the more ambiguous "the trilogy," etc. He is clearly referring to the original original trilogy. Realize, also, that Lucas is knowledgeable about film and video preservation. His is one of the few voices that has spoken up about the impermanence of DVD media and the need to find long-term solutions for storing digital video. Such a man would certainly know that VHS is not a suitable medium to archive something for our "children's chidren."
To me, it seems clear that in 1995 Lucas had every intention of keeping the original edition and Special Edition alive side-by-side. This intention only changed when he found himself planning further alterations to make the Special Edition conform to the Prequel Trilogy. When his ideas for the Prequels were still in there very early stages, there was no reason to "suppress" one version of the Original Trilogy in favor of the other.
"but also the adventures yet to come in the continually unfolding STAR WARS universe."
In 1995, there were no prequels or TV shows. The "unfolding STAR WARS universe" was the so-called Expanded Universe. While Lucas has done much to distance himself from the EU recently, he was singing a different tune in 1995. This isn't terribly relevant to this site, but it's a neat look back at certain attitudes held by Lucasfilm and fandom in the nineties.
Scruffy's gonna die the way he lived.
