That's right- the original Star Wars trilogy is finally available on DVD... and Amazon.com is taking pre-orders!

This is a 4-DVD set, with Star Wars, The Empire Strikes Back, and Return of the Jedi.

But, for good or bad, these DVD's are the 1997 "special edition" versions. According to Lucas, the original, 1977/ 1980/ 1983 versions "no longer exist".

So, go ahead, click the link and pre-order your copy.

--John

Finally! I'm glad you posted this. Me thinks you are about to get pounded by the "no commercial post folks" tho. I don't care, I wanted to know the minute this came out. I'll have to say the price is right! That coulda been 60.00 - 80.00 easy. Thanks!

Probably not. He isn't promoting his own wares... but a resource. It is OT, but that seems to be a more flexible area. The post will probably get moved there, though since that is where we've dissected LOTR. My understanding is that the 4th DVD has some costume shots of how Anakin becomes Darth. Ho-hum. But the modelers might be interested. Lucas destroyed the franchise years ago when he turned it into a bio-pic rather than a epic. Carolly

Now I thought Phantom menace was utter crap, but Attack of the clones was cool. The special edition is the worst kind of self indulgent revisionism! I'm just glad I have the THX LDs of the real Star wars that I grew up on. For Lucas to just decide that he would rather it be different is neither fair to the millions of fans or to the people who worked on the film whose work was replaced with supposedly "improved" effects shots. (AND GREEDO DIDN"T SHOOT!) (and That ring of gas looks stupid.) All I know is my 4 year old watched the real star wars the other day... as it was shown in theaters in 1977.

Phantom Menace had its moments ... the big lightsabre duel, for instance.

I think I'll wait until September, though, and then purchase it locally, rather than pre-order. It's not like they're going to run out of copies or something ....

What did everyone think of Cartoon Network's Clone Wars? Particularly the bad guy revealed in the final chapter?

I liked it. Particularly the Mace windu (sp) Story, it had a very anime-like vibe. I thought the episode with Anakin getting all medeivil was very well done, and got the point of his turning to the dark side across really well. Personally if I was lucas, and I wanted to do an animated adaptation of starwars I would have obviously turned to Japan, but barring that... Gendy Tartakovski's work on Samurai jack made the choice among american animators pretty obvious. :D

Oh and that end guy was pretty cool... though the way he was presented got a bit "cartoony"

Yes, the differences between the cartoon and live-action/CG versions of General Grievous should be interesting. As I understand it, the people who did Clone Wars didn't have a lot of info on him, and had to make guesswork.

I remember seeing the orginal star wars, I saw it and all the other star wars movies on opening day. I was blown away by the special effects, especially when the X wings began their attack on the Death Star. I have the special additions on video tape now and just watched them a week or so ago. Any way that I can get those movies, I am all in favor of. If you really want the orginal Star War, 1977 favor you can find it if you are willing to pay for it. Just go to the largest SF convention in your area and snoop around. Some one will have a copy. Just how legal the copy might be is up to you decide...

Nah you can still find the 90s THX remastered tapes and laserdisks floating around. I need to get a video capture card and transfer the LD to DVD for easier viewing one of these days.

Bah, I say! Don't encourage Lucas's ego! I'm sticking with my thx widescreen laser discs as well. If it's like the other 10 or so star wars releases, after he's milked the special edition DVDs, you'll see a "newly restored" original version released as well, based on "fan requests." I bought the Indiana Jones trilogy without a second thoguht, but that's becuase there were as originally intended. I also don't own a colorized CasaBlanca either though.... ;)

The first time I saw Star Wars, the line snaked around the theatre, and then some. 4 hours of slavering anticipation. :) The audience applauded the jump into hyperspace. First time I'd seen an audience applaud an effect... but, damnity, what an effect! This was in San Diego... a large theatre full of astounded sf fans. Leia's kissing Luke on the cheek "for luck" was a sweet touch, but I was just glad to see a Princess who could take care of herself and who had some gumption. 2 days later I was back, with a deck of cards in my pocket, but the line was only 2 1/2 hours. Matinee. :) A classic movie. The second one was better in terms of story and acting. The third was a disappointment. Stupid ewoks. Dumb redemption scene. Unmentionable droids. :gag: Lucas got into the toy business by forcing Hasbro and that other company (Galoob?) to fork over large chunks of their companies in exchange for licensing rights. When a director is filming for computer games and furry toys, he isn't making a movie anymore, but product promo pics. I saw the movie introducing Anakin because I am in the entertainment business and am supposed to keep up with this stuff. Hated it. Hated the kid. Hated the Jedi. Hated the man who destroyed his own franchise in pursuit of toy sales. The trailers showing the spoiled teenager throwing temper tantrums convinced me to stay away from teh next one. Move along. Nothing to see here. Just an accident. What hurts most is that Lucas had the chance to make something which would stand up to time, to transcend the genre. With the money he made from the first one, he could have done something wonderful. Carefully crafted. But, he didn't. Carolly

Kenner (now a division of Hasbro) made a fortune off the Star Wars licensing. I refuse to say how much I spent in the eighties on all those action figures and vehicles. Come to think of it, Galoob is now owned by Hasbro, also. Bloodthirsty bunch, aren't they?

Here's a memory for you.. I saw Star wars the first day it opened. No line, and walked right in. There were 3 people in the theater (it was a 3pm showing) I thought it was pretty good, but the other people in there thought it was silly. I thought the hyperspace part was REALLY cool. Fast Forward 2 weeks, after the press and the hoopla had skyrocketed. 7pm showing, only a 2 hour wait in line! Every seat in the house was filled. The hyperspace scene was AMAZING! EVERY person in the theater sucked in when they saw it so loudly it was audible! I'm not sure, but I think they created a vaccum in there! Everyone came out raving about the movie, and the experince was incredible. Sharing a crowd experience is pretty cool.

In a way, I envy you.

Despite better judgement, I went to see Scooby Doo 2 last week, and had the entire screen to myself ....

And we liked that BETTER then the 1st one (and we're not huge Scooby fans) we went just for mindless entertainment, and it was great. Hellboy ROCKED as well, and I can't wait for Van Helsing. Maybe someone should do Van Helsing garb, and Her sidekick as well?

Oh my, yes, the costume/weapon/set/creature design for Van Helsing is fantastic. I'm looking forward to it, also.

The werewolf reminds me of Rowsby's work.

Yep, he reminds me of Rowsby's "Quentin" as well. I actually did a desktop wallpaper of him when he first was releasing renders of him...