Definitive list of all changes ever made to the Classic Trilogy

I, for one, don't remember the "2 trys" grappling hook scene(Theatrically or Video)-Luke throws once,connects, etc.etc.etc.

George being the tinkerer that he was(and still is) was starting to make a change here and there,even back in the 70's.

For instance,the radio voices between the fighter pilots at the battle of Yavin were traditional sounding earth static in 1977.This is confirmed by the audio on "The Story of Star Wars" LP.
However on subsequent releases(theatrical)the static was changed into weird electronic modulation which was a bit more "modern sounding" I suppose.I believe this electronic stuff made it onto the 1990 "Painted Box" Trilogy edition of "Star Wars".

By the time that ESB was green lit(in 1978) on the re-issue of "Star Wars" from the same year *that's* when"...Episode IV-A New Hope" first appeared.Of course I'm probably *wrong* because it has been awhile.

I'll have to go back and look some of this stuff up...

 

There is one more change I haven't seen listed in this thread. I know I am going to get flamed for this but I swear it is true:
In 1994 (may have been late 1993) I went to a charity event where we got to see all three movies on the big screen (this being years before the SEs this was a big deal).
At the end of ANH as Luke gets out of his X-Wing he does indeed yell "Carrie" to Leia as she comes running. I know that in every single other copy of the film it sounds just like "Heyeyeyey!" But in this print is was clear as day. The print was different from the ones on VHS because it was also without 3PO's description of the tractor beam.
I know it sounds crazy but it was clear as day, no mistaking and I heard it with my own ears. There was at least one print out there saying "Carrie"

 

The only thing that aggravates me about the "Carrie/Heeehey" scene is this:What *possible* motivation could Mark have for yelling Carries name instead of her characters name?And if it was indeed "CARRIE!",don't you think that someone in post production would have spotted it?Just a thought...

 

Quimby, I have no doubt you **heard** "Carrie", but that could be the result of an old print, a bad theater, crappy accoustics, etc. The fact is that the OS has dealt with this controversy and laid it to rest. Mark Hamill himself has recently said he "swallowed the line a bit, but was saying 'Hey!'"

So for those keeping track at home:

NO grappling hook footage
NO "Carrie" yell
NO "Son of the Suns" in ROTJ

 

Vote Quimby.

 

The truth is out there somewhere

 

I'm an idiot.

My tape does not contain the grappling hook scene though i had to watch the damn thing about 35 times with five different friends before we could make this decision. You see the tape is very scratchy and old and it was difficult to even SEE what the heck was going on....AND the worst part is that this scene is BISECTED (cut in two) by a commercial break (containing the Coke ad that I mentioned).

Now when initially watching this sequence it plows on like this:

a) Luke and Leia get stuck
b) Luke and Leia get shot at
c) Luke pulls out grappling hook and starts pulling out rope
d) Luke throws the grappling hoook

CUT TO COMMERCIAL BREAK (stupid, yes, but please understand this was Television New Zealand back in the 1980's when they just weren't very good at this sort of thing)

Commercial break features the Coke ad I mentioned before...and then we return to the movie

e) Luke is pulling out the ROPE on his grappling hook - it is the shot where Luke seems to be pulling the rope TOWARDS him and not AWAY from his belt (this shot has been disputed proof that he missed the first throw, but the sequence was cut).
f) Luke throws the grappling hook - it catches
e) Luke and Leia swing to safety

So the movie actually REWINDS slightly mid-commercial break and resumes the action...and because the tape we're watching is so damn fuzzy and contains scan and tracking lines all over it - it's almost impossible to realize this.

We had to actually digitize the footage, enlarge it and play it side by side to my digitized Special Edition movie footage for comparison before we realized that the footage had been played twice, giving the illusion that Luke had thrown the grappling hook twice.

So yeah, I suck.

On a further interesting note however:

All five of the people I showed this footage to all say that they remember seeing the grappling hook thrown twice during the theatrical run of Star Wars in New Zealand (at least). Many of them were excited to see this tape because they felt it vindicated them as faithful "grappling hook sequence" believers. Suffice it to say they were as disappointed as I was. Now I was born in 1978 so I never saw the theatrical run, so my impression that the grappling hook was thrown twice comes from this video alone...but these much older guys all say that the hook was thrown twice and they distinctly saw it in the theatrical run AND two of them were particularly startled to see that the scene had changed when it was made available for home video release here in New Zealand.

Whilst I remain unconvinced as to the validity of the grappling hook sequence now...my five fellow SW geeks remain adamant that this sequence once existed somewhere. One of them even remembers distinct details such as: the fact that Luke makes a "hup" sound when he throws the hook the first time (and doesn't make it), the hook makes a "clang" noise as it hits, but bounces off and also the fact that the amount of time that passes between Luke's first and second throw felt way too short (that is that Luke realistically couldn't have had enough time to reel the hook up and throw it again the second time, but he does so causing a slight continuity error).

