Things the Star Wars Special Editions Did Right

[Soviet Heavy]

I know the special Editions of the Star Wars films are much maligned for their changes, such as Greedo shooting first, and the random CGI bullshit that started clogging up scenes.

However, there are a few things that I liked more about the Special Editions than the original versions. Two things in particular stand out to me: The Wampa scene and the ending to Return of the Jedi.

The Wampa scene just feels more intimidating. I know that there is the old adage of keeping the movie monster hidden, but in the original version, we got pretty much no payoff with the Wampa at all. The new Wampa is still freaking scary, but we at least get to see what it looks like.

The second improvement was the ending to Return of the Jedi. I can't really stand the Yub Nub song from the original, and John Williams new music plus the extended celebration across multiple planets just makes things more triumphant than simple a couple humans dancing with teddy bears.

Note. I still hate how they put Hayden into the 2004 ending of Jedi. I much prefer the 1997 Jedi ending, where it was still Sebastian Shaw.

 

[Soviet Heavy]

I think that adding Jabba into A New Hope was a good idea, it was definitely supposed to be in there, and originally it wasn't entirely clear at first why Jabba even wanted Han to be captured.

Well, that scene made sense, because it had been filmed originally, and it was just being added back into the film. All they needed was to put Jabba in and the scene was already complete.

 

[Soviet Heavy]

I think that adding Jabba into A New Hope was a good idea, it was definitely supposed to be in there, and originally it wasn't entirely clear at first why Jabba even wanted Han to be captured.

Well, that scene made sense, because it had been filmed originally, and it was just being added back into the film. All they needed was to put Jabba in and the scene was already complete.

You really have to wonder exactly what they were doing though. In modern cinema it entirely makes sense to shoot a scene with only partial actors, especially with a visibly non-human actor to be added later on. But Star Wars was filmed in 1976, a full decade before CGI started becoming viable for full body close-ups.

Maybe it was just a rehearsal sort of thing, but usually it would make sense to have somebody walking with Harrison to talk to, makes it a lot easier to perform.

Jabba the Hutt was originally a human who looked like this.

The scene was cut because of time and budget constraints, but when Lucas went back to do the Special Editions, he altered the scene to allow the CGI Jabba to be in the film, keeping consistent with Jedi.

 

[Neverhoodian]

I think that adding Jabba into A New Hope was a good idea, it was definitely supposed to be in there, and originally it wasn't entirely clear at first why Jabba even wanted Han to be captured.

Personally, I can see why it was originally cut (aside from the obvious Scottish bloke in a fur suit).

Most of the stuff Jabba talks about was already stated by Greedo just a few minutes earlier, making the entire scene seem redundant. Besides, why would a galactic crime lord (a fat, slow slug of a crime lord, mind you) leave his palace and go all the way to Mos Eisley just to intimidate a two-bit smuggler that hasn't paid off his debts? It would make more sense to have one of his flunkies deliver the message for him. Indeed, the Star Wars Radio Drama did just that, replacing Jabba with a lieutenant of his named "Heater." He had the air of a cultured aristocrat, but could turn menacing at the drop of a hat.

The only really good improvements for me were the revamped space combat scenes. Computer effects work far better with inanimate objects like vehicles than creatures or people.

 

[evilneko]

Well, the pan across the X-Wings opening the S-foils was pretty cool in the Special Edition...

Um.. uh...

...I got nothin (else).

 

[Raven's Nest]

Most of these points are valid, George hasn't screwed around with them *too* much...

Oh wait, that singing and dancing scene in Jabba's Palace in ROTJ? I take it back... Wtf was he thinking!

 

[Anachronism]

I think it's quite appropriate that Empire, the best film in the series, is the one that's been tampered with the least, and the changes that have been made are actually very good ones. Case in point: the scene where Vader talks to the Emperor, putting Ian McDiarmid in the Emperor's hologram instead of a woman with chimpanzee eyes. Makes it more consistent with the other films, and is a big improvement in and of itself.

 

[SpAc3man]

Although, I saw the 2004 DVD release. Anakin now LOOKS like Anakin? Fuck yeah!

Leave now. You are not permitted to spew that blasphemous filth from your mouth here. Ever.
Hayden Christensen is the worst thing that ever happened to Star Wars. Every real Star Wars fan in the world is obligated to punch him in the face. Once for each film.

