For someone who has watched the movies in chronological order ( from episode I to VI), the edited ending of The Return Of The Jedi was nice. seeing all of those known locations celebrating the fall of the empire felt like a true enclosure for the saga as a whole
I’ve never had a problem with the changes among the films, excluding a few exceptions. My problem was, and still is George Lucas’ commitment to not allowing us to experience both the original theatrical versions AND the remastered versions.
He was even making changes while it premiered. Different versions played in different theaters from the original more limited release compared to the weeks that followed where the films got a more expensive release. He was literally changing it while the movie was premiering.
I have always wanted a "build your own star wars" option where viewers can pick and choose what changes to keep in or get rid of. Some are great and some are trash.
@@poling1990 YO I THOUGHT OF THAT TOO! Imagine and ultimate edition where in the menu you could pick and choose what edits would play. It would be a pain in the ass to make, but it would get people to stop complaining about Han shooting first
That was stupid. If anything, they should have digitized the door edge a bit higher and replaced the guy's head with a digital head that wouldn't bump anything, and hence wouldn't rock slightly from the bumping. They could have actually perfected the shot; I thought that's why Lucas was doing all this in the first place.
@@ebinrock I think it shows George and the other Lucasfilm employees have a sense of humor. I think they also reckoned they wouldn't get a seamless look. Seriously, the digital edits of adding Jabba into A New Hope.. need I say more?
One thing I’m on the fence about is the change to Anakin’s force ghost. On one side it ties the original to the prequels, but on the other the appearance of Anakin as older emphasizes his redemption.
@andrion waser Yeah, get Bail Organa getting news that the Empire has just shown up with the Death Star (I think Bail would know it by that name at this point), have him run to the window and see a big flash... something like that wouldn't be a bad addition if we're going to add stuff.
From a certain point of view, the young Anakin makes sense. Anakin Skywalker was killed by Darth Vader when he looked like Hayden Christenson..... ah screw it, I can't even wholeheartedly defend it.
When I rewatched the movies last year I thought those eyebrows were part of a dream and weren't really there 😂 turns out when I was a kid I just watched the movie without the edit
I realize that change is incredibly minor but I think that if he didn't have eyebrows in the original cut, i probably would have realized as a kid that he was supposed to be sickly under the helmet. As a kid, I got Jabba The Hutt vibes from him and didnt understand that I was supposed to pity him.
My head cannon of Han Solo charging in on the garrison on the Death Star is that he actually ran in on the briefing being given to the garrison to expand the search for the rebels running loose on the station and the troopers were just shocked that he was there.
Unnecessary as the original dead end scene worked so much better. A charging Han and a Wookie charging made them break morale. It only failed when the stormtroopers reached a dead end forcing the cornered animals to turn on them. This replacement scene and having to fabricate reasons after the fact for the stand-at-attention gathering is a step down in my opinion.
@@crcurran Because of the quick camera cuts and the monochromatic backgrounds in the scene, it is difficult to tell that the stormtroopers hit a dead end, and thus alot of people were left a bit confused, and the joke was missed. I think that is why this tweak was made by Lucas. I personally think it works better.
@@crcurran I also agree. No one I know missed the dead end, either. I love the joke when Han gets scared only encountering the same small number of troops he had on his hands before. You described it perfectly; They are only afraid of him until they are cornered animals, fighting for their lives. The joke is so much more psychological, more warfare-centric and less obvious. The fact that it's just a handful of them, but they ultimately outnumber him and Chewie makes the scenario more dynamic. I like the other joke too, showing the scale of an army on the station, ...but it doesn't fit in the storyline as well as this one. It's not a good time to show off the scale of a Death Star army, because now they have to answer why that whole army isn't completely smothering Han and Chewie's location. In that way, it makes the Death Star seems smaller than the first joke, rather than bigger. Anyway, this comment's too long, but I'm glad someone agrees with me on the scene choice.
@@crcurran I think the the moral change is still applicable. And I think while the joke still works the original way, I think this way is more funnier. I mean to me if your running scared and then bam your in a hanger full of your comrades, yeah your going to suddenly feel more cocky. Which is the body language theTroopers put out. To me it falls a bit flat at just a dead end. Ok yeah they are forced into a corner but if Han is confident why does this suddenly change just because they stopped and started shooting. It makes more sense for Han to have the reaction he does with the Hanger. And to me it makes the oh shit face Han makes even more funny.
the original corridor chase scene makes perfect sense, you even explain it yourself "The stormtroopers turn around and realise they outnumber their attackers" That's why it's funny, the stormtroopers call Hans bluff and he has to fold
One of the changes I hate most is vader saying NO when deciding to sacrifice himself. You could feel his emotions much better without spelling it out for no reason
I remember during both Vader's helmut removal & force ghost reveal, many fans were pissed that David Prowse wasn't used in those scenes. I tended to agree. The dude was as much a part of the OT as any other actor who appeared in those movies & he should've been rewarded for all his hard work with some unmasked scenes in ROTJ. They could've easily used his face & dubbed in another voice as was done with Darth Maul's character.
You missed one of the biggest good changes - clear shots of the rebel fighters rising out of the jungle. The original just had little white lights shooting off into the sky.
However, if they wanted to keep true to the apparent distance these ships were launching from the lookout guy, they should have made the CGI ships the same size and apparent distance, just with more detail. They didn't have to put the ships so close to him taking off. In reality, not only would he probably lose his hearing without hearing protection that close, but he also probably would have been blown out of that tower from the blast.
@@ebinrock I just watched S2Ep5 of the Mandalorian last night. In the closing scene he takes off in his ship with Ashoka standing what seems like 2m from the engines. All that happens is some wind and leaves blow in her face. She seems unaffected by noise or blast wind from the engines. So I think in the Star Wars universe it seems you’re quite correct real world rules of physics as you've described just don't apply. Think also of the Falcon taking off many times in front of people. Or even the X wings taking off from the hanger just before the edited scene we are talking about. There must be some kind of non-noisy, non windy engine technology in use :)
Some of the changes were real improvements. Especially cleaning up the visuals and the improved Cloud City. Most changes I'm fine with. There's only three changes that I really can't stand. Han not shooting first as it makes no sense and weakens his character development, the Jabba scene in A New Hope as it looks really bad, and the musical number in Jabba's Palace as it ruins the overall mood and atmosphere of the place.
"Close the blast doors!" was added in the mono mix in June 1977. That version was the one that ended up in a lot of discount theaters and drive-ins, and it, surprisingly, was the sound mix that Lucas and Ben Burtt were the most proud of until '85 when Star Wars went to home video.
Maybe "most proud of" isn't quite what they meant - it was the final sound mix done for the original film so it had everything they had learned up to that point.
Story wise, it doesn't make sense for Anakin to become a force ghost or take the form of his younger self. But with all that being said, it's still great to see Hayden return as his young smiling self.
Makes no sense, obi wan's ghost is the age he died at, why get rid of Sebastian Shaw (the proper death age) and replace him with emo crybaby? Simply pathetic.
The addition of the Coruscant scene in 'Special Edition' was an even bigger deal at the time because the planet wasn't even Lucas' idea to begin with. It was Zhan's, from the original Thrawn trilogy. It had become such a staple in the novels at the time that even George acknowledged it.
