Originally posted by: Fang Zei
LFL would have to somehow justify the 9/12 release in order for any remastered OOT release to seem logical, zombie. A good number of copies were sold of that release, yes? Even the people with HD tv's picked them up. They're going to be quite pissed when they find out an actual 16:9 transfer has been released, if that even happens. Lucas now has a choice between sticking behind his vision for "his" movies or giving into moneymaking. Maybe my mind just isn't open enough, but what I see happenning is a 6 disc saga boxset, unless LFL wants to go all out and please all of the fans, in that case they'll release it along with a pristine looking OOT. All I'm saying is that LFL releasing it the very year after they scammed us with the 9/12 release wouldn't make much sense to me.

LFL released the OT in 2004 because they wanted as many dvd players out there as possible. LFL released the OOT laserdisc onto dvd in 2006 because they didn't want to wait until there were a lot of widescreen tv's out there, they wanted to make an easy dollar.

As for the uphill battle, I can't say I really care about seeing the OOT in HD although I don't see why LFL wouldn't do an HD master before making a new dvd. No, that wouldn't stop them from holding back an HD release for years and years and years, but all any of us really wants is for it to at least look the best it can on regular ol' dvd.

They would justify the release as testing the water before doing a more "expensive" restoration project. As Lucas says, "now we'll see how many people want this." They know damn well how many want it, but i can see the press release--"due to the overwhelming success of the 2006 limited edition bonus disk edition, Lucasfilm is now undertaking a costly restoration to produce a new HD telecine in anamorphic widescreen!" Will they have scammed us? Yes. But they scammed us the moment that disk came out. Whether the OOT gets remastered next month, next year or next decade, the scam will remain unchanged. And the truth is that we will accept it. I'll admit that i will gladly pony up for a remastered edition of Star Wars, even though i bout the 2006 GOUT--and if it really pissed me off i wouldn't spend the money. LFL have shamed themselves a long time ago and really it can't get any worse so I'm beyond the point of shaking my head at them. Whether the boxset is the SE or the OOT, a new version of either or the previous versions of either, the box set is a sort of scam, by which i mean that things should have been done right the first time. The glaring video and audio problems of the 2004 OT-SE disk should never have been released, but it was, and then it was re-packed every year after that; the glaring video and audio problems of the OOT should have been released, but it was, and it might very well be again. Either way you look at it, LFL is guilty. With this in mind, the only significant market left for them is the remastered OOT. Who will buy the boxset? Only the hardest of hardcore fans. And those fans already have all the individual PT titles, the 2004 SE, plus the 2006 OOT, plus the Clone War cartoons. Theres very few things that they can add, and no new documentaries are being produced of significance--Mark Hammil, et all were called in for the 2004 release and it is doubtful that they will add anything more, nor has any news surfaced of such plannings. Basically, all there is left is maybe a few PT featurettes and the OT deleted scenes--but those are not at all enough to persuade any fan to buy the same movies, six no less, that he already owns, even if every film is updated in more special edition scenes. In order to make any cash on this thing it has to have the OOT remastered. That way, all the oldschool fans who just want a decent version of Star Wars will have to buy the boxset and get all this shit that they either already have or don't want--and most of us will. I certainly would, and i think most here would as well. Because really, the boxset basically amounts to simply the indvidual dvds that already exist re-packaged in a big cardboard case. $100 for that? I don't think so. The 2004 set appealed to the general public, but the 2007 set appeals only to fans. Without giving them what they want, it serves little purpose.

And of course, what better time to finally release it than the 30th anniversary, and LFL is already hyping up the OT vintage imagery. With Celebration IV targeted as a celebration of the original film and the new series, i can't thing of a better way to commemorate it with than by making the announcement there. This, to me, all seems inevitably and logical. But, like I said, LFL is so callous and illogical that i would be equally unsurprised if none of this happened, if it was just the same PT disks and 2004 OT disks in a $100 cardboard box.