Yep! I have to admit, when I first saw "The Empire Strikes Back" in 1980 and the scrolling intro text said "Episode V The Empire Strikes back", almost everyone in the Cinema said "FIVE?????" lol
@@kinggzz actually nobody knew Vader is Luke's father in the 1980s even the main cast doesn't it was a secret kept by Lucas to mark Hamill and promised to not tell anyone about it.
@@vetarlittorf1807 I don't know if he did it first or not, but he certainly did it, and _long_ before George Lucas. _Of course_ a director in the late 70s wasn't the first to recut or reedit his films after their initial release lol
1:69:86 Where he basically slaps stupid looking stickers over everything because letting al artist touch up an old workpiece is like handing a child a paintbrush with a can of road-tar you know something terrible is about to happen.
I always though: ,what makes Han & Chewie stop chasing stormtroopers on the Death Star? When George changed it to the blundering into an entire hanger of Stormtrooper....well that just worked for me!
Yeah, that change actually made sense to me. A few stormtroopers? Meh-- Han and Chewie can keep going. *At least* a few hundred? Um... not so much. : )
Yes exactly! Why would Han scream and run away when the stormtroopers he was chasing just turned around and start blasting him. Running into a hanger full of troops makes it even more funnier.
@@user-xx6vy9ri8p True, but stormtroopers aren't that bright. My money was on the fact that they were legit scared of him. With some scruffy looking psycho insanely charging at you armed, you can bet your ass that you would want to put some distance between you two.
Also the continuous fly-by of the X-wings while they are between Yavin and the Death Star is how Lucas always wanted to do it, but lacked the technology in 1977 (he had to instead film an approach and then cut to a receding shot). With the special edition, he finally got to make it one continuous fly-by with CGI.
@@ComeOnIsSuchAJoy I never even noticed the flashes. Always thought the shots ("shots" because it happens when the falcon arrives to) were weird because of the emptyness.
@@Shot5hells There’s worse CGI in the special editions. Look at Jabba in a New Hope, or the added Rontos in Mos Eisley, or Sy Snootles and Joh Yowza in Return of the Jedi.
What a lot of people don't realize is George actually wanted to do most of the changes in the original movies but due to things like budget, time, and limited technology he couldn't do them back in the 70's and 80's. I remember the first versions I actually owned were the VHS copies of the special edition where each episode had a featurette at the start where he explains all the changes he did in each movie
This. They're his movies after all, so people should just chill and let him tell the story the way he wants it to be told. However, I can understand part of the frustration. Many people would like to see the original, unaltered versions of the movies, but they're often hard to find, available only on discontinued video formats (LaserDisc, VHS), or completely unavailable.
Regarding Cloud City's changes, one of my earliest memories was seeing Empire Strikes Back at my father's friend's house in the late 80's (after watching Labyrinth). I was only about 5 but I remember feeling like Cloud City had a claustrophobic vibe to it. 20 years late I purchased the DVD's (having not seen it since then) and felt something was off about Cloud City in them, as it didn't have the claustrophobic vibe I remembered as a kid. Then, only a year or so ago I found out about the addition of the windows described here and I realized that my memories as a child were apparently more accurate than I would have expected. Funny the things that stick with you.
Believe somewhere along the line someone explained that Leia wasn't tall enough to put it on him. Or, maybe Chewie didn't feel he deserved it because he was just following Han's orders.
It's racist. Chewie -- or Jesus, as we sometimes call the pendejo -- was a sidekick. Also, a minority. Remember the Tarzan yell on the pig-latin Wookie...oh, that's Ewok...moon? Yeah, he was there for sport. Now, listen to the humor that poured out of Peter's mouth when doing lines with Harrison, and you'll understand why the responses are so natural.
I really like how they added back in the scene of Luke and Biggs reuniting on Yavin IV. The cut scene of them on Tatooine was wisely still left out, since it would've disrupted the pace of the movie at that point. However, to see the bond they have as old friends at that point on Yavin IV really ties together the dialogue they have during the ensuing battle as well as the reaction Luke has when Biggs dies.
I have self arguments about that scene if it should stayed it. One on hand, it's kind of boring but at the same time, it tells a lot about Luke and what he wanted. He wanted to join the Empire as a pilot like Biggs did however Luke decided to change his mind about the Rebellion and wanted to join it ONLY because Biggs said he wanted to. I think if they left that in, it would be funny to argue that the only reason Luke wanted to join the Rebellion was because of his friend instead of "accidently" working his way in like how the movie paced itself without the scene.
@@Seriona1 I like how it came together. You hear enough Luke dialogue at the start of the movie to understand his motivation but then all these coincidences come together that lead to him joining the rebellion. Then when he sees Biggs towards the end of the movie it all ties itself together. Obviously a lot of fat was trimmed in the edit and without any reshoots, this part of the story was just a casualty of the edit, but I'm glad the didn't focus on too much small stuff, it makes the movie succinct.
@@timothymcnaughton531 I kind of wish they kept it in as Luke was watching the battle above when it happened but I think Lucas cut the scene out simply because it was pure dialog and it doesn't really help the plot but they kept it in the book.
I like that Biggs isn't there as it sells the whole "All of Luke's friends already got off Tattooine" which helps him feel more isolated at the start, and makes the call to adventure more satisfying
I much prefer the older versions of Empire and Jedi, but even I have to admit that the work ILM did on updating the Battle of Yavin is still impressive, and it does enhance that movie.
It would be great if they would release them again in their original theatrical versions. Even though some of the changes were needed, it would still be nice to have the option to watch the original versions as well.
I think that the original unaltered version of Star Wars IV is the best version of the film ever made, and I am happy that I was able to view it 42 times in movie theaters by 1978!!
