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My thoughts on various changes

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The Good:
-Hayden as Anakin’s ghost. It doesn’t make sense for him to appear as an unscarred Shaw because he never looked like that.
-Cloud City windows. They put the city in Cloud City, making it feel more big and open.
-Victory Celebration. As much as I love Yub Nub, Victory Celebration is better. It’s more melancholic and subtle than the unhinged upbeat attitude of Yub Nub, but I guess that’s not relevant.
-Other planets celebrating. It makes the victory feel truly significant.
-Ewoks blinking. While not exactly something we desperately needed, it’s still a welcome improvement.
-The Sarlaac’s extra tentacles. Being CGI allows them to move much more, giving the creature a much needed sense of being alive.

The Bad:
-Greedo shooting. Now I don’t care about the intricacies of what this does to Han’s character. My problem with it is how ridiculous it is that Greedo could miss his target from a meter away.
-Jedi Rocks. Not only is it awful, but I love Lapti Nek.
-Not keeping the original versions around. They have historical value.
-The Sarlaac’s beak. Turns what was a unique creature into a generic one that looks too much like the space slug.

The Weird:
-McDiarmid as the Emperor in TESB. It’s way better than the original, who looks and sounds nothing like Palpatine, but he is wearing his RotS makeup rather than his RotJ makeup. More importantly, though, the way his hood is arranged isn’t mysterious enough. Adywan did a much better version.
-The extra rock in front of R2 when he’s hiding from the Jawas. I guess Lucas thought he wasn’t well hidden, but adding the rock just makes us wonder how he even got there.
-Jabba in ANH. While it’s nice seeing this deleted scene restored, but given that it was, you know, deleted, it’s role in the story is already fulfilled by Han’s encounter with Greedo.
-Luke reunites with Biggs. While I do think this scene should be in the movie, it doesn’t work unless you also include Luke’s goodbye to Biggs, which is already a good scene in its own right. Should’ve restored that instead of the Jabba scene.
-Pointless line changes. Why? But really, why?

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Anakin Starkiller said:

Hayden as Anakin’s ghost. It doesn’t make sense for him to appear as an unscarred Shaw because he never looked like that.

Doesn’t make sense for Jacob Marley to appear in chains because he never looked like that.

Doesn’t make sense for Johnny Bartlett to appear as Death because he never looked like that.

Doesn’t make sense for whoever-the-hell-she-was to appear as whatever-the-hell-this-is because she never looked like that.

Doesn’t make sense for the Maitlands to appear as stretch-faced monsters because they never looked like that.

They’re ghosts. Ghosts can appear however the hell they want to appear.

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DuracellEnergizer said:

Anakin Starkiller said:

Hayden as Anakin’s ghost. It doesn’t make sense for him to appear as an unscarred Shaw because he never looked like that.

Doesn’t make sense for Jacob Marley to appear in chains because he never looked like that.

Doesn’t make sense for Johnny Bartlett to appear as Death because he never looked like that.

Doesn’t make sense for whoever-the-hell-she-was to appear as whatever-the-hell-this-is because she never looked like that.

Doesn’t make sense for the Maitlands to appear as stretch-faced monsters because they never looked like that.

They’re ghosts. Ghosts can appear however the hell they want to appear.

Those are from other movies. Different rules apply. Both Yoda and Obi-Wan appear identical in ghost as they did upon their deaths, by this logic we should get a scarred quadruple amputee Anakin ghost like in the HISHE.

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 (Edited)

Anakin Starkiller said:

Those are from other movies. Different rules apply.

Whom says?

Both Yoda and Obi-Wan appear identical in ghost as they did upon their deaths

Perhaps because [dramatic pause] they had no desire to appear otherwise?

by this logic we should get a scarred quadruple amputee Anakin ghost like in the HISHE.

If he wanted to appear that way, sure.

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 (Edited)

‘Not keeping the original versions around. They have historical value.’

Not technically a change to the movies themselves but ok.

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adywan said:

Anakin Starkiller said:

The Good:
-Hayden as Anakin’s ghost. It doesn’t make sense for him to appear as an unscarred Shaw because he never looked like that.

And yet you think it makes sense for him to appear in the Jedi robes that he never wore? And how the hell would Luke even recognise him. It makes more sense for him to be Shaw than it does Hayden.

It makes sense for the Audience to see Hayden, it made more sense in the 80’s to see Shaw, but Shaw was Fubar with unhealed scars and bald so the Shaw with hair was just as unrecognizable.

Actually, in the SW universe, Luke knew his father was Anakin Skywalker, and after Ben told Luke that his father was a jedi and not what his uncle told him; he would have been easy to Google through the SW archives. Their technology is way beyond ours. It would have been great for in ANH when Ben gave Luke his father’s saber to also have had a hologram of Hayden for Luke to see. Would have been a great addition when Luke said, “I wish I knew him.” That would have also made it easier for Luke to identify his father’s jedi ghost at the end of the 6th film.

