May 4, 2006. The day The Great Announcement was made!

Yes true believers (oh wait that's somebody else), the ORIGINAL UNALTERED VERSION of the "Star Wars" Trilogy is AT LAST coming to DVD on what is now a holy day of obligation: September 12, 2006!

Now, we can all do a whole lot of bitching about Lucas' manipulation regarding whether these would ever see the light of day. I always felt if they did decide to release the originals it would be on some humungous boxed set of all six films; maximum dollar value for George.

I think the carrot baiting thing really sucks on Lucas' part. Considering he owes his fortune, Skywalker Ranch, and ILM to the many, many, many fans who prayed at the altar of The Force for decades. Meanwhile, tucked away in some vault has been the remastered versions of all three unaltered films which were released in 1993 on Laserdisc. I myself have the 9 disc boxed set edition which I have clung to all these years fearing the worst. Over the past 8 years it's started to show it's age a bit. Laser rot has affected the beginnings of at least three sides of the discs. This is when the glue that keeps the laserdiscs together begins to break down slightly, causing tiny white speckling on the video image. It can get worse over time.

NOW it doesn't matter!!!

It was stated in the press this week that the transfers to this new DVD set will not be by 2006 standards, but 1993 standards. Ah ha! I knew it! For years I've been thinking if Lucas doesn't want to put a lot of time, energy, and money into revamping the uncut ones, why doesn't he just take the remastered versions, magnificently upgraded with brilliant picture and surround sound, and release those on DVD?! Simple, right? Based on that comment regarding 1993 that's exactly what they will be doing, and that's absolutely fine.

Just give me the damned things and continue making all the revisions you want! Yes I think it was cool to see the "Star Wars" Trilogy with 'a few new surprises'...CG and all. Great, amazing job and some of those new shots are super cool. Of note: The Millennium Falcon turning away from The Death Star after blowing Vader into space, plus all the surviving ships rotating away from the impending explosion. I love that. But at the end of the day make the originals available for everyone who grew up on them, mmm-kay! Like what Spielberg did with "E.T.". Maybe he finally went over to George's house for dinner and said, "come here, Francene! Here's a little advice...".

They'll only be available until December 31st? That's cool, just give me 15 minutes in Best Buy on September 12 and I'll never bother you again.

September 12, 2006: Holy Day Of Obligation. God Bless It!