Official Thread: Discussion of Potential Changes to the Classic Trilogy for Future Releases

Whether or not these changes SHOULD happen is debatable, but these changes, most of them suggested by other fans, IMO, would enhance and tie the prequel trilogy better with the OT and A New Hope better with Empire and Jedi ...

Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope
- Replace Vader suit with Vader suit of ROTS/ESB/ROTJ
- Bring in Ewan and Hayden and improve duel ... no acrobatics, but just awesome, passionate dueling ... yes, Obi-Wan's buying time for Luke and Leia, but Vader's waited 20 years for revenge -- he wants Kenobi dead
- Anakin's theme played in the background when Obi-Wan tells Luke about his father
- When Vader boards the Tantive IV, the Imperial March is played
- Luke asks Obi-Wan "How did my parents die?" Kenobi tells him: "A young Jedi named Darth Vader, who was a pupil of mine before he turned to evil ... betrayed and murdered your Mother and Father." which is true ... from a certain point of view
- It is learned that Vader was ordered to abort his current mission of finding the stolen plans and left orbit of Tantooine to his new post on the Death Star, because the Emperor was afriad Tarkin may turn the Death Star against Coruscant ... so he wasn't Tarkin's lackey, he was Palpatine's
- After Luke and Han land on Yavin after blowing up the Death Star, and before the throne room scene, Vader returns to Coruscant in his Tie and reports to Sidious the destruction of Kenobi and the Death Star in a scence similar to Dooku and Sids in AOTC ... Vader gives Sidious Obi-Wan's saber ...
-Chewbacca gets a CG medal
-Han shoots first (obviously in self-defense for the kiddies )
-NO JABBA, BOBA FETT, YODA, OR JAR-JAR IN A New Hope!
-We don't see the Emperor dissolve the Senate
-We see Qui-Gon's saber in Obi-Wan's hut, in the box with Anakin's
-Vader picks up, chokes to death and throws Captin Antilles with the force, not his hands
-We see all 30 Rebel ships in action over the Death Star plus more than 5 tie-fighters ... trench scenes are also better edited so ships don't disapper and reappear every other scene
- if C-3PO doesn't know who exactly the Princess is, then why say on Tantive IV "there won't be an escape for the princess this time" ? take out quote
-edit out infamous silent scene between Vader and Tarkin

Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back
-We don't see the Wampa until luke cuts himself free and is running to attack him ...
-Make Battle of Hoth larger in scale and more epic ... more AT-AT's, snowtroopers below the AT-AT's invading the rebel trenches
- CG Yoda
- Yoda trains Luke in Lightsaber combat, specifically to defend against the form Anakin/Vader used from what Yoda and Obi-Wan remember (this is why Luke is able to hold his own for a while, and how he's "full of surprises")

Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi
- CG ewoks
- Forest Battle more epic ... more AT-ST's ... an actual legion of the Emperor's "best troops" ... thousands of Ewoks who are actually leathal ... Rebel commandos fight
- Fix the Executor's crash into the Death Star II
- CG Jabba
- Boba Fett crawls out of the Sarlacc
- NO JEDI ROCKS!!!
- Hayden is the Anakin force ghost at the end, but age him to appear 45 years old
- remove Shaw altogether from ROTJ and put Hayden in the suit during the "un-Masking"
- On Endor, Vader tells Luke "Your Mother once thought as you do" rather than "Obi-Wan once thought as you do" ...
- Luke has Sith eyes when he tells Vader "Never!" and cuts off his hand

And fix Sabers -- in ANH and Empire Luke's is Blue and green in ROTJ ... Obi-Wan's is Blue and doesn't fade away ... Vader's is Red not pink

 

^^ Interesting...I like seeing some new ideas for changes too.....

Let me comment on some of the stuff that caught my attention most.

- Replace Vader suit with Vader suit of ROTS/ESB/ROTJ

^^ I agree...it stands out way too much from the other movies at this point.

- Bring in Ewan and Hayden and improve duel ... no acrobatics, but just awesome, passionate dueling ... yes, Obi-Wan's buying time for Luke and Leia, but Vader's waited 20 years for revenge -- he wants Kenobi dead

^^ Either them...or some good stunt doubles.

