The editing system developed by George Lucas’s company was EditDroid. It was created by Lucasfilm’s Droid Works in partnership with Convergence Corporation as an early computer-assisted nonlinear editing system.
EditDroid was introduced in 1984 and used LaserDiscs to store and retrieve film footage. Editors could browse clips on a computer interface, arrange them on a visual timeline, and create an edit decision list. The finished decisions could then guide the physical splicing of the original film.
The system was technologically ambitious for its era. Its interface used clip icons, a timeline, multiple displays, and a custom TouchPad controller. Because digital storage was extremely expensive and LaserDisc preparation was cumbersome, EditDroid never became a major commercial success. Only 24 systems were produced, and the technology was eventually sold to Avid in 1993.
EditDroid is commonly confused with Lightworks, Final Cut Pro, or Avid editing systems, but those were developed independently and became associated with later generations of digital editing. Lucas eventually used EditDroid systems on The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles in the early 1990s.