CT What top 5 Special Edition changes would you get rid of forever?

The only two I really can't stand are Han shooting second, and "Jedi Rocks".

 

I forgot all about Wolfman in the Cantina. MUCH cooler and scarier than what they replaced him with. (as a seven year old watching it in 1977, he was pretty bada$$)

 

Luke screams as he falls down the air shaft following his duel with Vader in ESB.

 

George took care of that one for ya!

 

Yuzzum and his "Jedi Rocks" number
Rick McCallum (Rick, I know he's GL, but sometimes just say no- you were the only person who had the clout besides Spielberg to reel George in. We miss you Gary Kurtz)
Sarlacc's beak
"Nooooooooooooooo!"
"Wesa freeeeee!"
Replacing the guns with walkie-talkies ...wait, wrong SE.

 

1. The CGI stuff at Mos Eisley - looks both quite bad in a technical way and is also "too much" going on at the same time which makes it distracting.

2. The new song at Jabbas palace. Obviously computer generated and also the very strange act of "breaking out of the movie" when the monster is singing straight into the camera.

3. "Young" Darth Vader in the end of ROTJ. Much better to actually see what the old sick man just recently shown to be Vader should look like if not fallen.

4. CGI Jabba. BUT - the version now is acceptable. Do anyone remember the 1997 version? It was totally horrible done.



5. Greedo shot first. No comment, just totally not necessary to "fix".

 

I just can't make it up to 5 actually.

Let's say I'd drop everything, except for :

- Most of the smooth special effects corrections or enhancements (Battle of Yavin, Hoth, Death Star II, explosions, etc...)
- Footage restoration and cleaning
- Luke-Biggs-Red leader short scene in ANH
- New extended Bespin scenes in ESB

Personally, I'd add a slight modification of my own If I could to ROTJ : to improve that phoney backdrop drawing (blue sky and dunes), when the gang is lifting 3PO and R2 from the sand after Jabba's barge destruction. A real torture each time I see this : it just looks so fake !

 

There are only three that I would really liked changed back:
1. Han shooting Greedo (He didn't shoot first because originally Greedo didn't shoot at all. He just threatened to kill Han.)
2. Jedi Rocks (I don't hate the song, but Lepti Nekti was better, I hate some of the CGI: close-up of lips, seeing down the other guy's throat.)
3. All the silly CGI-added commotion in Mos Eisley

I'm okay with these but prefer the original versions:
4. Hayden replacing Sebastian Shaw
5..Vader's double "No" in ROTJ (If it was filmed this way, I never would've complained, but being able to see it without the dialogue, I can see that original version without the dialogue is better.)

All other changes I think enhance the OT.
--Sarlaac's beak looks a little fake, but I prefer it the life-less butt-hole with teeth that was Sarlaac before.
--I don't like Yub Nub or the new song, but I guess I like the new song a little more, especially since Yub Nub would've sounded weird when looking at the other planets, which I think is a somewhat good addition.
--The only thing that bugs me about the Ewok's added blinking is that I start noticing that Carrie Fischer never blinks on Endor, which makes me think she was coked out of her mind...

 

Those I would keep, I actually really liked the windows in Cloud City showing a city outside. Also keep Emperor McDiarmid in ESB, but change the dialog back to the original lines.

Get rid of:
1) Vader's Nooo....just...no...this is the thing that turned me off of the changes. I've gone on about it before, so I won't here, but just let the scene play out as it was dammit.
2) Bring back Lak Sivrak! that elephant/reverse elephant head thing was pointless. The excuse was because it looked like it came from a costume store...well they all did! that's the charm.
3) Han and Greedo, at this point do we need to say anything. No matter how much they try to alter it Greedo firing looks silly.
4) The nice shot of ronto butt as the landspeeder pulls up to the sandtroopers....... a foreshadowing of things to come.
5) Boba's voice. Temuera Morrison has a great voice, and for Jango (obv) and the clones (although the accents of Star Wars is a topic all in it's own) it works just fine, but Wingreen's grizzled voice cannot be matched.

 

There are 2 non-obvious changes I would want to get rid of. When Luke and Obi-Wan are being pulled over by the troopers in Mos Eisley, I always liked the way the troopers signalled to them to stop and there is a nice white R2 unit passing by. Now that entire scene has simply a close up of a ronto's legs lumbering by.

Also, I would return to the way the death star officers were shot. You could see a little laser bolt hit their chests. Those scene have not been cut away an instant earlier. I guess it was too violent.

 

I would like to change all the references to Han shoots first.

He never shot first ever. He was the only shooter. Greedo didn't shoot after he got shot did he?

That is the only change I would make and simply because it doesn't work onscreen. The problem is that so many people misread that scene so very badly that Lucas felt he had to change it.

It was Han acting in self defense but people thought it wasn't and that Han was a killer which he clearly was not. If he was then hanging around Luke for 5 minutes wouldn't have changed him.

 

1. No Haden in RotJ it doesn't make sense and Shaw deserves his moment.
2. Say no to Nooooo's.
3. The ESB new Emperor bits. I get it's Ian but he wasn't there originally and what he says really ruins the effect of certain things.
4. Jabba revel too early I like when he's unknown till Jedi
5. Restore Biggs' original scenes (I have heard the pacing arguments and don't agree with them just look at how blasted long the pod race is in TPM.)
6. Restore the original Death Star explosion effects (I am one that thinks the modern effects on the aged films don't mesh very well and make it look jarring).
7. Han is the only shooter

 

With all respect and self defence or not - Han was a drug smuggler (Lucas called it Spice - but it's not like he's transporting an illegal cargo of Basil, Sage and Curry Powder and being chased by an Imperial cruiser for shipping culinary flavours = Drugs), a space pirate and running errands for the biggest crime lord in the Outer Rim. He wouldn't have the soft predicament of Pee Wee Herman and if he wasn't a killer - why is he in a Cantina full of villains, criminals, aliens and Bounty Hunters if he couldn't act quick despite a threat?

It's kill or be killed. Self defence or not - it was a crappy way of Lucas saying "It's how I originally wanted it" when other people who worked on Star Wars say differently. Paul Blake has said the same. Act threatening, say my lines and be replaced by a dummy that gets shot.

If I or you were in a street mugging and they bargained for your phone and cash or get shot with a visible knife and then you secretly pulled a gun and shot the mugger = Murder if they haven't opened fire. Therefore, changing the dynamic of a character.

 

This!

Change it to Han shoots first.
Remove the ROTJ Vader NO!
Shaw! Or Older Hayden!
More Biggs stuff.

 

Only one "SE change":
I'd love to get rid of the change that (some) Star Wars fans have stopped enjoying/appreciating Star Wars for what it is and started to become self-righteous and destructive.

Apart from that? I don't care too much, although I consider the Han shot first/Greedo never shot/Greedo shot first/Both shoot at the same time dilemma to be ridiculously annoying (just the whole follow-up and drama) and unfortunate.

 

No one said he wasn't a killer. The point is that if Greedo didn't have his gun out and pointing it I find it unlikely he would have been shot.

It was self defense. Other people worked on Star Wars Lucas is Star Wars. The point is that for whatever reason too many people read the scene entirely wrong. Maybe they just didn't bother to read the subtitles or something?

 

Is this ANOTHER Greedo/Han debate?

I'm tempted just to say "get rid of Greedo's shot" just to stop all the complaints, it's getting tiresome. But then I'd be the one complaining so