Star Wars Comes To DVD

That's it: cancel your birthday, tear up those tickets to Hawaii and tell your partner that this year's anniversary will just have to fall by the wayside. There's only one date that matters this year and it is September 21. We've waited (oh, how we've waited), we've cursed, we've begged, we've prayed to the gods and finally all our wishes have come true: the original Star Wars trilogy has received its release date at last. Star Wars, The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi will finally join your collection in glorious anamorphic widescreen with digital sound that will have you duck as the TIE fighters soar overhead. The collection will see three discs for the three films with a fourth disc expected to include a new documentary on the series as well as unseen footage, and other bonus materials. This announcement comes as a particularly pleasant surprise given that George Lucas originally planned to wait until Episode III was ready for DVD before releasing the originals. The only question you might ask is whether the DVD release will be the theatrical cuts or the 1997 Special Editions. We'd have to say that it's likely to be neither. Lucas has filmed a number of extra scenes in the last few years, all for insertion into the first three films. We imagine that this will be complimented with much of the additional CGI that populated the Special Editions but let's hope that some of the 97 tweaks - Greedo shooting first, for example - are left on the cutting room floor. The films won't be sold individually but this box set will be such an essential purchase that does anyone really care? Altogether now: 'buh-buh-buh-buuuh baaaah, buh-buh-buh-baaaah baaaah'.