There has been speculation for months now that when the Star Wars films are finally released on DVD (on 9/21), the versions we get will feature new scenes, updated effects and other changes from the 1997 Special Edition versions. We've been reporting here at the Bits for some time now that our inside sources were telling us that at least some additional changes were being made to the films for the DVD release. Well... we finally have official confirmation of this. While we don't know anything official about specific changes, Lucasfilm's "fan relations" guru Steve Sansweet had this to say this weekend, while speaking at the WonderCon convention in San Francisco:
When asked if the forthcoming DVDs would feature the original theatrical release versions of the trilogy or the Special Editions, Sansweet answered that the films contained on the discs would be the incarnations of the films "as George Lucas sees them today." He reminded people of the 1995 video release of the trilogy that hailed itself as the last time the original theatrical cuts would ever be available. "They weren't kidding," Sansweet noted.