Star wars fans of all levels—from causal fans to total Jedi nerds—should be happy that the complete series of Star Wars films (all six of them) are finally coming to Blu-ray disc. There’s probably no other collection in the history of packaged media to generate this much buzz.
The movies will be available starting Sept 16 in three options: the original first three movies; the prequel trilogy and the complete set of six—plus a few extra discs of bonus flotsam.
Home Theater Forum was invited to the hallowed grounds of Lucasfilm and Industrial Light and Magic, where they were escorted by Storm Troopers to get a quick hands-on with the new collection, learn about the restoration process, view the ample bonus material and basically geek out for a few hours. Hey, how do I get on guest lists like that.
Check out two Star Wars theme home theaters here and here.
Anyway, among the galaxy-shatter things they learned are that:
• During the restoration the light saber colors were made brighter, bringing back the “white-hot core” from the original films.
• Audio is lossless DTS HD MA 6.1
• One whole disc in the complete set is full of documentaries including Star Wars spoofs that originally appeared on Saturday Night Live, Family Guy, Mel Brook’s Spaceballs, and more
• The 1978 Star Wars holiday special, directed by Steve Binder, might be there. Hint—look for Easter Eggs.
Learn a lot more about the Star Wars Blu-ray collection, including screen shots comparing the DVD to the Blu-ray and an interview with Lucasfilm’s Kayleen Walters here at Home Theater Forum.