So yeah, go figure.

Sorry guys, that's what I get for trusting 20 year old VHS tapes riddled with white fungus

 

It's ok NZPoe, it was just too good to be true.

I'm still having fun...

Interesting that your friend remembers sounds... would that also be from the novelization?

 

We had to actually digitize the footage, enlarge it and play it side by side to my digitized Special Edition movie footage for comparison

Can you post this please? Since its already digitized. I'm sure someone will be willing to host it. If nothing else, please email it to me so I can see it.

 

Ok...first of all, I haven't posted in nearly 2 years...but the grappling hook thread brought me back.

Memory is a funny thing...I never really thought about the "2 tries" until I read this thread...but now, you can count me as a "maybe" that there are indeed 2.

Here's the rub: 5 miles away from me, at my parents' house, is a VHS copy of the original CBS Broadcast Premiere of Star Wars. Of course, the commercials are cut out, but this early '80's television showing is there, in all it's glory. I'm not sure about the grappling hook scene, though. (Also on the tape is a showing of Superman 2 from ABC that same year.)

I'll get this tape on my way home from work tomorrow, and if the wife will let me unhook the VCR from the entertainment center, I'll digitize WHATEVER I FIND, so that we'll have some kind of definative proof of what was on CBS at the time. Hopefully someone will volunteer to host this file.

I'll do my best to get this for everyone. I know I have the CBS Broadcast premiere because, as a kid, I looked forward to the dang thing for months!

EDIT: Corrected some typing errors.

 

Can you post this please? Since its already digitized. I'm sure someone will be willing to host it. If nothing else, please email it to me so I can see it.

Sure. it's in RAW video format atm, but I'll encode it into mpg1 and host it on my site (www.fanimatrix.net) and post the link here.

It's not much to see - it's exactly the same as the normal grappling hook scene, just scratchy and worn and with a commercial break right in the middle of it.

 

This whole grappling hook business is becoming an obsession ! I must admit though, it is very interesting. I'm looking forward to seeing these clips from the television broadcasts, just for their nostalgia value.

 

Mark Hamill himself has recently said he "swallowed the line a bit, but was saying 'Hey!'"

Actually, you are not right either. What he was saying was "There she is!" Instead, he said something like "Thereeee!"

RB

 

NZPoe - I find it truly admirable when a person corrects themselves in online forums. TY


Well - considering so many remember it, it seems hard to believe that it isn't out there somewhere....

 

Interesting that your friend remembers sounds... would that also be from the novelization?

Nope I just asked him. He's never read the novelizations and neither have I. In fact I don't know any of my SW-geek-friends who's read the novelizations.

But yeah they all still insist that - at some point in the distant past - they've seen Luke throw the grappling hook and miss.

Oh and he remembers one more thing. The shot-angle for the throw that missed is different to the throw that made it (this is how he was able to tell that my tape didn't contain the footage). He says that the angle for the throw when Luke misses is a HIGH ANGLE looking down and STRAIGHT at Luke and Leia. Luke literally throws the hook STRAIGHT at camera and makes a "hup" sound as he does it. The shot where the hook misses is IDENTICAL to the shot where the hooks grabs on - it simply bounces off the side with a CLANG. And then in a RIDICULOUSLY short amount of time Luke manages to somehow get the hook again (while Leia carries on firing) and throws it again - this time grabbing on.

So yeah that's what he sayz anyways. You can choose to believe him or not

I do have to admit though that his description of this scene is starting to sound REALLY familiar to me - making me thing that maybe I have seen it too somewhere before, but obviously not in my tape that I've got.

I'm so confused

 

Evidence. "My friends all say..." doesn't cut it. Most of my friends were baked back in the 80's -- I don't trust their memories for crap. If you claim this footage exists, show me the evidence. If you can't, I'm sorry, but there is no other conclusion that this footage doesn't exist. It is up to those making the claim to back it up.

Show me E-V-I-D-E-N-C-E.

 

I also remember the miss... I did not read the book and I did not live in this country when it was shown on TV. So I have no idea why I remember it.

RB

 

This is similar to a situation I have where I remember a scene in Batman Returns where Catwoman actually finds her whip in the store that she blows up...but its not in the video and no one else remembers it...so I believe my memories are playing tricks with me.

I ahve come to 4 conclusions about what your friends remember:
a)What your friends saw was just a blooper where Mark missed...conclusion came from what you said about it being the same angle as the one where he made

b)its from another movie fromt he 70's where a character swings across something....doubtful,but it can happen.

c)it happened....but theres no proof hat it did

d)your friends memories are playing tricks with them..they can rememember vivid things that didn't happen..like my situation with Batman 2,which probably wasn't in the movie,but theres no proof that there was or wasn't such a moment.

