Yahoo have interviewed George Lucas about the Star Wars DVD release.
The release is of the “special edition” versions from the late 90s rather than the original versions which most fans would rather see. Lucas is pretty belligerent about that.
The special edition, that’s the one I wanted out there. The other movie, it’s on VHS, if anybody wants it. … I’m not going to spend the, we’re talking millions of dollars here, the money and the time to refurbish that, because to me, it doesn’t really exist anymore. It’s like this is the movie I wanted it to be, and I’m sorry you saw half a completed film and fell in love with it. But I want it to be the way I want it to be.
Or, to paraphase, “fuck the fans, I’m doing what I want”.
Also, he says that he won’t be making any more Star Wars films. But I’m sure that when Star Wars was originally released in 1977 he told us that there would eventually be a trilogy of trilogies and that he already had stories for all nine episodes. Wonder what happened to episodes VII to IX.
I see a Laserdisc-to-DVD transfer in the near future.
Frankly, anything but “I’m doing it the way I want it dammit” would be pusillanimous.