For Star Wars fans, Hell has just frozen over...

It's official!

George Lucas has finally listened to the millions of fans who have been asking for a DVD set of the original theatrical versions of the original Star Wars trilogy since the debut of the DVD back in 1997. On September 12, 2006, according to the official Star Wars website, Lucasfilm and Twentieth Century Fox will release a two-disc set for each of the three original Star Wars episodes (Star Wars, The Empire Strikes Back, and Return of the Jedi). While it is no surprise that Lucas is re-releasing the trilogy on home video, the twist is that this time, these sets will include the original theatrical versions of each film, released onto DVD for the first time ever. This is pretty much the holy grail as far as Star Wars DVDs go.

It took about six years for the original trilogy to premiere on DVD, and when it did (back in September 2004), the three films were neither the original theatrical versions nor the 1997 Special Edition re-releases. Instead, Lucas released what he thought of as the definitive versions of the films (although I'm sure that that will change within another decade or so). These versions included further touch-ups and alterations. Each of the new two-disc sets will include both the definitive 2004 versions as well as the originals; however, there is no word on special features yet. Hopefully, the audio commentaries from the first trilogy set will be retained, and it would be nice if Fox included some vintage featurettes, interviews, and whatever else can be found (although with two versions of each of the films on two discs, there might not be so much room for extras).

The original original trilogy will only feature Dolby 2.0 Surround Sound, and will probably not look as great as the re-releases, especially since Lucas has been known to say that the originals no longer exist. It seems as if the movies will not be fully cleaned and restored, although they should be somewhat remastered, and according to a quote from Jim Ward, a Lucasfilm VP, the DVD producers have searched the Lucasfilm Archives for source material for the upcoming discs.

All I know is that this September, my Star Wars DVD collection will be, more or less, complete. (Everyone is still waiting for the infamous Star Wars Holiday Special from 1978... although I suspect we will be waiting for many years to come.) Of course, high definition HD-DVDs and Blu-Ray discs are just around the corner, and then, for many, the fun will start all over again.

Src: http://www.starwars.com/episode-iv/release/video/news20060503.html