Ranger

Not sure what you mean. Very few people had DVD players back in 1999.

And didn't they release it on DVD before 2001? Or the 2001 DVD was the first one?

bluetoast

Not stupid at all considering the climate in 1999 (although having The Matrix on DVD in '99 was the fucking shit), plus Lucasfilm is like Disney in terms of limiting their releases.

EctoCooler

Yeah, the October 2001 release was its first time on dvd.

lastActionHero

I watched the Star Wars series in the order (from episode I to episode VI) in a marathon and I didn't know the release order. I was confused when the episode IV looked like older than the first 3 movies.

Timber

At a time when everything was having a DVD release and I hadn't purchased a VHS tape in years it was odd seeing a major release not on DVD at the time.

mcnabb

It was strange the way Lucas reacted towards the rise of DVD where the Star Wars Trilogy was a big reason VHS and Laserdisk took off.

I remember Lucasfilm saying in 2000 when they released TPM on VHS only, "We want to do something special and release all 6 films after Episode III on DVD, something that will be so revolutionary."

They eventually gave into pressure and release TPM in 2001, and then the OT movies in 2004, but they released that revolutionary boxset as I always thought many of the extras were pretty lame with a few exceptions.

kgrogers1979

You did not know Episodes IV-VI were filmed almost two decades before I-III? Dafuq? Were you born yesterday?

MBoyd

DVD was launched in March of 1997. No reason a major release should be VHS only in 2000 when the VHS Phantom Menace. I knew a lot of people double dipped eventually even initially buying the more expensive VHS box set. So if you mean It wasn't a stupid decision of LFL's part because they made a lot of money, fine. But in terms of disapointing fans, it's business as usual.

Timber

Yup, I remember him wanting us to wait 6 years for a DVD release. Just the insanity of that man is unbelievable.

kgrogers1979

TPM raped my childhood so much that I just had to quadruple dip on it. First I bought it on VHS. Then I bought it on DVD. Then I bought it on Blu-ray. Then I bought it on Ultra HD Blu-ray. Screw you Lucas for raping my childhood!

mcnabb

And the strangest thing about the DVD's and even the BluRay's is Lucasfilm prides itself on the best quality of picture and sound. I am not a color expert but I know many people had alot of problems with the 2004 DVD's (especially the lightsaber colors) and the 2011 Blurays too.

And then they put out the OOT non-anamorphic DVD's in 2006.

Mr. Cinema

Part of his reasoning was waiting for the DVD user base to grow. Most of the A-list titles weren't available during the early DVD/BD days. If you have rights to one of the most anticipated release ever, it makes sense to let the customer base expand. There's only 1 big debut for these catalog titles. Might as well try to make as big of a splash as possible.

Timber

By 1999 all new releases were day and date. I remember because I was on this site when TPM was being released. We may have been early but the DVD movement was definitely wide spread by then.

mcnabb

1999 was defintely the transition year for day and date release as I remember waiting for There's Something About Mary to come out on DVD. They only released for rental in the spring of 1999, and then released it to buy in August of 1999. That was really the last big release to go the rental then sell route, as by 2000 (when TPM was released) it was a standard of day and date release.

Guru Askew

So MakingStarWars.net has basically compiled all the credible leaks into a pretty detailed synopsis. Spoilers obviously:

http://makingstarwars.net/2015/05/a-...force-awakens/

If this is legit (and I believe it is) I don't think the fanbase is gonna stand for the focus on the new characters over the old. Even if it's great in execution (which is the big unknown after reading the synopsis) the nerd rage will overshadow any reasonable discussion of the movie's merits.

And I think anyone who was waiting to say "it feels more like the OT than the PT" is gonna be eating their words.

mcnabb

I said this back in 1998 and will say it before Episode 7 is released, if the new characters don't resonate with the fans then they won't like the new trilogy. The biggest reason we fell in love with the OT movies were because of Han, Luke, and Leia, so naturally when you throw new characters in the same universe at the fans, some will love them and some won't.

I never cared for Anakin & Padme, so the PT was a lost cause for me. From what I see in the trailers, I think Rey, Finn and Poe may resonate with me, so I may like this trilogy alot more then the PT. But in no way do I believe these characters will resonate with me the same way Luke, Leia and Han did.

In saying that, I hope the OT characters have limited roles because the more screentime you give them, the more chance you have of tainting them with something stupid. Less is more.

Guru Askew

I'm gonna go on record and say that the new characters could be the most well-written characters in the history of the sci-fi genre and that would still be overshadowed by the classic characters taking a back seat.

Drexl

I remember waiting for Saving Private Ryan and American Beauty as well; I think they were each delayed about 6 months. Fight Club and Magnolia had smaller delays, ostensibly to get their extras in order.

Mike86

Big Boy Laroux

I disagree (at least for me). I love that the original characters are in this, but i don't want another trilogy focusing on 60+ year-old people. And I don't think the previews have even made it look like the OT characters are the focus - one shot of han and chewie so far.

The issue with the PT truly was that that the characters were written so poorly, and acted so poorly, and given such a backseat to the effects spectacle, that no one ultimately cared one bit about them.

Solid Snake

Popularity always trumps quality. That wouldn't be unexpected.

Except Leia. I'm pretty sure there's no way to dig yourself out of the hole of how shitty she looks now compared to when the films were released. Bitch aged badly compared to the other two.

TGM

I think Carrie Fisher needs to be applauded for getting her act together to be in this movie. She lost a lot of weight. I think she will look fine. With makeup, costumes, lighting, she will look like a 60 year old Princess Leia I am sure.

My fear is that she won't ACT like her tho. Leia's always been feisty, but Fisher has been tainted by her friendship with Penny Marshall and at times can come off sounding like a cranky 80 year old jewish man.

Timber

I for one hope the focus is on the new characters. I like that they're doing the "passing the torch" bit but I don't want to see a movie with 60 year olds running around. Just imagine Star Wars with Kenobi as the main character instead of Luke and Han. Not interested.

milo bloom

Right, a 60 year old man rescuing the hero from crazy natives, getting into bar fights, sneaking around a military installation and sacrificing himself in battle - yeah, real boring stuff...

Timber

And if that's all we see Han do in this one I'll be happy.