Okay, laser brains. While all you heretics were out there waving your lightsabers on May 4th, strutting your fandom for Star Wars Day (“May the Fourth be with you,” har har), the Jedi hermits among us continued to quietly stroke our beards and shepherd the wisdom that true Star Wars Day is May 25th – the anniversary of the film’s opening in 1977.

That is, when we weren’t indulging our Dark Sides by ranting about the corruption of the series, even at the hands of its own creator, in epic Facebook screeds.

You may recall my lamenting the numerous post-“Special Edition” incarnations of the original trilogy (released 1977-83), as George Lucas continued to tinker in his digital keep, even as he denied us pristine restorations of the films’ theatrical cuts. These have been withheld by Lucasfilm, despite enormous demand, as its mad emperor continued to overthink and perform unnecessary surgeries on his creations, like some misguided Hawthornian scientist, who would sacrifice beauty in a quest for “perfection.” Instead of, you know, just making more movies.

With the sale of Lucasfilm to Disney, some have nurtured a new hope that its current owners, in a rare moment of grace (albeit motivated by the promise of massive sales), might release restorations in time for Star Wars’ 50th anniversary in 2027 – in the process, redeeming Lucas and allowing him to join Obi-Wan and Yoda in Force heaven.

In the meantime, the thought did occur to me that, while an authorized Disney release would be wonderful, there actually has been a rebel movement among diehard fans and guerilla restorationists, who have taken matters into their own hands to return “Star Wars” to its original glory. This ragtag band has been overseen by Petr Harmáček, an English teacher from the Czech Republic, who goes by the handle Harmy. Harmy has made it his mission to undertake private restorations of the original “Star Wars” trilogy, drawing from all available sources.

Keep in mind, this is in flagrant disregard of George Lucas’ wishes. While Harmy’s “Despecialized Edition” is available for download on the internet, he has so far avoided prosecution and his work has received no legal challenges, since he has charged no fee for his work and has managed to walk a razor’s edge between “fair use” and copyright infringement. You can read more about him and his cause here:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harmy%27s_Despecialized_Edition

Then you can savor the fruit of his labor, getting as close as possible to the experience of seeing the film as it was released on May 25, 1977. Ideally, you should also have decent playback equipment. Best of all would be to download the file for yourself from a reputable site. Did I mention, it’s free? Also, use the Force to blot out all unhelpful memories of anything that came after to desensitize us and diminish our pleasure.

https://archive.org/details/star.-wars.-1977.-despecialized.-720p.x-264.-ac-3.5.1

You know it’s an upside-down universe when it falls to somebody named Harmy to do goody.

Why is it so important? Watch this video (also by Harmy) and learn for yourself.

May the Force be with you. Happy Orthodox Star Wars Day. “Star Wars,” 45 years-old today.