OT: George did do some good things with the special editions. The Jabba scene is pure gold and the scene where they are flying into Cloud City gives a great view of Bespin, most of Empire was general polishing. Greedo shooting first is an unfortunate addition to an otherwise well done touch-up.

 

[idarkphoenixi]

I think the sarlak pit (that spelt right?) was done better with the added tentacles. I believe there was a scene on the death star with Han running into an entire platoon of stormtroopers rather than just a handfull.

 

[008Zulu_v1legacy]

Anakin's Force Ghost, no. It shouldn't have been Hayden. Anakin looked like that, 30 years ago. Since Obi-Wan and Yoda looked whoever old they were when they died, so should have Anakin.

I remember the Jabba scene up on the big screen, I remember it looking disjointed, half finished, rushed.

The space battles look much, much nicer.

 

[Roland Gutwein]

Although, I saw the 2004 DVD release. Anakin now LOOKS like Anakin? Fuck yeah!

Leave now. You are not permitted to spew that blasphemous filth from your mouth here. Ever.
Hayden Christensen is the worst thing that ever happened to Star Wars. Every real Star Wars fan in the world is obligated to punch him in the face. Once for each film.

*clears throat*

No!

What, I'm not allowed to like a character played by my favorite actor? I'm not allowed to express appreciation towards a series of movies I grew up with? I'm not allowed to see those movies referenced in the movies that came before them? That makes me not a true Star Wars fan?

Like all good little Star Wars fans I have to openly despise anything that isn't the original version of the first three movies or KOTOR? A true Star Wars fan has to openly hate the Prequels, The Force Unleashed series, the Clone Wars tv series, and the two MMO's?

A true Star Wars fan has to openly hate an actor who did an okay job portraying a character that had more expectations towards it than any other character in recorded history? Let's see you take on the insane job of portraying Darth Vader before the Dark Side and see how well you do it.

I'm going to be the one who finally says it. I'm a Star Wars fan, and Pre-Vader Anakin is my favorite Star Wars character.

It really says something about a series of movies when the only actors who show any kind if interest in their job are Harrison Ford and Hayden Christensen. Especially when you have Ewan Mcgregor, Samual L Jackson, James Earl Jones and Alec Guiness on your cast.

Apparantly being a true fan of anything requires seething rage that borders on the psychotic. That is the path of the Dark Side.

I'm a 'true fan' of Star Wars. I do believe that the original trilogy was (on the whole) better than the prequel trilogy. But I do not share the rabid hate of the prequels that many fans do- and it does grate on me a little when other 'true fans' rag on folks who like the prequels. To each their own. I didn't have a problem with Hayden, but rather, the clunky dialogue. But then, Star Wars has clunky dialogue a lot of the time, prequel or original.

As far as the subject of the post goes, I agree with folks about the space scenes being the best changes made. Most of the other stuff is superfluous and now even a bit dated, CG tech wise.

The only thing I truly 'rage' against is the concept of midicholorians. It was unnecessary in my opinion and I'm glad they kind of didn't bring them up much in the later movies of the prequels.

 

[SpAc3man]

The problem with Hayden Christensen is that he wasn't able to deliver the performance that everyone wanted. It wasn't just the dialogue that held him back. I felt that Ewan Mcgregor managed to portray his character well despite the dialogue he was given. Lucas should have realised that there were huge expectations for the role and made sure he chose an actor with the ability to pull it off. It has always seemed to me that Hayden was cast because he can act like a moody teenager and he looks like he could be related to Mark Hamill. The role needed to be given to someone who had more skill as an actor.

EDIT: Putting him into the end of ROTJ wasn't even thought out properly. Every other force ghost appeared at the age they were when they died. Putting Hayden in was just a dumb move by Lucas to try and build stronger links between the separate trilogies.

 

[Gabbytrack]

Although, I saw the 2004 DVD release. Anakin now LOOKS like Anakin? Fuck yeah!

Leave now. You are not permitted to spew that blasphemous filth from your mouth here. Ever.
Hayden Christensen is the worst thing that ever happened to Star Wars. Every real Star Wars fan in the world is obligated to punch him in the face. Once for each film.

*clears throat*

No!

What, I'm not allowed to like a character played by my favorite actor? I'm not allowed to express appreciation towards a series of movies I grew up with? I'm not allowed to see those movies referenced in the movies that came before them? That makes me not a true Star Wars fan?