Vader's first in Episode 3 "No" is quite meaningful if think about it. Padme was Anakin's last tie to the light. Even though he turned evil, he still loved her. Imagine being defeated in battle by your best friend, shoved into a suit with no limbs, and the person you loved more than anything was now dead at your hands. You wouldn't just do nothing and stand there menacingly.
People laughed at Vader’s exclamation of no!!!! Wtf? That moment gives me chills! The raw emotion, the machines in the room crumpling as his mind reaches out in agony..
i vividly recall people laughing in the theater when i saw it back when it was released. kinda like how people laughed when leia supermaned in ep8. how in editing they thought these particular choices was good boggles the mind.
@@ZeonRemnants these same people clearly didn’t understand Anakin as opposed to Vader…Palme was his everything, and to be told he himself killed her after spending the whole movie trying to save her life, is what drove him to such hatred and malice toward the world. Even better was the Emperor’s wry grin at seeing such torture before him. That alone seals the deal for how truly malicious Palp was…
@@collegebro85 its not a matter of understanding, its a matter of execution. theres so many other ways to covney anakins pain than having james earl jones go Noooooooooooo.
I remember the laughter myself as well. It's soooo pithy and over-dramatic that with that voice modulator it just came out ridiculous. It also seemed like it was dragging Vadar through the whiny Anakin mud
David Prowse deserves most of the respect and credit as well for playing the physical form of Darth Vader throughout the original trilogy. Without him, Vader wouldn’t be one of the most iconic film villains or have laid the groundwork for the actors of Anakin Skywalker such as the late Sebastian Shaw and Hayden Christiansen.
@@hunterolaughlin It's quite understandable that you are patriot and support your fellow Englishman, but let's be frank here : ANYONE could have played David Prowse's part. EDIT : he did a good job though and no one denies it (-:
@@Jacques_the_Rooster I’m wouldn’t change Vader’s body actor for the world. David Prowse was just perfect and I hope with the passing of time, he gets more recognition and appreciation for the part he played in the Original Trilogy, even if he was in a suit.
I prefer Hayden Christensen's ghost in Episode VI over Sebastian Shaw. Even though the scene worked fine before he was added, the reason is that Hayden Christensen is the definitive Anakin.
I feel bad for Sebastian Shaw, but he wasn't under the suit or doing the voice. It would have been better if they had used David Prowse that would have been different. Oh well.
@@Rosadullaghan I agree that Shaw would be best for a redeemed Vader, but the reason why I like Hayden better is because it ties in all six films together, and his return in Episode IX, as a voice, ties together all nine films. While I prefer the original trilogy (and Revenge of the Sith) over the sequels, I still think that Hayden does the best job of tying all nine movies together.
@@mikeor- No. That’s exactly what I mean. George didn’t want it to be redeemed Vader, he wanted people to see that his sacrifice was Anakin’s. He defeated Vader, and became Anakin when he died. I totally agree, and while I understand other people’s opinions on it, Hayden just works way, way better.
Star Wars won an Oscar for its special effects, compositing issues included and it deserves to be available to view in its originally released form. I have no objection to special editions, cut scenes etc, but supressing the film as it originally appeared is dishonest. Special editions and updated effects didn't launch the phenom that is Star Wars.
As someone who saw the original Star Wars in theaters..... TWICE(rarity for my family back then, in 1977)... I'm honestly happy with the DVD release of that cut of the film. Yeah, it's a rip of the laserdisc version, but close enough for government work. Would I love a blu-ray/digital version of the original cut? Sure.... but dammit, people need to stop ripping on the original release on DVD. It's SOMETHING close to the original release, and we should be happy we have it. Sure, keep lobbying for more, but at least be happy we have that! Not gonna lie, I actually LIKE most of the changes to the original films. I mean, yeah, Greedo shooting before/at the same time is a load of bullshit..... but updating the effects shots, I'm honestly okay with.
At this point I don't really think that Disney releasing the unaltered trilogy has any relevance. Harmy's Despecialised Edition already provided that in full HD, and now there's another fan project that tries to do the same in 4k. Also, that unaltered trilogy in the Lucasfilm Archives has become so glorified by fans I honestly believe that it wouldn't live up to the expectations. Like, even if it was the TRUE ORIGINAL RELEASE, which nobody has really seen in the past 30-40 years, there will always be a lot of people saying: "But this and that is not how I remember! Release the real unaltered one, dammit!"
Han shooting Greedo in cold blood is what MAKES his character of a badass smuggler. We just meet Han and he’s portrayed as this rogue criminal and him blasting Greedo just reinforces that. This makes his whole character arc so much better because he goes from being a selfish smuggler to a hero in the rebellion, especially at the end of New Hope when he comes back at the last moment.
8:15 I thought that the dialogue in that scene was spot-on, showing how separated Darth Vader had become from his old identity, or at least how separated the emperor had intended for Vader to become
I know this post is a year old, but you are correct. Sith code if you will require you to give up your old life when becoming one of the Sith. Well, it was the code for when the rule of 2 came into play. During the years of the Brotherhood of Sith you were likely born into it.
I actually have no issue with Vader's "Noooooo!" scene, because it feels like an important part of accentuating how he's "more machine than man" (as Obi-Wan said). The fact that what little was left of Anakin at that point would have been feeling incredible anguish, and (if not for the respirator) screamed that line much more viscerally, the fact that what comes out from the mask (which RotJ showed actually altered his voice) is a near-emotionless mechanical-sounding 'tone' fits the transformation from Anakin to Vader perfectly. It sets up the character for the next 3 parts as someone who has left their humanity behind.
Not really, it was silly. He could have juat screamed they didn't need the melodramatic cooky "Nnnnnnnooooooo!!!" people don't act like that in real life.
