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So the countdown is over, and maythe4th.starwars.com has now revealed all on the 4th of May. But what does it all mean?

For those that don't know, the Star Wars people have teased us for the last few days with the maythe4th.starwars.com mini-site, which consisted of a counter that counted down to the 4th of May (US Pacific time), promising that "all will be revealed". Most people figured that it was something to do with Star Wars coming on Blu-ray, and it seems they were right.

Despite the mini-site having a small technical problem, Millennium Falcon hyperdrive style, when the counter first reached zero, R2 did eventually manage to fix the problem, and the website is now live. And it seems that you have to 'whore' yourself on social media for the good folks at Lucasfilms and Fox to promote Star Wars on Blu-ray, in order to fully "unlock" a video of what looks like a preview of the Blu-ray. At the time of writing 19% of the video has been unlocked (even though it takes ages to load up to 100% and for the video to start, and then you only get to watch the part of the video that's been "unlocked" - that is, if the website even loads, which half of the time, it doesn't), so perhaps there's more to it than just one big ad for the must-have Blu-ray set. There's something about "infinite zoom", and "exclusive imagery", if that's not vague enough for ya. 

To unlock the entire video (and hopefully some other stuff too), people have to share on Facebook, favourite the Blu-ray promo video on youTube and on other social media networks depending on your country of origin, and they have to do it all around the world, as each country has their own completion bar, and each social media network also has their own completion bars. Sounds more confusing than the plot of Attack of the Clones? It is.

Hopefully, all will be revealed soon enough and it will turn out to be more than just a not even that cleverly disguised social media/viral marketing stunt, but judging by the comments on YouTube at least, "lame" may very well be the hashtag that people will associate with this campaign.

Update: The website is now 100% unlocked. So Star Wars is coming to Blu-ray? And in September too? Who knew? To be fair, the release date has been moved forward a bit (to 16 September), and there's now more information on what's actually in the boxsets. To find out, you can go to the website, click on the "About the Blu-ray" link and waste minutes trying to scroll through the details of the Blu-ray set, including a list of all the special features, or you can just get the same info below, extracted by the Bothan spies I've hired (or perhaps just a clever bit of HTML source viewing):

Bring home the adventure and share Star Wars™ with your whole family – when STAR WARS: THE COMPLETE SAGA comes to Blu-ray Disc from Lucasfilm Ltd. and Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment! To be released on September 14th, the nine-disc collection brings the wonder of the entire Saga direct to your living room, where you can revisit all of your favorite Star Wars moments – in gorgeous high definition and with pristine, 6.1 DTS Surround Sound. Dive deeper into the universe with an unprecedented 40+ hours of special features, highlighted by never-before-seen content sourced from the Lucasfilm archives. The comprehensive collection also features numerous deleted, extended and alternate scenes, new documentaries and a cross-section of the countless Star Wars spoofs that have appeared in pop culture over the past three decades. Marking the first time ever that the full Saga is available in one complete collection, STAR WARS: THE COMPLETE SAGA ON BLU-RAY also features a coveted peek into the making of the Saga with vintage documentaries, audio commentaries, behind-the-scenes moments, interviews, prop and costume turnarounds, retrospectives and more. Episodes I-III and IV-VI will also be available as distinct Blu-ray Trilogy collections.

Special Features:

STAR WARS: THE COMPLETE SAGA ON BLU-RAY is presented in widescreen with 6.1 DTS Surround Sound. Special features include:

