Netherhero

pittrek said:
Sorry, but no. There have been hundreds of changes done between the originals and the 97 SEs.
The 2004 DVD is basically the 97SE with corrected colours

That’s just not true. The only people who ever say that are people who swear by the original cuts and don’t watch the special editions. I saw the faces release first, that was my intro to star wars when I was a kid, then I watched the special edition growing up, and then I had the DVDs when I was a teenager. Those are just what I had available because they didn’t rerelease the originals. The DVD version is completely different because the changes you describe warp the foundation the films. Adding a cgi dewback is just not the same as adding a Hayden Christensen.

Possessed said:

The 97 SE has FAR more in common with 2004-onwards than the original. 2004 is basically the 97 SE but with changed colors and a butchered sound mix.

I disagree. The changes in the 97SE are more based on what they literally were unable to do at the time for budget based, or technology based reasons. The DVD changed the Emperor to match the prequels and Jedi, changed Anakin to match the prequels, Made CGI Jabba look worse (quite a feat), changed the color to match the prequels, Changed Boba Fett’s Voice to match Jango’s and of course added Naboo in the end credits. All these changes were to match other films in the series, not to improve where something may have been lacking.

I will not defend Jedi Rocks, but it’s not really worse than what was in the original.

Star Wars is great. The Originals and The 97SEs are fundamentally the same for the most part, but since the DVD release they seem to have changed the way the films actually feel. Now I often hear people justify the changes with The Emperor in Empire, while lambasting the color change to match the prequel trilogy. Is it not ROTJ’s fault that the Emperor was different than in ESB? If ROTJ had never been made, I think that the Emperor’s appearance and voice would be as good as can be expected, and the later movies are at fault for not matching what was created before them.
This may sound like semantics given that Jedi WAS in fact made, and so we can’t say that. But if ESB was more or less a perfect movie when it came out then why would we want to change something so great in such an obvious and drastic way? It seems more like fan service to me than progressive change.

PS: I do love The Adywan Edit, that was beautifully done, but I prefer the original Emperor in ESB.

CHEWBAKAspelledwrong said:

Hopefully for the 40th anniversary they’ll digitally alter Han’s neck so he is looking Jabba in the eye.

Please don’t give them anymore ideas for digitally editing Han’s neck 😉