How do you feel if other people randomly say “maclunky”? Is this a common thing occurrence in your life? If not, then that’s something to be happy about, eh? 😀
The one change that doesn't not sit well with me and makes it to where I can't watch the scene in the Blu Ray version is Vader shouting NOOOOOO!!!!! in ROTJ. It was an unnecessary addition to the scene. George knew that it was cringed upon in ROTS then why add it to ROTJ? I prefer the original scene where Vader turns on the Emperor silently and defiant with his music booming in the background. No words needed to be said. Just his actions were speaking volumes.
Coleman Gunner , I agree with you adding Vader shouting NO in return of the jedi did not need to be there. when Vader learned from Palpatine that his wife died...ok that fits after all your not going to be silent when someone you love has died. your going to cry out in Anguish.
The majority of his changes did not add anything of substance to the movies. The CGI entrance to ANH? The extra rock in front of R2? The extra scene of the Wampa? All crap and unnecessary. The Jabba scene in ANH is the worst and the most unforgivable change. It looks terrible, completely reiterates everything that Greedo just said and it entirely ruins the surprise of Jabba in RotJ after hearing about him for two movies.
@@HabitualJoker well good or not depends on each person....some like it others don't. we all have our opinions on the extra stuff.........I recall George Lucus saying in a interview the stuff he added was what he wanted to do to begin with but at the time of the original movies. the Special Effects was not as as advanced as it is today. so he had to trim back the special effects he wanted so what we saw is what fans enjoyed.... I'm just guessing but back in the 70's and early 80's if the Special effects had been advanced enough as it is today...and he was able to put in all he wanted Fans back then would have loved it....
@@patrickperalta59 Sometimes less is more. There were plenty of space rock operas that followed Star Wars that used far more and advanced special effects but none of them grabbed audiences the same way. Sometimes, despite what a creator might WANT to do, if you make something that audiences adore, you should just leave it alone.
The yub Nub is great, but how much of the love for it is nostalgia based. Now I wasn't born yet when 6 came out and it wasn't until youtube became a big thing and I watched the end scene and discovered people like the old one more. Listened to it and didn't see where people came from. The ending music in the special edition is far more worthy to end the trilogy/saga on. It invokes far more emotion to me and it still keeps the tribal ewok music in it.
I was fine with the expansion of the Max Rebo Band, but, yes, I preferred "Lapti Nek" over "Jedi Rocks." I'm also fine with Vader's 'NNooooooo.' Lest we forget, Vader was still very much Anakin at this point; not yet the bitter, jaded Sith Lord in the OT who has nothing left to live for but join his master in their continued pursuit for more power.
@@ComeOnIsSuchAJoy I never understood why people shat on Vader’s despair. It’s like, do you not have a fundamental grasp of Anakin at all? The love of his life, bearer of his children, has just been killed by him in an effort to save her life. Now he is stuck in a mechanical body, permanently maimed and a pawn to the dark side - all for nothing.
Fun Fact: It's kinda glossed over im canon but, I'm pretty sure it is mentioned that the Empire continued to have some kind of presence on Tatooine after ANH.
Naboo as well due to it being the emperor's homeworld. Bespin because I believe there were still an extra garrison of imperials there ever since what happened in the previous film
There was a garrison as shown in ANH. So although Jabba technically ruled, the Empire did seem to have some form of power/influence there. Even the Hutts would hesitate before causing trouble with the Empire.
@@corruptangel6793 i always figured that "garrison" was because vader was in orbit looking for the droids. Locking down the spaceport is a great idea given vader needed to prevent the plans from reaching the rebel base
Decade later and the Prequels still get shat on in a video titled "Brilliant changes Lucas made." Like these RU-vidrs have to remind people, hey we might be saying good things about them but they're still bad... lol. Also the Prequels rock, Lucas Saga is best Saga
@@Agarwaen lol, even though that was still under Lucas' guidance.. The Prequels are great, not to mention that the "critiques" can easily be applied to the OT, but everyone has blinders on when it comes to those. People usually just following the RLM hate train
@@bigdoubleu117 ye sorry, but star wars: couch talk 1 2 and 3 just aren't well made movies, the story is all over the place, the "humour" is infantile, the retcons are pure dumbfuckery and on.. and on...
@@Agarwaen except they had plenty of action, humor is subjective, and there really weren't any retcons, just added lore. People who hate the Prequels still think Midiclorians ARE the Force 😂 Which no, they aren't. And thats typically the only "retcon" that happens
@@bigdoubleu117 the retcon is where them not being it was retconned... as it is the humour is mostly jarjar stepping in poo, but hey, if that's what you like then sure, I guess it's "subjective".
And actually George always wanted to call star wars episode IV a new hope but 20th century didn't allow him cause they believed it would confuse audiences Its on the 4th draft of the script and everything
Not on the original 4th draft copies, no, it isn't. There's some retyped version out there with it added on, but every image of the 4th draft shooting script shows NO episode number or name.
@@paulonius42 shooting script is different from the one a writer submits to the studio A shooting script is made into copies right before the production so everyone on set can have one and so by that time the studio already made a decision to just call it star wars and that it was they put on the cover Either way my point still stands that it was always supposed to be episode IV
@@thefriendlygamer2221 I know what a shooting script is quite well. I also know that it was NOT always supposed to be Episode IV a New Hope, which is what you claimed. Yes, Lucas had an idea of doing multiple movies, but no, he didn't plan to call it "Episode IV A New Hope" from the start, which is what you claimed. That's false.
