A scene from "A New Hope"...

..........When I watch "A New Hope",I always notice a part from the movie.That part is;at the middle of the movie,when Han Solo goes to the docking bay 94 (where his ship stays),he finds that Jabba the Hutt and his men have already arrived there.Jabba wants to take the money Solo owes him,and they talk about the debt.That part was taken out from the "Original Release" of the movie (I had also seen the Original Version).At first,Jabba was designed to be a human and an actor stepped into the role of Jabba,but after the scene was cut from the movie,he (Jabba) was designed as an extra-terrestrial at the "Return of the Jedi".And as from that movie,Jabba appeared as a slug-like creature instead of human,and when the "Special Edition" version of ANH was released,that vanished part was put to the movie,but the human-appearing Jabba was displaced with the creature-one via an exclusive visual-effect process.

..........At that hangar part,we see Solo walking and disputing with Jabba,then they suddenly stop,and right-after-they-stop,Han Solo walks around Jabba,steps on his tail-Jabba caughs/swings,then Solo passes to the rightside of him (Jabba) and continues his speech.At the Original Release of the movie,there was a human instead,so Solo was walking around a "person",but when the human-Jabba was displaced with the slug like-Jabba,Solo was made to appear as if he was stepping on Jabba's tail,for the human-Jabba didn't have a tail and Solo was directly walking around a character without a tail at the Original Version of ANH.In my opinion;the-scene-would-appear better if "stepping on Jabba's tail" was taken out.At the hangar scene;there's-also-a-part when we see Chewbacca walking alone (he appears alone at the part),holding a rifle in his arms.That "Chewy-scene" might have been put to the part when-we-see-Han Solo walking to the back of Jabba before stepping on his tail.When Solo gets closer to Jabba,the scene might be cut and we see Chewy walking alone with a rifle,and right after the Chewy scene is cut,we see that Solo's already passed to the otherside of Jabba.And,at that very scene;if the audience sees Chewbacca walking/looking at them (right after Solo gets close to Jabba),it might make the scene appear as if a dispute shall take place between Solo and Jabba,and that would also give the part a bit thrilling effect...

..........I also noticed some mistakes at that part.One is;when-Solo-passes-rightward of Jabba,he (Solo) bargains about his debt,and while he's talking,he-gets-his-hand closer to Jabba and we-see-his-index-finger dissappear...The other is;right before Solo gets into his ship,he says "Jabba,you're a wonderfull human being",but Jabba is not a human...I think the reason of that mistake comes from the original Jabba's being human,but at the new footage,he's displaced with the slug-Jabba,so there's no human in front of Solo...The last one is;well,it is not a mistake,but Jabba's body swings like a jelly all the time he moves (especially when Solo steps on his tail),if his body didn't appear as a jelly-thing,that would make the character of Jabba look more"massive" (like the Jabba of E6),and that'd be more suitable for the athmosphere of the movie...Those things I've mentioned might appear as small details,but they make a certain effect on the big picture,and the big picture resembles a clock.A clock contains so many portions/cogwheels,and even if the smallest piece looses its function,that makes a certain effect on it...Of course,undoubtedly,George Lucas has 100% conrol at his work,and the greatest proof of his mastery and his genious is Star Wars' becoming a phenomenon...The reason I've written those above is to mention my opinions about the things I observed...

..........Weeks ago,I watched the trailer of "Tron Legacy" (I'm still watching it),and I liked it A LOT;it contains very good screenshots and condenses the movie's plot so well.Every month I buy "Empire Magazine",and I read the trailer's review at its May (251st) issue which arrived to the stores earlier than usual (And I read the article about "Bac

 

There are undoubtedly other ways of editing the scene - to cut away to something else when Han walks around Jabba - but George Lucas had Han step on Jabba's tail as a joke - to show how contemptuous Han is towards Jabba and that even in such a dangrous situation he is still cocky. Han knew that Jabba needed him because of his skills as a smuggler and to repay him for the lost shipment. Therefore despite Jabba's displeasure with him, Han still pushes him, treats him disrespectfully, in order to show Jabba that he cannot threaten him so easily. If Han let him Jabba get too much of the upper hand in their relationship then that could end badly. Han wanted to constantly remind Jabba of his great usefulness and the respect that that should afford him. Thus, Han does not kowtow to Jabba and even overtly disrespects so Jabba does not forget who he is dealing with.


