OK, George, I give up!

September 12th is fast upon us. Yes, my nephew will be SIX! (Actually I have nephews and neices in their 20s now - I'm a Great Uncle!)

Anyway, George "If ain't fixed, break it some more" Lucas will be getting more of my money. Fair enough I suppose. Other than soundtracks he hasn't had any of it for a while. As posted previously, the Original Trilogy will be coming to DVD in a transfer that would have made us scratch our heads in 1998 at how substandard it is. But it's better than the VHS copies we have now, right? And my laser disc player is unwell.

But wait! There's MORE:

Star Wars is about to turn THIRTY. (Yes, it's been TEN YEARS since Lucas officially lost his mind. We just didn't know how bad it would be back then.) What does this mean?

From the Digital Bits:

Also today... a follow-up on something we've been telling you to expect for quite while now. 2007, as you may well be aware, is the 30th anniversary of the original Star Wars' debut in theaters. You'd have to be stupid not to know that Lucasfilm is going to have big DVD release plans with which to celebrate the anniversary, and we've been telling you that was the case for many months now. Indeed, during our last visit to the Ranch for the DVD release of Episode III, producer Rick McCallum confirmed that a box set of all six films was going to happen eventually, and animation director Rob Coleman even let it slip that the puppet Yoda from Episode I had already been replaced with a new CG Yoda to match Episodes II & III for the "future" release. T-Bone over at Star Wars Universe recently speculated about this box set, and we've been quietly checking in with our industry sources on it as well. Well, we've confirmed it: There IS a big, ultimate, 6-film Star Wars anniversary DVD box set planned for 2007. There will be more changes to the films, and there will be LOTS of new, never-before-seen special features - all the good stuff that was held back by Lucasfilm from the original Trilogy DVD release a few years ago. Think deleted scenes and more. We don't know if good, genuinely-REMASTERED versions of the original theatrical editions of the films will be included or not (though how you could call the set "ultimate" without them, we don't know). We don't expect high-definition versions yet, as those formats are just too new. We don't have ANY other details for you yet, so please don't ask. But as you consider whether or not to purchase the "limited edition" DVDs due on 9/12... we thought you should know that more IS absolutely on the way next year. 'Nuff said for now.

First off, does anyone not think that Lucas is more than capable of NOT including the original films at all on this set? I sure do. But yes, if he actually includes GREAT, TERRIFIC, STATE OF THE ART transfers of the real movies, I will but this. Even though it means owning Attack of the Clones. Ewwwwwww.

Second: He's messing with the movies MORE. The Original Vision goes on. Even though he JUST MADE some of these movies, with all the time and money in the world. And he STILL didn't get it right? Poor George. So which one is the REAL movie, George? Heck, a few of the things that you changed in the SEs in 1997 you changed BACK in 2004! (Maybe Luke's scream in Cloud City brought back painful memories of Howard Dean's shining hour?)

I also understand that they will be releasing a BIG HUGE ALL OF THE MUSIC soundtrack collection of all six movies. This of course piques my interest. I'd have to see what's on it. It'd have to be pretty special. The 1997 release was pretty darn complete and I have as much of the prequel music as I need. Maybe there's more in the way of alternate tracks. Am I really going to buy this whole set just to get the music from Jabba's sail barge or the original cuts of Lap Ti Nek? (Don't answer that question. I try not to.) An intersting part of the rumor is that they will have "fuzzed up" the sound as compared to the recent releases, more in keeping with Williams' original mixes. The current ones are so clear you can hear musicians turning their sheet music.

OTOH, where is my Complete Indiana Jones? THAT I will pay money for.

In closing: Wow. Check out this young looking fella.

I bet he doens't even OWN a black turtle-neck at this point.