"Original" Original Trilogy on DVD!!!

[sfx5000]

George said it would never happen. Apparently hell has frozen over...

Fans can look forward to a September filled with classic Star Wars nostalgia, led by the premiere of LEGO Star Wars II: The Original Trilogy video game and the long-awaited DVD release of the original theatrical incarnations of the classic Star Wars trilogy.
In response to overwhelming demand, Lucasfilm Ltd. and Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment will release attractively priced individual two-disc releases of Star Wars, The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi. Each release includes the 2004 digitally remastered version of the movie and, as bonus material, the theatrical edition of the film. That means you'll be able to enjoy Star Wars as it first appeared in 1977, Empire in 1980, and Jedi in 1983.

This release will only be available for a limited time: from September 12th to December 31st. International release will follow on or about the same day. Each original theatrical version will feature Dolby 2.0 Surround sound, close-captioning, and subtitles in English, French and Spanish for their U.S. release. International sound and subtitling vary by territory.

"Over the years, a truly countless number of fans have told us that they would love to see and own the original version 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. Topping it off with a new interactive adventure makes September 12 a red-letter day for Star Wars fans."

So we have our boxed sets from last year. This new set coming out. And more than likely an "Ultimate Edition" with all 6 episodes, re-mastered with added content in a year or so.

You already have all of my money Lucasfilm... I guess it's time to sell my blood. Hey, why not cut out the middle man and take the blood directly from my veins!!

[Phoenix]

I'm sure George would have no problem taking your blood directly SFX.........

[YodaBreaker]

Bugger - you beat me on this by 20 minutes, sfx5000...someday I'll scoop ya!

Here's the gratuitous CNN link that told me about this.

[Yaggleberry Finn]

Does anyone have any news on Episodes 1-3 on DVD? Will that come out as its own set, or will it only be in a super set of all six movies?

And for the record, I already have the original three movies on VHS, I'm not buying them on DVD! Except for the constant changes to the Han/Greedo scene (oh yeah, and Hayden Christensen at the end of ROTJ) I really like all of the additions and I'd rather not watch the originals anymore.

[YodaBreaker]

Bad news on these DVDs: Looks like the transfer is going to be from the 1993 letterboxed (non-anamorphic!) laserdisc versions! Basically, this means that they will look odd on widescreen TVs, and they won't have nearly the resolution of the current crop of DVDs. Guess Georgie Boy is really invested in "proving" that there's "no demand" for these versions of the movies. More invested in that, at least, than in providing his fans what they want.