The line about Jabba being a 'wonderful human being' is a holdover from when Jabba was human, but it too is a joke. I think that since Jabba became a repulsive alien the joke is in fact made much better. It was always meant sarcastically - ie Han does not actually think Jabba is wonderful - but since the Special Edition it has another layer. Han is joking about Jabba's lack of humanity and also his ugliness.

 

You gotta wonder, though, how much this disrespect weighed in on Jabba's decision in RotJ to execute Han (after freed of the carbon block, of course) instead of letting Han paying triple. . . .

 

^ I agree. Jabba could even have had Han removed from the carbonite as soon as he was delivered (instead of keeping him as display piece "art" on the wall), and then let Han arrange for near-immediate payment to Jabba (without letting Han leave, of course).

 

Yeah, I agree as well. Jabba easily could have made Han pay up instead of trying to kill him, even if Han didn't have the money to pay him off.

 

Makes me wonder if Jabba sent a message to Han and Chewie right before they headed out to the sarlacc pit saying something like, "Sorry about all this, it's only business."

 

Jabba was never intended to be human. Lucas was always going to replace the human actor with an alien. The human actor was only there to provide Harrison Ford with his lines and to use as a visual for the scene. Jabba was going to be a bipedal alien, but by the time ROTJ was being filmed, Lucas changed his mind and made Jabba a slug-like alien instead.

 

Yeah, this was all clearly spelled out by Lucas in his interview at the beginning of the ANH SE VHS tape.

 

Not true.Jabba was supposed to be a human and was shot as a human. How on earth was he EVER supposed to replace the actor with an alien in 1977?

http://secrethistoryofstarwars.com/jabba.html

 

Lucas in the ANH SE tape:

"The scene was originally shot with an actor standing in for whatever creature we designed. At first I wanted Jabba to be kind of a furry creature, like Chewbacca. But as we went on and I redesigned him for Return of the Jedi, he obviously became a large slug and a very different kind of character."

 

From wookiepedia, behind the scenes, http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Jabba_Desilijic_Tiure


"The final script of Star Wars referred to Jabba as a "fat, slug-like creature with eyes on extended feelers and a huge ugly mouth".[20] Lucas intended for him to be a furry, Chewbacca-esque character, and had actor Declan Mulholland play the role wearing a shaggy coat. Mulholland would have been replaced with a stop-motion creature during post-production had the scene not ended up on the cutting room floor.[19]"

 

That's not true. If he wanted Jabba to be like Chewbacca why didn't he use an actor in a suit as every other alien in the film?
The actor was not "standing in". he was completely dressed up, and interacted very closely with Ford. It was IMPOSSIBLE to replace him in 1977. The scene was shot in a way that it was just impossible to add special effects.

 

-That's not the final script at all! That's the scrip that was officially published in 1979, with "Episode IV: A New Hope" added and with several other changes as well. Originally, Jabba was described thus: " Jabba is the grossest of the salivering hulks and his scarred face is a grim testimonial to his prowess as a vicious killer." This is the actual description of Jabba in the final script.

-Again, if he was supposed to be a furry character why didn't he wear a suit and a mask? Furthermore, what did he need a "shaggy coat" for? He's dressed as a human, as any other human on Moss Eisley. What was Lucas supposed to do, replace the head and keep the body? (a human body). That doesn't make any scene.

-Impossible to have a stop-motion creature in 1977 on that scene. There was no other stop-motion creature in that movie, as far as I know. And look at how Harrison Ford interacted with the "stand-in". It would be impossible to replace him with animation. It still was incredibly difficult in 1997!