The planet was already in the early drafts of the the script for Return of the Jedi. In fact, Luke's confrontation with the Emperor and Vader was supposed to take place in a subterranean chamber on the planet and the Rebels were going to attack the "Imperial City." The *name* Coruscant was Zahn's idea and Lucas decided to use it when he made The Phantom Menace.
To me the Coruscant scene was kind of out of place. Coruscant was only conquered by the Rebel Alliance (by then known as the New Republic) 2 years after the events in ROTJ. Coruscant was still an Imperial stronghold during that time, even called Imperial City. And Tatooine wasn't an Imperial world. Just a Hutt controlled world with an Imperial garrison stationed there. Many of its inhabitants didn't care who was 'in charge of the galaxy', most didn't even know who was in charge as it was an Outer Rim planet.
@@_corran_ The Tatooine part... sorry but no. In the original Star Wars; Luke was WELL aware of both the Empire and the Rebels, joining the imperial academy was quite a regular thing for young people like him to leave the planet; he stronglly disliked the Empire (said by himself) and clearlly Imeperial law heavilly affected the business of the Hutt (demostrated when Han was forced to throw cargo belonging to Jabba due to imperial patrols) so that 'not caring' is clearlly not the idea Lucas wanted to transmit. Even the farmers of a deppelly isolated planet controlled by gangsters where fed up with the Empire... maybe preciselly because Tatooine under the Republic for better or worse, would have been mutch more independent planet than what it was during the Empire's rule.
The extra bits at the end made little sense. Palpatine and Vader were gone, and a lot of the fleet at Endor destroyed or had fled, but the Empire was massive, with a strong grip on their territories. No way all those planets immediately knew what had happened and were out celebrating.
The extended scene at the ending of return of the jedi is really great because my issue was always how empty the universe feels in the original compared to the prequels and seeing that scene really showed that everything is still there.. it may be a small chance but to me it felt really relieving
@@poling1990 well Naboo is one of the only planet in star wars with two distinct populations, the fly over showed Theed which makes us assume the humans are happy about it, but the addition of 'weesa free' let's us know that the gungans and the naboo have a shared community that were both effected by the empire
Out of all the Special Edition changes, the most impactful were definitely replacing the Emperor in Empire Strikes Back and the extended ending in Return of the Jedi. But if we're talking which of the individual films benefitted the most, definitely Empire.
"Close the blast doors" wasn't added in the special editions; it was added to the original mono mix of the soundtrack for the original release. It was _removed_ in the special editions, and then added back in reduced form later. The original had "Close the blast doors...close the blast doors!" followed by "Open the blast doors...open the blast doors!" It still feels unbalanced to me that they only do the "close" line once...
haha, dude, I just wrote the same thing. with the added info that it can be heard on "The Story of Star Wars" LP. It told the story along with real audio from the film. It was the closest thing I can get to have the movie at home. Heard it so much it does sound unbalanced to me as well.
I grew up with the 1990s special editions and I swear the single "Close the blast doors!" was in that. Another comment mentions that the "close" lines were removed from versions that aired on TV, so maybe that's it?
@@kennypangman4636 I have that LP too! I used some of the audio to add to a cassette tape for a short colour Super 8mm cine film my dad bought me (it was only 3 minutes I think). It was the only way to add sound to it but it made a big difference. I still have the LP somewhere, I'll dig it out sometime and have a listen to the blast doors sequence for old times sake :o)
Correct! I saw it at the movies when it first came out, and "close/open the blast doors" were definitely both there. Always wondered why later viewings changed this?
I agree that putting Ian in there was perfectly fine. The script changes to that scene, however, were totally unnecessary - it pretty much gave everything away and really lost the element of shock/surprise that we all felt.
@@jacob4920 The best way to preserve all of the dramatic reveals of the series is to watch them in the Machete Order. Watch IV and V, meet Luke and co, get the big reveal about Vader. Then watch II and III (+/- I) as sort of an extended flashback of how Vader fell. Then you come back to VI, and Luke is dressing in black and Force-choking people! Makes it much more believable that Luke is actually in danger of turning out the way Vader did.
I have to disagree. I like the original emperor because he was a lot more mysterious and I like how he had a more elegant voice. Sometimes being more subtle is the better way.
Now that we’re talking about changes, I actually like seeing Hayden Christensen as a Force ghost rather than the original actor. Maybe it’s mostly because I grew up with the 2004 version of the films, but I also believe it was a great choice as it shows how Anakin really died in The Revenge of the Sith and that it wasn’t until The Return of the Jedi when he finally came back.
Absolutely! I grew up with the old originals and 100% agree. When I rewatched the whole saga after Hayden was implemented as a force ghost, I wasn't aware of this change. And after seeing Anakin Skywalker dying to Vader, this scene hit harder then I could have expected...
I disagree. This is being nit-picky but if they were going to "Force Ghost" the younger version of Vader they should have done the younger versions of Kenobi and Yoda also. Up until then, the Force Ghost showed people at the age they were when they died. They should have done all three of them or none of them. Why show a younger Vader but not the others? Anyway, I think Lucas made a HUGE mistake there. When Vader was dying and Luke peels his helmet off he was all blistery and pale etc. BUT, when he originally appeared as a Force Ghost he was normal again (ie SAVED as he said to Luke right before he died). That had much more impact to me than seeing his younger goofier self...
@@ElroyMcDuff I disagree, the idea of having a young vader shows how he is back to the lightside and its like his turn to the darkside never happened. Not bring blistered makes it seem like he was never burnt in revenge of the sith and never turned to the darkside. He is on the lightside.
@@pyrogamer011 The older Force Ghost of Anakin wasn't scarred/blistered either so you could say the same about both of them right? I just saw it theorized on another channel that (as far as we know) only a Jedi can become a Force Ghost so that might help explain it. Kinda' sorta'?
@@ElroyMcDuff I understand your point of view on it but I'd like to share mine with you, the force ghost being young Anakin is because that is when Anakin "died" as a Jedi, the moment he gave himself over to the dark side Anakin Skywalker was no more and he became Darth Vader. So when he chooses to save Luke, when he chooses to embrace the light again, that's the "death" of Vader followed by his actual death. So when he reappears as a force ghost, I feel it makes sense for him to appear young, as that was when Anakin truly "died"
At the time of filming, the crew was unsure how successful these movies would have been. I bet the younger Lucas and crew were anxious and stressed in trying to make do with various limitations. I also bet the older Lucas has held those memories of not being able to do everything he wanted, or the drive to overcome those past feelings of anxiety and regret. I personally think it's wholesome how he's excited about modern movie tech, and letting his imagination run wild. Just look at how much he put into Phantom Menace. The movie was bloated and the story was all over the place, but you could really feel the man's excitement in it. The prequel trilogy was like his sandbox, and was certainly a lot more fun than the sequel trilogy.
Exactly! People like to criticize him for the amount of CGI in those movies but fail to realize that that's a tool that finally allowed Lucas to do whatever he wanted in those movies. He had the chance to finally let his imagination run wild.
The phantom menace was a great movie if you take the time to figure out what’s going on. It can seem incoherent at times and very confusing, but it’s just introducing too many new things at once, making it difficult to keep up with the story, which is completely coherent if you pay attention. It’s just Lucas having a frenzy with all the new stuff he has access to, and going nuts trying to show everyone the full scope of his vision.
