Over the weekend I watched my TPM dvd on a 4:3 tv with s-video and was suprised by how good I thought it looked. Then I reminded myself it was an anamorphic disc and therefore being downscaled in order to fit the screen. On my computer at full rez, no, the transfer doesn't hold up very well and its flaws become very obvious, but even the worst anamorphic transfers look pretty good on the tv and this is why I've been spoiled by them. A few months back I picked up Conan: The Complete Quest even though I noticed Conan the Destroyer was 4:3 letterbox. Let's face it, there's not exactly an outcry for that one like there is for Star Wars. Anyway, while taking it for a spin I was almost transported back to '97 and the days of watching the widescreen SE vhs. The only other letterbox discs I've seen off the top of my head are the old releases of Guys and Dolls, Oklahoma! and South Pacific, Artisan's first release of Frank Herbert's Dune, Universal's first release of the Dune movie, Fox's first release of Planet of the Apes and Michael Collins.

Is George Lucas's ego really such that he can't even swallow his pride for one split-second and just remaster the things? It's the 30th anniversary and yet LFL is determined to sell everything except that which we want the most from them.