Like all good little Star Wars fans I have to openly despise anything that isn't the original version of the first three movies or KOTOR? A true Star Wars fan has to openly hate the Prequels, The Force Unleashed series, the Clone Wars tv series, and the two MMO's?

A true Star Wars fan has to openly hate an actor who did an okay job portraying a character that had more expectations towards it than any other character in recorded history? Let's see you take on the insane job of portraying Darth Vader before the Dark Side and see how well you do it.

I'm going to be the one who finally says it. I'm a Star Wars fan, and Pre-Vader Anakin is my favorite Star Wars character.

It really says something about a series of movies when the only actors who show any kind if interest in their job are Harrison Ford and Hayden Christensen. Especially when you have Ewan Mcgregor, Samual L Jackson, James Earl Jones and Alec Guiness on your cast.

Apparantly being a true fan of anything requires seething rage that borders on the psychotic. That is the path of the Dark Side.

I hate to say it, because I think the prequels are garbage, and those Red Letter Media videos made them even more unwatchable, but I got to hand it to this guy, he has a valid point. Star Wars is what you make it, that's what special about this series. Maybe you thought being an X-wing pilot was badass and Jedi's were pansies, or maybe that the prequels are good movies. The point is there is no right Star Wars anymore, the universe is too expansive and broad, with so many moving parts in it. You take what you like and there's still plenty left for people with totally different styles and views to like things here too.
That being said I really wish Lucas would stop screwing around with them, and I agree that aside from the Hoth cave escape scene, the only thing I liked about the redone ones is the cleaner looking space battles.

 

[evilneko]

Although, I saw the 2004 DVD release. Anakin now LOOKS like Anakin? Fuck yeah!

Leave now. You are not permitted to spew that blasphemous filth from your mouth here. Ever.
Hayden Christensen is the worst thing that ever happened to Star Wars. Every real Star Wars fan in the world is obligated to punch him in the face. Once for each film.

*clears throat*

No!

What, I'm not allowed to like a character played by my favorite actor? I'm not allowed to express appreciation towards a series of movies I grew up with? I'm not allowed to see those movies referenced in the movies that came before them? That makes me not a true Star Wars fan?

Wait, what? You LIKE that Hayden Christensen bastard?

It really says something about a series of movies when the only actors who show any kind if interest in their job are Harrison Ford and Hayden Christensen. Especially when you have Ewan Mcgregor, Samual L Jackson, James Earl Jones and Alec Guiness on your cast.

...Tell me you be trollin'. Tell me you. be. trollin.

 

[evilneko]

C'mon, did you really think nobody in the world actually liked those movies?

No, I thought no one actually liked Hayden Christensen. Ugh. I'd rather have him replaced by his CGI counterpart and voice actor from The Clone Wars. Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith would be immensely improved by it.

 

[SpAc3man]

I would point you to the Higher Ground series or Life as a House, or even Jumper. But you obviously don't like him as an actor and me trying to convince you otherwise would make me into some kind of unfeeling, evil monster that can't percieve other people's tastes.

I'd be like a Brony or an Anime Fan

I didn't think he was that bad in Jumper. He just wasn't able to portray the character struggling with many different emotions and personal demons that he needed to in the most import role of his career so far. He was a poor choice for the character.

 

[Kragg]

Although, I saw the 2004 DVD release. Anakin now LOOKS like Anakin? Fuck yeah!

Leave now. You are not permitted to spew that blasphemous filth from your mouth here. Ever.
Hayden Christensen is the worst thing that ever happened to Star Wars. Every real Star Wars fan in the world is obligated to punch him in the face. Once for each film.

*clears throat*

No!

What, I'm not allowed to like a character played by my favorite actor? I'm not allowed to express appreciation towards a series of movies I grew up with? I'm not allowed to see those movies referenced in the movies that came before them? That makes me not a true Star Wars fan?

Like all good little Star Wars fans I have to openly despise anything that isn't the original version of the first three movies or KOTOR? A true Star Wars fan has to openly hate the Prequels, The Force Unleashed series, the Clone Wars tv series, and the two MMO's?

A true Star Wars fan has to openly hate an actor who did an okay job portraying a character that had more expectations towards it than any other character in recorded history? Let's see you take on the insane job of portraying Darth Vader before the Dark Side and see how well you do it.

I'm going to be the one who finally says it. I'm a Star Wars fan, and Pre-Vader Anakin is my favorite Star Wars character.

