Origial "Star Wars" trilogy coming to DVD

All of the unforgettable heroism, villainy and epic adventure of George Lucas's Star Wars trilogy comes to the ultimate home-entertainment format for the very first time around the world this September from Lucasfilm Ltd. and Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment, ending the wait for the most-anticipated DVD release ever. The four-disc collection will be released on Sept. 21 in the U.S. and Canada, with international release dates following closely.

"We know how long fans have waited for this release and how much they have been looking forward to it, so everyone has been working overtime to make sure that the Star Wars Trilogy on DVD is an awesome experience," said Jim Ward, Vice President of Marketing and Distribution for Lucasfilm Ltd. and the DVD collection's Executive Producer.

The Star Wars Trilogy tops the list of "cinephiles' most-requested titles never released on the format," according to a May 2003 E! Online report. Further, the three Star Wars Trilogy films – Star Wars: A New Hope, The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi – also hold the top three spots on Amazon.com's "most-requested DVDs" list.

Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope, Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back and Episode VI: Return of the Jedi will be available in a four-disc set that includes a bonus disc filled with all-new special features — including the most comprehensive feature-length documentary ever produced about the Star Wars saga and never-before-seen footage from the making of all three films.

Each of the three films in the Star Wars Trilogy has been digitally restored and re-mastered by THX for superior sound and picture quality.

"First and foremost, the DVDs will deliver the very best possible sound and picture and take advantage of everything the medium can offer. On top of that, we are creating added-value material that gets inside the creation of the Star Wars films in a fresh and fun way," Ward said. "We want watching this DVD collection to be as memorable as seeing the movies for the first time."

The films of the Star Wars Trilogy will be available exclusively as a collection and will feature Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround and be in anamorphic widescreen. All three films are closed-captioned and subtitled in English, French and Spanish in the U.S. Internationally, sound and subtitling specifications will vary by territory.

It's been confirmed by www.digitalbits.com that these WILL be the 1997 "special edition" versions and NOT the original theatrical versions, however there's still the possibility that the films will have some minor changes (there was a rumor that Lucas will bring back the "Han shoots first" scene but it's only a rumor.)

Other sites that mention the news are www.dvdfile.com and www.dvdangle.com

So finally Lucas decided to release the Star Wars films on DVD.

Back in Nov. of 2000 he re-released the Special Edition of the trilogy on VHS at a time when DVDs had already gone far from from taking over the video market over the VHS format. I wonder if it ever crossed his mind that the VHS format would be dead within a couple of years, or he just wanted fans of the films to buy the trilogy twice by the time the DVDs were released.

My mum has these on DVD already with some type of Asian subtitles, mind you...They are really quite silly.

Love,
Mrs. G

Jaws has always been my scene but I don't like Star Wars.

Jaws was never my scene and I don't like Star Wars

should I?
"Jaws was never my scene and I DO like Star Wars" (but won't buy those dvds, I'll stick with VHS for awhile at least.

Why does Lucas think the special edition arew better than the originals? Did anyone really see any improvement, Jabba was terrible because he looked more fake than the old rubber muppet. Presently Lucas sucks mad donkey dick!!!!!!!!!!

WHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO-HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

and a

WHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO-HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

and a

YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEES

About time.

<< Why does Lucas think the special edition are better than the originals? >> I don't know if he really thinks that they're better than the originals, but he sure thinks that they're a very good reason to make tons of money.

Someone from Queen Productions must've given him a marketing tip ;)

I won't be getting it.

Been waiting that long now, it looks well dated and cheesy.

Lucas is putting out the 1997 versions because that is intitially how he wanted them to look.
He didn't have the technology or cash to do it the first time around.

I kept reading this, Michael, and was waiting for the punch line. That Q satire was hilarious.

alas, there was none here.