 

How is that not true? That's what Lucas said in his interview. I watched those SE tapes numerous times until the DVDs came out.

 

Originally, Jabba was described thus: " Jabba is the grossest of the salivering hulks and his scarred face is a grim testimonial to his prowess as a vicious killer." This is the actual description of Jabba in the final script.
Starwars.com Databank has this:

"Behind the Scenes
Before he became the fat loathsome slug that we recognize Jabba as in Return of the Jedi, Jabba was referred to as a "Hut," and looked quite different. In the 1977 version of A New Hope, there was to be a confrontation between Han Solo and Jabba that was filmed, but it was never completed to make the final release.

The script establishes Jabba to be a large, repulsive creature, an effect that George Lucas could not realize at the time. He is described as a "fat, slug-like creature with eyes on extended feelers and a huge ugly mouth." The scene was filmed with a stand-in actor, Declan Mulholland. It would be over 20 years later that this scene was finally completed. The Special Edition of A New Hope featured a computer-generated Jabba replacement for Mulholland."

 

The fact that Lucas says so doesn't make it true What he says doesn't make any sense. You still haven't adressed any of my questions (why is the "stand-in" perfectly dressed as a human being? how on earth did Lucas expect to replace him if Harrison Ford was basically touching the character and moving around him? why didn't he wear a mask and a suit, as any other alien in the movie?).

 

Again, the Databank may say that, but that doesn't make any sense and isn't what actually happened. The script (and the novel) never described Jabba as an alien or a slug-like creature. That was added to the script in 1979, along with "Episode IV: A New Hope. The original script just says that his face is scared.

Declan Mulholland wasn't a stand-in. He was completely dressed (why??? remember that they basically didn't have any money) and interacted so closely with Harrison Ford that it was just impossible to replace him later on.

 

The shaggy coat was probably just there to help Harrison with the scene. To help visualize an alien. Maybe like method acting.

The reason the scene was cut was because it was very hard to replace the human actor with a stop-motion alien. The technology wasn't there nor did Lucas have the money.

Lucas had to hurry with the production. The studio heads were putting the pressure on him. Lucas just filmed the scene with the human actor and thought that if he had time he would try to replace the actor with an alien in post production. He didn't know how, but hoped that he could somehow do something with it.

If the human actor was always intended to be used and not an alien, then Lucas would have used the scene in the first place. Instead it was cut.

 

-Why would a shaggy coat (a human coat) help Harrison to visualize an alien? And it's not just the coat. The man was completely dressed as any other human being in MOss Eisley!

-If you read The Making of Star Wars, it explains why the scene was cut, and it had nothing to do with replacing Jabba. Lucas felt that the scene was not necessary and (most imporatntly) the acting from Jabba wasn't strong enough. It is possible that he originally concieved Jabba as an alien, and was forced to use a human; when he saw the scene he didn't like it and it was cut.
And most importantly, there were no attempts made to replace Jabba.

-And again, the way the scene was shot it was impossible to replace the actor with stop-motion. First of all, as far as I know stop-motion creatures weren't used until Empire. Secondly, Han interacted with Jabba very closely, even touching him and going around him. If Lucas seriosuly wanted to replace him he would've blocked the scene differently.

 

Let's see, we have documented evidence that Lucas always intended to replace Mulholland with an alien, and then we have conjecture from you that what they did "makes no sense."

Yeah, we win, sorry.

 

The "documented evidence" happening to be words spoken out of Lucas's own mouth? I'm sorry, as much as I like SW, I put absolutely ZERO stock in what that man says regarding "the way I always intended to do it."

Lucas has always justified changes to the SW original trilogy with those same words--"I always intended to do it"--even when in fact he originally intended no such thing. It's part of "selling" the changes to the public, and it reinforces his self-established persona as a super-brilliant creative genius who came up with all of SW at once in one fell swoop. Zombie in his Secret History thread (in the Saga forum) has done a LOT of research into this aspect of Lucas' public statements, and he's come up with much the same conclusion; you'd do well to give that thread a full read.

