deepanddark20

EDIT: I didn't like what I formerly posted in this spot, so I deleted it.

My very first reaction in the theater was confusion and not really knowing exactly what I had just seen. Like Knightmessenger said, it happened fast and didn't make much sense.

Up until that point, I had watched the Original Trilogy enough times to have every frame memorized. I also had spent my life up to that point regarding George Lucas as God, so it would be a long time before my mind was ready to process the possibility that he would do anything less than awesome (this realization was so hard for me that it didn't really sink in until several years after Revenge of the Sith came out, after I had lots of time to meditate on the prequels and special editions).

When I was sitting in that theater in 1997 experiencing the Special Edition for the first time, I went with the expectation that any changes would be done because of special effects that weren't possible in the 70's and 80's before the digital age, and also to make outdated-looking effects shots look better. Since the Greedo scene didn't fall into either category I wasn't expecting anything to be different about it, so the change left me scratching my head.

Now that I've had more time to digest the Greedo change, I have pretty much come to feel the same way about it that most fans do, although for me personally it's not one of the worst things about the Special Edition and I think it might be blown out of proportion a little by the fans. Don't get me wrong though, I am against it; it was wrong of Lucas to do it. It's just unfortunate that Lucas made other changes that were a lot worse (in my opinion).

Have you seen the picture of Lucas wearing a "Han shot first" t-shirt with a grin on his face? That grin annoys the crap out of me. Whether fans are happy or miserable, he gets to have pride over being the guy who gets everybody riled up. What he really deserves is for nobody to care. But then we come back to the fact that he gave us Star Wars in the first place and we wouldn't have it without him, so we can't simply hate him. Damn you Lucas. If I met you, I would want to kiss you, shake your hand, and punch you in the face all at the same time.

Darth Lucas, I suggest you get the Farsight set from MySpleen. It's the best choice for what you're specifically seeking, IMO.

EDIT: When I posted this, I thought Darth Lucas just needed a version that says "Episode IV A New Hope" in the opening crawl, and the only Laserdisc preservations I had seen at the time were Farsight and TR47's v1. Oops.

Harmy, I LOVE YOU!!! I LOVE LOVE LOVE YOU!

Your work on Return of the Jedi is very important to me personally because the two Special Edition changes that ruined things for me the most were Vader saying "no" when Luke is getting electrocuted and the changed ending (Ewok celebration song and Sebastian Shaw's ghost). I'm very emotional about those parts and I literally get goosebumps when I see them in your restored version!

That being said, I really hope that you continue to work on a future version of Return of the Jedi. I've noticed two parts that bother me a little bit.

I feel like I can kind of tell that Sebastian Shaw's eyebrows have been inserted into the shot from lower-def elements. They kind of look noticeably less sharp than everything around them, and maybe it's just me but they almost seem to wiggle a little bit instead of being a natural solid part of the face.

Also, when Jabba says "Move him into position!" and Luke is first pushed out onto the plank and we see an overhead shot of the Sarlaac pit, the Sarlaac also looks a little bit like it was inserted into the desert shot and seems a little blurry.

Don't get me wrong, I don't mean to make a big deal about these observations, and did I mention I LOVE YOUR WORK? But yea I just hope I can look forward to even greater stuff. Thanks again for actually putting the effort in so that the rest of us can just sit on our asses and enjoy!

I honestly can't answer yes or no to the question of whether Disney will release the OUT. I do think it's more likely now then it was when George Lucas was in charge, but that doesn't mean it will happen. I can say that I really want Disney to release them and hope that they will, but that doesn't mean much either. And even if they do, their release might not necessarily be better than a fan created version (only because of how surprisingly good fan created versions have been getting these days).

The pre-1997 versions of the Star Wars Trilogy have become exactly like marijuana. And I'm not just talking about the euphoria they both cause.

Like marijuana, everybody loves the Original Trilogy and wants it, but the official powers-that-be say nobody is allowed to have it and will offer no official assistance in acquiring it. Yet those official authorities know that an underground community will do the necessary work to make it available to the select market that refuses to take no for an answer.

Secretly, George Lucas and Disney and the drug enforcement agency know that it is impossible to prevent something from being made, distributed, and enjoyed as long as there is demand for it; so if you read between the lines, what they are actually saying is: "we don't want what you people are doing to be promoted or advertised on billboards or in the faces of those who aren't already into it as much as you, so keep it to yourselves and we will only mess with you once in a while to keep up the appearance that our attempt at control isn't silly and futile."

Also, when discussing marijuana policy, many of us who think it's ridiculous that it's not sold in the store like alcohol often say that eventually those conservative older people who oppose us will die of old age and so their viewpoint will fade away. Well, what do you think George Lucas is saying when he says that the copies of the Original Trilogy won't last more than another 30 or 40 years and that in 100 years his Special Edition will be the version people remember? He's saying those of us who insist that the Special Edition (and the prequels for that matter) isn't truly Star Wars will die off, so he can dismiss our demand as something that will just eventually go away. I don't think I'm reading too much into his comment; while he's too civil and good natured to explicitly say it, I think it's clearly implied in his "100 years" comment that original trilogy love will go to the grave and that's where he wants it.

Well, while I do believe it's necessary to respect and love George Lucas, not only as a fellow human being but for the inexpressible debt he is owed for getting this Star Wars thing started (we wouldn't have it without him), I still must say I DO NOT appreciate being talked about that way or treated with that attitude, especially after the money I've given him for Star Wars related items during my life. When it comes to this, I say f*** him since that is essentially what he's saying to me.

Thank God we have people like Harmy and dark_jedi! I seriously love those guys with a fiery passion!

The chase scene originally had a constant, uninterrupted momentum which was mirrored in the soundtrack in a perfect marriage of music and directing. But George Lucas didn't direct the chase scene, and he has no sensitivity to the awkward effect his insertions have on the scene's rhythm. When you watch the end result, it's obvious that someone who didn't direct the movie has inserted shots into another director's work. That doesn't excuse Lucas's decision though, because you don't have to be the director of "The Empire Strikes Back" to perceive that the insertions break the rhythm.

Just to clarify where I'm coming from here, my main reason for having an issue with this is my love of the soundtrack, not the directing of the scene. Years before the special editions were ever released, I listened to the soundtracks a million times, and the specific rhythmic track for this chase scene was one of my favorite tracks. I listened to it enough to have every note burned into my brain, and got very attached to hearing it unbroken in the movie just like it was on the CD. When I first experienced the loss of that in the special edition it bothered me greatly.

This is one of the many examples of how things that fans care about are not things that Lucas cares about.

And whether or not that new voice is James Earl Jones, it does NOT sound acceptable.

The original starter of this thread discussion mentioned Vader's emotional state and how it relates to the dialogue; honestly that's one detail that I never thought of and it isn't one of the issues for me, but I find it to be an interesting perspective. I'm surprised he mentioned that as an issue but didn't mention the sound of Vader's voice in the new version.

One more thing - aren't the special edition changes supposed to be things they didn't have the money and/or technology for in 1980? You're telling me they didn't have the money/technology to have James Earl Jones say "alert my star destroyer to prepare for my arrival"? Or that those extra shots of the shuttle and Vader's arrival weren't possible? They don't require cgi like the enhanced Mos Eisley shots. This scene is only one of many examples that disproves the argument that the special edition changes are justified because they couldn't be done with 80's technology.