CT Did it matter at all?

For me it did not matter that Who shot first.

In both versions:
1.Greedo dies while Han lives.

2.Greedo dies like an incompetent bounty hunter.

3.Han kills Greedo in self defense.

4.Han doesn't regret killing Greedo.

5.It also had no effect on the storyline of the movie. Or Han's character.)

In my opinion Harrison Ford answered this the best: "I don't know and I don't care."

So, why there was a controversy around it ?(It only allowed Lucasfilm to use this controversy as a way to sell different versions of the same movie. Each with it's new changes.)

 

That would probably be Harrison's response to pretty much any thread in here.

 

Hmmm... interesting post.

 

George thought shooting first makes Han a cold-blooded killer, not the act of killing for some reason.
Everyone knows that shooting second makes you dead without neck twisting superpowers.

Also George's comparison of Han to John Wayne makes no sense, Wayne didn't let others shoot him. And Han never shooting first is revisionist history.
George at one point just came to the conclusion that guns are bad, then he edited the cantina scene in Star Wars. We are lucky that didn't change the blaster into a telephone like Spielberg did with E.T.

 

I don't think Greedo shooting at all would logistically change Han's motive (cold-blood vs self-defense).

Even if Greedo hadn't shot, Han had every reason to think his life was in danger. Besides, in the SE version, Han's shot is too soon after Greedo's for it to be in self-defense. He was going to shoot Greedo anyway.

 

Who shot first to me isnt an issue to me however I do prefer the 77 version of the scene its just I thought the execution of the scene in the 97SE and subsequent versions isnt as good as the original one imo.

 

77 was the best, 97 is dopey, at least they shoot at like the exact same time now (I think if you go frame by frame Greedo's blaster fires first) so it makes it a wash really.

 

Greedo has a blaster on him and says "I've been looking forward to this a long time." He is clearly going to murder Han.

 

No one would care if Lucas would have just released the original editions in 1080p. But since we're stuck with his digital abominations, yeah it matters. Star Wars is a lot like John Travolta's face. I know what it looked like in the seventies and I know d*** well it shouldn't look like what it does now.

 

At least he's stayin alive.

 

But he doesn't, for some reason George tries to bury the theatrical cuts like the Holiday Special. Instead he tinkers with the SE even more and adds stuff like "McLunkey".

I believe the future is fan projects who preserve and enhance the classics on their own (Harmy's Despecialized, Project 4K77, Star Wars Revisited)

 

I think he did it for marketing.

If he released the original cuts in 1080P then every fan would buy it and probably wouldn't have bought it again. On the other hand, whenever he released a new special edition, fans bought every one of them to see what changes Lucas has made to the movies.

Also, didn't he release the original cuts on DVD in 2006 ?

BTW, I absolutely prefer the emperor of the special edition over the emperor in the original cut of TESB.

 

I agree. I have always found the hullabaloo over that scene rather hard to get excited about.

 

Because it was changed over something really stupid, the fear that Han shooting first would make him a cold-blooded killer. Despite the fact he's a bounty hunter on a dangerous planet, with a blaster pointed right at him. Owner of said blaster saying, "I look forward to killing you." The edit is just...bad. If I remember, Greedo shoots first (at point blank range, mind -- he's on the other end of a small table. He could literally bend over and touch Han's arm if he wanted) and somehow misses Han. So either Greedo is nearly totally blind, or Han had stupidly-fast reflexes at that scene and only that scene.

Up to that point, it was made perfectly clear what a trashy, dustbin world Tatooine was. A planet of lawlessness and terror. So Han, in a situation where his life was being threaten, opting to shoot Greedo first without hesitation makes sense. It's not like he just went up to an alien minding their own business and shot them dead. THAT would be in cold-blood. Shooting an alien who has a gun aimed at you and dropping obvious hints that he wants to kill you? That's self-defense.

Now I personally don't really care either way, but I'm showing what the common complaints are about that scene.

 

77 is best. I prefer Han pre-empting the obvious reason why Greedo was there in the first place. Don’t leave it up to chance. Dodging a blaster shot at close range is silly.

 

Lucas seems to have convinced people that Han didn't know his life was in danger BEFORE Greed shot because I hear Lucas's excuse parroted by people still to this day. Han even says, "This could really save my neck." to Chewie about getting some money for transporting the heroes to Alderaan before Greedo even shows up. We know that Han is at risk of getting killed for failing to pay Jabba. I can only assume that the people who didn't already know Han's life was in danger before Greedo even comes into the scene only put these movies on as background noise.

 

I think the original version is probably better, but the change doesn't "ruin" Han's arc as some people claim. I grew up watching the originals on VHS, and the first time I saw the special additions I hardly noticed there was a difference. And for new viewers they probably won't even give it a second thought.

 

Man now all I can think of is that Han gunned down a bind Rodian, which does seem pretty cold blooded. He could have just said "Arghhhh!!" and slunk away and Blind Greedo would have thought he got him.

 

Additions? What was I thinking?

 

The Greedo scene is straight out of a western. When a certain type "draws" on you it's not for show. Plus Greedo implies he's going to kill him. He's making it personal, and he's not just going to take him back to Jabba alive. Even as a kid I understood this. He says "I've been looking forward to this for a long time."

 

the correct answer is MACLUNKY

 

I didn't care. But I thought the special effect looked bad.

 

Han shot first. Han always shot first