@@paulonius42 well i do know he wanted to call each movie an "episode" based off old TV shows and stuff that he watched as a kid and that is where that comes from My argument is more that people cry about lucas adding a new hope to the movie but it should of been there but the studio wouldn't let him thats all i know because if you listen to Lucas on the 2011 Blu-ray disc commentary that is the story he gives
@@thefriendlygamer2221 NOBODY cries about Lucas adding "A New Hope" to the movie. I'm an original saw-it-in-1977 fan and that's just b.s. Lucas has claimed a lot of things through the years that were bullcrap. (Including telling Speilberg he had the whole Indy trilogy planned when they started Raiders although he had NO plans) Lucas said the films were the story of Luke Skywalker, then changed that when he started the prequels by claiming he had ALWAYS planned the ENTIRE saga to be about ANAKIN. There's no evidence to support your emphatically stated false information. No big deal, but when you are THAT emphatic and THAT wrong, I can't ignore it. Peace.
Yes! Finally something positive. Just occurring to me that you folks at WhatCulture tend to have a healthier outlook on life than some of the other pop culture RU-vid channels. Thank you for that. It’s a breath of fresh air.
I appreciate and like the many cosmetic improvements to the special editions like: some CGI effects, new characters in the background, new locations and some changes to them making the world feel richer and bigger - BUT there are a few changes that are horrible, unnecessary and even disturbing scenes - both visually and for plot changing, such as: - Greedo shoots firs (we all kno that Han shot first! ;) ) - horrible new music and CGI changes added to Max Rebo Band in Jabba palace like CGI Joh Yowza, Sy Snootles and replacing climatic "Lapti Nek" song with the hurly-burly "Jedi Rocks"... - horrible new Sarlack beak-like mouth squealing like a piglet (the old was so great! a terrifying, almost bottomless hole with spikes and tentacles that pull the prey inside) - and the final scene where the spirits ghosts appear to Luke, when the Sebastian Shaw has been replaced by Hayden Christensen! This is an insult to the Sebastian Shaw and total lack of logic - Luke knew his father face from the scene when he took off his helmet - not some foreign youth face that he had never seen before! Secondly, Obi-Wan and Yoda appears in the same form and age as at the time of death, not as youngsters - so it is obvious and logical that Anakin should appear exactly in the form that Luke know and recognise, that means the one portrayed by Sebastian Shaw.
"- Greedo shoots firs (we all kno that Han shot first! ;) )" I'd agree with you on the Special Edition version of that scene. However, I feel the sped-up version from later releases is actually better for characterizing Han, because it creates a situation where Han can spin the story however he wants when needed. He can still claim that no one alive ever beat him to the trigger when boasting or when intimidating someone, while also being able to claim self defense should someone want to go after him for it. And he was still going to shoot either way in those versions of the scene. Just something to consider.
I think my personal favorite was the removing of the green boxes around the ships during the space scenes. I know this is part of the compositing part, but I want to point it out more. Like in the original ghostbusters movie with the dogs and how they looked. It wasn’t as visible in that one as it is in StarWars, but it still took out of the universe the space flight
Those boxes around the ships were REALLY visible in the first vhs releases. It looked really terrible. I didn't notice them at all in the theater, so the transfer likely had something to do with it. I couldn't understand what those boxes were, then I saw "the making of" and realized what they were.
You just gave me an idea the flying taxi screen in Phantom crossed with pulp fiction. Anakin holding a light saber or blaster turns to talk to Jar Jar and well it either fixes or messes up thing.
Came looking for a comment about this and wanted to add that Tarantino chose those techniques because they were nostalgic. He wanted them to look like that. It was a clear artistic choice.
8:32 The speeders in the shots shown were not composited but were shot live using the wheeled version of the speeder. The only added optical effect is the blurring and matting out of the wheels and sand tracks.
You’re right the speeder was shot with the angled mirrors underneath - and this trick sort of worked on the direct side shots which you can see in the outtakes, but wouldn’t work so well on the higher angle town scene - in both of these it appears they later optically blurred the mirror area under the speeder. The matting refers to the sand tracks - in the town scene, at least in the original movie, you can see frame-for-frame moving mattes hiding the tracks behind the speeder.
I always thought just a scream of grief and rage followed by Vader going cold and emotionless as the last of his humanity is gone would've been better.
I mean, it seems a better decision would've been to keep Yub Nub, and transition into the Victory Celebration as it goes from the celebration by the people we've followed to the places we've been...
As one of the many who saw Star Wars when it was originally released in 1977, a lot of the changes Lucas made in the special editions enhanced the enjoyment. The Han Solo scenes with Jabba make more sense in connection to Jedi and the scene where he's chasing the stormtroopers and comes round the corner to be faced by an entire garrison instead of just a few is inspired
The scene with the stormtroopers was great in 1977. The joke already landed perfectly and there was no need for more stormtroopers. This is like if Spielberg added 4 sword men for Indy to shot in Cairo.
The addition of the Jabba scene is completely pointless (it repeats dialogue and information we got from the scene with Greedo), it makes Han trying to flee him less urgent, it spoils the reveal of the Millennium Falcon, and it completely disrupts the pacing of the film
As an admittedly older fan who saw the originals in theaters for the most part, I didn't see A New Hope until the first rerelease, I don't mind many of the changes. After all Lucas was really just trying to tell the best story he could given the tech he had available. I will say the changes in Empire felt the most natural. The Wampa scene showed a little more violence than the original version, yet at the same time it made it less confusing for younger audiences.
I wouldn't say that, honestly I'd say the credit goes more to his team than him since when you see alot of the concepts that he wanted in his original drafts they're pretty dumb. Then you watch the Prequels and you realize Lucas was never that great of a writer, he was good at coming up with ideas that others could expand upon but let him have complete creative control and you get shit like "I hate sand". One of the biggest problems with the prequels is he had no creative pushback.