I think what is most funny about this list, is another list made a month or so later. In "10 Most Pointless Star Wars Movie Changes You Never Even Noticed", half of these were mentioned again, and called pointless.
I'm one of those people who just likes to see movies the way they were when they came out, warts and all. To me it's a piece of art that entered the public consciousness and I want to see it as the people saw it when it first arrived on the scene. If you're going to make updates at least allow us to see it the way it originally was as well.
I saw the original new hope a few years ago, its…. rough. Alot of the updates are really really smooth and good, the effects when attacking the Death Star for example or the cardboard cutouts mentioned here. Problem is George goes too far an inserts ugly cgi shots of big Rontos or Stormtroopers riding Dewbacks for some reason. He should have blended it to make the movie aesthetics, like the Wampa, thats a flawless addition.
One change I did not like was when R2D2 was eaten by the swamp monster. The original line Luke said was "you're lucky you don't taste very good". The replacement is "you're lucky you got out of there". I really like the comedy of the original.
To clarify an earlier comment.... the 'Close the Blast Doors' line was in the first theatrical version that I saw way back in 1977. Later versions removed it.
The thing is even among the original theatrical cuts, there were multiple versions. The line was in the mono audio release, but not the stereo audio release for some theaters
I think that the joke works better when Solo chases the stormtroopers, and they realise that they outnumber him with just a few of them, and not a room full of them.
The change that irked me the most was in Empire when Luke screams as he falls. In the original, I always thought he was badass for making the choice to leap. The scream just kills that for me
My favorite change is the more recent change added to the Greedo and Han shoot out scene in the 2019 Disney+ release. Right before he is shot, Greedo utters the line "maclunkey!" I feel this really gives us insight into Greedo as a character. He always had to have the last word, and this truly would be his last.
The best thing about this change is how it inspired McDonalds to release a happy meal called the McClunky. The meal came with a small pistol which allowed children to shoot Ronald McDonald's mortal enemy Hamburglar, whose name was temporarily changed to "Greedo the greedy burger thief". Sadly, the pistols had to be discontinued after one child fatally shot his brother under the table during a trip to the restaurant. When questioned, the boy showed no remorse over his brother, insisting "He started it!" There is an ongoing investigation into which of the children shot first.
The other nice thing about the re-done Emperor scene in ESB is that it fills in a small plot hole. In the original version, it was unclear when or how the baddies figured out who Luke was. The Emperor just calls him "the son of Skywalker" and Vader doesn't react. In the SE, Vader is clearly learning Luke's identity for the first time. (This also recontextualizes Vader's attempt to recruit Luke, feeling more spontaneous.)
@Mike Milner Amazing. Every word of what you just said was wrong. I grew up on the OT. I was in college when the prequels came out. So do the math. And honestly, there's no reason to go around attacking people like that just because they enjoyed a movie that you did not. People have different opinions. As for ESB, I like the idea that we actually see the moment that Vader/Anakin starts to really realize how badly the Emperor had been lying to him. That's a nice touch, in context of the prequels.
I first got the extended editions in 97-98 on VHS. The DVD version did not come out until after the Phantom Menace. There are quite a few difference between the two. The ones I can name off the top of my head are the bits from the ending scene from RotJ, that featured anything from the prequel trilogy. Naboo and Hayden Christianson did not appear, since they did not exist in the Star Wars Universe in 97.
I know a lot of people disagree with me on this, and I mean no offense to Sebastian in any way, but I actually am really glad for the Hayden insertion at the end of return of the jedi. As someone who grew up with the prequels first it really hit home all the emotion and story coming dull circle to see him there, MY Anakin. The one that I knew. I cried the first time I saw it as it was completely unexpected and it still makes me tear up to this day.
I completely agree with you, and I grew up with the Original Trilogy. Hayden's Anakin has become iconic, and I like seeing him at the end because it makes sense, and it really brings his whole story home. After some initial resistance, I've come to love the Prequels. Hayden Christensen and Ian McDiarmid made those movies grow on me.
@Monsieur Commissaire yeah to a certain extent the hate they get is like a "huurhurr it's hip to shit on them" type of thing. But they're not that bad and people make fun of Hayden for being stiff with his acting but if you think about it he was trying to mimic how Darth Vader spoke, he had a ton of trauma and emotional issues. He talks weird. It's part of the character and always has been. It just sounds more noticeable when there's no voice filter on. Imagine all his lines but sounding like Vader and suddenly they don't sound so stiff.
I don't think everyone will agree with me on this one, but here's another change I think is perfectly justified: Temuera Morrison Re-recording Boba Fett's voice lines in Empire.
I don’t know, boba doesn’t sound as menacing after Morrison’s voice added to the empire strikes back. I do LIKE the Mandalorian version of boba’s voice though
@@obi-wankenobi5499 yeah i know that but the Mandalorians boba fett doesn’t have a smooth voice. I feel that it seems similar to bobas og voice. I guess both voices of boba are good.
To be clear, we like the OG voice in the originals right? ...right? If I showed someone Empire before the prequels, the old-style voice is so much more frightening, that is until the carbonite and then you can't really hear much at all.
@@jlinkous05 I like original boba fetts voice for the” what if he doesn’t survive, he’s worth a lot to me” because he sounds more menacing and threatening but the newer one for the scene just makes him sound worried..
See I always thought the stormtroopers ran from Han cause well they aren't use to being charged at so they are like "he's running at us we better run away" Then they stop and realize hey wait it's only two of them!
@Fill Kaggots F a lot of people in this comment section have said the exact same thing as him. I’m not stating that every unpopular opinion is said to appear smarter like we’re cynics but he’s just blatantly shitting on an improved scene so it feels like that’s the case
Han charging after a group of baddies is actually more of a Harrison Ford thing than a Han Solo thing. He does the same thing in many of the Indiana Jones Movies as well.
A change I always enjoyed was when Han was chasing those stormtroopers before having to run away from them. In the original, it was just the same number of troopers, having probably realised that they outnumbered the guy chasing them. But the changed version had Han chase them into an entire hanger filled to the brim with troopers. Then the reason for Han running away from them goes from 'damn, they called my bluff' to 'Too many. TOO MANY!'
Frankly, I found the original scene funnier. Han chases the stormtroopers without thinking and his utter commitment is enough to spook them, but they quickly realise they outnumber him and he realises he is out of his depth. It's funny, and it tells a story about his character. The update is still funny, but it just tells a story about there being more stormtroopers round the corner.
One change I liked was the added scene of Vader getting on his shuttle in Empire after his fight with Luke. I wish they didn't give him any lines for that, because while the inflection for "bring me my shuttle" makes it sound like he's pissed, Vader not saying anything and just is seen walking to his shuttle makes him even more terrifying
I'm not sure if that line was in the Theatrical cut but it definitely pre-dates the Specail Edition. My pre-SE LaserDisk has it. The line has since been changed to "Tell my Star Destroyer to prepare for my arrival." New line is so much worse, he sounds like a pompous asshole instead of a brooding menace.
The way he says bring me my shuttle is pissed off....and it should have been.....I hate they changed that line.....there was so much emotion in it.....he was pissed he couldn't turn Luke and Luke showed him how weak he is.....and he hated himself for it........
