Raise your hand if you remember how long it took for the Star Wars Trilogy (any version at all) to become available on DVD.

For nearly two decades, Star Wars was *the* movie with which to showcase high-end home theater systems.  Any store that was selling big-screen TVs and Surround Sound receivers (back when both were prohibitively expensive for the average household) was guaranteed to have a copy of Star Wars on hand, to show off the hardware.

Then DVDs came out and blew VHS and LaserDiscs out of the water.  And long after DVDs had firmly been established as the video format of choice, George Lucas still waited years to release any version of Star Wars (even the versions he tampered with) on DVD.  It seemed ridiculous that these movies, which were so ahead of their time that they were still being used as the litmus test of home theater technology 20 years later, were only available in an inferior and obsolete format that was rapidly losing market share.

And now, he's doing it again.  Giant TVs and high definition video are rapidly becoming the norm.  Judging by George Lucas's unprecedented use of spare-no-expense digital movie magic, it's clear he's no purist or technophobe.  So what's the hold-up?  Why must we *again* wait for what was once the greatest home theater showpiece to play catch-up with the mainstream technology?  The entire Star Wars saga should have been one of the first things released on Blu-Ray, not the last.  (Though I'd still hold out for a remastered-but-otherwise-un-tampered-with version of the original trilogy.  I don't much care for the edited versions or the new trilogy).
Raise your hand if you remember how long it took for the Star Wars Trilogy (any version at all) to become available on DVD. For nearly two decades, Star Wars was *the* movie with which to showcase high-end home theater systems. Any store that was selling big-screen TVs and Surround Sound receivers (back when both were prohibitively expensive for the average household) was guaranteed to have a copy of Star Wars on hand, to show off the hardware. Then DVDs came out and blew VHS and LaserDiscs out of the water. And long after DVDs had firmly been established as the video format of choice, George Lucas still waited years to release any version of Star Wars (even the versions he tampered with) on DVD. It seemed ridiculous that these movies, which were so ahead of their time that they were still being used as the litmus test of home theater technology 20 years later, were only available in an inferior and obsolete format that was rapidly losing market share. And now, he's doing it again. Giant TVs and high definition video are rapidly becoming the norm. Judging by George Lucas's unprecedented use of spare-no-expense digital movie magic, it's clear he's no purist or technophobe. So what's the hold-up? Why must we *again* wait for what was once the greatest home theater showpiece to play catch-up with the mainstream technology? The entire Star Wars saga should have been one of the first things released on Blu-Ray, not the last. (Though I'd still hold out for a remastered-but-otherwise-un-tampered-with version of the original trilogy. I don't much care for the edited versions or the new trilogy).