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What Special Edition changes (if any) did people like?

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Like the title asks, I am wondering what SE changes (if any) people here did like or at least enjoy, even if they would still like the original films unaltered?

Personally, I much preferred the subtle changes (womp rats scampering around as the speeder buzzes into Mos Eisley, the bantha herd by Jabba’s sail barge, “Close the blast doors,” and general effects fixes - garbage mattes, cell block perspective, etc.)

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I liked "Close the blast doors," but that wasn't really an SE change. It was used on, I think the 70 mm and mono (or one or the other) original audio tracks, but it wasn't used in a home release until the SEs.

There is no lingerie in space…

C3PX said: Gaffer is like that hot girl in high school that you think you have a chance with even though she is way out of your league because she is sweet and not a stuck up bitch who pretends you don’t exist… then one day you spot her making out with some skinny twerp, only on second glance you realize it is the goth girl who always sits in the back of class; at that moment it dawns on you why she is never seen hanging off the arm of any of the jocks… and you realize, damn, she really is unobtainable after all. Not that that is going to stop you from dreaming… Only in this case, Gaffer is actually a guy.

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I like most of the changes, especially the effects changes, the ones that I am not keen is stuff like Hayden in Jedi
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This is hard. I'm racking my brain here, but all I can come up with is that the remastering that was done was superb. (Not for the 2004, but but the 1997.)
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Cell block perspective was a good one. The rmeastering for '97 was excellent. Hmm lets see *thinks* I like the windows in Cloud City, and how much more expanded it is.
Does anyone know why in the SE's the Sunset in ANH was blue and black
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Digital recompositing for matte lines/contrast ratios only. But I would've accepted the cell block perspective if that was the only change. Shoulda had DE's DS schematic, too.
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Originally posted by: Gaffer Tape
I liked "Close the blast doors," but that wasn't really an SE change. It was used on, I think the 70 mm and mono (or one or the other) original audio tracks, but it wasn't used in a home release until the SEs.


True, but I guess I included it since it wasn't really available again until recently.
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Originally posted by: Darth Richard
Cell block perspective was a good one. The rmeastering for '97 was excellent. Hmm lets see *thinks* I like the windows in Cloud City, and how much more expanded it is.
Does anyone know why in the SE's the Sunset in ANH was blue and black


I like the windows, too. The only part that bugs me is the Cloud Car fly-by right before the fixed single-story room with Leia.
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Originally posted by: andy_k_250
Originally posted by: Darth Richard
Cell block perspective was a good one. The rmeastering for '97 was excellent. Hmm lets see *thinks* I like the windows in Cloud City, and how much more expanded it is.
Does anyone know why in the SE's the Sunset in ANH was blue and black


I like the windows, too. The only part that bugs me is the Cloud Car fly-by right before the fixed single-story room with Leia.


ya thats a bit pointless.
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To name just a few:

The stormtroopers' animals.
All the cleanups, fixes, enhancements, remastering, restoration...
Kenobi's hut.
Cloud City.
Tractor beams.
Blast doors.
Fight expansions.
Removal of the cardboard "audience".
Vader's landing.
Numerous small expansions in too many scenes to be listed.
The Further Adventures of Oola.
Fett getting definitely, certainly, indubitably killed. This dull background noncharacter annoys me extremely; frankly I'd like the 2007 edition to have a scene of him getting dissolved by stomach acids, so that no Expanded Universe garbage could ever get away with resurrecting him.
More Tatooine.
Removal of the horrid Ewok song.
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The ONLY change I liked (for the SE, vs. the OT) is the Biggs/Luke scene. However, I don't understand why they edited the part where the other pilot compliments Luke about his father being a good pilot, because apparently, it wasn't common knowledge that Anakin Skywalker and Darth Vader were one and the same.

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Yeah, that's always puzzled me, too. With all the continuity errors Lucas has written in the modern era, why is he trying to cover up something that isn't continuity-threatening in any way?

EDIT: I just thought of my own answer. At the time that was re-edited back into the SEs, George probably hadn't decided whether or not Vader was supposed to be well-known as the same person as Anakin Skywalker... even though no one seems to know it at any point in the OT. But going back further, when that scene was written and filmed, Vader and Anakin probably weren't the same person at all. Trying to think like Lucas makes my head hurt.

There is no lingerie in space…

C3PX said: Gaffer is like that hot girl in high school that you think you have a chance with even though she is way out of your league because she is sweet and not a stuck up bitch who pretends you don’t exist… then one day you spot her making out with some skinny twerp, only on second glance you realize it is the goth girl who always sits in the back of class; at that moment it dawns on you why she is never seen hanging off the arm of any of the jocks… and you realize, damn, she really is unobtainable after all. Not that that is going to stop you from dreaming… Only in this case, Gaffer is actually a guy.