- Luke asks Obi-Wan "How did my parents die?" Kenobi tells him: "A young Jedi named Darth Vader, who was a pupil of mine before he turned to evil ... betrayed and murdered your Mother and Father." which is true ... from a certain point of view

^^ This would be HARD or impossible to pull off realistically and I don't know that it's necessary really.

- It is learned that Vader was ordered to abort his current mission of finding the stolen plans and left orbit of Tantooine to his new post on the Death Star, because the Emperor was afriad Tarkin may turn the Death Star against Coruscant ... so he wasn't Tarkin's lackey, he was Palpatine's.

^^ That would be a cool way of getting Palpatine in there and adding more depth to the Vader/Tarkin relationship.

-We see Qui-Gon's saber in Obi-Wan's hut, in the box with Anakin's

^^ or something of Qui Gon's. Cool idea.....

- Yoda trains Luke in Lightsaber combat, specifically to defend against the form Anakin/Vader used from what Yoda and Obi-Wan remember (this is why Luke is able to hold his own for a while, and how he's "full of surprises")

^^ I agree.

- CG ewoks

^^ All of them? Or just a mixture?

- On Endor, Vader tells Luke "Your Mother once thought as you do" rather than "Obi-Wan once thought as you do" ...

^^ This could work....and it would be the first time Vader speaks of Padme since RoTS. It would fit for him to be thinking about at that point in RoTJ too and natural for him to discuss it with his son Luke.

Overall cymbalmonkey.....Good stuff!

 

I work in the CG/SFX industry and I can tell you that most of what you said is either impossible or waaayyyyy too costly to do on the budget they would have for "changes" to a new release. I mean you are talking multiple effects shots and tons of man hours either rebuilding sets digitally, matting out characters, adding effects not to mention the probability of filming new actors and scenes which means art dept, wardrobe, props, etc.

seems like almost as much work as a movie on its own.

 

Personally, I hope Lucas doesn't try and change the Original Trilogy anymore than he already has, which I think was too much. Lucas should just live off the interest from the profit he makes off of sale of the DVD's. And any other movie he puts out.

 

Money is already being spent on converting the films to 3D.

I'm sure that process must be costly.

Even if the films aren't changed much for the 3d release I don't see mistakes such as Luke's notorious color changing light saber being rendered in 3D.....That's atleast 1 error that needs fixing for the next release.

Making changes such as adding CG characters or reshooting the Obi Wan duel is costly.......but it's an investment GL would make back ten fold.

For every 1 OT purist there's probably 10 SE loving SW fan who'd gladly buy the movies or go see them again in theaters all over again if more changes are made....Not to mention the casual non fans who might also become tempted out of curiosity.

Anyway, not to rattle on but imo I doubt money is much of an issue with making changes for GL of all people. Especially for a potential 30th anniversary HD release.



If there's one thing he's good at is making $$$$$$$ no matter what.


In this thread alone how many people would buy AnH again tomorrow if it came out re-released with a cool new Palpatine scene added at the end on Coruscant, the sabers all fixed up perfectly, fixed mattel boxes, audio fixes and other little things?

 

^Your right.And I would gladly buy the sets again if they had those in them.

 

ANH- get rid of those boxes around the tie fighters after the falcon escapes the death star

ROTJ- replace current rancor with a CG one

 

I don't think the rancor really needs to be replaced. The DVDs made it look much better, and there is the possibility that CG could ruin it.

 

Agree with Bac.

CG rancor is unneccesary.

 

I believe the rancor should be replaced with a CG one. I'm happy they got rid of the matte lines in the DVD release but its believability will get worse as years pass. Plus it does move and act a little fake.

 

Actually, I think the current rancor on the DVD is fantastic, and do not think that it would look any (if at all) better changed to CG. Episode II arena creatures anyone?

 

It should not be changed (the rancor) and changing the Obi Wan/Vader duel is just a sick suggestion.

 

I have a theory about these new DVD re releases coming this December. I personally think that these versions will have even more changes to them, and here's why.

1. The Star Wars DVD were released last year in November. George Lucas was going to wait till after ROTS was released on DVD right, well why did he release them early? I think at that point Lucas's team had already made most of the changes and were still and the DVD's looked pretty good, they weren't finished but almost. Lucas knew how badly fans were demanding the Trilogy on DVD, then his advertisement team proposed the idea of him releasing it early and add some ROTS content on the bonus disc to create some momentum fro the ROTS release in May. He went with it and knew he would still release the real one in December AFTER ROTS release as he had always said.