Devil's advocate here. Of course Vader would want his shuttle. He's done with Bespin, and he's leaving. They can see he wants off this planet, so why would he ask for something he knows they're going to do anyway? Alerting his Star Destroyer makes more sense, since they can't see him wanting to leave, and they sure as hell wouldn't get ready to leave without him, whether they knew or not.
While the removal of the matte paintings (calling them cardboard cutouts feels flatout disrespectful to the artistry that went into it) does make it look more realistic, I personally loved them. Plus it's easy to pick apart the ones that include people cause they're not moving but what about when an imperial ship lands on Endor? Everything except for the AT-AT in the background is a painting and it's indistinguishable cause it's so detailed.
I have watched these movies since they were in the theater, and I never realized those clusters of people were cutouts, lol. I'd be ashamed, but the fun thing about Star Wars nerdery is learning something new even this long into fandom.
After the victory, Lando sends the order to Cloud City on the gas-planet Bespin, to launch ALL of the celebratory fireworks. All the Gas-Mine workers: "OMG!! NOOOOOOOOO!!!" {0.o} Cinemasins: "no" 🤣😂🤣
bigg's death when i originally saw it, i thought they were just trying to portray luke as being strong minded and willed, a testament to his training, and dedication to the cause... his looking back briefly made it seem like he was at least aware, but that he knew deep down things like that had to happen and that regardless he had to continue on the path he was on
I personally think The Empire Strikes Back had the best changes, which improved the overall film for me: Wampa Reveal, Cloud City windows, Replacing the Emperor, and changing Boba Fett’s voice.
They are the least intrusive changes. They don't mess with the pacing of the movie. The changes to a new hope take an extremely well paced movie and add a fair amount of clunk to it.
Return of the Jedi emperor will always look better than the prequel makeup. They should have used that look for the hologram as it is closer in the timeline.
I think we need a second special edition that undoes some but not all of George Lucas's changes. For me the biggest change needs to be the majority of stuff happening in episode IV at Mos Eisley. The CGI characters contrast really hard with the old footage and they are EVERYWHERE! some of them even walk through the foreground in front of the stuff we're supposed to be looking at, like some clueless extra wandering loose on a closed set. Anyway that, the sarlac pit redesign, and the Jabbas palace musical number. And ofc, Han shot first! It does not make him a scumbag, it's self defense!
@@sirspaceface People have like written full anaysis of this but the short version I always supported was - If Han shoots in reaction to Greedo shooting him then it's self-defense and he's just a good guy in a rough job from the start -If Han shoots first then he's just a cut throat as Greedo who is threatening him and perfectly willing to drop another in his own interests lending more weight to the possibility he really will just take the money and run when it comes to the final battle at the Death star. (also he's literily a "shoot from the hip" type)
@@sirspaceface because trying to make Han Solo look like a typical good guy undoes his entire character persona. Han is a scumbag who winds up doing the right thing, that's his whole character arc. He is a smuggler and criminal who only cares about himself.
On number 10 I actually didn't know that the wampa eating was added in years later. That is definitely a good add-in. I remember seeing that as a kid and that thing terrified me, which is good, because it adds to the stakes of the scene significantly.
I personally like the removal of English writing from consoles and replacing them with Aurebesh. It's a little touch that helps sell that it's not our Galaxy. That said I really wish Disney would change that scene from Phantom Menace where that guy reads R2-D2's name off his chassis, despite there being no writing at all.
I would agree with that, except then there should be a subtitle of what the readout reads, like they do in foreign films whenever they show what a sign is supposed to say. Yet all the characters (human characters anyway) in Star Wars apparently speak English in this other galaxy...go figure.
Is the removal of English writing supposed to signify that the English alphabet, or even the whole language itself, just doesn't exist in Star Wars? How does that jive with all the vehicles that are named for their resemblances to certain letters?
I always think that any CGI remastering that replaces the work done by the Creature Shop is a real shame, considering just how much work they put into puppetry. But that may just be me. However, I really do appreciate so many of the changes Lucas made. I wish they could reinsert the deleted scene of Luke and Biggs in the beginning of A New Hope, though!
The biggest amount of changes was in E4 ANH. Lucas was at odds with John Dykstra for most of the shoot and was angered when Dykstra used the SW equipment (including the first Dykstraflex camera) on Battlestar Galactica the following year.
4:35. I saw a fan made version of the fight between old Obi and Vader on RUclips. I really wish Disney took inspiration from that and updated the fight between them. I've been considering pasting it into my copy of the movie lol
It's funny that he extends the Oola death scene to make Jabba seem more ruthless, yet includes a new scene of Solo stepping on Jabba's tail, making him seem weak and meek.
Not true. They were released on DVD before the sale of Lucas to Disney. They were a limited edition set that included a second disc which has the original release included. You can still find them on Ebay, or even Amazon if you're lucky - www.ebay.com/itm/Star-Wars-Original-Theatrical-Trilogy-DVD-A-New-Hope-Empire-Strikes-Back-Jedi/254763988459?epid=70420734&hash=item3b511df5eb:g:egMAAOSwtM1fnIN~ Some second-hand shops might also have copies floating around.
@@JesperJotun I know, I'm have them. But they're a copy of the laser disc and they're in very poor quality. The only good quality version you can get is by piracy.
5:00 There was also a point when Kenobi did this little pair of unimpressive twirls with his lightsaber pointing almost directly at the camera, and the SFX department forgot to color it. It was just this clear plexi stick with a blue light shining through it.
I didn't think "unimpressive twirl" so much as "Let's poke at Vader a few times and see what happens!" You're right though, the original effect was a bit lacking but hey, it was "A Long Time Ago..." =)
This explains so much!!! I didn’t know about these changes and recently rewatched the original 3 movies with my husband for the first time since I was a child and I kept pausing them going, “I don’t remember this…..?”. I thought I was losing it!
One year at GenCon, the entertainment between the costume contest and the announcement of the winners included a girl doing a belly dance to the Yub Yub song, wearing a skirt made of Pokemon cards instead of beads and balancing a little Pikachu on her palm like a water glass. :-D
@@GoGojiraGo Even then that sorta feels like a cover up - weren’t the inner core super pro-imperial for the most part? After all, they benefitted a lot and where subjugated to most of the propaganda.
See robot chickens take on this... "but we still control thousands of planets and millions of ships!" "No, no, the destroyed the death star AND the emperor so THEY win!"
Here's a great change that needs to happen: All of the Disney Wars movies being erased from history, retconned as not existing, and generally being forgotten about. *That would fix it.*
I'm of 2 minds about the Wampa. Making it scary without knowing what it was that was going to get Luke, built the tension and made it almost like a horror scene. Seeing it, I still think gives away too much of the mystery.
With proper editing software you can get pretty close. There's about...what...20 more minutes of the originally 1 hr long coruscant battle out there....in fact I think there's about an hour of usable deleted scenes on the DVD and Blu-ray besides that. you are missing about half an hour. If you take the utapau and extended Yoda/palpatine senate animatics that will leave a handful of total scenes we don't have from that cut, probably almost all of it the remaining battle over coruscant footage (some of that is in the rots video game).
