At “Star Wars Celebration V” this past Saturday, George Lucas announced that LucasFlims will release Blu-ray versions of all six Star Wars films in fall of 2011. He toldThe New York Times that he was waiting to see if Blu-ray really would catch on.
To some fans’ chagrin, the set will include the “Special Edition” versions of New Hope, Empire Strikes Back, and Return of the Jedi–you know, the version which features Hayden Christensen superimposed over Anakin’s ghost and killed that awesome Ewok song. Lucas said to The New York Times that releasing the originals would be “kind of an oxymoron because the quality of the original is not very good.”
If you can’t wait for 2011, it seems some other very special editions are making the Internets rounds. Oh, and a deleted scene.
There was once a time when having a director’s personal commentary on your favorite DVD was the best way to hear their behind-the-scenes thoughts on the movie. No longer.
Last month The Dark Knight director Christopher Nolan had a live chat with thousands of people who watched the movie synchronously on their own Blu-ray players from their own well-worn couches. Viewers used their remote controls and the interactive format called BD-live (BD=”Blu-ray Disc”) to send in questions; Nolan answered in kind, and could even pause all the viewers’ Blu-ray players when he had to answer the call of nature. (According to one blogger, Nolan said Dark Knight “is a 2-pee movie. I need to make a shorter film next time.” Yeah, just think about what that ending that never ended did to all of us who saw it in the theater, buddy.)
Discoblog is DISCOVER's compendium of quirky, funny, and surprising science news from the edge of the known universe. It's written by Veronique Greenwood and Valerie Ross. Email tips and suggestions to vgreenwood [at] discovermagazine [dot] com.