Star Wars fans were recently given a new hope that Disney might finally capitulate on a Blu-rayDVD release of the unaltered Star Wars Original Trilogy films s A New Hope,s The Empire Strikes Back ands Return of the Jedi just in time for the Author Joseph Baxter. 86 product ratings - Star Wars Original Theatrical Trilogy DVD A New Hope Empire. All deleted scenes, as well as the original cartoon featuring Boba Fett from the 'Star Wars Holiday Special', and blooper reel. - Trailers/Tv Spots Teaser Trailers, Theatrical Trailers, Re-Release Trailer, 8 x 30 second TV Spots, 6 x 30 second Kenner Toy/Atari Game TV commercialsBut for years, fans have been clamouring for a high-quality DVD or Blu-ray release of the original and unaltered Star Wars trilogy.Harmys Despecialized Edition is a fan-created film preservation of the original Star Wars trilogy films: Star Wars (1977), The Empire Strikes Back (1980) and Return of the Jedi (1983). It is a high quality replica of the out-of-print theatrical versions created by a team of Star Wars fans, with the intention of preserving citation needed the films, culturally and historically.item 8 Star Wars Trilogy 12 DVD Widescreen Original Theatrical Cuts Han Shoots 1st 8 - Star Wars Trilogy 12 DVD Widescreen Original Theatrical Cuts Han Shoots 1st. Best Selling in DVDs & Blu-ray Discs.One such devotee, Petr HarmГЎДЌek (aka 'Harmy'), has spent nearly half a decade pursuing his own long-running sagaвЂ”to return the first Star Wars trilogy to its former glory.

He does not condone piracy, and downloads of the 'Despecialized Edition' are intended to be shared among legal owners of the official releases. He first saw the original unaltered cut of Star Wars on TV as a child in the Czech Republic, but was introduced to its sequels The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi exclusively through their special editions. When he later saw these sequels in their earlier forms, he was disappointed at how much the films had changed.'The original effects were completely groundbreaking at the time, and trying to suppress the original versions is, in my opinion, an act of cultural vandalism''It made me pretty angry when I realized that some of the effects shots I was admiring so much were actually re-composited digitally and thus lost much of their historical value,' he explained via email. 'These original effects were completely groundbreaking at the time, and trying to suppress the original versions is, in my opinion, an act of cultural vandalism, because it's an attempt to bury the work of those artists who spent thousands of hours working on those sets, matte paintings, edits, and all the other art that was altered or replaced in the special editions, and those artists who were recognized for their work by the Academy Awards at the time now found their work erased.'To embark on rebuilding the Star Wars trilogy was a long process, and not one HarmГЎДЌek achieved alone. 'There were fans before me who took the special edition DVDs and some LaserDisc transfers and tried to blend these together to recreate the original cuts in higher quality,' he explained.

To me, the worst thing about these Limited Editions is that they don't tell you what they are. The film's packaging problems don't end there. Also of crucial importance to his work was the 2006 release of the original unaltered trilogy on DVD, which was poor quality and had to be cleaned up and fixed by Harmy and co.

At least the case is made out of hard, quality plastic so this thing is going to bear up quite well under years and years of being bought and then traded in for something better. Imagine the most clichГЇВїВЅ, boring, Star Wars artwork you've seen and that's what's been used. The Target where I bought mine had stuck signs up next to their display with the words 'Theatrical Version of Star Wars!' emblazoned on them in big black letters to help out.The artwork on all three discs is pretty pedestrian. Flip it over and you'll see tiny print detailing what's on each disc, but browsers aren't likely to flip it over if they can't tell what it is at first glance. There's nothing on the front of the box to indicate what this set contains.

Disc One has the 2004 versions of the movies, the ones already out on other cheaper and better releases. 'Bonus Disc' is the place where they've unceremoniously dumped the theatrical versions of the films. There's a commentary on Disc One with the 2004 version of the film, but any extras begin and end right there. Does 'Bonus Disc' mean that there's a second DVD stuffed with bonus material? No, you can forget about bonus material. Disc one is labeled as 'Disc One' and disc two is labeled 'Bonus Disc'. These turds will be around forever.Open the case and inside you'll find an ad for the other two Limited Editions, a card with concept art stamped on it, and two improperly labeled discs.

The 1977, 1980, and 1983 versions of the movie aren't presented in the 16:9 format used by most widescreen TVs. It's that 'Bonus Disc' which is supposed to justify this set's existence, so pop that sucker in.Wait, you're using a widescreen, high-definition television? Ouch, you're out of luck. If you're interested, it still looks and sounds fantastic. You've seen this version of the film before, that's not why we're here. They're ashamed to be releasing it, it's as if they can't even admit to themselves that they're actually letting us have the theatrical versions of Star Wars.So skip right over 'Disc One'.

That's par for the course with this release though, since Lucas and his cronies have done absolutely nothing to port this thing over for home theater other than to simply dump it on DVD. Alright, I guess it's not that bad, but it's damned annoying. Honestly, they might as well have just given it to us in Foolscreen. You'll have to tweak it a bit to find a way to make fill up as much of the screen as possible without distorting the image. On my Sharp Aquos I found that the 'Zoom' setting worked best, though that cut off a tiny piece of the picture.

Instead you're stuck with Dolby 2.0. It should have been remastered in THX. The sound isn't much better. It needs cleaned up badly.

Don't give me this load of crap about how he's doing us all a favor by giving them to us in their purest form. Lucas has just thrown them on a DVD and slapped a price tag on them. The theatrical version of these three Star Wars movies does none of that. Actually, it's less than bare minimum for a company like Lucasfilm, a company with a reputation for taking every possible advantage of every new technological format.

But even that has to be tainted. If he hates them and doesn't want them, you'd think he could at least let us have them. The only thing he hates more than his fans are his original movies. This is another kick in the nuts of the long-suffering Star Wars fan delivered by Hollywood's biggest egomaniac George Lucas.

There's absolutely no reason Lucas can't do better. I refuse to be happy with it. Theatrical versions or no this release doesn't deserve your money. Yes, Star Wars, Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back, and Star Wars: Return of the Jedi are now on DVD in their unaltered, preferable state.

Original Theatrical Star Wars Dvd