Wampa: Me was going to take you to monster ball, but now forget it! I think the Wampa worked better with the “less is more” idea from “Jaws” that it originally had.
Agreed. Plus in the original you had the "roar" from the Wampa as he made his way through his den towards Luke. In the 1997 version they kept the approaching roars, but added shots of the Wampa sitting chowing on a tasty treat. As such, it no longer made sense that the roars were still getting closer
Yes, seeing the beast definitely made the whole thing less impactful. The original approach made complete sense with Luke still being disoriented as he's gradually coming back to consciousness and hung upside down.
The whole close the blast doors/open the blast doors were there from the beginning and was edited - for reasons - for the tv and cable syndication. You can tell which is which by what part is edited out. I'm glad it was restored in it's entirety for the re-release. And that turning the corner to the hangar bay scene absolutely made the escape sequence thrilling.
I like how the latest release made Anakin's lightsaber, that Obi-Wan gives Like, blue instead of white or even green. First it's white, then for some reason it had a green tint. Finally it matches One of those windows in cloud city suddenly disappears, they messed up on that one. Perhaps some kind of blast shutters covered them when we're not looking "Close the blast doors" was a restored line. Biggs was a restored scene, I wouldn't mind a version that includes the Tatooine stuff too (at least they're extras on the blu ray I can watching between Rogue One & Episode Four) No mention of Boba Fett's voice in Empire Strikes Back matching Jango in Attack of the Clones, the clones in Revenge of the Sith & himself in The Mandalorian
Morrison in The Empire Strikes Back sounds nothing like he does in The Mandalorian. In The Mandalorian he put in an effort to sound like Fett's original voice.
The bits on Tatooine that introduced Biggs really didn't *work* within the movie - they're an example of a *good* editing choice, one that improves the pace and focus of the movie. DVD extras is exactly where they should go, something you watch for extra background after you're seen the story told well. (I've seen it suggested that Episode I should be treated that way, too. I haven't yet tried directly comparing IV, V, I, II, III, VI with IV, V, II, III, VI, but either one is a vast improvement over either release order or numeric order!)
I liked the color correction on 3PO when he was in pieces in Cloud City, when I was a kid that part always made me scratch my head, why was 3PO silver when he was in pieces? The Blu-ray version of Empire Strikers Back fixed that and made him golden again
@@rabarebra what are you talking about? It was a perfect change, maybe they just didn't have gold colored parts available at the time of shooting, now a days filmmakers would fix problems like that in post but they didn't have that kind of technology back then so this change was completely necessary
@@rabarebra you have me confused with fans that cry over everything, I love all the Star Wars movies (except the Disney ones) I didn't complain about anything, I've watched all 6 a million times and I love them all to death ever since I was a kid and I love George Lucas, I am not a hater of his and I'm sick and tired of all the hate that George Lucas is getting from the fans
I read some of your comments. While some of the commentators give you nice answers back, you attack them for no reason, making you the whining one. You are what you accuse them of: Someone who just can't genuinely enjoy the films, being nerdy and get personal when cornered.
I don't mind there being changes, I would just like some 4K official releases of the original cuts of the films. I do not buy the excuse that they can't do it, because the original negatives have been altered. The fan restorations of the films were all done using an original print that was cleaned up digitally. Lucasfilm or whoever has the rights to the originals could do the same. And you can't tell me they don't have 4K video restorations in a computer somewhere already....and I was never distracted by the matte paintings or Cloud City not having windows. I just loved the movies and the stories.
an obvious thing that you have to keep in mind though for some of the changes is that back when the OT was being produced the possibilities and capabilities werent so vast resulting in a smaller amount of cool visual scenes such as the ending of ROTJ or the windows of Cloud City, that later became possible alongside the development of technology and got added later on
The big change to the end of Return of The Jedi to show how toppling the head of the Empire impacted the rest of the galaxy, only for JJ Abrams to null and void it all because 'nostalgia'
The Emperor was thought dead after ROTJ. Then it was 30 years between the OT and the ST. Time went on and things in the galaxy changed. Other than Snoke riding to power and seducing Kylo to the Dark side, we don’t know how or what the Emperor did to influence the events of the galaxy. But none of that changes what happened in the OT. J.J Abrams didn’t ruin anything. All he did was tell a new story set AFTER the OT. That’s the Beauty of Star Wars. Every trilogy is separate but connected. You can start and end the story wherever you want and it doesn’t ruin the story being told. At least that’s how I see it.
@@jpaotv9355 By starting The Force Awakens with the First Order already a huge, dominating power in the galaxy and then wipe out the entire New Republic (Who were for some reason all based in one system), and having The Emperor return from the dead, they effectively render Vader's redemptive arc and the entire efforts of the Rebel Alliance pointless because it ended up changing nothing since it all effectively reset back to how it was before. All because JJ Abrams can't work with original ideas and just wanted to repeat the first trilogy. Narratively it's an absolute mess that negates all previous story before it. It's weak, unimaginative writing that wastes the IP license. Poe's line from TROS perfectly sums up how poor the creativity was behind the new trilogy "Somehow, Palpatine returned."
@@simonfox1391 I can agree that palpatines return does cause problems with the OT in regards to Vader (though the issue is more in line to the Prophecy of the chosen one rather than his overall redemption), the ST starts out when the first order is regarded as a threat, but the books reveal it was created by palpatine, that gained power and defied the republic, who were blind and Pacifistic to the threat. That being said, All that but the revelation that Palpatine was behind it SHOULD have been in TFA to flesh it out more instead of related books. but that doesnt change the fact that the Rebel alliance was able to create a time of peace by killing the emperor and fragmenting the empire. As for the end of the OT being rendered pointless being 'pointless' think of it this way. the OT and ST are literally World War 1 and World War 2 with everything in between being the equivalent of the Rise of Nazi Germany (with the PT being the equivalent of any civil war in history) As for the narrative being messy I do agree, and thats unfortunately from both Lucasfilm not creating a plan from the get go (which Lucas at least did have a plan even though the PT was messy in execution) and J.J Abrams and Rian Johnson not working together between productions. Hopefully Lucasfilm will learn from it and do better in future endeavors.
@@jpaotv9355 A film shouldn't have to rely on books to explain the chunks of exposition missing from the script though. The age old rule for filmmaking is 'Show, don't tell.' and that's massively overlooked with the new trilogy. Abrams is so obsessed with his mystery box idea that he just leaves gaping plot holes and inconsistences throughout his stories. As for the Vader/Palpatine thing, it was great to see Vader overcome years of conditioning and corruption to finally stand up to the ruler of the Sith, sacrificing himself in doing so, only for Palpatine to magically pop back up with no explanation! That's why it ruins all the story from before hand, because it's saying none of it mattered. It'd be like getting to the end of Lord of The Rings, then in a post credits scene Sauron just pops back up being like "Nah, I didn't even need that ring."
I think the bigger pain is when you look at what came after. The Empire didn’t immediately end with the Battle of Endor. There were still several battles and skirmishes in the wake of the emperor’s death that didn’t finally end until the Battle of Jakku, when the last imperial holdout surrendered.
One other change you didn't mention was after the prequels release, they changed Anakins ghost (at the end of Return of the Jedi) to Hayden Christensen's image instead of the old Anakin (original). That tied the whole prequel to the original trilogy which was an absolute must.
