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Re-releases

Main article: List of changes in Star Wars re-releases

In 1997, A New Hope, The Empire Strikes Back, and Return of the Jedi were re-mastered and theatrically re-released as the "Special Editions." It was one of the first films series to be re-mastered in this way. For the re-release, in addition to extensive clean-up and restoration work, Lucas also made several changes to the films in order to "finish the film the way it was meant to be" (as Lucas said in a September 2004 interview with the Associated Press). Many of Lucas' changes for the Special Editions were cosmetic, generally adding computer generated effects which were not originally possible. Other changes, however, are considered to have affected plot or character development. These changes, such as the change often referred to by fans as "Han shot first," have proven to be controversial, inciting considerable criticism of George Lucas by fans, and was one of the first cases of what came to be known as "Lucas bashing".

In 2004, in addition to an extensive and comprehensive hi-definition digital cleanup and restoration job by Lowry Digital Images, the original films were changed once again for their release on DVD. In these new versions of the films, in addition to new scenes and major image adjustments designed to make the films visually resemble the prequels, a few changes which had been made for the 1997 Special Editions were removed. With this release, Lucasfilm created a new high-definition master of the films, which will be used in future releases as well.

Although the original films have undergone significant alterations over the years, the prequel films have received only minor changes from their theatrical versions. The DVD releases of The Phantom Menace, Attack of the Clones, and Revenge of the Sith have had such elements altered as small additions of scenes, touch-ups in effects, and small sound changes.

For many years, Lucas had stated that the original, unaltered versions of the trilogy would never be released again, having been released for the last time on VHS and Laserdisc in 1995. However, on May 3, 2006, Lucasfilm announced on the official Star Wars site that due to "overwhelming demand", the original versions would be released on DVD on September 12, 2006. Each film was released as a two-disc set with the 2004 versions of the films on one disc, and the original, unaltered film on the second disc, as a bonus feature. The set was available until December 31, 2006, when it was withdrawn from the market.

There has been controversy surrounding this release, since it was revealed that the DVDs featured non-anamorphic versions of the original, unaltered films based on laserdisc releases from 1993 (as opposed to newly-remastered, film-based transfers). Since non-anamorphic transfers fail to make full use of the resolution available on widescreen sets, many fans were upset over this choice^.

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STAR WARS

Television rights

The original Star Wars film (Episode IV) first saw TV release in February 1983 on HBO, Show time, and The Movie Channel. (The original asking price was $1 per subscriber which would cover the entire production budget for the film solely from money from HBO) CBS had exclusive network rights when it aired on commercial television one year later, and continued on CBS for several years. The remaining films in the original trilogy also aired on premium cable before airing on network television (NBC acquired the original network rights to The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi).

In 1992, the Sci-Fi Channel became the first U.S. network to air the three then-existing episodes in the saga. Sci-Fi and USA Network retained TV rights until 1996, in preparation for the theatrical release of the "Special Editions" of the original trilogy. In 1998, a year after the SE releases, Show time acquired limited one-month premium cable rights to the "Special Edition" of Star Wars for airing in January. It continued on broadcast stations, including super stations TBS and WGN, for several years after).

In 1999, to promote Episode I: The Phantom Menace, the remaining "Special Edition" films (V and VI) aired on U.S. broadcast network Fox (they bypassed premium cable for direct broadcast airing). That same year, Fox acquired all television rights to Episode I after the premium cable networks declined due to cost. A similar situation nearly happened with Attack of the Clones, until HBO struck a last-minute deal with Fox and Lucas film for the exclusive pay-cable rights. Episode II, like its predecessor, never saw prior pay-per-view cable release, but it did run on HBO and sister network Cinema during its 18-month term of license.

The Fox network acquired the U.S. network television rights. In April/May 2005, to promote the then-upcoming Episode III: Revenge of the SIth, Episodes I, IV, V, and VI were placed in limited syndicated television distribution, (on Fox affiliates in most markets) while the Fox network was able to air Episode II in mid-May, prior to Episode ii i's initial theatrical release.

