Hardcore Star Wars fans are all over the Internet excoriating the latest round of changes that George Lucas has made to the original Star Wars Trilogy in preparation for the Star Wars Blu-ray release, which is due out on September 16th.  The new Blu-ray set will not only feature a sparkling new high-def transfer of the film, but will also include over 40 hours of extras, some of which have never been released before (see “'Star Wars' BDs”).

 

The problem is not the extras, but the changes that Lucas has made to the original films themselves (and the fact that he is only making the altered versions available and not the “original” films).  Some of the changes like the new painting hanging on the wall in Jabba the Hutt’s palace or the replacement of the Yoda puppet in The Phantom Menace with a CGI model, or new CGI Ewoks who now blink, are less controversial than others, especially the overdubbing of Darth Vader screaming “No, Noooo!” as he saves Luke from Emperor Palpatine’s Force Lightning attack in Star Wars: A New Hope rendering the scene in the opinion of the Sydney Morning Herald “into a cringe-worthy farce.”

 

Then there’s the new Obi Wan Kenobi’s Krayt Dragon howl, which one Internet site unkindly likened to the “sound of a pedophile getting his male member caught in a screen door.”

Although some fans will undoubtedly heed the call to boycott the new Star Wars BD releases, the lure of hi-def and all those new extras is strong--and fans will surely have the previous versions on DVD so that they can demonstrate the "travesties" that Lucas has perpetrated if they buy the BDs.  There may well be a benefit to the controversy after all.  Never bet against George Lucas' ability to monetize his Star Wars movies yet again.