Once upon a time, “Star Wars” was king of the world. Since its beginning in 1977, George Lucas’ astronomically successful trilogy — comprising “Star Wars,” “The Empire Strikes Back” and “Return of the Jedi” — captivated audiences of all ages, earned millions at the box office and in merchandise sales, spawned countless knockoffs, and essentially paved the way for modern Hollywood, for better or worse. Without “Star Wars,” Lucasfilm, Industrial Light & Magic (ILM), and the THX sound system do not exist, nor do LucasArts, Skywalker Sound, or Pixar Animation.
Yeah, “Star Wars” was a big deal.
So, it made sense that Lucas would continue to milk his franchise for all its worth. In 1997, 14 years following the release of “Return of the Jedi” and two years before “Star Wars: The Phantom Menace,” Lucas re-released the original trilogy in newly minted “Special Editions,” featuring a plethora of changes, some controversial, some essential, designed to update the older pictures to the present-day aesthetic. In other words, more CGI.
At the time, audiences relished the chance to see Luke (Mark Hamill), Han (Harrison Ford), and Leia (Carrie Fisher) on the big screen once more, leading to box office gold. Still, the added digital effects, goofy humor, and additional dialogue caused outrage, prompting fans to create their own “De-Specialized Editions” without any of the additional scenes and effects. At any rate, Lucas’ alterations left a lasting imprint on the franchise, and these are the 10 biggest changes to “Star Wars” in the Special Editions.
Han shoots Greedo first in A New Hope
20th Century Fox
For every positive change to the “Star Wars” trilogy, two or three exist that don’t make much sense. Most significantly, Lucas curiously altered the scene in which Han Solo blows the bejesus out of a nosy bounty hunter named Greedo (Maria De Aragon). In the original bit, the black-eyed alien confronts Han at gunpoint in the Mos Eisley cantina. The pair exchange words, with Greedo threatening to turn Han over to Jabba the Hutt to collect the lucrative bounty on his head. Naturally, our hero remains unfazed, silently drawing his blaster and using it to blow Greedo to bits. No questions asked.
In the updated version, the scene remains unchanged — except the key moment when Han fires his weapon. Rather than shooting Greedo in cold blood and proving himself a formidable space cowboy, Han waits for his enemy to fire first before discharging his blaster.
Ugh.
Not only does the new scene look wonky, especially in the 1997 version, but it weakens Hans’s character, turning him from a bada** who doesn’t take s*** from anyone into less of a bada** who allows others to get the drop on him before making his move. There was even another version released later that had Greedo inexplicably shout, “Macklunkey!” Lucas has offered plenty of reasons for the change and even contends the Special Edition iteration was his intent all along. aA Dr. Evil would say, “Riiiiiiiight.”
Here’s an idea: Restore the original version and allow the world to see the cool Han we all grew up idolizing.
The Battle of Yavin gets some new space combat shots in A New Hope
