Originally posted by: Laserman
The SW trilogies were in high demand, so when that happens typically you end up with a few different cuts running around as various edits get frantically pulled from the shelves to strike another set of prints to keep up with demand. This can happen because the current 'master' is already somewhere else and they need, say another 30 prints for Canada and there is a less than perfect but usuable edit sitting there that could be used.
The SW trilogies were in high demand, so when that happens typically you end up with a few different cuts running around as various edits get frantically pulled from the shelves to strike another set of prints to keep up with demand. This can happen because the current 'master' is already somewhere else and they need, say another 30 prints for Canada and there is a less than perfect but usuable edit sitting there that could be used.
I'm sorry but this never happens. The studio would never, ever send out some massively-different workprint version of the film out to theaters, and for that matter the master prints would never leave. They don't go out "on loan" unless its to Delux Labs, where they would then just phone them and say "hey print us up 30 more prints for Canada." Additionally, in the unrealistic hypothetical event that the IP was destroyed or lost and a quick batch of prints needed, a slew of other versions of the master would be available--a new IP could be struck from the IN, or if it is merely for a few select Canadian cities getting the debut (ie Vancouver, Edmonton, Montreal and Toronto) they could even just strike second-generation prints from existing ones.
Its just a hard fact that the events being described are not possible. If it is some kind of earlier cut, it would have to be also minus the proper post production, since the post on ESB was literally to the last minute. It would have no music, little special effects shots and a raw on-the-set soundtrack. The soundtracks to the films have to be properly timmed up to the final edit, otherwise a one-frame difference could cause a sync drift. Making a different cut of ESB suitable for theatrical screening, in large-format 70mm no less, is a massive undertaking, and would require going back to the workprints and O-negs, striking new duplicates, splicing the scenes in, re-scoring and additonal sound design work, and then a overall re-timing of the film to make sure everything is all nice. Like i said, its a huge, huge deal, and theres no way that a project as massive as this would only be shown once or twice in Edmonton, and not noticed or talked about by anyone else related to the film as every other minute difference is.
Aside from this logistical improbability, there is also the more important points that i brought up before, which is that most of these scenes were never even filmed. Like Laserman said, its the Bugs Bunny syndrome, which is why so many fans remember weird things, and whose "false memories" even agree with one another.