Science Fiction World

George Lucas has been busy. After revealing that the live action Star Wars TV show was on hold and that he would be giving up half his wealth to charity, comes the announcement that the Star Wars movies will finally make it to blu-ray. All six Star Wars film, from Star Wars IV: A New Hope to Star Wars III: Revenge of the Sith (creation date order rather than plot order!) will be released on high definition blu-ray in a box set in 2011 to mark the 35th anniversary of the release of the original Star Wars film.

"I wish I could say it was coming out this year," said Lucas at Celebration V, "but it will come out next year."

As you would expect, Lucas will be adding extensive special features to the blu-ray disks, including a long-lost deleted scene from Return of the Jedi. According to the official Star Wars website, the sequence depicts Luke Skywalker assembling his new, green-bladed lightsaber prior to infiltrating Jabba the Hutt's palace. After completing the Jedi weapon, Luke stashes it in R2-D2's dome. This is a rare example of a cut scene which had all its visual effects and music added. You can watch the clip on YouTube below.

Lucas also recently told the New York Times that only the special editions will be included, since restoring the original theatrical releases in high enough quality would cost too much.

{qtube vid:=UdJ0E7HbTKc}