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I love the O-OT and will always watch it above the SE, but if Lucas only changed certain effects, none of this debate would exist.

These changes I don't mind:

-The ring around the deathstar

-The new Jawa Sandcrawler

-The new ObiWan Hut

-The expansion of MosEisley without the stupid jawa swinging and making sounds

-The new detailed X-Wings leaving Yavin

-Some new shots in the attack on the death star

Thats it, ESB & ROTJ should have been left alone. Originally Lucas was only going to do Star Wars, he even says it on the laserdisk, but he figured why not make money on all 3 in the theaters? Lucas couldn't do certain things in 1977, and by changing little stuff like this, I wouldn't be complaining of no O-OT.

But of course, he sticks in a bad CG Jabba, changes the Greedo/Han scene, puts in an awful new song in Jabbas Palace, and then puts in Hayden in ROTJ!!!!!!! All changes that had nothing to do with technology back then, just Lucas going crazy trying to change more than he needs.
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The ONLY additions that I don't mind are the ones that were originally filmed during the making of the original series, and since there are only two additions that fall under that category... However, the Jabba scene was terribly done with both CG attempts. But, it is an original sequence, and it was nice to see it resurrected.
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Originally posted by: CO
I love the O-OT and will always watch it above the SE, but if Lucas only changed certain effects, none of this debate would exist.

These changes I don't mind:

-The ring around the deathstar

-The new Jawa Sandcrawler

-The new ObiWan Hut

-The expansion of MosEisley without the stupid jawa swinging and making sounds

-The new detailed X-Wings leaving Yavin

-Some new shots in the attack on the death star

Thats it, ESB & ROTJ should have been left alone. Originally Lucas was only going to do Star Wars, he even says it on the laserdisk, but he figured why not make money on all 3 in the theaters? Lucas couldn't do certain things in 1977, and by changing little stuff like this, I wouldn't be complaining of no O-OT.

But of course, he sticks in a bad CG Jabba, changes the Greedo/Han scene, puts in an awful new song in Jabbas Palace, and then puts in Hayden in ROTJ!!!!!!! All changes that had nothing to do with technology back then, just Lucas going crazy trying to change more than he needs.


I completely agree with you about ESB & ROTJ, and I also agree with ADigitalMan that a hybrid version of ANH is probably the best way to go, because certain things about the 2004 release I really like and certain things I really don't like.

I like:

- The more vivid sunset that Artoo rolls toward as he leaves Threepio

- The beautiful purplish-tinted night shot of the sandcrawler sitting still in the desert

- The sandtroopers and all the dewbacks really work for me

- The cleaned-up landspeeder effects look good

- The Falcon blasting out of Mos Eisley looks great

- Some ships just visible trailing through the sky above Mos Eisley

- The new CG X-Wings leaving Yavin IV, and seeing the pilots' heads moving once in space

- Overall, the cleaned up transfer looks great


But...I don't like:

- The extraneous stuff in Mos Eisley: the Ronto throwing the Jawa; that slow, screen-filling close-up of the beast (also a Ronto?) walking in front of Luke's landspeeder just as they're being stopped and questioned. Man, that is so out of place.

- The extra stormtroopers on the Death Star as Han rounds the corner

- The shockwave ring around the Death Star; the original explosion effect worked just fine. I know it looks impressionistic, rather slo-mo and fuzzy, but at that point cinematically and emotionally, it just works. Making it more 'real' is not a good payoff at that point, y'know?

- The inclusion of Jabba--at all--in ANH. Despite the fact that, yes, this Jabba looks and sounds better than any other, and sometimes I waver in my opinion that he's okay showing up there, I always wake up and realize that seeing Jabba at this point is a huge pacing mistake as far as the movie is concerned, and it kills the suspense of the 'price on my head' sub-plot that paid off in ROTJ when we finally get to see Jabba. (The resolution of that plotline was actually one of the more enjoyable things about that movie; well, that and the speeder-bikes.)

- The cheesy 'Han and Greedo shoot simultaneously' scene. The original version is superior in so many ways that I could complain for days about it, but here's the short version: cinematically, it just plays better in terms of the whole scene; and it made so much more sense as far as Han's characterization. Lastly, Han jerking his head unnaturally to the side and avoiding being shot in the face is so friggin' stupid that I can't believe it's now the de facto version of events, at least as far as Lucas is concerned.

