Star Wars -1977 Original Version- Jun 2026

Here is the tragedy: There is no official, high-quality release of the 1977 version. Lucas famously told the preservationists at the Library of Congress that the "original" is the Special Edition. He considers the negative to be unfinished.

The fight for the 1977 original version is about more than a smuggler’s trigger finger. It is about film preservation as a cultural imperative. The Library of Congress sees Star Wars as "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant." Yet the version in the National Film Registry is not the one you can buy. Martin Scorsese’s Film Foundation has pleaded with Lucasfilm. It has fallen on deaf ears. Star Wars -1977 Original Version-

In the 1997 Special Edition, a CGI Ronto might wander through the foreground of Mos Eisley. A musical number erupts in Jabba’s palace. But in this original cut, the blast from a stormtrooper’s rifle hits a metal railing. And sparks fly. Real sparks. Dangerous, copper-colored, fourth-of-July sparks that seem to land too close to the actors’ faces. Here is the tragedy: There is no official,