• DISC ONE – STAR WARS: EPISODE I THE PHANTOM MENACE
  • Audio Commentary with George Lucas, Rick McCallum, Ben Burtt, Rob Coleman, John Knoll, Dennis Muren and Scott Squires
  • Audio Commentary from Archival Interviews with Cast and Crew
• DISC TWO – STAR WARS: EPISODE II ATTACK OF THE CLONES
  • Audio Commentary with George Lucas, Rick McCallum, Ben Burtt, Rob Coleman, Pablo Helman, John Knoll and Ben Snow
  • Audio Commentary from Archival Interviews with Cast and Crew
• DISC THREE – STAR WARS: EPISODE III REVENGE OF THE SITH
  • Audio Commentary with George Lucas, Rick McCallum, Rob Coleman, John Knoll and Roger Guyett
  • Audio Commentary from Archival Interviews with Cast and Crew
• DISC FOUR – STAR WARS: EPISODE IV A NEW HOPE
  • Audio Commentary with George Lucas, Carrie Fisher, Ben Burtt and Dennis Muren
  • Audio Commentary from Archival Interviews with Cast and Crew
• DISC FIVE – STAR WARS: EPISODE V THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK
  • Audio Commentary with George Lucas, Irvin Kershner, Carrie Fisher, Ben Burtt and Dennis Muren
  • Audio Commentary from Archival Interviews with Cast and Crew
• DISC SIX – STAR WARS: EPISODE VI RETURN OF THE JEDI
  • Audio Commentary with George Lucas, Carrie Fisher, Ben Burtt and Dennis Muren
  • Audio Commentary from Archival Interviews with Cast and Crew
• DISC SEVEN – NEW! STAR WARS ARCHIVES: EPISODES I-III
  • Including: deleted, extended and alternate scenes; prop, maquette and costume turnarounds; matte paintings and concept art; supplementary interviews with cast and crew; a flythrough of the Lucasfilm Archives and more
• DISC EIGHT – NEW! STAR WARS ARCHIVES: EPISODES IV-VI
  • Including: deleted, extended and alternate scenes; prop, maquette and costume turnarounds; matte paintings and concept art; supplementary interviews with cast and crew; and more
• DISC NINE – THE STAR WARS DOCUMENTARIES
  • NEW! Star Warriors (2007, Color, Apx. 84 Minutes) – Some Star Wars fans want to collect action figures...these fans want to be action figures! A tribute to the 501st Legion, a global organization of Star Wars costume enthusiasts, this insightful documentary shows how the super-fan club promotes interest in the films through charity and volunteer work at fundraisers and high-profile special events around the world.
  • NEW! A Conversation with the Masters: The Empire Strikes Back 30 Years Later (2010, Color, Apx. 25 Minutes) – George Lucas, Irvin Kershner, Lawrence Kasdan and John Williams look back on the making of The Empire Strikes Back in this in-depth retrospective from Lucasfilm created to help commemorate the 30th anniversary of the movie. The masters discuss and reminisce about one of the most beloved films of all time.
  • NEW! Star Wars Spoofs (2011, Color, Apx. 91 Minutes) – The farce is strong with this one! Enjoy a hilarious collection of Star Wars spoofs and parodies that have been created over the years, including outrageous clips from Family Guy, The Simpsons, How I Met Your Mother and more — and don’t miss “Weird Al” Yankovic’s one-of-a-kind music video tribute to The Phantom Menace!
  • The Making of Star Wars (1977, Color, Apx. 49 Minutes) – Learn the incredible behind-the-scenes story of how the original Star Wars movie was brought to the big screen in this fascinating documentary hosted by C-3PO and R2-D2. Includes interviews with George Lucas and appearances by Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford and Carrie Fisher.
  • The Empire Strikes Back: SPFX (1980, Color, Apx. 48 Minutes) – Learn the secrets of making movies in a galaxy far, far away. Hosted by Mark Hamill, this revealing documentary offers behind-the-scenes glimpses into the amazing special effects that transformed George Lucas’ vision for Star Wars and The Empire Strikes Back into reality!
  • Classic Creatures: Return of the Jedi (1983, Color, Apx. 48 Minutes) – Go behind the scenes — and into the costumes — as production footage from Return of the Jedi is interspersed with vintage monster movie clips in this in-depth exploration of the painstaking techniques utilized by George Lucas to create the classic creatures and characters seen in the film. Hosted and narrated by Carrie Fisher and Billie Dee Williams.
  • Anatomy of a Dewback (1997, Color, Apx. 26 Minutes) – See how some of the special effects in Star Wars became even more special two decades later! George Lucas explains and demonstrates how his team transformed the original dewback creatures from immovable rubber puppets (in the original 1977 release) to seemingly living, breathing creatures for the Star Wars 1997 Special Edition update.
  • Star Wars Tech (2007, Color, Apx. 46 Minutes) – Exploring the technical aspects of Star Wars vehicles, weapons and gadgetry, Star Wars Tech consults leading scientists in the fields of physics, prosthetics, lasers, engineering and astronomy to examine the plausibility of Star Wars technology based on science as we know it today.

Are you excited about this event, or does it all seem a bit "meh" to you? What about the Star Wars Blu-ray set? Post your opinion in this news article's comments section, or in this forum thread:

http://forum.digital-digest.com/showthread.php?t=94827