These are some of the more annoying, jarring, senseless, or ‘worst’ scenes (and a few Special Edition changes), for me…
Mostly because many of them are nonsensical or illogical; with George and various SE crews had years to ‘fix’ or address some of these, yet then did a half-arsed job when actually attempting it… or they simply couldn’t be fixed (in requiring an SE of the PT).
Ⓐ • “I killed them all. They’re dead, every single one of them. And not just the men, but the women and the children too."
Ⓑ • The awful rushed execution (and late re-writes) of Anakin’s turn to the dark side in Episode III: Revenge Of The Sith
Ⓒ • R2 and hiding behind the moving and disappearing rocks
Ⓓ • Mos Eisley - a quiet dangerous town where scum & villainy lay low in the OOT; not some bustling space port in the SE…
Ⓔ • The Cantina aliens being replaced in the Special Editions
Ⓕ • Boba Fett staring down the camera in the Special Edition of Star Wars
Ⓖ • Praxis-style shockwaves added for the destruction of Alderaan and also for the Death Star
Ⓗ • The Emperor change in Empire Strikes Back; and his much changed conversation with Vader
Ⓘ • Why Luke’s Empire Strikes Back scream (added only for the 1997 Special Edition) ‘makes no sense’
Ⓙ • Shots of the interior for the Millennium Falcon cockpit were significantly cropped in the SE of Empire Strikes Back
Ⓚ • The new Sarlacc
Ⓛ • Vader’s ‘Noooo-oooooooo!!!’ added to the finale of Return Of The Jedi (for the 2011 SE blu ray release)
Ⓜ • “Weesa Free!” - are now the finals words heard in the Original Trilogy…
^ I could have listed more - much, much more… but will save them for another day! 😉
Edit: Original Trilogy vs The Prequels: inconsistencies, retcons, plot holes and discrepancies… - 50+ issues; from a certain POV…
I couldn’t find individual OT•com threads on the above scenes and subjects. Hopefully they exist, and I just can’t find them. Until then…
| Ⓐ • I killed them all. They’re dead, every single one of them. And not just the men, but the women and the children too. |
Anakin: ‘I killed them. I killed them all. They’re dead, every single one of them. And not just the men, but the women and the children, too. They’re like animals, and I slaughtered them like animals. I hate them!’
^ Padme looks on thinking something like… Yes, this is the man I want to spend my life with, and be the father of my children… (yet best keep this to myself - and be ready to feign ignorance and surprise if Obi-Wan or the Jedi Council finds out Anakin is an unhinged murdering & butchering of unarmed men, women and children). And then Padme utters… “To be angry is to be human”.
Even the reaction to this news from Padme, followed by the delivery of Padme’s response is… baffling. Though obviously it would be very much different if Anakin were slaughtering human men, women and children that he had somehow perceived to had done him wrong… or maybe not… where Padme is concerned.
The writing for Padme as a character in AOTC and ROTS… as well as the ‘love story’… was lacking and baffling to say the least.
| Ⓑ • The awful rushed execution (and late re-writes) of Anakin’s turn to the dark side in Episode III: Revenge Of The Sith… |
^ Anakin’s turn as originally written & filmed - where he is present as Mace Windu and the three other Jedi arrive to arrest Palpatine.
The Turn: A History of the Evolution of Anakin’s Downfall - ‘The Secret History Of Star Wars’, by Michael Kaminski (aka zombie84)
^ the fascinating and baffling story of how Lucas stated he hadn’t actually “thought through enough” the pivotal scenes featuring Anakin’s actual turn to the dark side… showing the seduction and fall of the person so memorably described by Obi Wan Kenobi as… “who was a pupil of mine until he turned to evil, helped the Empire hunt down and destroy the Jedi knights. He betrayed and murdered your father. Now the Jedi are all but extinct. Vader was seduced by the dark side of the Force.”:-
“The only scene I hadn’t thought through enough is the [turn scene]” - George Lucas (during the 2004 re-shoots for Revenge Of The Sith).
‘Nonetheless, we see here how evanescent the storyline was–even the very sequence that is arguably the heart of the entire trilogy. “The only scene I hadn’t thought through enough is the [turn scene],” Lucas says to Sam Jackson and Ian McDiarmid during the 2004 re-shoots. Lucas explains his new conception of the turn to Christensen the next day: “It’s basically Faust in the end,” Lucas says. “Where you make a pact with the devil. And that usually leads to the same end: You cannot change the inevitable. If you try, you’re basically going against the cosmos or however you want to define that.”’