He's wrong about something that was changed in The Empire Strikes Back, the original emperor in the 1980 release was not the wife of Baker, the woman who played the emperor was named Marjorie Eaton, it was one of her last film roles. Eaton was born in 1901 and had a career in Hollywood that went back to 1946 when she was in Anna and the King of Siam, she passed away in 1986. Look her up and watch the original 1980 emperor and you can clearly see it's her.
@@JohnCena-ew1mf oh that myth again, wonderful, if he was so bad then why was he the one trusted with the loan by a Fox worker and not Marcia or Hirsch or Chew?
I actually didn’t mind Vader’s “Noooooooo” at the end of Revenge of the Sith. I always felt like it worked pretty well narratively, given how melodramatic Anakin was always portrayed to be. Plus doesn’t Vader basically do the same thing in Return of the Jedi, when he decides to turn against Palpatine? It sounds silly in the film, but it totally fits for the character.
I thought it did too didn't have a problem in it. No it doesn't fit the vader we know later but he literally just got confined in that suit he's not used to or accepted this is he's life now.
as ridiculus as it sounded , i think lucas wanted to mirror Luke's "nooooo" from ep V with Vader's "nooo" in ep III - coz u know it rhymes like poetry.
I liked the Frankenstein "Noooooooo!" moment, imo, it showed what a monster Palpatine made Vader into. Also, I like the original ending of the trilogy better than the new CGI ending, the CGI ending seems forced. I never noticed the Cloud City enhancements, I think that was one of the few modifications that I liked. I wish that I had copies of the originals before the modifications, especially the original trilogy, most of all A New Hope, since this was a historic film that changed cinema forever by inventing many special effects the movie industry had never used before, I'd like to see how well it holds up today. George Lucas could still have his director's cut of what he wants, but include the unedited (or at least remastered) versions so that fans can decide which they like better! Han shot first!
I had the VHS tapes of the special editions from 1997 and because of the format, bonus content was just a segment at the start of the tape that you’d have to watch or fast forward through to see the actual film. My brother and I as kids would always just watch it because it felt like part of the film, but also because it was really cool to see how these movies that came out before we were born had been updated and “modernized”. They had interviews with Lucas and a lot of the special effects team and you could tell that they really do love these films. Even if the changes themselves are debatable (even as a kid, the first inclusion of the Jabba scene in IV was pretty bad) it was cool to hear them passionately talk about the changes. My personal favorite is #2, but in terms of green screens. The beginning to RotJ highlighted how they made changes to the trilogy to clean up the noticeable green screen “lines” in many scenes. The musical number in Jabba’s palace was also really awesome. It really gave it a fun vibe and helped further set the mood of the palace before the events of the film. It wasn’t just scary and dangerous, but at times fun and extravagant, thus the allure of crime in the first place. It’d be like having Scarface with only the murder scenes and no party scenes. You need both to make it a well rounded, believable crime story. Including this scene at Jabba’s helps answer why someone might be there in the first place and give more depth to even the background characters.
3:16 Just because Coruscant is under the control of the Empire doesn't mean the Coruscantis like it. By the time of ROTJ Empire pretty much had 0% popular support and Coruscant descended into civil war (started by the riot potrayed in the celebrations) pretty much the moment the word about Endor got out
Yes but in the expanded universe it took awhile for the new republic to gather enough ships and troops to take coruscant. Before you say it fuck disney and their canon, the empire disintegrating not even a year after endor is idiotic to me.
@@delta2372 I don't think either got it right. 1 year is too short, 25 years is too long. Think about it, after 2 decades the momentum from Palpatine's death would've been long gone and the Empire would've rebuilt enough to fight them to a standstill if not drive them back completely Plus Canon has Operation Cinder which was meant by Palpatine to cuck the Empire as a punishment for failing to protect him
@@sarahluise3153 The "fall of the empire" in legends took 17 years, arguably 15 years since after 17 ABY the empire couldn't really fight back anymore.
@@sarahluise3153 We should have had George Lucas' sequels for starters. I believe in that, the galaxy ended up nominally as different factions, with some form of legitimate successor government in charge, but not necessarily in control of the whole galaxy, nor of the criminal/corrupt elements. Then everyone is reunited by saga's end in the face of a common enemy. Luke leads the Jedi, Leia guides the factions - including the Imperial remnants - to form the New Republic.
@@delta2372 I love George Lucas' saga. As for the Rebel scum, those Imperial citizens on Coruscant heard a news piece that the Rebels were defeated at Ender. They are in fact celebrating the end of said Rebels. Despite pleas from Imperial authorities to keep celebrations orderly, some crowds got too excited and ended up overcrowding certain areas of Imperial plaza which resulted in a statue falling down.
Hate to say it, but I love the addition of Hayden Christiansen to the final scene in ROTJ in the 2006 edition. Anakin Skywalker, "The Hero With No Fear", finally lived up to his name. In fact, I'd love it if they replaced the "You were right, Luke" lines with Hayden Christiansen or Matt Lanter's voice.
Anakin Skywalker: kills younglings in ROTS Also Anakin Skywalker: I threw one old dude down a shaft, so I'm totally cool to come back to the light side and be redeemed right?
@@fudd666 This always bugged the shit out of me. He's a GENOCIDAL CHILD KILLER but hey we're all cool now at the end right? I get that he finally formed a last minute connection with his son, saved him from imminent death, and in a way saved his last shred of humanity in his son's eyes...but...HE get's to be a force ghost? Fuck right off with that lol and now we've seen him slaughter randoms to coax Obi-Wan out of hiding in Kenobi, makes it that much more ridiculous knowing he was going around thoughtlessly killing innocents like that even after order 66. That fucker is so way beyond redemption, that scene always pulls me right out.
