DVD Of The Week: Star Wars (1977)

It's hard to imagine in this age of media obsession, trvia overload and the Internet, that there was a time - 30 years ago - when the world at large knew very little to nothing about some science-fiction film called Star Wars.

After years of badgering from fans, George Lucas finally released the original trilogy - in their original theatre format, sans CGI 'tweaking' - as a "bonus" disc on yet another release of the souped-up movies.

Finally, we can travel back to a time when Han shot first, Jabba didn't appear until Return of The Jedi and Mos Eisley was sparsely populated.

Not that I had a problem with many of the "adjustments" Lucas made to the film in later years - I especially enjoyed the repopulating of Mos Eisley so it looked like a bigger city - but as celebrity geek fan the mighty Simon Pegg, of Shaun of The Dead, Spaced and Hot Fuzz fame, said in a recent interview on StarWars.Com: "I never once sat there in the dark thinking, 'This is good but what it really needs is a Jawa falling off a dinosaur in the background.'"

Star Wars - before it became Episode IV - stands alone, on its own merits, as a brilliant piece of epic storytelling and movie making. It's very satisfying to, once again, be able to enjoy it in its original, raw form.