An archived backup of The Turn: A History of the Evolution of Anakin’s Downfall - from ‘The Secret History Of Star Wars’ website.
Pages 202-207 of “Making of Star Wars: Revenge Of The Sith” book, by JW Rinzler, also chronicles the film’s late re-writing & re-editing.
^ For me, George is pulling some Olympic-level mental gymnastics with this statement about Anakin in Revenge Of The Sith.
“He was still a good person” and “doing a great job”… despite the genocide of the Tusken village in AOTC, and his war crime vs Dooku in ROTS. Really? Nor are we shown in the Prequels that Anakin is “a good pal to Obi-Wan” - which brings its own issues.
As discussed above, even the ROTS re-writes and re-shoots - with the changed ultra-quick turn of Anakin to the Dark Side - the Prequel films do not showcase Anakin being “a good person” or “doing a great job” up until the 2nd act of the Prequel finale.
| Ⓒ • R2 and hiding behind the moving and disappearing rocks… |
If George is going to put rocks in front of R2D2 in 2011, because there were no rocks around when filming Star Wars in the 70’s, at least do a decent job of it…
^ R2 is stuck behind those rocks on the blu ray - and it is likely nobody has an idea how he got in there in the first place!
Oh, the rocks disappear when needed for differing shots… sure, why not?!
Edit: or R2 and the rocks themselves move - just a little…
‘in two shots at 29:47 and 29:50 of ANH, R2’s position shifts quite a bit, as do the rocks on the right, but the rocks on the left, added in 2011, remain exactly in place’
^ from https://twitter.com/starwarsfonts/status/1521240099756908544 (with a gif of moving R2D2 and the moving rocks)
| Ⓓ • Mos Eisley: a quiet dangerous town where scum & villainy lay low in the OOT - not some bustling space port in the SE |
Obi-Wan had just given us the heads-up this was a wretched hive of scum and villain - now in the next scene we have slapstick cartoon CGI ‘humour’.
Originally a dangerous backwater, in the middle of nowhere, an ideal place for people who skirt the law to lay low off the radar… with a quiet atmosphere… where nobody looked twice if someone pulled a blaster in a bar. Not some bustling space port… with dinosaurs walking past the camera that for some reason fill the entire screen. This and other CGI ‘improvements’ and alterations cause the movie’s tone here to shift dramatically - and not for the better.
Phil Tippett (on the Special Edition changes; and to Mos Eisley): “They’re shit.” He doesn’t think they’re necessary at all, citing as one example how he loved Lucas’ original, Sergio Leone-like approach to shooting Mos Eisley as this minimal, barren place and how now it’s just “filled with a bunch of… CGI shit.”
A 3 minute video from ‘Star Wars Comparisons’ youtube channel, highlighting the difference between the two differing cuts:-
ORIGINAL Mos Eisley Escape | Star Wars (1977) [DeEd, Blu-ray, GOUT, SSE]
| Ⓔ • The Cantina aliens being replaced in the Special Editions… |
Why? just why…?
To say nothing of removing classic 70’s aliens… for mid-90’s CGI that was only ever going to date itself & look more out of place.
A 5 minute video at the ‘Star Wars Comparisons’ youtube channel highlighting the differences between the various OT cuts:-
ORIGINAL The Cantina Comparison | Star Wars (1977) [DeEd, Blu-ray, GOUT, SSE]
a couple of decent quality articles along with some images of the aliens from the pre-Special Edition Cantina scene…
www.yahoo.com/entertainment/the-star-wars-cantina-scene-the-151216488.html
www.starwars.com/news/much-to-learn-you-still-have-9-things-you-might-not-know-about-the-aliens-of-star-wars-a-new-hope
| Ⓕ • Boba Fett staring down the camera in the Special Edition of Star Wars… |
…and with no reference to Spaceballs either! 😉
Seriously, he just stands there… looking into the camera. I suppose it helps detract from having the absolute mess of that CGI Jabba on-screen seconds before - but that is still quite an awful scene in itself.
A video of the scene can also be viewed here (in the first 7 seconds of the video) - www.youtube.com/watch?v=mSCXeDZUJUQ
| Ⓖ • Praxis-style shockwaves added for the destruction of Alderaan and also for the Death Star… |
The original Alderaan explosion was replaced with a new effect where a large ring blasts out horizontally while the main round mass of the planet explodes and then hurtles outwards. A very similar effect to that used in Star Trek VI when the Klingon moon of Praxis explodes… so much so ‘Praxis’ is actually used in the SE credits of Star Wars.
