SilverWook said:My earliest U.S. LD copy dates from 1983. Pan and scan, and time compressed.
Unless you lived in a large city at the time, it was less likely you had a 70mm theatre nearby. Installing Dolby stereo gear for 35mm was probably an expensive proposition for small theatre chains, and they wouldn't jump in unless they thought it would pull in more crowds. Just like now we are starting to see IMAX, 3D, and digital projection in smaller towns.
The overwhelming reason at the time to do the mono mix is, nobody was sure Dolby Stereo was going to catch on. (Just like some early widescreen movies were shot twice to have a version able to be projected on older screens.) It's hard to believe these days, where even the dollar theater has Dolby Digital, but there were a couple other sound systems tried out that never made beyond use in one movie or two.
Seen any movies in Sound 360 or Megasound lately? ;)
All three SW sound mixes are valid, the mono just had the benefit of being tweaked a bit more.
The 80's saw a lot of mono films "electronically re-channeled for stereo" on home video. Even early stereo tv broadcasting put a fake stereo effect on older shows and even some then current ones.
Unless you lived in a large city at the time, it was less likely you had a 70mm theatre nearby. Installing Dolby stereo gear for 35mm was probably an expensive proposition for small theatre chains, and they wouldn't jump in unless they thought it would pull in more crowds. Just like now we are starting to see IMAX, 3D, and digital projection in smaller towns.
A lot of Americans lived in big cities.
The 80's saw a lot of mono films "electronically re-channeled for stereo" on home video.
Which is what I would have expected them to do with Star Wars if the mono being definitive was so important.