Never even noticed it was something that was added until I saw people whining about it on the net.

Me too. Never noticed it. In other words, big fan here.

Yeah, probably. Maybe I'll give it a rent before Ep. 3 comes out.

Glad to see it finally making its way to DVD at least.

You can't honestly tell me you didn't notice the Greedo thing, though? That shit was absurd.

I noticed that one, but it didn't ruin the movie for me. I just shrugged it off. The Jabba scene was much worse.

But in all, those are the only two things that bother me, and I think the other improvements in the SE's outweigh these and thus I prefer them to the originals.

How many nuts you got? Anyway, unless your parents were brother and sister, I doubt it.

But it's closer to George Lucas's original vision.

You see, the technology of 1979 wasn't able to poorly dub in a scream during that scene.

Getting off topic but how bout in ESB when Luke escapes the Wampa cave. Was the out-of-sync lightsaber sound in the originals or was that another SE thing? I cant remember.

For the life of me I cant imagine Ben Burt or whoever was supervising the SE audio mix NOT noticing or fixing that. Bugs me every time.

Hey, I've got my son.
Present the footage for either of those movies, and I will present my nyuts.

I never really though the Jabba scene in ANH was so bad!!

But in the next DVDs, Han better shoot first!

Let's also hope the blasters aren't censored using Walkie Talkies

I totally agree.

Frankly, I don't think people would be as upset about the "special" editions as they are if Lucas was actually doing things to improve the films.

Even in the SEs, there are still plenty of instances where effects shots could be cleaned up or improved. But they weren't.

Instead, he's inserted scenes that really serve no purpose other than to dick around with his newfound CGI toys.

Does the Han/Jabba scene in ANH really offer anything other than poor special effects and a sense of "Hey, look what I can do!"

Does the "Greedo shoots first" scene look good? It doesn't. It looks fake and forced. As bad as Han Solo doing an Atari 2600 Pitfall Harry leap over Jabba's tail. And while everyone's screaming about what big George does or doesn't "owe" anybody, I should think he would at least "owe" it to his actor who filmed the scene without any kind of reaction shot to the newly introduced laser blast. In my book, that's cheating the actor after the fact.

Does the big musical number add anything to Jabba's palace scene? No. It's stupid and out of place. And embarassing.

Problem is, he's not doing anything to actually improve the movies. The "original vision" thing is a bullshit dodge. Lucas is like a four year-old with a big box of 64 brilliant colors and a coloring book. And, by God, he's going to use every color in the box, whether the picture needs it or not.

And that's why people are pissed off.

Me, I have the original AND SUPERIOR versions in widescreen, and I don't need these new editions. Hey, I'd like to have the improved picture, but it's not the version I want. Might as well release them in pan and scan. It's all the same thing to me, and it's just not worth it to me to own it, and there are plenty of other places I can spend my money.

Good night and God bless.

If Lucas would actually go through with his plan to never release the real versions it would be a great tragedy.

Just imagine if the only versions of Casablanca, The Maltese Falcon or Citizen Kane you could ever buy on DVD would be the colorized versions.

I've refused to buy the Laserdisc to DVD transfers of the Original Trilogy until now but now I think I'll get those - it's probably the best version I'll ever be able to get.

Josh-da: stank you smelly much!

at Atari Pitfall ref.

Granted, it was fun to see the films in the theater, since I never had. But after the fact, the changes left a bad taste in my mouth.

Luckily, I got to see a technicolor processed print of the original Star Wars in college (one of five prints in the world!)

But really, despite all the stuff Lucas added, there are still things that don't make any sense that he didn't fix.

The best example is in Star Wars, when Ben Kenobi and Darth Vader are fighting. At one point, Ben's lightsaber looks like a flourescent light that is about to die. It has always bugged me, but Lucas didn't bother to change it.

And really, the dance sequence in The Return of the Jedi just...stinks.

Whatever the King of Checklist Filmaking next releases, I guarantee you that it will NOT be definitive. Lucas is mediocre at his craft, but he is an absolute genius at marketing. By the time you die, you'll probably have purchased 7 or 8 versions of this whole Star Wars never-ending-work-in-progress.

Good post.

I don't mind ILM cleaning up the films and I liked the added CG to the cloud city scene... but I hated the Han/Jabba scene ( I can't believe they decided to have Han step on the ruthless Jabba's tail, STUPID), Luke screaming like Tarzan during an emotional part of Empire, Greedo shooting first and that god awful musical!

With that said...I'll probably pick up these SE DVDs.

My thoughts exactly. I'm really not that interested in the whole OT/SE debate. It's just that after all the effort that was put into the Episode One and Two releases, this relatively barebones package is a real letdown.

I do hope you're right about better releases coming down the road.

That's true. At least there are other re-cut, edited films that did offer improvements upon the original. Here are just a few sci-fi/fantasy movies that come immediately to mind: Lord of the Rings, Superman: SE, and Terminator 2. I'm sure there are others.

Well for him they improve the film...and to me as well...that stupid orange blob under the landspeeder sucked and you could see big ass matte lines...its a more cosmetic re-cut...but it nonetheless adds to the enjoyment for me and helps Lucas create is original vision...

Oh and just to add...that they are in fact cleaning them up even more...I was reading sometime ago that someone who saw a new screening of ANH somewhere..cant remember...that he saw more clean-ups...most notably...Vaders saber being RED when hes walking towards the closing doors on the Death Star...

I will end up buying both of the original trilogy if it ever surfaces and the new SE dvds for the simple reason that I may end up liking the special edition. It has been so long since I have seen the originals that I really don't care what's added as long as it doesn't change the storyline.

Lucas can do anything to Star Wars and fanboys will accept it, making comments like "it's his story, not yours, so deal with it". I always laugh when I read those comments, which pop up whenever a Star Wars on DVD thread is created. I will buy the Star Wars DVDs, but people can write their displeasures regarding this release as well as their excitement....right?


I don't think people have a problem with the clean ups...I like the clean up like the cockpit scene on Hoth and the orange blob under the land speeder. It's scenes like the Han/Jabba scene that bothers people- The scene was filmed with a human and when it was discovered that Han walks behind the human Jabba, they should have realized the shot wouldn't work with the slug Jabba that appeared in the film...they should have dropped the scene completely, but Lucas had to have the scene and TO SUGGEST that Han could step on a bad ass gangster like Jabba the Hut's tail is ridiculous.

Yeah. I would buy SE versions, but not the SE as it currently exists. The Greedo, scream, and musical additions kill all interest. Bad CGI in places needs to be cleaned up (Jabba, storm troopers in some areas).

Anyway, I'll pass.

Personally, i've always thought it was the fanboys who complain. It's the casual fan that doesn't really care.