Vaderisnothayden said:
Somebody here once said that there's anecdotal evidence that Lucas was working on the mono mix when Star Wars was released. Can anybody clarify what working on the mono mix would mean in that context? Was he recording it then with the actors or just putting it together, with the actor work being before then?

Also, does anybody know what date or year the mono mix for the film was first released?

I believe he was mixing the mono mix when the film was released, with all the recording being done months before. The original version was in stereo, then he found alternate takes and dialog he may have liked better and put them in.

I'm not sure why they just didn't compress the stereo into mono, but I'll leave that for someone else to explain.