1986
Return of the Jedi made its way to home video in February, 1986, and for the first time was released simultaneously in all the world's video territories. It was hoped that pirates couldn't find a market for bootleg videos if all the territories received the film at the same time.
RCA's CED format met its demise in 1986, but not before releasing a rare double-disc set for Jedi (odd, since both A New Hope and Empire were released on single discs). Another oddity was the decision to release Jedi on laserdisc in CLV, since both its predecessors had just been released in the preferred CAV format the year before. This was probably to keep the price point affordable for casual fans -- it was much cheaper to produce a single disc in CLV that the two discs required to showcase a film in CAV.
1988
Though none of the Star Wars movies were actually released on video in 1988, marketers for the first time started advertising them as a trilogy, rather than three separate movies. A formal box set would be released two years later.
1989
U.S. fans were finally offered widescreen versions of A New Hope and Empire on laserdisc in 1989, which had been released in Japan two years earlier by CBS Fox/Pioneer. Unfortunately, the U.S. edition of A New Hope was found to be flawed, since adjustments made from the Japanese version skewed the aspect ratio throughout the film (the aspect ratio is the width-to-height ratio of the image area seen on screen -- for widescreen presentations, this is traditionally around 2.35:1).
1990
Return of the Jedi received the widescreen treatment on laserdisc a year after A New Hope and Empire, and fortunately didn't suffer the same problems as those encountered on the first film. However, because it was also transferred from a Japanese edition that reserved the lower section for subtitles, the widescreen image played high on the screen for the U.S. edition, causing a large portion of black space to play below the imagery. This was also released in CLV.
In the fall of 1990, the very first trilogy box set was released on VHS, and debuted a commonplace feature of today's home video releases: value-added material (VAM). In addition to the trio of Star Wars films, fans also received liner notes including key production, box-office, and Oscar information, as well as an inscription from George Lucas. A bit thin by today's standards, but it was a start.
1992
Two years later, the VAM was bumped up a notch for the trilogy's debut in widescreen on VHS, which arrived in an attractive collector box with an added video bonus: From Star Wars to Jedi: The Making of a Saga. For this release, the widescreen issues that had plagued the earlier laserdiscs were remedied, and the notorious A New Hope widescreen version even got a much-improved re-release on disc. All three films were also offered on pan-and-scan laserdiscs.
1993
1993 was a watershed year in the history of viewing the Star Wars saga at home with the release of The Definitive Collection, a massive 13-pound package which contained nine widescreen CAV laserdiscs and a trove of bonus material unprecedented for a Star Wars release.
Costing a hefty $250, the Definitive Collection finally gave fans what they'd been wanting for years -- a high-quality digital presentation that showcased the films in their original widescreen format and provided all the versatility offered by the CAV format. In addition to freeze frame, slow-forward and --reverse, and frame-by-frame viewing, viewers got to experience the trilogy for the first time remastered in THX, a Lucasfilm sound innovation introduced in 1983.
The first Star Wars commentary track was featured on this release, with Lucas and a number of effects specialists discussing the how-tos of various scenes during the film's presentation. Bonus visual material was offered as well -- still frame galleries of artwork, sketches, and production photos, as well as animatic sequences and behind the scenes footage. Original trailers, interviews with Lucas and crew members, and a tour of the Lucasfilm Archives led by Don Bies rounded out the presentation, which even included a hardcover edition of the George Lucas bio The Creative Impulse.
For all its bells and whistles and groundbreaking advances, The Definitive Collection did have its drawbacks. Although it finally provided the widescreen editons in CAV, it was cumbersome to flip each disc for every half-hour of viewing. Also, the audio commentary track included vast spans of silence, sometimes several chapters long. The trailers were of questionable quality, spurring one reporter to call them "bootlegs of bootlegs." There was even a few seconds of Empire shaved off the beginning of one of the discs, although replacements from Fox Video were offered upon request.
For its shortlist of faults, The Definitive Collection still represents a milestone in the Star Wars home video experience, blazing the trail for many of the features DVD fans enjoy today.