Why did they change the original effect? 'Cos they could? Who knows? There was nothing Nothing wrong with the original effects - possibly it was practice for the then-coming CGI-heavy Prequel Trilogy. To me the original effect looked better, whereas the later replacement looks to have dated, somewhat.
a 2 minute video from the ‘Star Wars Comparisons’ youtube channel, comparing the Alderann change for the Special Edition:-
Disney vs Despecialized | ORIGINAL Alderaan’s Destruction | Star Wars (1977)
a 13 minute video from the ‘Star Wars Comparisons’ youtube channel, comparing the Death Star change for the Special Edition:-
ORIGINAL Battle of Yavin | Star Wars (1977) [DeEd, Blu-ray, GOUT, SSE]
a 7 minute video from the ‘Star Wars Comparisons’ youtube channel, comparing the Death Star II (from Return Of The Jedi) change for the Special Edition:-
ORIGINAL Death Star II Assault | Return of the Jedi (1983) [DeEd, Blu-ray, GOUT, LPP]
| Ⓗ • The Emperor change in Empire Strikes Back; and his much changed conversation with Vader… |
“How is that possible?” Well, we are told in the opening scroll - and the entire movie that it is a relentless pursuit of Luke Skywalker that is driving Vader. Vader even says: “That is the system. And I’m sure Skywalker is with them.”
If he doesn’t think that Luke is his son, then who does he think Luke is? Does Vader remember his original name? Why would he be in pursuit of Luke Skywalker if he thought that the surname they share was just a funny coincidence?
a 3 minute video from the ‘Star Wars Comparisons’ youtube channel, comparing the changes for the 2004 Special Edition:-
ORIGINAL Emperor’s Message | The Empire Strikes Back (1980) [DeEd, Blu-ray, GOUT, Renegade]
A quality article on the issues with the change made to the Emperor’s conversation with Vader for the 2004 Special Edition:-
https://screencrush.com/empire-strikes-back-emperor-scene-comparison
| Ⓘ • Why Luke’s Empire Strikes Back scream (added for the '97 Special Edition) ‘makes no sense’… |
‘In the original version of Empire Strikes Back, Luke makes the ultimate heroic decision. He decides that rather than join the evil Darth Vader (who he’s just learned may be his own father!) he will leap from a thousand feet, possibly to his own demise. The look in Luke’s eyes, the triumph as he realizes he would rather die than join Vader, the sound of John Williams’ horns followed his expression as he slowly let go and plummeted, possibly to his death.
In the 1997 “Special Edition” of The Empire Strikes Back the scene is unchanged except for one small detail: Luke screams the entire time he’s falling. Even though he’s just displayed an expression of unspeakable heroism and bravery, he seems to have reconsidered once he is actually falling?
In the later Special Editions of The Empire Strikes Back, Lucas has opted to remove the scream. This could be viewed as a good change except that the scream should never have been included to begin with. The very fact that the scream exists at all, in any form, is enough to leave a sour taste in the mouth. The additional fact that it’s been removed begs the question: Why was it added in the first place?’
^ from www.chefelf.com/starwars/ep5se_1.php - ChefElf’s ‘Nitpicker’s guide to Empire Strikes Back: Special Edition’
a 30 second video of the added Luke scream to the 1997 Special Edition of Empire Strikes Back:-
www.youtube.com/watch?v=PaXgK5HRBjk - at the ETAndElliot youtube channel
A superb article featuring Mark Hamill thoughts on the Special Edition change…
Mark Hamill on why Luke’s Empire Strikes Back scream ‘makes no sense’ - at Entertainment Weekly
^ Mark Hamill: "But like my son and a lot of fans says, we’d love to see the original, pre-fixes. Just the way it was in 1977.” 👍
Matthew Wood on the introduction in the 1997 Special Edition of Empire Strikes Back… with Luke now screaming when he chooses to sacrifice his own life - rather than join Vader and the Emperor… and also the removal of that scream…
Blast Points podcast: Episode 308 - The Special Luke Scream Mystery:-
https://blastpointspodcast.com/2022/04/26/episode-308-the-special-luke-scream-mystery (at 24 minutes and 10 seconds)
Matthew Wood: “Ben Burtt put that [scream] in, in 1997. George didn’t recall approving it when I presented it to him in 2004 - which was a much more thorough remaster than '97. So we took it out. Thankfully.”
