Yesterday, George Lucas announced that in September of this year he will be releasing the original Star Wars Trilogy on DVD. For those who don’t know the story, in the mid 1990’s Lucas re-released the Star Wars Trilogy in theaters, but as “the Special Edition”. In these versions old special effects had been retouched, new scenes had been added and others had been deleted! These new versions were the testing ground for Lucas’ integration of CGI and real actors, which would appear heavily in the next three Star Wars films, Episodes I – III. Then Lucas released Episodes I – III in theaters and on DVD. The original trilogy was not released until September of 2004, and when it appeared, boy were fans pissed. Not only were the DVD’s the new “Special Editions”, but they had been edited even further. One of the biggest shocks was seeing Sebastian Shaw (who originally played Anakin Skywalker’s ghost) completely removed and replaced by Hayden Christensen, who played Anakin in the newer movies.
Fans have been begging for the original films to be released on DVD for years. It looks like the force was finally with us.
Thank you, George. It’s nice of you to listen to the fans for once. I will finally break down and buy the set when it comes out. My VHS copies are getting wore out.
Off the top of my head, I currently own:
Star Wars (VHS, original cover, FOX release)
Star Wars Trilogy (VHS, 1995 Boxset)
Star Wars Trilogy (VHS, Special Edition)
Star Wars Trilogy (VHS, Special Edition Letterbox)
Star Wars Trilogy (VHS, THX Edition)
Star Wars Trilogy (VCD, Malasyia Releases)
All Six Films: (DVD, Official Releases)
I’ve also got the Droids Cartoons (DVD), Clone Wars Seasons I and II (DVD), both Ewok Movies (DVD) and of course the infamous holiday Christmas special (bootleg).
I suppose one more round of discs won’t kill me.
I have the THX Laserdiscs on the way…hehe…until this DVD release…this will be the best way to experience the original movies without the new “special edition” crap.
I bought a Laserdisc player JUST FOR the Star Wars Laserdiscs … unfortunately I’ve never run across the Laserdiscs, so really I have a Laserdisc player for no reason. Once these new DVDs are released, I’ll be selling it.
I actually got them on the way via an Ebay win. I have seen the all three at Vintage here once or twice in the past. But they usually ask about $80 for all three or $29.99 each…or more…
Anyway, I guess they won’t be able to keep selling those discs at that price once these DVDs get released.
Meant to ask you. What did you have in mind for that Laserdisc player pricewise? Althogh my D504 has been good to me and still is. I dread the day it doesn’t and would love to have a suitable backup ready and waiting. I still prefer to watch my movies on laserdisc vs DVD. I still think the picture quality is better on a LD. Besides try and find a version of the original release of Bladerunner on DVD. Not the director’s cut..the theatre release? Several other movies as well…
Dolby 2.0 Surround sound only.
– Colton