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10 years of the Special Editions

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January 2007 marks the 10th anniversary of the Special Edition of Star Wars. Any comments or messages
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Fuck those pieces of steaming dog shit!!!
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10 years... That's really too long for the sad joke that it is!

I remeber before these 10 years, when EVERYBODY liked SW! ...those were the days.

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Hehe...I remeber---wow------4 years old-----ANH...that was pretty cool-------
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I remember January 31, 1997 like it was yesterday. I actually saw SW twice that weekend, and back then you were either a SW fan or not. There are no more SW fans anymore, there are OOT fans, SE fans, PT fans, Saga fans, etc.

Thanks George, it has been a great ride to mediocrity. TPM say hello to Superman IV, AOTC say hello to Jurassic Park III, ROTS say hello to Terminator 3. SW has become just another movie series where it made TOOOO many movies, and the bad ones stick out just as much as the classics do.
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I pity Lucas. He was once a great and promosing filmmaker. SW was an excellent film, and watching it, you know the man behind the camera had that special something that all the great filmmakers have. Watching documentaries where we see a young Lucas shooting SW, we see a filmmaker that has a passion and an affinity for making movies, and telling stories, and he has lots and lots of potential. Skip ahead to ROTJ. A good ending to a great trilogy. Not an excellent ending, but satisfying, kind of like a McDonalds double cheeseburger. You know if you went to Burger King and got a double cheeseburger from them, it would be much better, the McDonalds cheeseburger is good enough. But how did the man who made the excellent Burger King Cheesburger end up making the McDonalds one...in six short years, he began losing his flair.

And then, in 1997, there's the Special Editions. We could tell Lucas was losing his heart of a filmmaker with ROTJ, but the special editions shown that he had really lost it. He obviously did what he thought best with those Special Editions, but its nothing the public, or Star Wars fans, really liked or enjoyed. A good filmmaker knows what the public loves, and delivers it. George Lucas made SW in 1977, and it was a film the public ate up, and made legions of fans. The SE got rid of many legions of fans. How? Lucas lost the heart of a filmmaker, and replaced it with something else. This was proved in concrete with the prequels. Yes, the public may be impressed with flashy visuals and lots of (cheesy) action, but give them something really fun, really good, like the original SW, and they will LOVE it. They won't just be entertained for a few hours, and forget the experiance the next day, it will stick with them, and they'll want to experiance it over and over. People wanted to experiance SW over and over, because it stuck with them, but few truly had that experiance with the prequels. Some may explain it with the old line "You can't strike gold twice," but a good filmmaker, a filmmaker with that filmmaker's heart, does. He doesn't strike gold twice. He strikes it over and over and over and over, until the end. Sometimes you miss, but in the end, those misses don't matter because of all the gold.

We're at the tenth anniversary of the SE. Of course, I think of 30th anniversary, but Lucas is probably thinking tenth, thinking that the SE is the true versions, that the original was just work in progress, yadda yadda yadda...and it makes me pitty him. Alot. For someone with so much potential to lose sight of that filmmaker's heart is sad. Like CO said, Lucas broke up Star Wars fans into a bunch of different sects. It's not just sad, it's funny, in a twisted sort of way.
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Originally posted by: Darth_Evil

We're at the tenth anniversary of the SE. Of course, I think of 30th anniversary, but Lucas is probably thinking tenth, thinking that the SE is the true versions, that the original was just work in progress, yadda yadda yadda...and it makes me pitty him. Alot. For someone with so much potential to lose sight of that filmmaker's heart is sad. Like CO said, Lucas broke up Star Wars fans into a bunch of different sects. It's not just sad, it's funny, in a twisted sort of way.


I find the whole state of SW ironic for Lucas, the fans, and the overall way that SW is perceived these days.

Lucas: He is not perceived as that genius anymore, other then his staunch PT defenders, which are a true minority. I am sure everyone of us here thought he was a genius at one time or another, as the man truly made 3 great movies that I will cherish forever. But the SE/PT exposed the man for his flaws that were hidden in the OT by a talented supporting cast, and the overall change that he made as a filmaker for the worse.

