TV's Frink said:

Erikstormtrooper said:
It raises the bar for Lucasfilm. In order to be commercially attractive, their next offering of the OT will have to improve over this project.

I disagree. What percentage of people who would buy a Star Wars DVD (outside of this forum) will ever see this or even hear about it? Lucas will sell a ton of OT Blu-rays when they come out, no matter the source or quality.

Agreed. The 2006 "bonus discs" were released with minimal quality to compete with similar quality laserdisc rips (of the non-special editions) that were being bootlegged on online like hotcakes.

The average movie consumer (non-tech head, non-SW fan) apparently can't tell the difference between the versions (except in very minor ways like "hey, was Jabba always in that scene?" "Who is that young kid next to Ben?"), least of all before purchasing. You actually have to explain to people that yes, the picture is clearer, but the colors are all wrong (and then give them pictorial examples) before they understand.

As far as Star Wars fan edits go, about the only one that made a big splash was the first "Phantom Edit." Probably fewer people have heard of Adywan's edit. Though I suppose Deleted Magic is making it up there (then again it was sold).

But that was before the DVD came out. All people had back then was the VHS (few bought the LD of course). How many who disliked the movie enough to track down TPE back then would have then bought the DVD?

And a bootleg market doesn't guarentee a superior official release. I mean, we still don't have the Holiday Special on any official home release, do we? Never mind a quality one...

Sadly I predict you'll be right. The BD will be a disappointing release, but it'll set sales records, simply because of the name and because it's the first official release on HD (not counting the broadcasts, which few people were able to see, much less record). They'll probably make it an "event" and time it to coincide with the release of some mediocre console game, and maybe another TV show premier and/or toy set. They'll add the figures together to make them all seem more successful than they were (and show how Lucas marketing still gots it).