1995
The THX-mastering process finally got translated to a VHS release of the trilogy in 1995, available in both pan-and-scan and widescreen editions. A trio of laserdiscs was also made available in widescreen, but featured in CLV.
The 1995 trilogy release was noteworthy for a couple of reasons. First, it was the first issue of the trilogy that used the Internet to support it promotionally. The Fox Video website launched in July, 1995, exclusively to promote the trilogy for several months before moving on to other titles (starwars.com would debut the following year). Also, this release was marketed as home video's final presentation of the original trilogy in unaltered form, since the Special Editions were being prepared for a 1997 theatrical re-release.
Extras were kept at a minimum on both the videos and lasers -- a three-part interview with Lucas conducted by Leonard Maltin was the only bonus feature -- and only one of the three sides for each disc set was featured in CAV.
1997
The year the Star Wars Trilogy Special Edition ran in theaters was also the year the trio was released on video -- a first of sorts for the Star Wars movies. This release also included the traditional VHS pan-and-scan and widescreen releases, with a limited laserdisc set available exclusively in widescreen. Again the discs were presented predominantly in CLV, disallowing freeze-frame viewing and other features.
Still, the Special Edition release resurrected the VAM-thinking of 1993's Definitive Collection by offering the Special Edition trailers and a series of behind-the-scenes shorts culled into one long featurette. This release marked the last time the original trilogy would ever appear on laserdisc in the U.S.
2000
Almost a full year had passed between the 1999 release of Episode I in theaters and its video debut in April, 2000. The VHS format was the only version available in the U.S. that year, offered in pan-and-scan and in a limited widescreen edition which included a behind-the-scenes documentary, 48-page booklet, and 35mm film strip. Japan offered a digital version of the film on laserdisc, but used the compressed CLV format for its widescreen presentation which included Japanese subtitles. For U.S. fans anxious to experience the first prequel in the best possible quality, the Japanese laserdisc proved a hot commodity that year.
The updated original trilogy releases were again offered exclusively on VHS as a set in late 2000, sans the "Special Edition" subtitle. A 10-minute featurette teasing up Episode II was included as a bonus.
2001
2001 launched the modern era of Star Wars home entertainment with the release of Episode I on DVD. The expansive DVD format was able to offer up all the advantages of a CAV laserdisc -- frame-by-frame, slow-forward and -reverse, freeze-frame, alternate audio track -- with the added convenience of never having to flip the disc during the presentation.
Add to this the enormous slew of bonus material available on the feature and bonus discs: a commentary track by McCallum, Lucas, Burtt, and Muren; a one-hour documentary called "The Beginning"; multi-angle animatics; five mini-docs; 12 webdocs; a captioned production photo gallery; the "Duel of the Fates" music video; posters and the print campaign; trailers and TV spots; and the featurette "Star Wars: Starfighter -- The Making of a Game".
Another first for a Star Wars home presentation was the ability to showcase deleted scenes. Seven sequences which had been edited out of Episode I were completed just for the DVD release.
Starwars.com even provided extra content accessible through the use of the second disc's DVD-ROM feature, including easter eggs, depth commentary, and a script-to-screen treatment of the movie.
Fans were quick to learn that the DVD format truly increased their appreciation of the Star Wars experience, vastly enriched by the loads of supplementary material accompanying the movie. Even the elegantly-designed menus by Van Ling had the effect of warming up the viewer to the Star Wars movie they were about to watch, an unexpected enhancement not offered on previous formats. All this digital state-of-the-art content for a price less than half that of the first 1982 analog videotapes!
2002
The DVD release for Episode II followed in the tradition of the groundbreaking Episode I DVD, offering even more in the way of bonus supplementary material and features.
For the same price ($29.98) as the Episode I DVD, Episode II featured: audio commentary by Lucas, Producer Rick McCallum, Editor and Sound Designer Ben Burtt, Animation Supervisor Rob Coleman, and Visual Effects Supervisors Pablo Helman, John Knoll and Ben Snow; eight deleted scenes created for the DVD release, with introductions by George Lucas, Rick McCallum and Ben Burtt; three documentaries -- "From Puppets to Pixels", "State of the Art: The Previsualization of Episode II", and "Films Are Not Released; They Escape"; three behind-the-scenes featurettes; 12 webdocs; the "Across the Stars" music video; theatrical trailers and TV spots; an "R2-D2: Beneath the Dome" mockumentary trailer; posters and print campaign; a production photo gallery; an ILM Episode II effects montage; and a DVD-ROM weblink to exclusive content.
A VHS was offered in pan-and-scan, and would likely be the last in a long line of videotapes that defined the Star Wars home video experience for a generation. For most fans, the medium's limitations will not be missed.
