George Lucas is about to get even richer as Star Wars: Episode III–The Revenge of the Sith leads off this week’s batch of home video releases. The third and presumably final chapter in the big-screen space saga greets eager franchise devotees at retail, along with the fourth season of Star Trek: Enterprise.
Featuring roughly 90 minutes of digital imagery, Star Wars: Episode III–The Revenge of the Sith can almost qualify as an animated movie. In most scenes, the only live-action elements are the film’s stars, Ewan McGregor, Natalie Portman, Hayden Christensen, Samuel L. Jackson, Christopher Lee and Jimmy Smits. Franchise stalwarts Frank Oz (voice of Yoda), Anthony Daniels (C3PO), Kenny Baker (R2D2) and Peter Mayhew (Chewbacca) also return to see the circle completed as young Anakin Skywalker turns the dark side and becomes the evil Darth Vader.
The two-disc set from Fox Home Entertainment includes commentary by Lucas, producer Rick McCallum, animation director Rob Coleman and ILM visual effects supervisors John Knoll and Roger Guyett. Other bonus features include a new full-length documentary produced by Lucasfilm, a 15-part collection of Lucasfilm web documentaries, never-before-seen production photos and two new featurettes exploring the movie’s stunts and the prophecy of Anakin Skywalker as the Chosen One. For gamers, there’s also a demo of Star Wars Battlefront II for Xbox, a free DVD-ROM trial of Star Wars: Hyperspace and a trailer for the PC game Star Wars: Empire at War. All that adds up to a list price of $29.98.
A good chunk of the Star Wars fan base should also gravitate to Star Trek: Enterprise–The Complete Fourth Season. This six-disc set features all 22 of the sereis’ final installments, along with more than three hours of bonus features. Extras include commentary on select episodes, deleted scenes, outtakes a photo gallery, Easter eggs, Enterprise secrets and the featurettes Star Trek: Enterprise Moments: Season 4, Inside the "Mirror" Episodes, That’s a Wrap! and Links to the Legacy. The Paramount Home Entertainment release sells for around $129.99. Star Trek: Enterprise–The Complete Series featuring all four seasons is also available today for the suggested retail price of $479.98.
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