Apologies for the bump - though in my humble opinion it is very much worth it…
Holy crap, I did Greedo Shot First.
https://twitter.com/StarWarsVisComp/status/1168554173136166913
Frame by frame comparisons, GIF’s, the whole nine yards. I conclude that the “new” shot is based on a wide shot of Han shooting Greedo. They took the clarifying shot Lucas claims didn’t exist in the 70’s and changed it so Greedo shoots (at different times with different effects). It’s a fun read, hopefully.
^ from his superb Complete Comparison of Special Edition Visual Changes thread in the Theatrical Cuts vs. Subsequent Releases section.
💥 doubleofive knocks it out of the park - yet again! 💥
The George Lucas: Star Wars Creator, Unreliable Narrator & Time Travelling Revisionist… thread (Category Numbers 26 • ‘Han Shot First…’ and 27 • ‘George Lucas claims in 2012 that Han NEVER Shot First…’) may also be of some interest on the issue too…
as well as this insightful 2012 article, by Emmet Asher-Perrin, at Tor (from before Disney bought Lucasfilm)…
• Lucas Shot First: The Surprisingly Powerful Sense of Betrayal George Lucas Creates
^ an archived backup: https://archive.is/w5g3O
As an aside… George Lucas claiming the 6 Star Wars films “form the biography of Vader”… (aka GL’s oft-claimed post-PT ‘Star Wars has always been the tragedy of Darth Vader’) - but that he wasn’t aware of this “until 1998”…
A screenshot of a 2005 Vanity Fair article (February issue) promoting Revenge Of The Sith:-
and yet…
In 2019 George claimed the reason why he made the Prequel Trilogy films was because the fans didn’t understand in the 10 years after Return Of The Jedi… that the backstory to the Original Trilogy was really “about the tragedy of Darth Vader”… something he himself stated he himself hadn’t realised “until 1998”… after he had already wrote and filmed TPM!
Sure George, sure…
A screenshot of the 2024 George Lucas made Star Wars prequels because fans “didn’t get” story - article at The Digital Bits:-
^ The 2019 SW•com article referenced above: www.starwars.com/news/star-wars-episode-i-the-phantom-menace-oral-history
and more disingenuous comments from George Lucas re the criticism The Phantom Menace faced upon release…
(dubious claims on what he “originally intended” for character ages, fan expectations being too high - not his marketing or promotion, that he couldn’t say these Prequels were for a different audience prior to the film release - young children; ROTS apart, obviously)
A screenshot of a 1999 Empire magazine article, shortly after the criticism began of The Phantom Menace:-
“No-one hates Star Wars more than Star Wars fans” - I’d say few have divided Star Wars fans more than George Lucas has…
Whether that is the creating and splitting of groups of fans, ie ‘OT theatrical cuts vs Special Editions fans’, ‘OT vs PT’, ‘OT & EU vs PT’, and would have likely set ‘ST vs PT’… if he made his planned Sequel Trilogy with Leia being retconned as ‘The Chosen One’.
Or some of the disingenuous or gaslighting-type comments made about fans and the media in trying to deflect valid and reasoned criticism away from himself. Or defending the latest project that conflicts or contradicts what came before. Or the previous disingenuous statements and distortion / re-writing of history… Or George’s claims being easily debunked by evidence from the time - such as years later George attempting to claim that Greedo always shot first.
The ‘Archival / Historical Discussions’ section - especially the ‘George Lucas’ sub-category - of An Index Thread for Original Trilogy Discussion features many interviews and quotes from George over the years. Some statements from George are somewhat contradictory, hypocritical or disingenuous - whilst others could be considered as divisive, fractious, and gaslighting of/for fans.