@@SpaceDrake I know it’s unrelated, but I really just wanna mention to someone that this will be the same story with the sequels in the next couple decades
I had the originals on VHS when I was younger and I’d watch them all the time, my dad eventually got the Blu-ray films and he got me all the toys from the films, I’d come home to my toys set up for battle and watch Star Wars/ play battlefront 2 and have mega toy battles with my dad. A long time ago...
I thought the X-wing fly-bys in A New Hope's Death Star battle sequence were improved for sure, more dynamic and allowing the viewer to travel with the ships in the dogfight.
I think there a a few things I like, but the originals are superior. My big issue is that they have not released the originals in a reasonable format. Give us both the original amd newer versions. We shouldn't have to do it ourselves.
I watched SW for thefirst time on VHS around 95'. Then I rewatched the complete trilogy in 2008 and I was shocked to have picked up most of the changes. It was very memorable movie to my 95' self.
Han chasing the stormtroopers makes sense when you realise that’s a dead end, so now they have to fight back, and as soon as Han runs away, well, have him on the run, now.
I think that the change to that scene absolutely ruins it. In the original you see Han doing something that Han would do. He chases away a larger force just using bluster. It was never a case that he could beat them, he just surprised them and took advantage of the situation.
The "Close the Blast Doors" line was present in one of the alternate theatrical mixes way before the Special Editions. I have a PBS American Masters special from the mid-90's on George Lucas' career, and that line is present when featuring that scene.
Yes. It was present in the very first TV broadcast in the early 1980s. I should know, as my folks had just got a VHS. And myself and younger brother watched and re watched it over and over... And that line always got a chuckle from us both
They also had some deleted scenes from The Empire Strikes Back where Wampas attacked the Rebel Base and the Rebels had several of the creatures locked up in a room with a sign marking the danger inside till Threepio ripped it off and a group of Stormtroopers found the door and one of them opened it and a Wampa's arm came out and grabbed a Trooper and pulled him in and the door closed with the 2 other troopers just standing there and Vader came up to them and looked at the door before walking away.
The “Close the blast doors”, and the Biggs scenes were in the original release in the first week of 1977, I saw them. They were cut for pacing. And the 2nd time I saw Star Wars, I was disappointed with the missing scenes. Mind you, I saw it opening week at Grauman’s Chinese Theater in Hollywood, so most people didn’t get to see these parts
I prefer the Emperor mysterious so it makes him coming in The return of the Jedi interesting and menacing you couldn’t see him fully so you didn’t know what he was like
Except two things. The dialogue had to be changed and a chimp superimposed on a woman doesn't make him that mysterious. In my opinion, Ian made the character darker with his facial features and dark eyes.
The Wampa change was completely UNjustified, and on par with Lucas’ sudden, misguided need to spell everything out (right there with adding Vader’s “nooooo”). The Wampa scene was much more intense precisely because we couldn’t see him.
@@dhenderson1810 Il was for the merchandising they added more screen time to the Wampa , Lego . Not everything needs to be revealed can't people use their mind instead . Same goes for the final scene from Return of the Jedi a happy ending with a happy ending . Showing us every city from the galaxies doesn't add more to the story . It was great enough with the dancing Ewoks . But yeah many people doesn't like the Ewoks sadly .
I personally believe having young Anakin in Ep6 at the end was justified b/c it just ties the 2 trilogies together. Why should he remain old as a force ghost when there wasn't even a normal form of him at that age? He was conflicted and manipulated and he never had a normal looking old self. For the people who blatantly misunderstand my reply, I can't help you, because I shouldn't have to explain this more than I already have. If you really need me to explain even further I guess I will even though I shouldn't have to.
Actually, fuck it, I'll hop on that band wagon, the ghost change WAS justified cause that was when fuckin *_ANAKIN_* the Jedi died, and even Kenobi says it before they beef it out on Mustafar, *_VADER_* the Sith Lord (and thereby no Jedi Spooky ghost) kicked the bucket on that Death Star after doing what he could to keep his fuckin kid from getting killed
@@acgproductions7663 you do realize that was the intention, right? He was supposed to act the way he does. That's how his character was supposed to be.
One thing to remember is many of these changes came months after a special (and expensive) digital rerelease, so people were sour the additions weren’t included in the rerelease.
Yes! Finally someone who actually admits that some of the changes in the original trilogy, in fact, improved it. Of course, not all of them were for the better, but I agree with the narrator about every change mentioned in this video. Although, I did not even know about the change number 5, and I thought that "Close the blast doors!" line was in the original version as well. This video definitely deserves a like from me.
They got this wrong: "Close the blast doors!" was in the original theatrical cut. The thing is even among the original theatrical cuts, there were multiple versions. The line was in the mono audio release, but not the stereo audio release for some theaters. So some people, like my father, heard the line but not many other people.
No, as an art form, the movie was what the movie was. Going back and making changes because he thought “all this would be cooler“, is disrespectful to the original movie. If you want these changes, do a remake. Enough time has passed now.
@@spankynater4242 I disagree with you completely. Artificially setting things in stone seems unnecessary and futile, because although you may be able to set the presentation and visuals of certain art forms in stone you'll never be able to keep its meaning or impressions fixed- for other art forms, such as theatre or architecture, reiteration is at its core. Just because a structure is already in place does not imply a moral obligation to leave it be- improving upon it for aesthetical or functional reasons. In theatre, new actors, new audiences, and new lines, even, are par for the course even while the original playwright is still alive. Art is about communication and expression, altering the expression in order to maintain the intended communication is perfectly valid in my eyes
I think the absolute best change to later releases of the OT is by far the editing of the music in scene transitions. In the theatrical releases, the music from one scene to the next is always clumsily cut short or awkwardly crossfaded. In later editions of the films, the musical transitions between cuts were reworked to flow into each other and maintain continuity instead of sounding like a bad tape splice
the scene where han solo ran around the corner to see the storm troopers always reminded me of when he ran into the natives in the indiana jones movies soo good lol
It also created ties to some of the more prominent extended lore of the time, with the Outrider being in the special edition of A New Hope which was a ship of a smuggler who was part of the main cast of Shadows of the Empire
@@Erlisch1337 actually a vast majority agree with me, but if you like that foolish instrumental music playing instead, I’m sure some folks agree with you as well.
@@wonderfulwookiee6443 it’s just the one I think and by the sounds of things you as well grew up with, I didn’t mind the extra scenes at the end, but I wish they would’ve kept the song the same 😃
Removing the Ewok song at the end of ROTJ was the most egregious change. I hate the expanded ROTJ ending with the scenes on different planets, and the anachronistic elevator music. The original Ewok song was iconic for the generation that grew up with the original films. The smaller scale of the ending made it more human and sincere.
CLOSE THE BLAST DOORS was actually on the [if I remember correctly] on the mono soundtrack versions of the original film's release. You can hear it on "The Story of Star Wars" LP I had as a kid. It's posted somewhere here on uTub. Same goes "You were lucky to get out of there" on The Empire Strikes Back Story LP [with the added caption "The Adventures of Luke Skywalker"].
The original emperor looks like a Fallout character
Holy shit someone finally said it
It is actually a well known actor.