 

My IMDB friends say:

I am 100% certain I have seen this in the theater .

I swear it! I will never forget it either.

It should have been left in.

It's strange how little things like that stick with you.

I just wish lucas would stop changing things.

I remember seeing it when i was younger.

Now you have me wondering. Thanks a lot!

 

This is similar to a situation I have where I remember a scene in Batman Returns where Catwoman actually finds her whip in the store that she blows up...but its not in the video and no one else remembers it...so I believe my memories are playing tricks with me.

GAH! What did you have to bring that up for?

Actually you're not hallucinating as I had sworn for years that I'd seen this footage as well - it was simply an OTS of a dummy holding a whip and then a PUSH-IN CU of the whip itself as Catwoman sees it. She then prances over to it, picks it up and looks off-frame with a mischevious gleam in her eyes.

Then we CUT TO her feet landing on the floor and we see the whip is wrapped around her body.

It is very likely that you saw this sequence in the "Making of Batman Returns" which was a half-hour behind the scenes look at the film which was aired on TV a few months before the film's release (we got it here in NZ as well). This was where I had seen the sequence, though it took me years to remember. The sequence, as far as I know, was cut from the video and DVD releases (when I first saw it on video I had the same reaction - "HEY? Where's that shot of her finding the whip on the mannequin?").

DTJ - i'm not suggesting that my friend's testimonies are evidence, i'm merely voicing what they told me. By no means can we be certain that this sequence existed until we see some sort of official proof whether it be from Lucasfilm or from viewing the actual footage itself. I just find it really interesting though that SO MANY PEOPLE (and we are talking about thousands to tens of thousands here) all seem to remember this ONE scene where Luke throws the hook twice. Fascinating stuff.

 

Okay I've just posted a question about the grappling hook sequence on another forum that I post in here.

The responses have been very interesting - so far nobody's denied seeing the double throw and a couple of people are actually surprised to be told that it's ONE throw and not two (and most of these guy aren't even Star Wars fanboys like us and a lot of them saw the film in its original release).

*snip*
*paste*



Nope, I can remember that, but didn't realise it until you pointed it out.

Yeah, I seem to remember him missing on the first go, but it could just be that I'm inventing memories based on what I'm told.

i remember the miss as well - i just figured they took it out to stream line the scene

Yea.. I clearly rememeber the miss and didn't even know he made it first time now. So I'm sure I'm not inventing memories. I distinctly remember the miss and clang. It was a good bit of comedy in the movie and showed he wasn't perfect. I also recall Leia giving him a "rolls eyes" look when he missed. Hrmm weird. Now I want to go to the oldest crappest video store I can find and get an old copy of the video.

I remember the two throws...And Gravitygrave remembers two throws too. And damn you, now Gravity is threatening to get out the collection AGAIN and see the changes. Jebus.

You mean it is only one throw in the video collections? S$%*! now I am also gonna have to check this out.

 

I watched ANH yesterday and you know, it does seem that they left a few seconds out of the grapple hook scene.

If you notice you notice that you never see what happens to the 3rd stormtrooper.He even shoots at them right as he throws it and then she kisses Luke and they swing and he's gone?

I take it that since he's body isn't even there that he was shot and fell off,since running away would make sense since they could have called more troops in.

Has anybody ever noticed this.

Probably an editing mistake.And it still doesn't prove the grapple hook thing.

 

I can't watch the grappling-hook scene anymore without feeling like Luke is taking SO DAMN LONG to get his cable out. It just feels TOO long, I'm so used to him whipping it out and taking his first shot.

But then maybe I'm just imagining things

 

Sorry, no info about the infamous grappling hook scene.

But I have to add another change.

I read through all the 12 pages of this thread to make sure that nobody mentioned this particular change.
I pointed this out many times before in certain SE topics and never got confirmed by another forum member.

During the 80´s I watched the STAR WARS trilogy on VIDEO 2000 over and over again.
I finally recorded STAR WARS back in the late 80´s/early 90´s from German televison (SAT 1)
and watched the VHS recording numerous times since then.

If you compare these two recordings with the 97 SE release, the ABSOLUTE lack of music whilst the SE Dianoga/Trash Compactor scene is striking.

The original version conatins the soundtrack which got used for the added SE Mos Eisley establishing shots.
The music starts when you hear the Dianoga creature´s roar and stops when Luke finally gets released.

If you´ve seen the scored version just once, you won´t understand why it got changed seven years ago.
The scene now feels dull, empty and unfinished.

Did anyone else notice this ?

Next to Greedo and Jabba this is the worst ANH SE change IMHO.

What about Laserdisc ?
How does that scene sound one those ?

 

Here we go again

Amazing