CT Han walking on Jabba's tail...

Two questions.

1) What do you think went through Lucas' mind when he approved/thought of this?

2)Are you a fan of it? Did you chuckle?

 

1. "Huh, Jabba was a human before and Harrison Ford walked in a circle around him, but now Jabba is a giant slug with a tail. Guess this is the best way to get around this"

2. Yup. Seems very Han Solo to me, and says quite a bit about his relationship with Jabba - seems that Jabba values Han as an "employee" enough to tolerate his bull for a while, but when he doesn't pay up....

 

I think it was another flat attempt at humour.

No. It makes Cushy roll eyes.

 

I think it works. Lucas wanted the shot in the movie, and the only way to make it work was to have Han step on his tail (unless he cut over to a shot of Chewie or one of the bounty hunters--but that would have been boring). The 2004 update makes it all the better by having Jabba make a fist, as if he's going to punch Han, and then smile when Han offers "a little extra."

 

I've seen GL say it was done so that Han wouldn't disappear behind Jabba. I believe it may have been in one of the documentaries that came with one of the releases... perhaps the SE VHS tapes.

I'm not a fan of Jabba in ANH, but that's not the question. So, no... I didn't find it funny when I saw the ANH SE in the theater at age 12.

 

1. I can now make this scene work with CGI, so I will.

2. No. No.

 

Solo was so rude when he did that

 

I loved it.

 

I don't think it's funny...

And Jabba looks so different from ROTJ... This makes the things even worst....

 

I got a chuckle out of it the first time I saw it, but the humor of that scene hasn't held up very well.

 

1.

^ This

2. No. What was once a fascinating cut scene is now just embarrassing.

 

Embarrassing!!!!!!!

This word defines perfectly that scene....

 

The scene is a blemish on the SE for numerous reasons.

1. First, the scene is redundant and flat. All of the exposition from that scene was already conveyed more concisely and dramatically in the Han/Greedo scene.
2. The Jabba scene contradicts the story. Jabba paid a bounty hunter to kill Solo. Han then runs into Jabba and ... Jabba has a friendly chat with him and lets him go? Please.
3. Worse, Han steps on Jabba. And Jabba lets him go? Please.

Finally, the scene was not funny. It was another juvenile and lazy attempt at humor from post-1997 Lucas. One could be forgiven for falling under the impression that a man could become so rich and served, that he devolved closer and closer to a state of infancy, with puerile adolescent banality being a mere rest stop along the way.

 

After I got over the shock of the poor CGI Jabba (they did no better in 2004 version) I laughed at the tail part. But it was done because Han walked behind the original actor and they 'fixed' the scene to make it look he walked over his tail. This was indeed mentioned on the SE 1997 VHS releases

 

1. Lk what I can do with computers, everyone will love this and think I am even more amazing!

2. It's terrible

3. Haven't we discussed this to death in other threads?

4. I'm hungry

 

That there was no alternative, since Han circled the actor playing Jabba. If the footage was left unchanged, Han would seem to be walking through Jabba.

 

The alternative was the let the scene remain on the cutting room floor, where it honestly belonged. Gary Kurtz said that the scene had difficulties in shooting, and all the relevant information was moved to the Greedo scene. It was just an excuse to show off how great Lucas thought CGI is.

 

The 2004 image looks much better than the 1997 one to me:

 

That's not an alternative.

In your opinion, which is irrelevant for the re-insertion of the scene.

 

Setting aside the fact that the CGI Jabba doesn't look particularly good I actually think they did a decent enough job of Han stepping on him, the main problem for me is Jabbas reaction to that. But I suppose Lucas wanted it in and the effects guys had to try and do their best with the constraints they had and try to make it work.

On the subject of the humour in SW, I'm not sure who this juvenile humour is aimed at (young kids I'm assuming) but in the main it all falls flat and it carried on in to TPM.

 

Substituting a humanoid - and claiming afterward that this was Jabba's "front man" and that the real Jabba normally remains hidden, might have worked before Episode I came out - but after Episode I there wasn't much reason to believe Jabba ever had a "front man" - given how publically he appears.

 

Did I chuckle? I don't remember, but it did seem kinda badass. Han takes crap from noone.
It also goes to show how much respect Jabba has for Han at that point in time. He lets it slide because he knows that what Han says he'll do, he'll do.
It's saddening to see how quickly that respect deteriorated inbetween movies.

The scene does serve a storytelling purpose, BTW: It establishes their relationship, which pays off in ROTJ.

But yeah, this has been discussed to death. Still, new boarders appear every day and they need their fill.

 

From a story point of view I don't mind the fact that he's shown in SW.

 

Yes, actually it was an alternative. Leaving that 'scene' on the cutting room floor was such a good decision, that the editors who won an academy award for the film decided to -- in fact -- leave it on the cutting room floor.

And oh yeah, I forgot to mention in my other post how bad CGI Jabba looks. Even though the '04 version looks better than the '97 version, it's like saying one wart doesn't look as bad as another. They both look like CGI junk.

 

I heard they're doing an updated SE, in which Jabba steps on Han's foot first.