2. You all remember the list that came out on many sites that showed the list of changes? Well that list came out almost a year before the DVD's were released, also remember that it was supposed to be from a creditable source. In fact half of the list was right. My question is why is only half of it is not in the DVD, because the rest of these will be on the December release.

Episode IV: A New Hope:
1. The Imperial March has been added to Darth Vader's first appearance on Princess Leia's ship.

2. When Obi-Wan is talking to Luke about his father Anakin's Theme plays in the background and then it turns into the Imperial March as he talks about Vader.

3. The lightsaber effects have been redone and the frame jumps of lightsabers being turned on has been removed.

4. There's a new scene which has been shot during the filming of Episode III in which the Emperor dissolves the Senate.

5. In the Cantina, the Duros (green aliens guys) have been replaced with Neimoidians and some aliens from the prequels have been added.

6. The bleeding arm on the floor in the Cantina has been replaced with a non-bleeding arm because it's now canon that lightsabers cauterize wounds.

7. The original shooting scene between Han and Greedo has been restored.

8. Jabba the Hutt has been given a makeover and Han no longer steps on his tale.

9. In place of R2 wobbling down the stairs to the Falcon's hangar, a CG R2 navigating the stairs like he does in Attack of the Clones was added.

10. The white boxes around space ships have been removed and new CG shots have been added.

11. The scene of the Falcon being chased by the two Star Destroyers was modified. The Falcon now does spinning moves, avoiding the Star Destroyers' fire.

12. When the Death Star destroys Alderaan there's a new scene of Yoda's reaction to the disturbance in the Force that is created by all those deaths and then it cuts to Obi-Wan reacting to it as well.

13. The Dianoga has gotten a CG makeover and were are now able to see more of the creature.

14. The Death Star's paneling and computers have been slightly altered to show similar displays to those in the prequels.

15. The words "Tractor Beam" with Aurebesh lettering.

16. More stormtroopers have been added to the Death Star.

17. Temuera Morrison's voice is being recorded for use with all the stormtroopers.

18. The Obi-Wan/Vader duel has been spruced up. It is much more epic and there is much more movement. A modified version of Duel of the Fates is being considered for the scene.

19. The Death Star plans that are taken from R2 have been updated. When the Rebels are reviewing the Death Star plans they look similar to the plans we see in Attack of the Clones.

20. The Death Star battle is much more epic with more Tie Fighters and more Rebels being blown to bits. We get to see old Naboo starfighters being used by the Rebels.

21. There's a new scene (shot during Episode III) where Darth Vader goes to Coruscant and lands his ship in the same building Count Dooku does at the end of Attack of the Clones. Except now the building is all fixed up and it is now Palpatine's palace. He meets with Palpatine to ask for forgiveness for his failure and inform him of

 

Yes, they look fantastic.



CG is great
/LM

 

If what you are suggesting is true, it means that Lucas allowed the 2004 DVDs to be released in full knowledge that they were a temporary measure. This information, however, was not communicated to the fans. Far from it - these were presented as the finished article. The official line at the time, as I recall, was "The reason we've waited so long to release the OT on DVD is because we wanted to give our fans the best experience possible". If Lucas has been as dishonest as you infer, fans should send their 2004 DVDs back to LFL and demand a refund.

I believe that the list you posted was a mixture of rumours and fan wishlists. Some of the suggestions on that list are beyond ridiculous. So ridiculous in fact, that I would not be a bit surprised to see them turn up in a future reissue of SW.

 

Do you really think they would flat out tell you that they half asses the DVDs. Would they say "Hey fans, were not quite done with the OT DVDs but since Episode III is comming out in May, we thought that this would kick off our advertisment campain, don't worry the completed set will be released after Episode III is on DVD. Go ahead and by these though because we want your money."

Nope, intead they released, knowing that there not complete and say that there the best ones anyway. Have all the fans buy them up like candy and release it again after Revenge of the Sith is on DVD, this time complete.

