Jesus. He's the head of marketing. Paying attention to whatever he says is like asking Ari Fleischer for an honest opinion on Bush. It's not gonna happen. You're better off not even reading any sort of press release or interview with Ward's name in it if you don't want to just get pissed off. Reading anything Jim Ward says, especially if you want the originals, isn't going to do anything but get you really cheezed off.

But here's the thing: Ward can't WAIT to sell the originals. Can't. he's been bugging Lucas about this (along with a LOT of Lucasfilm) for a long time now. Ward would love NOTHING more than to package up the originals and give a huge, nostalgic spiel about what we grew up with and all that. Ward's just doing his job. He has to belittle the OT thing because that's company line, and he's paid to do that. if the instant Lucas says "okay, for HD, include the originals" Ward is going to beat the HELL out of that drum unendingly. With a huge grin on his face.