The Fans: As a fan, it is utterly confusing to be a SW fan anymore. I mean is it even worth it to say you're a fan anymore, instead of just saying I like certain SW movies. Do you watch the OOT on DVD that looks like crap? Or do you watch the crappy SE that look great? Do you watch the PT movies to complete the story, yet you only try to watch them out of obligation instead of just watching them cause you love them? Or do you try to erase the everything that has happened to SW since 1997? Good luck! This was the greatest trilogy in the history of movies for many of us here growing up, and now we are like Darth Vader indebted to The Emperor George Lucas for anything we still remotely enjoy in SW-ville, yet we really don't like the man anymore. The ironic thing is he is using us to try to keep us as fans with waving the OOT in our face, and we sit here waiting for that announcement each day so we don't have to be fans anymore.

Come on guys, this is the ultimate irony? We were able to experience something many people I know never did with SW growing up, and now it is like someone is getting us back for enjoying it too much. I mean when was the last time anybody watched a SW movie and didn't think of some negative shit that Lucas has done to us since 1997, ironically as we keep watching his movies!

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I gotta agree with ya there, CO....

SW is tainted today. If you say you're a SW fan, okay.....but if you say it to another SW fan, then it almost immediately becomes a PT or SE debate. Remember a time when we could just marvel at how AWESOME the whole thing was. Can't do that anymore. It's become so pathetic.

SW used to bring me so much joy it wasn't funny. No, it wasn't the only thing in my life, but it was something to escape into for a while and lose yourself in. Now you watch it and it's either the stupid crap in the SE that reminds you of the bad PT or you watch the crappy versions of the OOT. If you watch the PT, then you have to contend with all the nonsense that is in there. I wish Lucas had NEVER made anything now...no SEs, no PT, nothing. He's taken a perfectly good idea and fucking ruined it. I wonder if he did it all on purpose too, but that's a thread for another time.

This is a sad state of affairs, isn't it? Who would have thought it would come to this? 10 years ago, if you told me that SW would end up like this, I would have called you nuts. Sometimes I look at it all and I can't fucking believe my eyes and ears....SW is just not good anymore. This is why I'm doing my own preservation using some of the existing preservations out there. I'm gonna do nice retro artwork and there won't be a mention of the SEs or PT on them. I'll put them up on my shelf and forget this whole fucking sordid affair. I will permanently check out of SW fandom forever. I'm through.
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Originally posted by: Scout trooper
January 2007 marks the 10th anniversary of the Special Edition of Star Wars. Any comments or messages


I remember like it was just yesterday... Going to the movie theaters and thinking "thank God these changes will be just for this limited release"... Ten years have gone so fast.
“Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same in any country.” — Nazi Reich Marshal Hermann Goering
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Heh, I thought the SEs were all fun for the most part. (The only change I absolutely hated was the Super Star Destroyer landing put into Empire since it ruined the pacing of the movie so much.) Now I have to hate the SEs because they're supposedly the official versions now. (Uhg, and now there's Haden as a force ghost.) I now hate just about anything new that is from the Star Wars franchise. Thanks, George. Can't wait to see the new, crappy interpretations that you'll be bringing us next.

Thankfully I can still enjoy Star Wars for myself, though. I'll just watch my widescreen VHS tapes.

"Now all Lucas has to do is make a cgi version of himself.  It will be better than the original and fit his original vision." - skyjedi2005

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There was one good thing about the 1997 SE release. It gave those of us who were too little to had the opportunity to see Star Wars trilogy in the theatres the chance to see them in theatres.
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I loved the SE's when they came out! The SE was by far the best Star Wars experience of my life--a pure celebration of the OT. I thought the changes were fun and interesting as a sort of "alternative version" of the films--back then we had no idea that they would be permanently replacing the OOT. Okay Greedo was always lame, but personally i thought it was an interesting experiment, and it was really great to see the original jabba footage. Personally, i still feel that the Yavin battle in the SE is an improvement over the original.
But the best part of it was just the experience of seeing the films on the big screen--and the air of excitement that surrounded it. Star Wars posters all over the lobby, lineups stretching out the doors, john williams tunes playing from speakers outside the theater. The crowds were truely varried--40 year old men, 8 year old boys. It made something like $30 million that weekend, while the number 2 film was Jerry Maguire which pulled in something like $8 million. Everyone was seeing Star Wars--yes, "Star Wars," not "episode iv." It was fantastic. I remember in November of 1998 i saw the trailer attached to the Stallone flick Daylight and it just took my breath away because i had never seen Star Wars images on anything larger than my parents 27" tv. I went with my little sister on opening day and everyone in the theater just had a tremendously great time. A few days later i went back with my dad. He had seen the film when he was only 24 years old, on one of his first dates with my mom--now he was seeing the same film in a packed house with his 13 year old son. This truely was a unique moment in cinema history, where such a "vintage" film was so much more immensely popular than anything contemporary. It was more than just the simple re-release of a classic film.
I remember it was also the first time i saw the films in widescreen--i started noticing so many more details, due to the full ratio and the large size, that i truely couldn't tell what was added for the SE and what was not. It was the re-watching of my favourite film but it was also a re-discovery of sorts.