The problem that people keep making, is the whole "who shot first" argument, when 'originally', Lucas didn't have Greedo shoot at all. Lucas had said in an interview, that he didn't like how that scene made Han look like a cold-blooded killer as he shot Greedo from beneath the table, and this is evident when you compare the original 1977 version/scene to the 1997 Special Edition version/scene. Lucas also made the mistake of re-adding the 'Han meets Jabba The Hutt at Docking Bay 94' scene, which overall, makes no sense to have Han 'step' on Jabba's tail. Lucas could have easily 'dubbed' Han calling him 'Heater', which was the right hand man to Jabba The Hutt (and he could have used that scene with the original human actor as Heater), which would have gone well with Han saying "Heater, you're a wonderful human being". It's not "who shot first", it's "who shot only".
Han was a roguish survivor who wouldn't wait for someone else to start shooting at him if it meant unnecessarily risking his neck. The whole point of his arc in the OT is that he gradually _becomes_ a hero. These tweaks to that initial perfect scene go against the grain of his very character.
Agree. I have to say though the Han shot only when I saw it as a child quite made an impression on me (about his character, and that he is one of the good ones).
Lucas has said that his idea for labeling the first film "episode 4" was to make the audience feel as if they'd walked into the middle of a cliffhanger series, but the studio didn't like that idea and made him drop it for the initial release.
The bit on Aurebesh (as much as I agree) was plainly painful to the linguist, tbh 😅 There's no "language" or "translation" involved in this whatsoever - the aurebesh are, at best, a writing system. An alphabet. Just like the Latin alphabet that is used to write so many different languages. In fact it's not even an actual alphabet but a mere code for the Latin alphabet - i. e. each aurebesh letter represents a Latin one, and all it does is transcribe English. There's never any different language on screen - it's always plain English (even though it's called "Basic", in universe), its just written in different letters. The only part in Star Wars that comes even remotely close to an actual artificial language like Klingon or the varieties of Elvish is the bits and pieces of somewhat organized Mandalorian in the old EU, but this is far from anything Orkrand (let alone Tolkien) ever made. And you might have added that they first appeared on screen in Return of the Jedi, but didn't actually mean anything back then, and were only later organized into a fan alphabet for some RPG in the early 90's. It was quite a big thing to finally see them on screen in Phantom Menace and actually being able to read them.
The correct terminology would be a simple substitution cipher, not a code. A code changes out words and phrases for code words and phrases. A cipher replaces letters with letters.
@@lord_egg Oh look, the Emperor does too. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-x-hzmaj7E8s.html Alas, there is no name-checking Rex. I misremembered.
I couldn’t agree more with the Luke scream after he jumps. I always recognized it as the emperor’s scream and thought it just made no sense at all. Even if they had a legit Hamill scream it would be dumb af
At the end of the theatrical release of Attack of the Clones, Anakin's robot hand just dangles there. For the DVD, the robot hand actually takes Padme's hand. I liked that change. Also, same movie, after Padme falls out of the gunship the clones ask if she is ok, and her casual reply "yes" was a bit unnatural. That was changed to a pained "uh huh" in the DVD release. Much more natural.
I've heard people say that they added the robot hand for home video release and I was like I remember seeing it in the theater, now after reading this comment it finally makes sense.
there's no mention of the huge mistake in the lightsaber fight between ben and vader in which the camera operator had a bad angle and ruined the blade effect
I liked that Ben’s blade failed. As a child I interpreted it as showing that he is a tired old man. To me, it made his sacrifice make even MORE sense. Like he could tell that his influence on the physical world was fading and knew that he could be more help joined with the force.
Can anyone else see the irony? Cutting Vaders scream from Episode 3 and putting it into Episode 6? Gosh, i hate that 2011 moment of Ep6 ... so out of character...no words needed
From what I know, they tried to do that for TPM, but the results weren't good enough. They never stopped improving on it though, and by AOTC they managed to end up with an acceptable look.
Also, Yoda doesn't have any action scenes in "The Phantom Menace," anyway (likely by design, but still), so a puppet should've sufficed had it been even as good as it was nearly 2 decades earlier. Failing to do even that level of quality of puppetry was just embarrassing.
@@Compucles I don't think that the level of quality dropped. I mean, Yaddle was the same puppet design but I've never heard anyone criticising it. It's just that the puppet doesn't look the same as in Empire. This was also by design I guess, since they tried to achieve a somewhat younger Yoda look. Which, I agree didn't turn out that well. Maybe Lucas realised that too, but by then, they had no time to start it over from scratch. Maybe he was like "okay, the movie has a deadline, but when we can make a decent-looking CG Yoda, we'll just come back and replace this puppet."
I personally think that adding Hayden Christensen to return of the Jedi was great. Instead of a person we had never seen before we saw the man he was, the man we had an attachment to, the real Anakin Skywalker.
The real Anakin Skywalker was the original one who died in that hangar bay. So what you’re saying doesn’t make sense. Luke doesn’t know who that young dude is? He might as well have seen Jake Lloyd’s child-Anakin then?
@@mrb2349 By that logic wouldn’t Luke see a old burned bald man? Vader saw Anakin as a young man so when Anakin dies his ghost is who he was. It makes sense for Hayden’s version to be there because WE know it’s Anakin Skywalker the man Padme loved.
@@shadowanderson2004 Vader saw Anakin? Spoiler alert, they are the same person. If you want to say young Anakin is the last time Vader saw his own face hence his ghost that doesn't make any sense. Vader in his chamber never looked at a mirror but Yoda and Obi-Wan did? Luke saw Anakin as Sebastian Shaw and that's what we are supposed to be seeing.
