Attn: fellow STAR WARS geeks
Posted: Fri May 05, 2006 12:42 pm
Heard about this last night on the Fox News Channel, then found more info on the Digital Bits website. Anyway, here goes:
It's official, folks!
Just hours after we posted our story in The Rumor Mill, the official Star Wars website has now officially confirmed it: Lucasfilm and 20th Century Fox are going to be releasing the original, undoctored and digitally-untweaked, theatrical versions of the Star Wars films on standard DVD in September. The films will be available on disc only for a very limited time, starting on September 12th (they'll go out of print on December 31st). The films will be available as individual 2-disc sets (there may also be a box as well). One of the discs in each set will include the recent "2004" special edition version of the film, while the other disc will include the original theatrical version in anamorphic widescreen video, with audio in Dolby Digital 2.0 surround. And yes, on the 2-disc set of A New Hope... Han will shoot first! Here's an official quote from Lucasfilm's Senior Vice President, Jim Ward:
"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. 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."
Well, all I can say is... it's about ___-damned TIME! So much for "those versions don't exist anymore." This is very good news indeed, and we're very happy to see it finally happen. Hats off to George Lucas, Jim Ward and everyone who decided to finally make this a reality on DVD.
And before you ask, it IS DVD only... there's no high-definition version expected this year. Just FYI.
Stay tuned...
End quote
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About time indeed. So much for Lucas maintaining that the original films no longer existed. My only beef is that I have to buy the 2004 cuts of the film (which I already own on DVD) just to get the unaltered trilogy. Oh well, small price to pay to get a nice widescreen copy of the original films. I only hope this time he includes the legendary deleted scenes. Even though I'll spring for this set when it comes out, I'm honestly not as excited about it
as I was when I heard Fox was releasing BEYOND THE VALLEY OF THE DOLLS this summer. I just hope Lucas doesn't plan anymore double-dipping, but knowing him he'll probably release a mega-set with all six movies at some point.
The story on Fox News about mentioned that Hasbro was making a limited-edition action figure of George Lucas in a stormtrooper outfit. I'll believe that when I see it.
It's official, folks!
Just hours after we posted our story in The Rumor Mill, the official Star Wars website has now officially confirmed it: Lucasfilm and 20th Century Fox are going to be releasing the original, undoctored and digitally-untweaked, theatrical versions of the Star Wars films on standard DVD in September. The films will be available on disc only for a very limited time, starting on September 12th (they'll go out of print on December 31st). The films will be available as individual 2-disc sets (there may also be a box as well). One of the discs in each set will include the recent "2004" special edition version of the film, while the other disc will include the original theatrical version in anamorphic widescreen video, with audio in Dolby Digital 2.0 surround. And yes, on the 2-disc set of A New Hope... Han will shoot first! Here's an official quote from Lucasfilm's Senior Vice President, Jim Ward:
"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. 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."
Well, all I can say is... it's about ___-damned TIME! So much for "those versions don't exist anymore." This is very good news indeed, and we're very happy to see it finally happen. Hats off to George Lucas, Jim Ward and everyone who decided to finally make this a reality on DVD.
And before you ask, it IS DVD only... there's no high-definition version expected this year. Just FYI.
Stay tuned...
End quote
---------------------------------------
About time indeed. So much for Lucas maintaining that the original films no longer existed. My only beef is that I have to buy the 2004 cuts of the film (which I already own on DVD) just to get the unaltered trilogy. Oh well, small price to pay to get a nice widescreen copy of the original films. I only hope this time he includes the legendary deleted scenes. Even though I'll spring for this set when it comes out, I'm honestly not as excited about it
as I was when I heard Fox was releasing BEYOND THE VALLEY OF THE DOLLS this summer. I just hope Lucas doesn't plan anymore double-dipping, but knowing him he'll probably release a mega-set with all six movies at some point.
The story on Fox News about mentioned that Hasbro was making a limited-edition action figure of George Lucas in a stormtrooper outfit. I'll believe that when I see it.