A long, long time ago...

I'm delighted with the response the show has received so far. Sam and I started planning it back in July, so it's the culmination of a few months' worth of effort to see the show unleashed. Thanks to you all for the nice words and hang in with us as we sort out a few kinks -- you'll probably see the look and feel of the site change a bit over the coming weeks.

But since I got on the subject a bit with the cliffhangers segment from our show, let's talk about something really important: Star Wars.

So who got those Star Wars DVDs that came out last month? The ones with the original films (i.e. the movies before Lucas released the Special Editions) as "bonus features" on a second disc?

I was pretty sorely tempted to pick them up, but when I learned the original movies weren't anamorphic widescreen (meaning if you have a widescreen TV, they won't fill the whole screen) I decided against it. After thinking about it, I realized that next year will be the 30th anniversary of Star Wars, and I'd bet dollars to donuts that we get yet another release. I think waiting is a smart move.

I still don't own the Star Wars DVDs -- I refuse to buy the lame Special Editions unless I also get the real films that Lucas has been holding hostage for so long -- and while I would like to have a copy of the movies, I'm getting sick of all this nonsense. Why must Lucas be like this? Why can't we just get a cleaned-up copy of the original films? I know that the Special Editions represent his current vision (funny how that vision keeps changing every other year), but the Star Wars movies are important movies and those of us interested in film history should be able to get reference-quality copies of the films as they were released.

What do you guys think? After countless video releases and the prequels, are there any Star Wars fans left who don't feel burnt out?