I'll stop there, but I'm sure there's a few more points I wanted to include. I'll think of 'em eventually...
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Originally posted by: RepDetect
- The inclusion of Jabba--at all--in ANH. Despite the fact that, yes, this Jabba looks and sounds better than any other, and sometimes I waver in my opinion that he's okay showing up there, I always wake up and realize that seeing Jabba at this point is a huge pacing mistake as far as the movie is concerned, and it kills the suspense of the 'price on my head' sub-plot that paid off in ROTJ when we finally get to see Jabba. (The resolution of that plotline was actually one of the more enjoyable things about that movie; well, that and the speeder-bikes.)

Yeah, I always thought waiting to see Jabba created suspense- we always hear about this guy, but who is he? What does he look like? Seeing him in ANH is anti-climactic.

What were the changes in the cell-block perspective??

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Originally posted by: Mielr
Yeah, I always thought waiting to see Jabba created suspense- we always hear about this guy, but who is he? What does he look like? Seeing him in ANH is anti-climactic.

What were the changes in the cell-block perspective??


I agree - he gets mentioned in passing in both ANH and ESB - no reason to beat us over the head. He and Boba Fett sure get shoved into any cranny GL wants, it seems like, and I think that's a good description of how it makes the fans feel, too.

(And that's not even mentioning his "appearance" in The Phantom Menace, along with a busty companion Hutt - despite the fact Hutts are hermaphroditic, according to SW.com - whatever).

The cell block on the Death Star, when shown in a straight-down-the-barrel shot, has a slightly different perspective angle and vanishing point, making it more realistic. Very subtle.
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Yeah, in previous versions, there had been a matte painting back there that didn't quite line up with the perspective presented by the actual practical corridor. It's extremely hard to notice. I never did before. It's not that bad, and that's why its correction is so easy to miss.

There is no lingerie in space…

C3PX said: Gaffer is like that hot girl in high school that you think you have a chance with even though she is way out of your league because she is sweet and not a stuck up bitch who pretends you don’t exist… then one day you spot her making out with some skinny twerp, only on second glance you realize it is the goth girl who always sits in the back of class; at that moment it dawns on you why she is never seen hanging off the arm of any of the jocks… and you realize, damn, she really is unobtainable after all. Not that that is going to stop you from dreaming… Only in this case, Gaffer is actually a guy.

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Originally posted by: andy_k_250

The cell block on the Death Star, when shown in a straight-down-the-barrel shot, has a slightly different perspective angle and vanishing point, making it more realistic. Very subtle.
Originally posted by: Gaffer Tape
Yeah, in previous versions, there had been a matte painting back there that didn't quite line up with the perspective presented by the actual practical corridor. It's extremely hard to notice. I never did before. It's not that bad, and that's why its correction is so easy to miss.
I guess that's why I never noticed it then. Thanks for the info- I'll have to check that out.

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The only thing about the SEs I really, REALLY liked was the cleanup. The effects during the Hoth battle scene, especially, looked much better, with the blue screen work being corrected. Really, that was about it. Everything else sticks out like a sore thumb. It's not that the added material is BAD, necessarily, it's just that when I see it, I disconnect from the movie and think "hey that is new". It's very jarring and bothers me as a Star Wars fan. I wish they had taken time to fix all the green boxes, bad mattes, etc. through all the movies, and spent less time putting in CGI musical numbers.
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The only changes I cared for were the cell block perspective being fixed and the change of the Ewok celebration music at the end of RotJ. I always wondered why the cell block corridor ended in a white area, and the fix looks more appropriate. As for the Ewok music, I never liked the "Yub Yub" music, even as a kid. I think the newer music fits better (NOT the added CGI bs, just the music), and the editing to incorporate it was also well done. Apart from these, none of the changes actually improve the films whatsoever. I did not include error corrections, since they are not really alterations, just fixes of past mistakes. I know everyone has a differing opinion on this subject; these are just my personal views.
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I agree that I like the new song better than Yub Nub, and that the new corridor works well. But I don't see the real need for changes at all, so I'd prefer them not to be there.

There is no lingerie in space…

C3PX said: Gaffer is like that hot girl in high school that you think you have a chance with even though she is way out of your league because she is sweet and not a stuck up bitch who pretends you don’t exist… then one day you spot her making out with some skinny twerp, only on second glance you realize it is the goth girl who always sits in the back of class; at that moment it dawns on you why she is never seen hanging off the arm of any of the jocks… and you realize, damn, she really is unobtainable after all. Not that that is going to stop you from dreaming… Only in this case, Gaffer is actually a guy.

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I like how he replaced the awful actor Sebastian Shaw with the superbly gifted Hayden Christiansen.
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Originally posted by: SpecialEditionSaboteur
I like how he replaced the awful actor Sebastian Shaw with the superbly gifted Hayden Christiansen.


LOL
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I like the CG X-wings and Ties, but the original footage is still fantastic to me. I wouldn't mind a branching version, though.

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