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Are These Scenes in the Original Theater Version?

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Hi,

I need a help to clarify some issues.

I was just watching the episode VI: Return of the Jedi on SPIKE while my husband was doing something else in the same room. He is 43 and I am 36 years old and we both remember the movies before the major revisions. He is kind of proud that he saw all the original ones in the theater when he was a teenager and watched the original version of the trilogy hundreds of times on VCR. I watched original ones on the satellite TV a few times in Japan (I'm Japanese) and the re-mastered new versions in the theater and DVDs, so I am also familiar with the story and how the remastered versions changed from the previous versions.

Well, today, he started to tell me that this or that were not in the original while I was watching the movie, which was annoying. What made me mad and walk away from the room was that the time he mentioned the following parts were not in the original:

1) On Endor, Luke, Leia, Solo, Chewbacca, R2D2, and C-3PO get captured by Ewoks, but Ewoks think C-3PO is a God or something...This is such a famous scenes... Leia (with braided hair) appears and tells Ewoks that they are her friends and Luke float C-3PO using the force...so on and on and on.

2) In the following scene of the feast with Ewoks, Luke tells Leia that she is his twin sister.

These are a part of the main storyline, and without them, the story doesn't make sense to me. I told him so, which made him mad. He was furious and said to me "do you think you can tell me who watched the originals many times that I am wrong?"

I am very sure that these parts were included in the original ones. But I am not a Star Wars professor and didn't see the original ones in the theater either. So, I want to ask people who have deep knowledge about the history of Star Wars if these scenes were included in the original US theater versions or not to solve our couple dispute.

Thanks!!

GA

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You're right, he's wrong. :)

And in the time of greatest despair, there shall come a savior, and he shall be known as the Son of the Suns.

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The revision to the Star Wars movies come in three categories.

First, and most acceptable, are corrections of special effects shots and other technical type corrections.  These enhance the film and are welcome if done correctly and unobtrusively.

Second are additions that Mr. Lucas thought would enhance or re-invigorate interest in the movies.  These are innocent, yet annoying additions, such as the establishing shot for the entrance to Mos Eisley with the bucking Ronto and the silly Pit Droids.

The third type of revision is totally unacceptable, and that is additions that actually change the story.  The prime example is changing it so that Greedo shoots at Han and Han only shoots back in self defense.  Dumb.  Han is an outlaw and it made sense that he killed Greedo.  Now the story has been softened and sweetened unacceptably.

A long way around to answer your question.  No changes of the magnitude you mention were made to Return of the Jedi.  C3PO was always floated around by Luke using the force to fool the Ewoks into fearing him and obeying his command to release his friends.

The other thing you mention is confusing.  If you are asking if there is a version of the movie in which Leia informs Luke that she is his twin sister, then no, that never happened in the original movie nor in any revised or special edition.   Luke tells Leia, not the other way around.  Her response when he tells her is that she knows and that she has somehow always known.

Hope this helps.

Daniel W Siddall

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Thanks!

Just for curiosity, do you know some websites that list all the portions which added or converted by Mr. Lukas over the course of years?

By the way, I am always annoyed by the strange computer graphics creatures added in the scene of Mos Eisley. Actually, I was not particularly impressed by the spongy figures in the original version either. Mr. Lukas enhanced them and added some, which made me dislike them even more. What it was that the designs of the creatures or aliens lack of science and there is no systematic concept behind. Even burgess shale fossils have a particular taste in their outlook. So it wasn't a visual quality matter...

 

Daniel:

Yes, I meant Luke informs Leia not Leia informs Luke:) I agree with you on the third category. I think George Lukas is one of the best movie creators who's name remain in the history. But some of his later works utilize and ruin his old/original works, such as Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. I was really shocked (in a negative way) when I saw this movie. 

 

GA

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GA said:

Just for curiosity, do you know some websites that list all the portions which added or converted by Mr. Lukas over the course of years?

You've come to the right website. This thread links to the following galleries, run by our very own 005.

Star Wars Visual Comparisons

Empire Strikes Back Visual Comparisons

Return of the Jedi Visual Comparisons

2011 Changes

I don't think anyone has put together a really good list of audio changes.

ROTJ Storyboard Reconstruction Project

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timdiggerm said:

GA said:

Just for curiosity, do you know some websites that list all the portions which added or converted by Mr. Lukas over the course of years?

You've come to the right website. This thread links to the following galleries, run by our very own 005.

This is helpful. Thanks!

I totally forgot that Oola was added later. My husband and I often talk that one of good abilities we obtain as we get older is we can enjoy TV episodes and movies as if we saw them for the first time every 5 years!

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dwsiddall said:

The revision to the Star Wars movies come in three categories.

First, and most acceptable, are corrections of special effects shots and other technical type corrections.  These enhance the film and are welcome if done correctly and unobtrusively.

Second are additions that Mr. Lucas thought would enhance or re-invigorate interest in the movies.  These are innocent, yet annoying additions, such as the establishing shot for the entrance to Mos Eisley with the bucking Ronto and the silly Pit Droids.

etc...

Well, I find none of the above acceptable, at least not in the absence of a proper restoration of the original.

Part of what made Star Wars so groundbreaking, was the special effects.  If you go back in and change the effects 20 years later, you lose that window in time, and along with it the artistry that went into creating them.  It also paints over some original artwork done by great masters.

"Close the blast doors!"
Puggo’s website | Rescuing Star Wars

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GA said:

These are a part of the main storyline, and without them, the story doesn't make sense to me. I told him so, which made him mad. He was furious and said to me "do you think you can tell me who watched the originals many times that I am wrong?"

Your husband sounds like a bit of a twat.

You should leave him.

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Moth3r said:



GA said:

These are a part of the main storyline, and without them, the story doesn't make sense to me. I told him so, which made him mad. He was furious and said to me "do you think you can tell me who watched the originals many times that I am wrong?"


Your husband sounds like a bit of a twat.

You should leave him.
No temp ban first?

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dwsiddall said:

A long way around to answer your question.  No changes of the magnitude you mention were made to Return of the Jedi.  C3PO was always floated around by Luke using the force to fool the Ewoks into fearing him and obeying his command to release his friends.

Not necessarily. ROTJ is a long movie - 2hrs and 13 minutes. Maybe that particular theatre cut 13 minutes out of the movie so they could get an extra screening in each day?

[ Scanning stuff since 2015 ]

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Wouldn't it be illegal though for a random theater to edit a film at their own discretion without permission?

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Nien Nunb wrote: Wouldn't it be illegal though for a random theater to edit a film at their own discretion without permission?

Sorry about that.  There was an error in the projector, couple frames melted, the reel split.  Then we ran out of splice tape.  Sorry 'bout that.