Anyway, Originals vs. Special Editions. I should begin by saying that I don't hate the SE. I saw the original versions in the theatre when they originally came out, I saw the SE's in the theatre when they came out, I've watched both versions on VHS and now DVD for years. So, like so many others here and elsewhere, I'm very, very familiar with these movies. I'm one of those long time fans. I should also say that I totally do not agree with GL's decision to not release the original versions of these movies on DVD. That is just an out and out crime and I won't waste my breath defending my position. Several people here have already done that for me. I should also say that I don't mind GL trying to 'improve' or 'complete' the films to his satisfaction. That's fine. I just want the films that I saw as a child on DVD in their original versions. That doesn't mean that I'm a SE hater or a prequel hater. I'm not going to get into the prequels here. That's best saved for another thread. And believe me I have opinions on those as well.
Ok, now that the introductions are over, to the topic at hand. The first change from the originals to the SE that I did like was the entire clean up of the films. They looked better than I have ever seen them look. They sounded better than I've ever heard them sound, but let's face it, there were a few problems with the sound. Leia's gun suddenly sounding like a rifle instead of a laser. Someone just dropped the ball there and this is easily fixed.
However, if they fixed the snow battle in Empire then why couldn't they fix the matte lines in the Rancor scene from Jedi or even that horrible, horrible scene between Lando and Han in the hanger. When Lando walks away it still looks so fake. It just bugs me to this very day. It stands to reason that if you're going to take the time to totally fix the snow battle the least that you can do is fix those two scenes in Jedi. I mean, come on.
The added or changed stuff. Well, some of it was fine and some of it was dreadful. Let's do this film by film. Ok, ANH. I did like the new expanded Mos Eisley stuff and the fix to the land speeder. I also did like the Dewback scene that was added. The new Ben Kenobi house, I'm pretty much indifferent on that. The Wolfman in the Cantina, while I do miss him, again, that really doesn't matter all that much to me. The Jabba scene. I like this a lot because I have always felt that it needed to be there, but they really need to improve it. Jabba looked nothing like he did in Jedi or even TPM. Fix that and I'll be happy with it. The tail stepping, well, sort of juvenile, makes kids laugh so fine. Not a real problem. The Death Star and Alderraan explosion rings. Totally unnecessary. We get the point. Why bother? The Falcon taking off from the docking bay 94. Again, kind of unnecessary. We get the point. Again, why bother? It almost seems like at times that GL is dumbing these films down for some reason. Or am I just crazy? Anyway, I did really like the Biggs scene in the Rebel hanger. In fact I was totally shocked the first time I saw it. Bravo, bravo, bravo. Anything with Biggs is a welcome addition. Ok, the Death Star battle. Looked great, but I could tell most of the time what was new and what was old. I didn't think that the original stuff looked all that bad. So again, I was like why bother? It worked for me for 20 years. I also did like the elimination of the cardboard people at the end of the film. Greedo and Han. No, no, no, no, no! This was all-wrong and looked really fake. This was the one moment in the entire film that totally pulls me right out of the movie. Plus it's just plain pointless. There is no logical reason for this change and I don't care what GL says.
Empire. Well, great, great improvement to the snow battle. It was nice to see through the cockpits clearly and not see the scenery behind the matte. The Wampa. This is another one of those times where what was done originally worked just fine so why bother? If it ain't broke don't fix it. I don't mind seeing the Wampa, but it really wasn't necessary for me to see it. I already had an idea of what it looked like. Besides, there was an action figure of it so I had already seen it long before 97. Cloud City. Again, I did like the improved approach to the City and the improved backgrounds and even the Cloud Car fly by thing. However, the windows, while at first glance look really cool, they are also really deceptive. Yes, one minute they are there and the next minute they are gone. Bad, bad, bad execution. Again I think someone dropped the ball. Luke's scream. This was just out and out dumb. It wasn't even his voice and you can totally tell. GL needs a slap for this as well as the Greedo mess. The whole changing of Vader's shuttle line and scene. Again, we get it. Why bother? Again it seems that GL is treating us like idiots. Sorry, but we can figure out on our own how Vader got back to the Star Destroyer. This was just a waste of time and money. I was glad to see that they fixed the shot of Vader looking out the window at the end. At least the backgrounds now all look the same instead of the center window having a grayish look to it. The whole added stuff where Lando announces the Empire is taking over was again just a waste of time and money. It again falls into the 'we get it' category.
Jedi. I'm sorry but that Jedi Rocks thing is the stupidest piece of crap that I have ever seen. It looked just awful. If GL wanted to improve that scene why didn't he just use the original number and replace Sy Snootles with a CGI Snootles and be done with it? And that CGI Sy Snootles looked just terrible. I'm sorry. I've seen good CGI characters and she wasn't one of them. Neither was the Yuzumm. There were so many ways that GL could have re-worked this scene. From the original music video for La Penik (Sorry but I can't spell that correctly), he did use several of the scenes that were inserted into the SE of Jedi so why not just use the original song? It just didn't make any sense to me. The scene with Oola falling down the chute to the Rancor pit. Well, as much as I really like it, again this was one of those 'we get it' moments but it doesn't bother me that it's there. The Sarlaac pit stuff, well, I'm kind of torn on this. While the Sarlaac looked more 'alive' it did still look really fake. That could be better. However, the original version worked for me for 20 years so I didn't see the need for it. I did however like the quick scene of the Bantha heard. That was cool. But Luke in the Rancor pit still bugs me. As does the Lando and Han scene but I've already mentioned those. The end celebration scene. I see from the previous posts that this seems to be a point of controversy. To clear up that mess you have to remember that as GL stated in 77 or 78, this was to be a 9-part saga, not 6. Therefore Jedi was not the last part and therefore the Empire was not overthrown at that point. There was still lots left to 'clean up.' Now that GL has since changed his story and said that there are now only 6 parts, he tried to find a way to bring the whole thing to a close. However, these little shots of Tatooine, Cloud City and the capital (I don't know how to spell it and I'm not going to try) seem really out of place. The changed music and the missing Ewok song, well, I never really liked the Ewok song in the first place so it really doesn't matter to me. I like the new music but the celebration scenes just seem out of place. I guess because I know that Jedi wasn't really the end so there is no reason for the entire galaxy to be celebrating the end of the Empire.
Also, just to