So it seems George Lucas had nothing to do with the inclusion of Luke’s scream - audio taken directly from Palaptine being unexpectantly thrown down the reactor shaft by Vader in ROTJ - being added for use in ESB for when Luke made the decision to sacrifice his own life rather than join Vader and the Emperor, just moments after finding out his father was Vader…
It was purely Ben Burtt - according to the above Matthew Wood story…
The other Matthew Wood story I recall, (and the one I am now looking for because I can’t now find it), is that Wood himself removed Luke’s scream because he hated it… and that George didn’t notice.
| Ⓙ • Shots of the interior for the Millennium Falcon cockpit were significantly cropped in the SE of Empire Strikes Back |
A weird one for likely most reading this, likely? Still, it is just a personal bugbear of mine, so does rank right up there! 😉
more to come… hopefully with an explanation of just why this bugs me so much - but really shouldn’t (in comparison to the many other poor alterations, changes, and just worst scenes in Star Wars). It is not even a poor scene or baffling / poorly executed change… just a cropped one!
^ ‘As Lucas was never pleased with the expanded Falcon cockpit set made for ESB, every shot of the cockpit was zoomed & cropped for the DVD release. (2004) #StarWars #ESB’
from https://twitter.com/StarWarsVisComp/status/1055126774936489984
^ ‘An example of how every Falcon cockpit shot has been cropped again for the 4K after being done originally in 2004. Note how Chewie’s side of the frame is even tighter than it was in 2004. It is believed this is due to Lucas’ displeasure with how the set was built bigger in ESB because Gary Kurtz wanted the actors to be able to have more space since so much of the movie happens in there.’
from ‘The Empire Strikes Back – A visual guide to changes, fixes and tweaks in the 2019 4K Disney+ version’ - by doubleofive.
For me, I felt that the ‘teeth and tentacle’ look of the original Sarlacc made it seem a really threatening and sinister beast of a monster. Yet once George had tweaked it for the Special Edition we ended up with a monster resembling Little Shop Of Horrors’ Audrey. With some more weird imagery thrown in too. Sometimes less is more…
a 7 minute video from the ‘Star Wars Comparisons’ youtube channel, comparing the Sarlacc change for the Special Edition:-
ORIGINAL Sarlacc Pit Scene | Return of the Jedi (1983) [4K83, Despecialized, Blu-ray]
| Ⓛ • Vader’s ‘Noooo-oooooooo!!!’ added to the finale of Return Of The Jedi (for the 2011 SE blu ray release) |
The original scene was so powerful and impacting - Vader’s silence was masterful. Dialogue was never needed to see what Vader was feeling as he watches Palpatine torture and being killing his son. The closeups on Vader’s mask, the camera work and direction, especially the eyes as you see the flashes of force lightning reflected on it… a truly masterful scene with Vader trying to determine what he should do… that degree of suspense… until that very moment when Vader picks up Palpatine and throws him into the abyss. It was a moment that you never really expected because Vader was silent.
The new 2011 alteration is almost cartoony - telegraphs Vader’s intention - to the point of devaluing the scene, robs it of suspense, and also its original impact.
‘Darth Vader will lose a little more of his dignity in Star Wars original trilogy Blu-rays. Listen for yourself!’:-
https://gizmodo.com/darth-vader-will-lose-a-little-more-of-his-dignity-in-s-5835951 (August 2011 article)
a comparison video of the original scene - and the 2011 blu ray release alteration, with added Vader’s “No… No-oooooo!”:-
www.youtube.com/watch?v=iGaaPY62XgA - a 1 minute video at the calblanke youtube channel.
Was this 2011 alteration some sort of punishment by George for the fan backlash and memes at Vader’s ridiculous, awkwardly cartoon-esque “No-oooooo!” in what was meant to be the powerful and emotional finale of the whole Prequel Trilogy?
Or a change made so George can claim it is another example of “it’s like poetry, it rhymes”, or so Prequel fans can claim it is some sort of mirroring / ring theory / visual symmetry / hidden genius… feature, or other mental gymnastics based reasoning?
Either way another awful alteration, and like so many other changes… completely unnecessary and detracts from the original.
“Always loved Vader’s wordless self sacrifice. Another shitty, clueless, revision like Greedo and young Anakin’s ghost. What a fucking shame.” - Simon Pegg.
Jar Jar / or other similar Gungan… in the ‘Victory Celebration’ scene in ROTJ 2004 SE post-victory montage:-
a 6 second video of this crime scene can be viewed here - www.youtube.com/watch?v=IISUpmzfDD0
Does Jar Jar exclaim ‘Wesa Free!’ at the end of Return of the Jedi? - Matt Wood did the voice and says it is a random Gungan.
The finals words heard in the Original Trilogy now go to a Gungan shouting “Weesa free!” from a rooftop building on Naboo…