I think the SE was a very important moment in Star Wars history, and a positive one, no doubt about that. If Lucas had done it, released it, put out a video version of it and that was all, it would be a great move, a fun "enhanced" or "alternative" version of the classic film but instead he started getting high and mighty about "the other versions don't exist."
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If Lucas only released the OOT on DVD in 2004 fully remastered, does anyone think that there would be this huge outcry for the SE to be put on DVD? Does anyone think there would be a webpage called StarWarsSpecialEdition.com with over 75,000 names on the list? Do you think there would be this huge letter writing and emailing campaign to get the SE on DVD like what we all did for the last 3 years?

That is what the ironic thing about all of this is, if Lucas released the OOT in 2004, the SE would have died a slow death, and the saga would consist of PT + OOT and most of us here wouldn't have a problem with it. To this day I resent the PT cause I can't watch the OOT in great quality, and I wouldn't have been so hostile towards Lucas view of the saga if he just left that guy Shaw in at the end of ROTJ.

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Originally posted by: zombie84
Okay Greedo was always lame, but personally i thought it was an interesting experiment, and it was really great to see the original jabba footage. Personally, i still feel that the Yavin battle in the SE is an improvement over the original.


The Greedo change was such a quick flash that I didn't even notice it the first time through. I just knew that something seemed less compelling about that sequence. Jabba was perhaps the most fun sequence to have added since it gave me a view of Star Wars I had never known about. Sure, Jabba looked like crap, and he seemed out of character, but I had fun with the sequence. Neither of those changes were huge and I could have overlooked them both had George not then gone on to try erasing the original version of the film. It seems so wrong to not treat the theatrical versions of the films as the actual, official versions. Once the SEs became more than simply a fun alternative version, they became something I had to be critical of as a Star Wars fan; needless to say, I found them to be very, very lacking.

(Oh, another SE problem I had from the start was all of the digital insertions of Boba Fett. What was up with that? It seemed insulting to have him showing up everywhere for no reason other than to appeal to his fans. Yet, as a Boba Fett fan, I realized that it made no sense for him to be in ANH since he hadn't even delivered Han to Jabba yet. Are we supposed to assume that Jabba had always had Boba as a permanent employee from the beginning? Didn’t Boba, as a bounty hunter, ever go around bounty hunting? Was he always just a henchman? That would make Boba Fett lame in my book.)

"Now all Lucas has to do is make a cgi version of himself.  It will be better than the original and fit his original vision." - skyjedi2005

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The first time I got the news about anything at all related to the SE's was november of '96. The 22nd, I think. I'd just seen Star Trek: First Contact (it was opening night) while my mother and sister had seen Jingle All The Way. Now that's a night I'll never forget, mostly because the whole audience for ST: FC cheered when the movie ended, and this wasn't even a midnight screening! My, how times have changed. I met up with my mother and sister afterwards. One of the first things they told me was that they'd seen a trailer announcing something along the lines of "starting New Year's Day, the Star Wars films will be shown in theatres for a limited engagement." This completely took me by surprise, having heard nothing whatsoever pertaining to a re-release of the films. The only thing I'd read had been nearly 3 years earlier on the cover of the first issue of some science fiction magazine, proclaiming "3 years until the next Star Wars Trilogy" against some stock photo of the Millennium Falcon. Years later, this year to be precise, I would find out all about LFL's rearrangment of the SE/Episode I release schedule. I think she also mentioned the part about the altered fx, thx and "new surprises." At some point I saw a commercial for it on tv. I saw Star Wars the weekend it was released, Empire with my mother and Jedi on its release weekend. I'm almost certain that the SE trailer archived on the '04 bonus disc must be the trailer they saw. "President's Day Weekend," so my mom remembered wrongly.