Who is the more foolish, the fool, or the one who follows him?

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Information technology in Star Wars isn’t nearly as advanced as ours. If Star Wars had internet, the rebels would have just uploaded the Death Star plans to WikiLeaks.

Ceci n’est pas une signature.

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Frank your Majesty said:

Information technology in Star Wars isn’t nearly as advanced as ours. If Star Wars had internet, the rebels would have just uploaded the Death Star plans to WikiLeaks.

It would have been “WookieLeaks” 😉

Who is the more foolish, the fool, or the one who follows him?

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ZeeverFett said:

It makes sense for the Audience to see Hayden, it made more sense in the 80’s to see Shaw, but Shaw was Fubar with unhealed scars and bald so the Shaw with hair was just as unrecognizable.

My point exactly.

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Anakin Starkiller said:

ZeeverFett said:

It makes sense for the Audience to see Hayden, it made more sense in the 80’s to see Shaw, but Shaw was Fubar with unhealed scars and bald so the Shaw with hair was just as unrecognizable.

My point exactly.

I agree with myself!

Who is the more foolish, the fool, or the one who follows him?

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Honestly you probably wouldn’t be able tell is he was missing a limb under those huge cloaks. And yeah, the way he stares is pretty creepy.

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 (Edited)

I think that Lucas (and Christensen as his actor) wanted to indicate by that change that pedophelia was common among Jedi and among Sith lords. That’s the only reason I watch the special editions: to get that naughty pedophelia hints. So we all feel guilty and guilt is the way to the dark side.

I think that the main reason for deleting Shaw from those scenes was his refusal to hint at any pedophelia in Star Wars. Strong pedophelia was always the main creative force behind Lucas, but in the early 80s the tech was not available to show that on the big screen.
😉

“People who alter or destroy works of art and our cultural heritage for profit or as an exercise of power are barbarians”

“In the future it will become even easier for old negatives to become lost and be “replaced” by new altered negatives. This would be a great loss to our society. Our cultural history must not be allowed to be rewritten.” --George Lucas on March 3, 1988

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Funny how nobody – absolutely nobody – complained about Shaw-as-Anakin not making any sense/being confusing until the Hayden change was introduced.

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DuracellEnergizer said:

Funny how nobody – absolutely nobody – complained about Shaw-as-Anakin not making any sense/being confusing until the Hayden change was introduced.

I’m pretty sure probably 99% of what was changed for the SEs weren’t complained about til the changes were introduced.

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DuracellEnergizer said:

Funny how nobody – absolutely nobody – complained about Shaw-as-Anakin not making any sense/being confusing until the Hayden change was introduced.

Because up until a year a two before he was added, nobody knew what a young Anakin looked like. It’s a retroactive plot hole, but an inevitable one, when making the Prequels.

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Anakin Starkiller said:

DuracellEnergizer said:

Funny how nobody – absolutely nobody – complained about Shaw-as-Anakin not making any sense/being confusing until the Hayden change was introduced.

Because up until a year a two before he was added, nobody knew what a young Anakin looked like. It’s a retroactive plot hole, but an inevitable one, when making the Prequels.

So in your mind, the octogenarian standing with Yoda and Ben at the end of pre-'04 versions of ROTJ was meant to represent a young Anakin? ROTFLMAO.

I wish you’d just admit you prefer Hayden in ROTJ because you were introduced to SW through the PT & SEs; I’d respect your opinion were that the case. Instead you resort to post hoc fanwanking, which only makes you look foolish and silly.

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Anakin Starkiller said:

DuracellEnergizer said:

Funny how nobody – absolutely nobody – complained about Shaw-as-Anakin not making any sense/being confusing until the Hayden change was introduced.

Because up until a year a two before he was added, nobody knew what a young Anakin looked like. It’s a retroactive plot hole, but an inevitable one, when making the Prequels.

Again I dont get what him looking like when he was younger has to do with him choosing to appear as his older self in the Force. Just because he never appeared as an unscarred old man before dying means he can’t appear so after he dies?? Why not?? Are there rules about what forms those in the afterlife, or Force rather, can take form of once they die?? Dracula can take form of a wolf yet I’m sure he wasn’t as such before he became one of the undead. And don’t give me the whole ‘thats another movie/story’ argument. Also who’s to say Anakin didn’t choose to appear as an unscarred old gent so Luke could have a better representation of the man he saw behind the mask?? If you can give proof that these rules about what one can take form of in the Force are real then fine but until then I don’t see where your implications that this change was inevitable are coming from.