1) The Yub Nub song aside, the ending of Jedi was the right ending for the movie. The destruction of the Death Star and the death of the Emperor marked a turning point in the war. Yes, the war would continue, but now the empire was truly on its back heels, broken, and the alliance had swung the tide to its favor. The tacked on celebrations throughout the Empire just felt like the end of The Wizard of Oz when everyone sings about the witch being dead. 2) Even with the special editions that were supposed to "clean up" some of the dated special effects of in the first movie, I could still see the obvious matte work on the rancor scene, leaving the obvious difference in the visual quality of Luke and the rancor in. Maybe if they spent less money of adding in several new members to the Max Rebo Band, they could have cleaned that up
The sad part about darth Vader’s noooooo is that because of his duel on mustafar and his inhalation of toxic gasses since his voice became little to that of a horse whisper his suit had a device that sat right at the front of his mouth that heard his whispers and made words out of them mainly out of syllables and whatever tone could be found it was right about %99 percent of the time another reason why darth Vader’s hated his new voice but the nooooo scream under his mask he wasn’t saying nooooooooo he was just screaming as loud and as vicious as he could so because he was making this horrible sounds under his destroyed voice his vocal modulator just decided well I guess this mans is saying nooooooooo so that’s what it said for him
Should have remained un-tampered except for cleaning up and sharpening imagery, color, sound. Those films for their design and sound won awards. They stand out as landmark cinema. Like a historic building you'd want to keep and maintain in its original state. Repairing it but keeping it to its original look, design, architecture. There's charm and a sense of history and in the case of Star Wars...not ONE of the changes, in either added scenes, added graphics and animation...NOT A ONE(!) improved on the story or characters. The story remains solid throughout. It was all entirely unnecessary, all the new cgi....complete waste of time. Improved nothing. Actually took away (see Han Solo/Greedo, Han Solo/Jabba New Hope). Those hurt character and created plot holes.
English signs were used in the first movie because when it was in production Lucas had not yet come up with the concepts he later claimed were intended all along. Early Star Wars advertising ideas had it set in our galaxy “In the year 3000” with “a long time ago in a galaxy far away” being thought up later before release.
Possible - unless those symbols were not a language but just quick fill-in detail by Jay Teitzell and crew doing the graphic displays on the animation stand.
@@johnwatson3948 not an in story language but they did sequence it for no real reason any jumble of random anything would have worked. Also weird they did that there but didn’t remove the words from the syringe… again approaching from the fact no home release viewer would ever catch any of it.
I really liked the cleaning up done on cockpit windows in the snow speeders and the other small things like removing boxes around ships. Some of the new stuff could be hokey, but at least we know where rhonto meat comes from.
Seek out the 2006 DVD releases: they had 2 discs in each, one an (almost) original edition taken from the 1993 laser disc and one with the special edition on it.
@@benwillis5840 yeah most people Don't I own a player that plays both DvDs and VHS and then a PS5 for 4k Blu-ray I just mentioned because those 1995 VHS are THX remastered of the theatrical versions of the films and they are in widescreen While the 2006 versions are just not cleaned up at all and the visuals and sound are pretty bad and is in a 4:3 ratio
They should undoubtedly be watched/preserved for posterity and historical film context... but, like it or not, Lucas always regarded them as compromised visions, and wasn't able to expand the world as much as he could in the prequels due to the limits of technology at the time.
Just wait till this gens films are altered and much easier now due to it not even being film...digital can be altered very easily...one reason why Quienton T's films are only on film, future censoring. But then again the quality of films in the last 20yrs has significantly diminished....bring back pre 2000 films instead of this cluster f of pc bs
Darth Vader's "NOOOOO" isn't comical if you ask me. I find it kinda sad because he just sacrificed so much for Padme, just for her to die at his hands. Its pretty understandable to burst out in emotion.
Actually getting rid of Yub Nub was one of the few decisions George did right. Yub Nub sucks. And warning, is going to be erased from existence by time travel so you’re unfortunately going to forget about it when it happens. That’s just the rules of time travel. Once something in the past is changed, you forget about the original (Yub Nub) and the newer one (Victory Celebration) becomes your new childhood memory. It cannot be helped. 🤷♂️
@@trapperjohn6089 My advice is to hold on to the memory of “Yub Nub” for now. Don’t worry, time travel hasn’t become advanced yet. So “Yub Nub” will still exist for some time.
Can't agree about the Yub Nub going away, or the replacement of Sebastian Shaw with Hayden Christiansen. For this reason alone I'd rather watch the not-as-crisp looking originals on Betamax.
I loved seeing Jabba The Hutt in the first one, don't forget in the comic for the movie, The Marvel 1977 version has Jabba and Biggs talking with Luke and Treadwell watching the space battle outside Tatooine orbit. I wish those had been in it too.
I watched the ROTJ special edition first as a kid so when I finally saw the theatrical cut a few years later I was very confused about the Sarlaac’s lack of a beak and why Vader’s funeral pyre didn’t transition to a montage of the Galaxy celebrating with an crescendoing John Williams score. My confusion is what finally introduced me to the ongoing George Lucas re-editing controversies. Ultimately I’m ambivalent about the changes, the only one I really don’t like was Vader’s added “Noooo” in ROTJ (ruins the moment for me) and the only two changes I prefer to the theatrical are the two I mentioned
The worst change by far is adding Jabba to ANH. It completely reiterated the scene with Greedo immediately before it, the CGI looks terrible, and it completely spoils the reveal and buildup of Jabba appearing in RotJ after hearing about him for two movies.
@@HabitualJoker I agree. The scene isn't a problem, but it shouldn't have been Jabba. Bib Fortuna, that pale Twi'lek Luke influences in ROTJ and Jabba's right hand man would have been my choice.
@@corruptangel6793 that would have been cool, but it’s still completely reiterating what Greedo said. “Jabba put a price on your head for screwing him over”. Bib would have told Han the same thing. The scene is also a shameful way to toss Boba into the background. He just bumbles around uselessly.