Looking back on it all now, I did get a little too caught up in the trilogy's return to the big screen to step back and think of what was really happenning. Because I was young, only 11, and stupid, the thought that these were inferior to the original versions never really crossed my mind. I didn't really care either way about the changes, at least not immediately. One of my bigger regrets has been not picking up the '95 vhs set back then when there were still a few lying around in the stores. I've since collected all three, but the Empire tape is shot (see one of the poll threads for that story).

In '97, Star Wars went from being this classic movie trilogy to being something that needed to be brought back and capitalized on, complete with fast food tie-ins. Whatever happenned to the days when the scifi channel would show empire and jedi letterboxed during thanksgiving weekend? I don't remember if they did it during thanksgiving of '96 or not, since the SE was right around the corner, but in any event '97 was when Star Wars stopped feeling classic and started to feel painfully modernized. The trailer for Episode I in november of '98 was perhaps the last bit of real genuine excitement for many Star Wars fans, mainly due to that classic John Williams music. Still, even then it hit me. When I saw that revamped LFL logo at the head of the trailer, I realized what the SE had been for.
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Like Zombie, I loved the Special Edition release. Until the release of the SEs, I had only seen Jedi in theaters and that was when I was eight - obviously, I had forgotten most of the theater experience from that day.

The day SW:SE was released was one of the great days. Me and my two best friends, huge SW fans, driving two hours to the nearest decent theater on a combined two hours of sleep. People walking around in costumes. Non-stop laughter. On that day, we were kids with drivers licenses and a bigger allowance. Any day you can be a kid long after your actual childhood ends is a great day. Unquestionably the greatest movie theater experience in my lifetime, and that doesn't appear likely to change.

As it turned out, the SEs were not unlike Anakin's presence in the Jedi Order. The SEs did us a lot of good in the beginning but ultimately ruined everything.

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Originally posted by: vote_for_palpatine
As it turned out, the SEs were not unlike Anakin's presence in the Jedi Order. The SEs did us a lot of good in the beginning but ultimately ruined everything.
Very good!!

I too relished the opportunity to see the OT on the big screen. And, as zombie84 has said, at that time the enjoyment was not tainted with the knowledge that this was going to be the only version I would be allowed to like from then on. Sad. Really sad.
Don't you call me a mindless philosopher...!
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Darth Evil....I can't help but post on how incredible well written your first reply was here. I actually haven't any of them past that. I will now.

Hey look, a bear!

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I totally agree with everything CO said. I watched Star Wars just today after not havng watched it in like 4 months. It seemed okay.
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Speaking as one who saw these films as they originally came out from '77 onwards, yest the spectacle was great to experience, but watching it, I still disliked the changes for the most part. I think universal admiration for the Yavin battle. I didn't like how Jabba looked, and I disliked the new look of Tattooine. But hey it was like getting shore leave after being out at sea for 18 months, it looked great and you got drunk off of it. The long battle of the revisionist nightmare that Lucas has churned out since then became our collective hangover.
There's good in the Original Trilogy, and it's worth fighting for.
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I really enjoyed the SE in 1997 it was great to see them at the cinema again as had been ages since I had seen the SW films in the cinemas and it was nice to see the new stuff for the first time, I have never really hated the SE but there are a few changes which I feel didnt need to be added to the films and still do feel that, but to me the good outweighs the bad, but at time I didnt reliase the original films which had been around for well over decade would suffer the fate they have suffered and that is really my biggest dislike when it comes to the SE what has happened to the original films.
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A curious thing is how the OT is commonly thought of as being "by George Lucas" even though this is hardly the case. I don't know whether that misconception got any stronger with the release of the SE's. And yes, Empire really does have the least amount of actual changes made to it (aside from fx cleanups) and I wonder how much Kershner had to do with this, be it his original good directing of the movie in the first place or the fact that he was still alive in 1997. Star Wars '77 was arguably Lucas's own movie (he directed it). It's the only one that he was anywhere near justified in being able to alter. Jedi, on the other hand, would've been better left alone. Not only were the changes made to it on the whole quite bad, but the film's director was deceased by that point.
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Was the Greedo change an editing error or did George intentionally wanted him to shoot first in the '77 edition?
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Please don't ask that. Go-Mer might try answering you.

"Now all Lucas has to do is make a cgi version of himself.  It will be better than the original and fit his original vision." - skyjedi2005