Turns out Star Wars fans do have a voice after all, as Lucasfilm Ltd. and Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment just announced that a limited edition of the original Star Wars will be coming to DVD this September. That's original original, too, in all their small-medium-large budget glory, where Greedo did not shoot first, where Han Solo was a scoundrel in principle and not just affectation, where shimmering CGI creatures did not appear in every freakin' wide shot on a supposedly desolate Tattooine...

Each of the three original Star Wars movies will be available as individually packaged, "attractively priced" two-disc DVD sets of Star Wars: Episode IV A New Hope, Episode V The Empire Strikes Back and Episode VI Return of the Jedi.

Oddly, Lucasfilm refers to the original versions of the movies as seen in theaters in 1977, 1980 and 1983 as the "bonus material," as each double-disc box will also contain the overwrought reworked versions that came to DVD for the first time in 2004, the ones that George Lucas saw fit to "re-envision" after making three prequels with all the charm of a computer generated gong show with some pretty neat Light Saber fights / Happy Meal commercials, which detractors often referred to as proof-positive that Lucas had lost his marbles but not his flair for merchandising.

This was further evidenced by Lucas himself who, speaking against the colorization of black & white films, said, "I am very concerned about our national heritage, and I am very concerned that the films that I watched when I was young and the films that I watched throughout my life are preserved, so that my children can see them." Which seemed to imply that his Star Wars films were not to be regarded as something to be preserved, but something to be retooled at whim or when a holiday shopping season beckoned for new materiel but the cupboards were bare.

Speaking of holiday shopping, the original bonus DVDs will only be available, reportedly, until December 31, 2006, making them pretty much the only stocking stuffer worth talking about this year. Then again, once high-definition HD-DVD and/or Blu-ray players reach critical mass, one can assume a revisit to the Lucasfilm cupboard would be considered.

"Over the years, a truly countless number of fans have told us that they would love to see and own the original versions that they remember experiencing in theaters," said Jim Ward, Senior Vice President of Lucasfilm Ltd.

Indeed, one web site alone at www.originaltrilogy.com, dedicated to pleading Lucas to stop messing with the childhood memories of the fans that made him a success in the first place, logged more than 72,000 signatures on a petition to make the unmodified original trilogy a purchase option. Seems it worked, if only as a 72,000-person market survey that pretty much guaranteed a consumer base for a well-timed re-release. So be it.