Sweet Revenge - 12:01am

Soap Opera Digest Video has announced a June 22 release date for General Hospital 38: The Complete Season. This 55-disc set will include all 252 episodes from the 38th season, presented in anamorphic widescreen and Dolby 2.0. The extensive supplements include audio commentaries with actors Val Barri ("Trixie"), Rachel Ames ("Audrey March Brewer Hardy"), Chad Brannon ("Zander Smith"), Stephanie Allen (the fourth - and definitely the best - "Leslie Lu 'Lulu' Spencer"), directors Grant Johnson and Owen Renfroe, and GH "historian" Peter Sumptner. (Renfroe will be heard on episodes 4, 17, 30, 54, 81, 92, 109, 134, 160, 199, and 227, Johnson on episodes 11, 76, 144, 188, and 212.) The studio will also release a collector's edition that will feature an all-new documentary, "Intensive Care: The World of Joseph Behar," a profile of the director who shot the soap's pilot in 1963 and continues to pilot the series. Other features will include the two discs of text-based cast and crew bios for all 40 seasons that have appeared on the other GH season box sets. Retail will set you back $779.95, or $789.95 for the special edition, which also comes with a collectible bedpan.

The Force Returns - 12:01am

Alright, alright, no more April Fool's jokes. (Really, this is serious.) Just announced from Fox Home Entertainment and Lucasfilm are the complete specs for the upcoming Star Wars Trilogy box sets, hitting a galaxy near you on September 21st. (Perhaps you have heard of them?) Available in separate anamorphic widescreen and full screen versions, each includes Dolby Digital Surround EX tracks, plus additional English, French and Spanish Dolby 2.0 surround options and English, French and Spanish subtitles. The set will also contain audio commentaries for each film: George Lucas, Ben Burtt, Dennis Muren, and Carrie Fisher (A New Hope); Lucas, Irvin Kershner, Lawrence Kasdan, Burtt, Muren, and Fisher (The Empire Strikes Back); and Lucas, Kasdan, Burtt, Muren, and Fisher again (on Return of the Jedi). Other extras include the bonus fourth disc with "The Most Comprehensive Feature-Length Documentary Ever Produced On the Star Wars Saga" plus "Never Before Seen Footage From the Making Of All Three Films." Expect more possible extras to be announced soon, and retail for either box will list for $69.95.

Also just announced from Fox is an extensive lineup of new catalog releases due June 1st. Many of these are making their DVD debuts, and all have been remastered in their original theatrical aspect ratios and anamorphically encoded when appropriate: the Ron Howard smash Cocoon and its sequel, Cocoon: The Return, A Cool Dry Place, The Crucible, The Great White Hype, How I Got Into College, Jumpin' Jack Flash, the Barbet Schroder remake of Kiss of Death, Little Murders, New Blood, Out to Sea, Pelle the Conqueror, Slaughter Of The Innocents, The Snake Pit, Sunset Strip, The Super, Tai Pan, Talons of the Eagle, Trapped in Paradise and the John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John disaster Two of a Kind. Full soundtrack specs are not yet available, but expect all to offer trailers and retail for $14.95 to $19.95.

When the Cat's Away... 12:01am

Rounding out today's news are the latest catalog announcements from Paramount Home Entertainment, which are all hitting DVD on June 29th. Making their DVD debuts are The World of Suzie Wong, Fancy Pants, a double feature of Here Comes the Groom/Just For You, and the 2001 thriller Three Blind Mice. All are in 4:3 full screen except Suzie Wong, which is anamorphic widescreen. Retail will list for $14.95 a pop, and there are no extras.