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Stop messing around with our 'Star Wars'
Sunday, September 19, 2004
Right after Luke Sky walker and Obi-Wan Kenobi meet Han Solo, in the cantina scene in the original "Star Wars" movie, Solo is held at gunpoint by a bounty-hunting alien named Greedo. Greedo, who works for gangster Jabba the Hutt, says he's looked forward to killing Solo for a long time.
Solo, played by Harrison Ford, draws his blaster under the table and fires before Greedo can get off a shot. Goodbye, Greedo.
This is close to a pre-emptive strike. It establishes Solo as a dangerous guy who should not be messed with - maybe even a bad guy. It is also important to the movie because, if Solo were killed, he would not be able to rescue Princess Leia, battle the Empire and become a certified good guy.
But filmmaker George Lucas had second thoughts about shooting first and asking questions later.
In the "Special Edition" director's cut of "Star Wars" that was released to theaters and on video in 1997, Lucas digitally altered the scene to have Greedo shoot first, and somehow miss, at point-blank range.
This may seem like a small thing, but it means a lot to "Star Wars" fans. An artist's first instinct is usually the best one. Making Solo's survival a matter of luck and self-defense takes something away from the character, not to mention the atmosphere of danger. It changes the picture, and not for the better.
Now, fans find, Lucas has done it again.
Tuesday, he will release the "Star Wars Trilogy," a much-awaited set that makes "Star Wars," "The Empire Strikes Back" and "Return of the Jedi" available for the first time on DVD. It's good value, by most accounts, because it also includes a documentary by Ken Burns, featurettes and commentaries.
But fans are buzzing that Lucas again has tinkered with the cantina scene, this time to have Solo ducking awkwardly as he and Greedo fire at the same time.
Also, according to previews, Lucas digitally changes the ghost of Anakin Skywalker seen at the end of "Return of the Jedi." He removes Sebastian Shaw - whose face is seen when Luke removes Darth Vader's coal scuttle mask - and substitutes Hayden Christensen, who plays Anakin in "Attack of the Clones," the fifth "Star Wars" film, and in "Revenge of the Sith," due out in May.
The idea, supposedly, is to show Anakin-turned-Vader reverting to his "true self" of younger days. But that ignores the character's ultimate redemption. And it raises the question of why Lucas doesn't also replace the spirit of Obi-Wan, played by Alec Guinness, with the younger version played by Ewan McGregor.
Not that anyone wants him to. Lucas has made other, smaller changes for the DVD set, altering a few voices and faces. If he touches the cantina scene again, fans are worried he'll have Solo leading a memorial service for Greedo or phoning 9-1-1.
"We understand 'Star Wars' was made in 1977," one fan said. "It was state of the art then. But it's his need to keep tinkering and adding things, just because he can, that bothers us. And what upsets us most is that we don't have a choice - you can't get the original versions anymore unless you bought them before they were taken off the market or taped them off television. He's asking us to un-remember what we remember. It's like revisionist history."
It's like watching "The Godfather" and suddenly seeing Michael Corleone shooting Sollozzo in the restaurant in self-defense. Or seeing Sonny keel over from a heart attack.
Millions loved the original "Star Wars" trilogy. Lucas, tweaking for perfection, ends up diminishing it - and reminding us how technically superior and cinematically inferior the second trilogy has been.
He could tinker with them - maybe getting rid of Jar Jar Binks - but he has said he is ready to move on. He has other movies he wants to make, including a fourth "Indiana Jones" picture.
When it comes to "Star Wars," he ought to remember what Sean Connery says to save Harrison Ford, when Ford grasps madly for the Holy Grail at the end of "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade."
He says, "Let it go."