@@119Agent Clive Revill did the voice but the face is a woman's and the eyes were a baboon's!
Yep
I heard they used a 🐵 for the Paps hologram scene. I'm not sure why. Maybe a budget $$$ point.
Can I just say the Femi Taylor who played Oola, came back after 14 years to shoot those new Rancor pit scenes and still looked exactly the same.
I wish I had aged that well over 14 years!
she was not exactly the same she was in even better shape then she was 14 years before
Black don't crack
And I've been quite fond of female Twi'leks ever since.
She's also a dancer by trade. Meaning, she stayed in awesome shape.
"Jabba, you're a wonderful human being." I love that they left that line in. It fits Han's sarcastic personality.
exactly
I'd just remove the entire scene.
For someone who has watched the movies in chronological order ( from episode I to VI), the edited ending of The Return Of The Jedi was nice. seeing all of those known locations celebrating the fall of the empire felt like a true enclosure for the saga as a whole
Just finished rewatching I - VI and yeah it really glues it all together in a beautiful fashion compared to the version without those edits.
Wait isn’t there a sequel, haha just kidding , there’s definitely no sequel , good joke
It is silly and offers nothing to the story , it was added because moaning fans not liking the Ewoks .
@@defiraphi It is not silly , it is cinematic , and gives not to the story , but to the atmosphere
@@defiraphi not to mention the music is a trillion times better in the newer version.
I’ve never had a problem with the changes among the films, excluding a few exceptions.
My problem was, and still is George Lucas’ commitment to not allowing us to experience both the original theatrical versions AND the remastered versions.
He was even making changes while it premiered. Different versions played in different theaters from the original more limited release compared to the weeks that followed where the films got a more expensive release. He was literally changing it while the movie was premiering.
I have always wanted a "build your own star wars" option where viewers can pick and choose what changes to keep in or get rid of. Some are great and some are trash.
@@poling1990 YO I THOUGHT OF THAT TOO! Imagine and ultimate edition where in the menu you could pick and choose what edits would play. It would be a pain in the ass to make, but it would get people to stop complaining about Han shooting first
@@poling1990 make it then
He DID allow you to see the special edition and the original cut 🤡 the 2006 Special Edition DVDs had the original theater version as a bonus
Best change
The helmet “donk” emphasis in Episode 4
That was stupid. If anything, they should have digitized the door edge a bit higher and replaced the guy's head with a digital head that wouldn't bump anything, and hence wouldn't rock slightly from the bumping. They could have actually perfected the shot; I thought that's why Lucas was doing all this in the first place.
Meh adds to the stormtroopers dumbness and ability to see out of there helmet like what luke said in ep 4
@@ebinrock lol why you so mad
@@ebinrock I think it shows George and the other Lucasfilm employees have a sense of humor. I think they also reckoned they wouldn't get a seamless look. Seriously, the digital edits of adding Jabba into A New Hope.. need I say more?
LMAO LITERALLY
One thing I’m on the fence about is the change to Anakin’s force ghost. On one side it ties the original to the prequels, but on the other the appearance of Anakin as older emphasizes his redemption.
Older is clearly better here. Obi Wan's force ghost didn't suddenly become Ewan McGregor.
I wish they kept the original force ghost too
@andrion waser Yeah, get Bail Organa getting news that the Empire has just shown up with the Death Star (I think Bail would know it by that name at this point), have him run to the window and see a big flash... something like that wouldn't be a bad addition if we're going to add stuff.
@@anonamatron I disagree, young Anakin ties to his redemption.
From a certain point of view, the young Anakin makes sense. Anakin Skywalker was killed by Darth Vader when he looked like Hayden Christenson..... ah screw it, I can't even wholeheartedly defend it.
I actually liked Oola’s fate being left totally off screen. It makes her death so much more disturbing to me
I agree
yes, & also you're still left with even more mystery of what's down there, which makes the reveal more impressive when Luke goes down there
It also left the horror to the main character to experience and us with him. That is actually a very basic story telling technique.
yes, George Lucas always changes his mind to baby us
I feel the same about the Wampa, total cases of less is more.
IMO the best change was removing Vader's eyebrows.
When I rewatched the movies last year I thought those eyebrows were part of a dream and weren't really there 😂 turns out when I was a kid I just watched the movie without the edit
Mono-eyebrows?
"Just for once, let me look on you with my own eyebrows."
I realize that change is incredibly minor but I think that if he didn't have eyebrows in the original cut, i probably would have realized as a kid that he was supposed to be sickly under the helmet.
As a kid, I got Jabba The Hutt vibes from him and didnt understand that I was supposed to pity him.
This just reminds me that the new trilogy is so soulless and boring in comparison to the originals.
My head cannon of Han Solo charging in on the garrison on the Death Star is that he actually ran in on the briefing being given to the garrison to expand the search for the rebels running loose on the station and the troopers were just shocked that he was there.
Unnecessary as the original dead end scene worked so much better. A charging Han and a Wookie charging made them break morale. It only failed when the stormtroopers reached a dead end forcing the cornered animals to turn on them.
This replacement scene and having to fabricate reasons after the fact for the stand-at-attention gathering is a step down in my opinion.
@@crcurran Because of the quick camera cuts and the monochromatic backgrounds in the scene, it is difficult to tell that the stormtroopers hit a dead end, and thus alot of people were left a bit confused, and the joke was missed. I think that is why this tweak was made by Lucas. I personally think it works better.
@@steverino6954 Huh. I dont know of anyone who didn't understand. Everyone in my circle got it. There is no open exit.
@@crcurran I also agree. No one I know missed the dead end, either.
I love the joke when Han gets scared only encountering the same small number of troops he had on his hands before.
You described it perfectly; They are only afraid of him until they are cornered animals, fighting for their lives.
The joke is so much more psychological, more warfare-centric and less obvious. The fact that it's just a handful of them, but they ultimately outnumber him and Chewie makes the scenario more dynamic.
I like the other joke too, showing the scale of an army on the station, ...but it doesn't fit in the storyline as well as this one. It's not a good time to show off the scale of a Death Star army, because now they have to answer why that whole army isn't completely smothering Han and Chewie's location.
In that way, it makes the Death Star seems smaller than the first joke, rather than bigger. Anyway, this comment's too long, but I'm glad someone agrees with me on the scene choice.
@@crcurran I think the the moral change is still applicable. And I think while the joke still works the original way, I think this way is more funnier.
I mean to me if your running scared and then bam your in a hanger full of your comrades, yeah your going to suddenly feel more cocky. Which is the body language theTroopers put out.
To me it falls a bit flat at just a dead end. Ok yeah they are forced into a corner but if Han is confident why does this suddenly change just because they stopped and started shooting.
It makes more sense for Han to have the reaction he does with the Hanger.
And to me it makes the oh shit face Han makes even more funny.
the original corridor chase scene makes perfect sense, you even explain it yourself "The stormtroopers turn around and realise they outnumber their attackers" That's why it's funny, the stormtroopers call Hans bluff and he has to fold
One of the changes I hate most is vader saying NO when deciding to sacrifice himself. You could feel his emotions much better without spelling it out for no reason
💯
Very true
Honestly, I disagree. In my opinion, that change didn't hurt that scene.
