Is Lucas being 'artistic' or just greedy?

George Lucas is being pretty arrogant about his "Star Wars" films — that is, the original trilogy.

When they finally come to DVD on Sept. 21, they'll be the gussied-up 1997 reissued films, not the unadorned originals. But a loud contingent of "Star Wars" fans would like to see the films as they were shown during their initial release — especially the first one, which came out in 1977.

And I'm not sure I understand why Lucas is digging in his heels about this.

During a TV interview last weekend, Lucas called himself "an artist," and said that artists often change their own work, and that he simply likes the new versions better. And he reiterated what he's said before, that in '77 he was hampered by primitive special effects, and now he's been able to catch up with his own vision.

Well, OK. But if Lucas is such a visionary artist, why is he releasing the films in both widescreen and pan-and-scan versions?

I'll tell you why: money.

Despite the more aesthetically pleasing nature of letterbox films, and the fact that so many more widescreen options are available today than ever before, the vast majority of moviewatchers still prefer to watch full-frame versions at home. But if Lucas were really all that concerned about the look of his original "Star Wars" trilogy, he'd also be concerned about the distortion caused by the pan-and-scan process.

So if he'll make that concession, why not issue the original films in addition to the special-edition versions? After all, that's one of the things that DVDs do best — they allow viewers and collectors to choose from various versions.

And if Lucas doesn't want to include the golden oldies in the same box sets as the special editions, he could simply release them separately.

Maybe someone would tell him he'd make even more money if he did so.

• People who live along the Wasatch Front often write or tell me that they feel like a lone voice in the wilderness with regard to their disgust over sex-drenched contemporary movies and TV shows. But they really aren't alone. People all over the country complain about it to their local media outlets.

And lately there seem to be more show-biz insiders waking up to it . . . albeit insiders of a certain age.