It's taken a year, but at last George has read my post and is bringing out the original, untinkered with versions of the first three Star Wars movies, packaged as an add on with the 2004 "enhanced" versions. Ok, so it wasn't just me, judging by the announcement on the Star Wars site a lot of people felt the way I did: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. See the title crawl to Star Wars before it was known as Episode IV; see the pioneering, if dated, motion control model work on the attack on the Death Star; groove to Lapti Nek or the Ewok Celebration song like you did when you were a kid; and yes, see Han Solo shoot first.
This release will only be available for a limited time: from September 12th to December 31st [You can see the ads now... The ideal Christmas present! A present out of this world!]. 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."
That's also the day fans will be able to experience the LEGO Star Wars II: The Original Trilogy video game, the action-packed sequel -- filled with tongue-in-cheek humor -- to one of the best selling video games of 2005. To see the trailer to the new game from LucasArts and TT Games, click here!
Click here to order your copy of the game today. To order the first in a series of t-shirts to commemorate the return of the original unaltered trilogy, click here.
It made me smile when I saw the original versions being touted as bonus material, an add on like a commentary or a featurette, with the mucked about versions promoted as the main attraction, as if Mr Lucas is doing it through gritted teeth, still thinking his second attempts are better.....
This release will only be available for a limited time: from September 12th to December 31st [You can see the ads now... The ideal Christmas present! A present out of this world!]. 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."
That's also the day fans will be able to experience the LEGO Star Wars II: The Original Trilogy video game, the action-packed sequel -- filled with tongue-in-cheek humor -- to one of the best selling video games of 2005. To see the trailer to the new game from LucasArts and TT Games, click here!
Click here to order your copy of the game today. To order the first in a series of t-shirts to commemorate the return of the original unaltered trilogy, click here.
It made me smile when I saw the original versions being touted as bonus material, an add on like a commentary or a featurette, with the mucked about versions promoted as the main attraction, as if Mr Lucas is doing it through gritted teeth, still thinking his second attempts are better.....
2 comments:
...still thinking his second attempts are better.
He's wrong, of course.
Yep. The originals were fine, and the additions stick out like sore thumbs (e.g Han with the inserted Jabba). A little cleaning up is ok, but rejigging the story (like the infamous rewriting of history so that Han doesn't shoot first in the cantina) just ain't on. My old dad had a saying: If it ain't broke, don't fix it....
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