During negotiations for the cable rights to Episode II, HBO/Cinema also struck a first-look deal for Episode III, which they accepted and is currently on its initial 18-month term of license (it was also the only Star Wars prequel film to see any pay-per-view cable issue). In addition, the Time Warner-owned networks were able to win the right to become the first U.S. television network system (cable or broadcast) to air all six films in the saga. On November 11, 2006 Cinema aired all six films in rotation in both standard & High Definition. (Cinema had never aired the original Star Wars (Episode IV) prior to this date, and at the explicit request of Lucas film, the high definition broadcasts were in the original scope aspect ratio.)

The six films will also be repeated on HBO in standard & High Definition. The versions of Episodes IV, V, and VI that are airing are the 2004 DVD Special Editions, as they are the current canonical versions. In the UK, Sky purchased the rights to air all six films in August 2006, becoming the first English-language television network to air all six films, which will be aired in order of release, beginning with the original Episode IV. Afterwards, the episodes will continue to be shown during the "100 films a month" cycles on Sky Movies.

In a separate deal, Spike TV acquired the commercial broadcast rights to Episode III, including the right to become the first broadcast network to air all six films (the deal takes effect after the HBO/Cinema rights expire in April 2008). From late December 2006 to early January 2007, Star Movies Asia aired the complete saga for their region

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Star Wars

Future releases

At a ShoWest convention in 2005, George Lucas demonstrated new technology and stated that he planned to release all six films in a new 3-D film format, beginning with A New Hope in 2007. However, by January 2007, Lucas film stated on star wars.com that there are no definitive plans or dates for releasing the Star Wars saga in 3-D.

Lucas has hinted in the past that he will release his definitive (often called "archival") editions of all six of his Star Wars films on a next-generation home-video format. It has been speculated that he will take this opportunity to make any final adjustments, changes, additions, and/or subtractions to his films for this final release. An altered clip from The Phantom Menace included in a features on the DVD release of Revenge of the Sith (in which a computer generated Yoda replaces the original puppet) appears to be a sign that the "archival" editions are indeed in the works. Lucas film Vice President of Marketing Jim Ward confirmed that Lucas film is likely to do even more work on the films (possibly digital extemporization of the original trilogy), stating "As the technology evolves and we get into a high-definition platform that is easily consumable by our customers, the situation is much better, but there will always be work to be done."

Producer Rick McCallum has also explained that Lucas film has been holding back a large amount of bonus material for this release, including deleted scenes, as well as numerous previous Star Wars "making-ofs," spin-offs, television specials, documentaries, and other special material.

Expanded Universe

Main article: Star Wars Expanded Universe

The term "Expanded Universe" (abbreviated EU) has come into existence as an umbrella term for all of the officially licensed Star Wars material outside of the six feature films. This includes television productions, books, comics, games, and other forms of media. The material expands and continues the stories told in the films, taking place anywhere from 25,000 years before The Phantom Menace to 140 years after Return of the Jedi. The first Expanded Universe story appeared in Marvel Comics' Star Wars #7 in January 1978 (the first six issues of the series having been an adaptation of the film), followed quickly by Alan Dean Foster's novel Splinter of the Mind's Eye the following month.

George Lucas retains ultimate creative control over the Star Wars universe. For example, the death of central characters and similar changes in the status quo must first pass his screening before authors are given the go-ahead. In addition, Lucas film Licensing devotes considerable effort to ensure continuity between the works of various authors across multiple companies.

Some purists reject the Expanded Universe as "Apocrypha", believing that only the events in the film series are part of the "real" Star Wars universe. However, elements of the Expanded Universe have been adopted by Lucas for use in the films. These included the name of the Republic/Empire capital planet, Coruscant, which first appeared in Timothy Zahn's novel Heir to the Empire before being used in The Phantom Menace, while a character introduced in Dark Horse Comics' Star Wars series, a blue Jedi Knight named Aayla Secura, was liked enough by Lucas to be included as a character in Attack of the Clones