Original 'Star Wars' flicks finally released

The original theatrical versions of 'Star Wars', 'Empire' and 'Jedi' finally make their way onto DVD.

May  4 2006

Geeks the world over have reason to celebrate today – George Lucas has finally listened to their pleas and is releasing the original versions of the 'Star Wars' trilogy on DVD.

On September 11, two-disc sets of 'Star Wars: Episode IV A New Hope', 'Episode V The Empire Strikes Back' and 'Episode VI Return of the Jedi' will hit the streets, featuring the digitally restored and re-mastered versions of the movies.

And as bonus material, they will also include the holy grail for true 'Star Wars' fans - the original theatrical versions of the films.

The 'attractively priced' discs (which we hope means cheap) will also feature commentaries by key cast and crew members, and will be on sale until December 31 before being returned to the Lucasfilm Archives (which Tomb Readers may remember for the end of 'Raiders of the Lost Ark').

'Over the years, a truly countless number of fans have told us that they would love to see and own the original versions that they remember experiencing in theaters,' said Jim Ward, President of LucasArts and Senior Vice President of Lucasfilm Ltd. 'We returned to the Lucasfilm Archives to search exhaustively for source material that could be presented on DVD. This is something that we're very excited to be able to give to fans in response to their continuing enthusiasm for 'Star Wars'.

As a fan of the originals, I've avoided buying the updated versions of the films in the hope that Lucas would one day listen to sense and release them in an untainted form. I'll therefore be buying the discs (or at least trying to blag free copies) on the day of release - how about you people?

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