bkev said:

@Timstuff: We're still waiting on Indiana Jones blu-rays, and that movie is also available in HD. I don't see why they wouldn't reuse the sources they already have. Plus, September just seems to be the month of big releases - the original GOUT, the original '04 DVDs, the Beatles remasters etc. (the original '04 dvds were a September release, yeah?)

True, but why wait until September 2011, and not September 2010? If they aren't doing anything to make the picture look better than the 2004 release, then there's no reason it should take an entire year to prepare the set for release. Lucas could have just slapped together a hasty re-release with only one bonus feature disc containing a new featurette, and it would probably make the same kind of money that they would a year later with more bonus features. The whole reason that the 2004 discs sucked is because they were rushed for a holiday release, and if that is a compromise Lucas was willing to make for the Blu-Rays as well then I think he would have already released them.

Lucas also implied that there is not probably not enough time or money to transfer and restore both the SE and the OOT in time for the Blu-Ray's release and still have the resources to make the bonus features. That implies that the SE is being restored to some capacity, because otherwise wouldn't it have been easier for Lucas to just say "we're too busy making the bonus features to restore the OOT"? I think it's apparent from his words that something is being done for the picture quality, with the question being "what." Of course, there's a possibility that there will be brand new problems with the transfer, or it could be the best the film has ever looked. We really won't know until we've actually seen how the transfer looks with our own eyes.