Originally posted by: ADigitalMan

Makes me wonder if he's at all remorseful for the half-assed job they did at the release.

Personally, I don't release work that I can't be completely proud of. While you can't please everybody, you always know when you've given it every last ounce of your effort. But I doubt that George Lucas feels the release was a failure on any level; certainly not monetarily. And there are no shortage of people who are genuinely excited about the DVD's. I think it would be an easy place to go, psychologically, to say, "Hey, that was a huge success, and the next ones'll be even better. So it's all good!"

To be honest, what I find most personally disappointing is the bold-face dishonesty on both Lucasfilm and THX's part regarding the production problems. When THX issues press releases insisting that everything was scrutinized using "revolutionary" processes, and there are obviously glaring errors in production, it totally devalues the brand. I find this distressing, because I always admired THX's origins as a "best possible quality assurance" program.

Lucasfilm's deflecting of the problems is "easier" to understand, as an alternative to the most expensive recall in entertainment history. While this may be morally bankrupt, I think it's phenomenally naive to expect any corporation not to act in the preservation of its profits over all else. In my world, Lucasfilm would've released the DVD's with a public "caveat emptor", saying, "the original negative elements were heavily damaged and the materials are presented 'as-is'. Future releases will address the correction of these compromises." But this would only happen in the alternate universe that is the world according to me. Very little good comes from the wishing of things to be different. This is why I've chosen to do something, if only for my own gratification. In the end, Star Wars has my life-long loyalty, because it played a seminal role in shaping my life, and I'm grateful for that every day. That doesn't mean it can't disappoint me.

_Mike