Star Wars Goes Blu in 2011.....With Controversy

Would we have it any other way?

George Lucas revealed to The Daily Show's John Stewart that all six Star Wars films would finally arrive on Blu Ray disc during a special press conference Saturday at the Star Wars Celebration V event in Central Florida. The event was a celebration of the 30th anniversary of "Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back". Herds of nerds in Wookie costumes and girls who had no business wearing slave bikinis (no matter what the galaxy.....no matter how far away) rejoiced. That is, until they learned exactly what they'd be getting. Hell hath no fury like a Force loving nerd with access to internet forums.

Here is just a snippet of said fury from the office Star Wars site comments section:

"Frig you lucas. Without the originals the trilogy is nothing.. If you aren't happy with your creation from back then, well tough.. WE ARE! You need to listen to all of us and give us the choice either before release or in distribution (original copies/remastered). I'll keep my "original" dvd set until the format is dead or you step off your high horse and stop playing this bullsh-t with your loyal fans who's sat through you destroying a classic movie with cgi. They were great on their own, with their mistakes, crude special effects and bad dialogue. A classic CANNOT be remastered, re-released or made to be any better than it was."

What you read above is part of the story. Lucas later went into detail as to what was going to be included in the set. Along with a multitude of as of now undetailed bonus features, the versions of the original trilogy films (the ones without Jar Jar Binks) will be the special editions; the one where Han doesn't shoot first. Lucas stated that it would be just too expensive to re-master the original films to Blu Ray standards; which is no doubt a response to the old burn marks left on his bottom line after he invested so much money into the ill-fated LaserDisc format. 

Another point of controversy is a deleted scene which will be included in the Blu Ray release. The scene, cut from "Return of The Jedi", shows Luke Skywalker building his green lightsaber and would have been his first introduction in the film. Some rather hearty nerds believe that the scene is not in fact from the cutting room floor, but that it is something recently fabricated to hype and add further value to the Blu Ray release. "Evidence" given is the fact that Lucas very rarely cuts fully completed (edited, scored, special effects supplied) scenes from his films. We would have posted the video in this post, but Lucas' production company already filed copyright infringement complaints against all posted footage of the deleted scene. Sorry. 

Whatever the case, the Blu Ray collection is set for release in 2011 to coincide with the 35 anniversary of the theatrical release of "Star Wars Episode I: A New Hope". It is currently unknown what the exact date will be or if all six films will be released in a box set or if consumers will be able to buy their favorites separately. We will be sure to report when a pre-order date is announced; at which time all questions will hopefully be answered.

Will the addition of Star Wars on Blu Ray cement the Blu Ray format as the new standard? We think that Back to The Future will do so this fall. Will the nerds protest the release like Rebels on the Death Star? Will Yoda sing "Pants on The Ground" in a deleted scene easter egg? We'll have to wait and see. Until then, let your nerd flag fly and tell us what you think!