News that George Lucas is re-releasing his Star Wars franchise in 3-D has created a schism within one of the world's most passionate fan communities. Starting in 2012 with "Episode 1, The Phantom Menace," Lucas will release a Star Wars film in 3D every year ending with "Return of the Jedi." The reaction from diehards has been both swift and diverse.  After scouring the dark corners of the Web, perusing Star Wars websites and fan forums, The Wire tears the lid off this house divided:

Star Wars in 3D Is a Godsend  Over at StarWars.com, the announcement was met with broad support among most registered commenters. MissPadme hailed the news as "Something to live for!!!" while deathtrooper72 said "I'm already getting adrenaline rush!! This is totally going to bring the SW [Star Wars] saga another step into history!!" At the Jedi Council Forums, a number of commenters responded in kind. "The opening shot of ROTS [Return of the Jedi] in 3D would probably make my brain melt," Darth-Mauls-Torso squealed. "FINALLY. But it'll take six YEARS to see them all!!! We're talking out to 2017!" noted an impatient DARTH_BELO.  Meanwhile, Darth Furio articulated what must be a common problem. "Now if only I could get the mistress to go."

Star Wars in 3D Is a Disgrace  Pushing back against the 3D optimists, the decision to jump on the Avatar bandwagon and "go 3D" embittered a large swath of devotees. "NOOOOOOO!" wrote fistofan1. "3D is just a gimmick to make people go 'Ohhh' and 'Ahhh'... Lucas uses every new release to add something(s) unnecessary that brings the movie down. Do we really want more slapstick 'humor' and fart jokes in the SW universe?" Commenter ATMachine directed his rage at Lucas. "It's all very ironic, since Lucas came out so strongly against Ted Turner's colorization of old black-and-white films in the 80s," he bristles. "This is basically the same thing, in terms of butchering the cinematic integrity of films, but now Lucas is eagerly 'modernizing' his own creations." Adding some nuanced insight, Jmacq1 offers:

I fear for the quality of the 3D conversion. No "converted" film I've seen yet was very good in terms of 3D quality, and I've not heard of any major breakthroughs in that realm, though I wouldn't put it past Lucasfilm/ILM to come up with their own "in house" conversion process. That, or simply re-doing many shots from scratch to better incorporate the 3D effects.

The heavy dose of skepticism didn't bode well with many of the commenters at Jedi Council Forums. Lashing out against the haters, obi-rob-kenobi4 writes:

This release is going to get people to finally hop on or off the band wagon. Your ether going to be an active star wars fan until 2017 or not and the ones who supposedly hate the films so much don't have to go and pay to see the films if they dont want to. Its excellent because maybe this time they will let us enjoy the films without any crys of outrage.

Lastly, commenter Wiktor_Beviin made a diplomatic request most fans could likely agree on. Since Lucas is rereleasing the film anyway, "can you take Jarjar out at the same time?"

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John Hudson