It really says something about a series of movies when the only actors who show any kind if interest in their job are Harrison Ford and Hayden Christensen. Especially when you have Ewan Mcgregor, Samual L Jackson, James Earl Jones and Alec Guiness on your cast.

Apparantly being a true fan of anything requires seething rage that borders on the psychotic. That is the path of the Dark Side.

i like how you soapbox for this when it has nothing to do with the original point of things

point that changing the forceghost to what he looked like 30 years ago makes no sence at all

I like Natalie Portman as an actress, why arent all the forceghosts Natalie Portman guys? come on ! ...

 

[Vivi22]

Personally, I can see why it was originally cut (aside from the obvious Scottish bloke in a fur suit).

Most of the stuff Jabba talks about was already stated by Greedo just a few minutes earlier, making the entire scene seem redundant. Besides, why would a galactic crime lord (a fat, slow slug of a crime lord, mind you) leave his palace and go all the way to Mos Eisley just to intimidate a two-bit smuggler that hasn't paid off his debts? It would make more sense to have one of his flunkies deliver the message for him.

I have to agree with this and I was actually going to say most of it until I saw your post. I just watched the revamped versions again a few months back and the redundancy of the dialogue in this scene annoyed the hell out of me. It seemed pretty obvious that this scene was cut and then much of the dialogue recycled for the Greedo scene. It also makes less sense when you take the Greedo scene into account. Jabba puts a bounty on Han's head, except he knows exactly where he is, goes to meet with him, and then just let's him go? I've got to call bullshit there. A man/alien that goes so far as to offer money for you dead or alive is someone that probably doesn't know where you are, and doesn't want to take the effort to go find you themselves. They're also not likely to be smooth talked into letting you walk away.

The only really good improvements for me were the revamped space combat scenes. Computer effects work far better with inanimate objects like vehicles than creatures or people.

I disagree with you here though. I actually felt the CGI space combat added very little, and was often a jarring distraction compared to the look of the rest of the film. The original effects actually hold up very well I find. They were extremely dynamic and fast paced, and far ahead of anything else at the time. I could have understood things like touching up explosions and the like here or there, but I didn't feel adding in CG ships flying around really made the experience any better. If anything, I'm more impressed by the original effects, especially when I think about the fact that they were done in the 70's and 80's. And perhaps I'm also a little jaded when it comes to bad CGI. These scenes were added in the 90's, and CGI from that time period rarely ages well, the Original Trilogy being no exception.

 

[Sexy Devil]

Although, I saw the 2004 DVD release. Anakin now LOOKS like Anakin? Fuck yeah!

Leave now. You are not permitted to spew that blasphemous filth from your mouth here. Ever.
Hayden Christensen is the worst thing that ever happened to Star Wars. Every real Star Wars fan in the world is obligated to punch him in the face. Once for each film.

OT: George did do some good things with the special editions. The Jabba scene is pure gold and the scene where they are flying into Cloud City gives a great view of Bespin, most of Empire was general polishing. Greedo shooting first is an unfortunate addition to an otherwise well done touch-up.

I disliked Christensen too (even though I maintain that a lot of it was bad writing and wasn't his fault), but adding him in there kinda fits with what Obi Wan was saying throughout those movies about Anakin dying long ago and the thing that's left being Darth Vader. I know one could argue that he was Anakin again at the end, but the form that Luke saw at the end wasn't the same man that Luke saw die. Any credibility to the "he should show up how he died" argument goes out the window when you realised that in the originals he suddenly loses all his deformities.

I don't know, the way they made him lose those deformities and scars, it kinda felt like they would have done what the edit did if they had an idea of what they wanted young Anakin to look like.

My $0.02.

Also holy god I popped my original version in again just to remember the Ewok song at the end, and that... that is awful.

 

[SpAc3man]

It is true that supposedly we see Anakin as he was before what Obi Wan referred to as Akakin's "death" that only left behind Darth Vader but that contradicts the plot of Luke refusing to accept that Anakin was no longer there and that there was still good in Vader. Obi Wan didn't believe this could be true and discouraged Luke from trying to bring his father back. The whole ending of ROTJ from Vader betraying the Emperor to save Luke and having Luke unmask him so he could die as Anakin was a kind of rebirth for him. All the scars and deformities were a part of his descent into evil that was undone when he turned back.