Nope, still no DVD release. I don’t think they’re planning that until, oh, 2006. In the meantime, the annual “new” edition of the Star Wars video tapes is out, and reviewed over here. There’s a very brief snippet of documentary video that spoils almost nothing about Episode II; if you want to see what you’re (not) missing, go read that review.
Taking us to the cleaners
Who does Lucas think he’s kidding? The fleecing attempts have gone beyond the merely obvious into the insulting realm. I mean, damn. Is this a new annual tradition or something? Just in time for Christmas, a new Original Trilogy VHS box set? Does he just want to see how many copies of the same 3 movies some people will buy?
I sure wish Lucas would quit pouting because he didn’t think up DVD first and give the fans what they really want.
Not entirely Lucas
This isn’t all up to Lucas. Fox loves money. (I used to work in a theater; e-mail me for stories off the record.) Lucas’ deal with Fox says that he gets ALL the profit from merchandising, which Fox loves, so naturally Fox is going to do everything it can to get money from the remaining rights it has (ie. the movie company can only make a profit off the movie itself. Oh, the irony.) While Lucas could certainly do more to fight the endless parade of VHS versions, this isn’t all bad. Instead of reprinting the same edition, as most movies do, he does change it a bit. Only the truly die hard fans will buy both, but the only fans I know so devoted buy it every time it comes out anyway, even the reissue of identical tapes from the original trilogy. (Their originals were starting to show wear.)
As far as the DVD is concerned, in some ways they’re better off this way. They claim that they want a single, definitive DVD version, and that is it. They could easily fleece the serious fans with a movie-but-no-extras version of the films now, and a totally loaded version later. Most serious fans would buy both, with far higher profit margins. Personally, I’ve got the special edition in widescreen from its first VHS release, and that’s enough to hold me over until the loaded DVD versions come out. (Note to Fox/Lucasfilm: if the DVDs don’t have a soundtrack with the isolated John Williams score, I won’t be buying them.)