Besides, if Lucas hadn't kept changing his mind about what his "original intent" was, we wouldn't have multiple Special Editions.

But anyway, I've read that Lucas first developed the idea to replace Declan Mulholland in ANH with a stop-motion puppet a bit later, around the time that Return of the Jedi was being made. He even had storyboards developed for it, which incidentally show off rather early designs for Jabba (with legs!). So it's entirely possible that Lucas is simply confusing an idea that he came up with only in 1982 or so, with what he ACTUALLY intended for the Jabba scene in the first film, when it was being shot.

 

First of all, the conjecture doesn't actually come from me. Please, read this article: http://secrethistoryofstarwars.com/jabba.html

The "conjecture" is supported by the actual final screenplay, the casting of an established actor, the costumes created specifically for him, for the lack of any documented attempt of making an alien Jabba before 1980, for the way the scene was shot... Anything to say about these?

While your "documented evidence" comes from Lucas saying so. Remember that Lucas says that Greedo always shot first, that the story was always about the tragedy of Darth Vader, that there were never 9 episodes planned...

Lucas is an incredible filmmaker in my opinion, and I admire him very much,but he consistently lies about the creation of the saga, which is a real shame.

 

I was going to suggest this also. I think its highly likely that they could not achieve in 1977 what Lucas was hoping for conceptually with Jabba. He probably was conceived as an alien, as suggested by Lucas in the SE documentary. However, due to either budget restrictions or technical limitations, Lucas eventually bit the bullet and decided to make Jabba human - shooting the scene with an actor anyway.

The reasons he cut it originally were most likely down to the fact that a) he didn't like the performance he got, b) he felt the scene wasn't neccessary (indeed, pertinent dialogue was shifted to the Greedo scene) and c) because Lucas still felt if ever Jabba were to make it on screen, he should be an alien. So its most likely a combination of things.

 

This is correct - JTH was never intended to be a human in the films, and was written as an alien in the original script (see the "Art of A New Hope" book, which includes the original script, for reference). As mentioned, due to the special effects limitations of the '70's, Lflm. could not create a creature to superimpose over the Scottish actor, so the scene was dropped. Also as has been mentioned, the Scottish guy was only there so that Ford could have someone to interact with (since this was filmed long before the days of bluescreen where actors regularly interacted with CGI creatures that were only added later).

I interpret the "you're a wonderful human being" line as an intentional joke that Solo made to JTH to express his contempt for the gangster.

Also, the original '77 Marvel comics adaptation also includes this Han Solo/Jabba scene, and Jabba is definitely an alien, albeit a tall, thin green humanoid alien - this adaptation was evidently written/drawn well before the film was released in May '77. The Anchorhead scenes with Camie/Fixer/Biggs (cut from the final film) were also in this adaptation, which leads me to believe that Marvel was working from the original script when writing this.

 

BUT, the "official" script from The Art of Star Wars was doctored by Lucas after the fact. IIRC, the book came out in 1979, well after the release of ANH. The script included in that book was not and never had been the actual shooting script used on set. The actual shooting script (which, for your information, is transcribed on the Starkiller site) has numerous instances of slightly different dialogue and script directions.

I'll quote the relevant description of Jabba from the actual script used on set in 1976:

No mention of an alien Jabba there. It's definitely possible that Lucas was kicking around the idea of an alien Jabba, as seen in the Marvel adaptation. Clearly, though, the Lucas of 1976 didn't insist on Jabba being an alien, either in script or on film. Of course, by 1979, when The Art of Star Wars came out, he'd obviously had a change of heart:

Note the extra inserted passage referring to Jabba as an alien. That line simply wasn't there in the script as used on set.

Read the "Secret History of Star Wars" thread in the Saga forum--zombie does