Let me ask you this, if it was truly the best experience possible why is Luke's saber green, why are the lightsabers not fixed in some shots but fixed in others. Why would George Lucas even mention in the ANH the possibility of adding the emperor at the end of the movie. Well I can't be 100% sure but my insticts tell me that the December release was the release we should have got in the first place, that George Lucas is not going to release another trilogy with these incompletion in them.

 

The JediMasterMan wrote...

I have a theory about these new DVD re releases coming this December. I personally think that these versions will have even more changes to them

I wouldn't get my hopes up about there being ANY changes on this soon to be released set if I were you.

The manufacturer's suggested retail price for the original DVD set was 69.99, with the upcoming re-release's MSRP at 49.99. When adjusted for retail prices, this means you will see the new set selling for about 10 bucks less than the old set in Best Buy, Wal-Mart, etc. This difference in price will make purchasing the set more agreeable to the "soccer mom" segment of the DVD market, generally those who couldn't give a flip about special features and usually buy their DVD's in full screen format.

All existing copies of the original boxed set still in retailer's hands will be sent back to the manufacturer for credit against in-stock units of the repriced re-release on 12/6/05. My guess is after December 6th, the only set available at retailer's will be the re-release with the new packaging.

I gather this is nothing but a quick holiday season cash grab by Fox DVD to sell some units to those who found the average retail cost of 50 dollars a bit high. If this new set WERE to contain changes, fixes and improvements over the original DVD release, we'd be seeing a MSRP 20 dollars HIGHER than the original set, not lower.

 

Couldn't agree more.

Someone else stated that this new release is a quick 'cash grab' by Fox-and I would bet this is the absolute truth. The retail price is to low to have anything new, and we all know Lucas will release, rerelease, and release again both sets a million times over. Lucas cares more about milking the cash cow then preserving the integrity of the OT.

And Sanctuary Moon, I couldn't have said it better myself.

 

I have a theory about these new DVD re releases coming this December. I personally think that these versions will have even more changes to them, and here's why.

1. The Star Wars DVD were released last year in November. George Lucas was going to wait till after ROTS was released on DVD right, well why did he release them early? I think at that point Lucas's team had already made most of the changes and were still and the DVD's looked pretty good, they weren't finished but almost. Lucas knew how badly fans were demanding the Trilogy on DVD, then his advertisement team proposed the idea of him releasing it early and add some ROTS content on the bonus disc to create some momentum fro the ROTS release in May. He went with it and knew he would still release the real one in December AFTER ROTS release as he had always said.

Well, you could be right. Lucas knows what he's doing. I'll be buying the new set, widescreen and full screen. We will see if there are new things added to the movies.

 

More deleted and new scenes put in are mostly not a bad thing, so I'd buy the new DVDs. But as it is, there is no evidence that suggests that there is anything changed in it. I just hope that Lucas releases the original version of Star Wars on DVD, cause some purists are really going on my nerves. And then he can release the ultimate edition with even more changes on DVD .
@TheJediMasterMan: If this list you posted is the one you were talking about, I cannot agree with you. The list is 90 % wrong, and some points on the list are things GL will never do.

 

What if the whole 6 episodes were played out exactly as they were, but intsted of ending in ROTJ like it did, the very last scene would be a scene where young, pre TPM Anakin wakes up and the entire saga was nothing but a dream, a vision? Non of the events took place yet. They only took place in young Anakin's dream. Then, he goes into Watto's shop and meets "Qui-Gon and company" exactly as he drempt about (as seen in TPM). Anakin was a visionary. This would put an interesting spin on the saga and it might quite possibly change the entire EU. It most certainly would create a feeling incompleteness yet closure. Incomplete that it didn't really happen and we're starting from the beginning again, but closure that all those horrendous things didnt happen (i.e. the purge, the empire)and that their destiny could be altered. Circular plot insted of multiple line plot. I like the prospect of it, though I would not change it. What does everyone else think?

 

I think it would be an interesting idea, but not a well recieved idea.

 

That list sounds exactly what GL would do.Because that is the style he made episode 1-3 like,so adding all those things from that list would make episodes 4-6 match up with 1-3 quite well.

 

I'm sorry, but I don't like that.

It would be interesting to end with a flashback however.

I'd be cool if the ending of ROTJ was Anakin's reunion with Padme or something to that effect.

 

What, like Titanic?

I would fall out.