@@HabitualJoker it follows through with the Greedo scene. Han just killed one of Jabba's men in front of a lot of people. It would have been odd had there been no repercussions for that. Boba...would have had to be erased using CGI or something. George only ever intended for him to be one of Jabba's thugs. And he was filmed here with that in mind. Remember, this was filmed prior to ESB when Boba became a fan favorite.
@@corruptangel6793 I thought I replied, but it didn’t save... but if there would have been repercussions, why wouldn’t Jabba and his men just take Han away when they were at the docking bay? It’s just a pointless scene and serves no purpose. We knew that Jabba was looking for him per Greedo and then we learn that again in ESB. Not to mention that the minions all look incredibly stupid as they are scouring the ground acting like they are looking for their missing contact lense. And you’re wrong about Boba. He was never in the original (the cut) scene. Lucas added him into the Special Editions using the originally cut scene. See here: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-cw1gkNd6Z_8.html Boba was never conceived until he was writing ESB.
Gotta say it. I don't get the love for Yub Nub. Its honestly not that good. I feel like special edition music used felt so much better as the end to the original trilogy.
Honestly, if there is one change that is totally justified, it is the entire end of ROTJ. The music, the prequel era planets, and, of course, my Force Ghost.
Am I the only person who prefers the longer NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! in RotS? After all, the whole idea behind it was that it was the last bit of Anakin within Vader finally "dying". It wouldn't be out of character BECAUSE that was the moment his character completely changed.
True, but did we NEED it to be added? It is probably the only change that I approve of out of all of the special editions changes. If I had to give up the Cloud City shots in order to rid of all of the other special editions changes, I’d do it in a heartbeat.
@@jetman80pops how does that in any way enhance the story or the movie? It simply doesn’t. People are just obsessed with CGI landscapes nowadays. The painted backdrops and original backdrops were much better suited for the OT.
@@jetman80pops I think the exact opposite. Cloud city used to have an oppressive, enclosed and claustrophobic atmosphere, matching with the themes of the scenes that take place there. Opening it up ruins that atmosphere and takes away from the film.
No it didn’t. I own the original VHS version and all it says is “Star Wars.” The deluxe editions included the names but the original did not. It’s the same way with the raiders of the last ark 👍
Most of you are wrong. The first VHS release was in 1982 and was initially intended only for rental. Episode IV: A New Hope had already been added by this point and there had never been an official home video release of the original crawl ever until 2006. Anyone who believes otherwise is wrong. This is widely known information and is very easy to research.
But Yub Nub was one of my 2 favorite songs from Return of the Jedi. Lapti Nek was the other. I still can't believe he tore both songs out when he futzed with it.
Honestly, I grew up with Star Wars in their original iteration, and find most of the changes jarring. Adding CGI over the top of the original film doesn't work for me in the majority of instances, but I get that they are trying to keep it up to date for younger audiences, the only issue with that is the CGI looks dated a week after it's implemented making it a never ending process.
The 2004 DVD editions are definitely the best blend of revision and original. I have the Despecialized Editions and the 2004 DVDs and both are the only two versions I’ll ever watch.
For the most part I strongly disagree with these as improvements. Some of the changes to the prequel yes. The Vader "No" is the most significant improvement. Virtually no improvements were made in the alterations to the original trilogy. Save for give giving James Earl Jones credit.
Agreed. None of them do anything substantial to add to the movies and I think the changes actually take away from a lot of the initial technical and special effects achievements that the filmmakers originally obtained.
@@HabitualJoker Agreed, I love the matte painting. The original trilogy has groundbreaking special effects and yet it also features a quirky mix of effects from decades past like stop motion, puppets, models, matte paintings.
So this is kind of a re-do of a list WhatCulture did like a month ago, and is still up, titled “10 Star Wars changes George Lucas made that were completely justified”. It even has a lot of the same entries... How meta.
With how much Disney loves money, I'm surprised they haven't released a Star Wars Uncut release, where it's the original trilogy with no edits, just upscaled for Blu-ray. I'd buy it.
I remember beimg a kid in 97 and getting all the three remastered movies and a bunch of action figures for the 20th anniversary, they came in a pretty gold trilogy case.
Most of the changes discussed in the film happened more than 20 years ago (the special editions) or close to it (early 2000s). Hard to say it was impossible 20 years ago when we're literally seeing a video praising the effects changes made over 20 years ago.
@@paulonius42 Im so sorry that was a typo on my regard haha, i realized i put “Impossible” instead of “possible.” I agree with you fully! And the comment i said comes from a quote on the documentary of the special edition by the name of Rick McCallum
Some changes are great. Some are bad. But a majority of it are great. Though it is a massive problem that the originals are also not released to modern platforms. We shouldn't rely on fans to do that
As a life long fan and though I still appreciate the changes I miss how they used to be. The best and (in my opinion) only real acceptable change is the title change of episode 4
Honestly, I think making the emperor look like himself in episode 5 is an improvement. He looked like a slug... thing. Also, Han running from a hanger full of stormtroopers makes more sense than the original where he just runs away after they realize "Oh, we outnumber him!"
Adiwan's Star Wars revisited is my favorite version of these films. It's a fan edit that takes the idea of the special editions and executes it much better
Minor little thing, but near the end of Return of the Jedi, there was a small black blob that floated near the Emperor's eye when he and Luke were talking. They were trying to cover something up with special effects and make it blend into his robe, but it was so obvious. I'm glad they finally fixed that.
Audience hearing Vader's Nooo at the end of Episode III: This is outrageous, this is unfair Lucas editing Return of the Jedi Special Edition: Lmao Wanna hear it again?
