Surprise surprise. Bowing to public pressure, or trying to milk the same cow for the umpteenth time (whatever way you want to look at it), LucasFilm is releasing another version of the Star Wars Trilogy come September.

But this time it’s a little different. Remember how Lucas said that the original trilogy was dead (or somesuch) and that it would never see the light of day? Apparently he changed his mind:

The new two-disc sets of Star Wars: Episode IV—A New Hope, Star Wars: Episode V—The Empire Strikes Back and Star Wars: Episode VI—Return of the Jedi feature both the original and remastered film versions.

Each street Sept. 12 (prebook Aug. 16) from 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment priced at $29.98 apiece and will be available only until Dec. 31.

I’m a big Star Wars fan, so I have mixed feelings about this. On the one hand, I don’t mind that George Lucas wanted to spruce up the special effects when he released the new “improved version”. But I don’t like how he fundamentally changed Han Solo’s character by not making him shoot first. I think, though, that the latter outweighs the former, and that I’ll get the original trilogy on DVD. I only wonder if an HD DVD or BD version will be in the offing, because I don’t want to buy it yet again. My only real problem is that the original movies will be in Dolby Surround 2.0. It’s true to the theatrical release, of course, but an improved soundtrack would have been nice as an option.

Original Stars Wars return