Not as bad as the sarlacc beak
I remember during both Vader's helmut removal & force ghost reveal, many fans were pissed that David Prowse wasn't used in those scenes. I tended to agree. The dude was as much a part of the OT as any other actor who appeared in those movies & he should've been rewarded for all his hard work with some unmasked scenes in ROTJ. They could've easily used his face & dubbed in another voice as was done with Darth Maul's character.
You missed one of the biggest good changes - clear shots of the rebel fighters rising out of the jungle. The original just had little white lights shooting off into the sky.
IKR, didn't even know those were supposed to be ships originally lol 😝
Yes that’s a vast improvement. People forget how bad that scene used to be.
However, if they wanted to keep true to the apparent distance these ships were launching from the lookout guy, they should have made the CGI ships the same size and apparent distance, just with more detail. They didn't have to put the ships so close to him taking off. In reality, not only would he probably lose his hearing without hearing protection that close, but he also probably would have been blown out of that tower from the blast.
@@ebinrock I just watched S2Ep5 of the Mandalorian last night. In the closing scene he takes off in his ship with Ashoka standing what seems like 2m from the engines. All that happens is some wind and leaves blow in her face. She seems unaffected by noise or blast wind from the engines.
So I think in the Star Wars universe it seems you’re quite correct real world rules of physics as you've described just don't apply. Think also of the Falcon taking off many times in front of people. Or even the X wings taking off from the hanger just before the edited scene we are talking about. There must be some kind of non-noisy, non windy engine technology in use :)
@@davidgeisler9885 Get a life, and don't be so hung up on details. Enjoy the movies.
Some of the changes were real improvements. Especially cleaning up the visuals and the improved Cloud City. Most changes I'm fine with. There's only three changes that I really can't stand. Han not shooting first as it makes no sense and weakens his character development, the Jabba scene in A New Hope as it looks really bad, and the musical number in Jabba's Palace as it ruins the overall mood and atmosphere of the place.
Preach!
Couldn't have said it better.
Anakins Force Ghost at the End of Return of The Jedi. I can't stand this scene, why the f would he be young, while the rest stays old
@@janw5165 Probably corresponding to the idea that the real Anakin died when Darth Vader is born
@@janw5165 because Anakins soul died when he became vader whats hard for people to get about that?
"Close the blast doors!" was added in the mono mix in June 1977. That version was the one that ended up in a lot of discount theaters and drive-ins, and it, surprisingly, was the sound mix that Lucas and Ben Burtt were the most proud of until '85 when Star Wars went to home video.
Maybe "most proud of" isn't quite what they meant - it was the final sound mix done for the original film so it had everything they had learned up to that point.
I like the change of Anakin’s force ghost. It feels like the story came full circle.
Story wise, it doesn't make sense for Anakin to become a force ghost or take the form of his younger self. But with all that being said, it's still great to see Hayden return as his young smiling self.
@@Max25670 why would anakin not be a force ghost
@@insertnamehere2746his force ghost was played by Vader’s actor in the original cut
@@insertnamehere2746technically you have to learn how to actually figure out how to be a ghost in order to manifest yourself into one.
Makes no sense, obi wan's ghost is the age he died at, why get rid of Sebastian Shaw (the proper death age) and replace him with emo crybaby? Simply pathetic.
The addition of the Coruscant scene in 'Special Edition' was an even bigger deal at the time because the planet wasn't even Lucas' idea to begin with. It was Zhan's, from the original Thrawn trilogy. It had become such a staple in the novels at the time that even George acknowledged it.
The planet was already in the early drafts of the the script for Return of the Jedi. In fact, Luke's confrontation with the Emperor and Vader was supposed to take place in a subterranean chamber on the planet and the Rebels were going to attack the "Imperial City." The *name* Coruscant was Zahn's idea and Lucas decided to use it when he made The Phantom Menace.
To me the Coruscant scene was kind of out of place. Coruscant was only conquered by the Rebel Alliance (by then known as the New Republic) 2 years after the events in ROTJ. Coruscant was still an Imperial stronghold during that time, even called Imperial City.
And Tatooine wasn't an Imperial world. Just a Hutt controlled world with an Imperial garrison stationed there. Many of its inhabitants didn't care who was 'in charge of the galaxy', most didn't even know who was in charge as it was an Outer Rim planet.
@@_corran_ The Tatooine part... sorry but no. In the original Star Wars; Luke was WELL aware of both the Empire and the Rebels, joining the imperial academy was quite a regular thing for young people like him to leave the planet; he stronglly disliked the Empire (said by himself) and clearlly Imeperial law heavilly affected the business of the Hutt (demostrated when Han was forced to throw cargo belonging to Jabba due to imperial patrols) so that 'not caring' is clearlly not the idea Lucas wanted to transmit. Even the farmers of a deppelly isolated planet controlled by gangsters where fed up with the Empire... maybe preciselly because Tatooine under the Republic for better or worse, would have been mutch more independent planet than what it was during the Empire's rule.
The extra bits at the end made little sense. Palpatine and Vader were gone, and a lot of the fleet at Endor destroyed or had fled, but the Empire was massive, with a strong grip on their territories. No way all those planets immediately knew what had happened and were out celebrating.
@@harrisonbs well, there is little indication that they knew instantly
could have been months between the celebrations
The extended scene at the ending of return of the jedi is really great because my issue was always how empty the universe feels in the original compared to the prequels and seeing that scene really showed that everything is still there.. it may be a small chance but to me it felt really relieving
Could have done without the "Weesa Free!" During the Naboo fly over though.
The took out Yub Nub. I like the rest but WHY!
@@poling1990 well Naboo is one of the only planet in star wars with two distinct populations, the fly over showed Theed which makes us assume the humans are happy about it, but the addition of 'weesa free' let's us know that the gungans and the naboo have a shared community that were both effected by the empire
@@more-reasons6655 You just put more thought into that than anyone who made the movies actually did. Its still dumb.
@@poling1990 why? That's how they talk
7:44 Let's be honest, those stormtroopers were definitely running away because they saw Chewbacca.
Out of all the Special Edition changes, the most impactful were definitely replacing the Emperor in Empire Strikes Back and the extended ending in Return of the Jedi. But if we're talking which of the individual films benefitted the most, definitely Empire.
"Close the blast doors" wasn't added in the special editions; it was added to the original mono mix of the soundtrack for the original release. It was _removed_ in the special editions, and then added back in reduced form later. The original had "Close the blast doors...close the blast doors!" followed by "Open the blast doors...open the blast doors!" It still feels unbalanced to me that they only do the "close" line once...
Yep - Thank you! Always makes me laugh when kids think they know so much about the OT films and films from my childhood but they're proven wrong.
haha, dude, I just wrote the same thing. with the added info that it can be heard on "The Story of Star Wars" LP. It told the story along with real audio from the film. It was the closest thing I can get to have the movie at home. Heard it so much it does sound unbalanced to me as well.
I grew up with the 1990s special editions and I swear the single "Close the blast doors!" was in that. Another comment mentions that the "close" lines were removed from versions that aired on TV, so maybe that's it?
@@kennypangman4636 I have that LP too! I used some of the audio to add to a cassette tape for a short colour Super 8mm cine film my dad bought me (it was only 3 minutes I think). It was the only way to add sound to it but it made a big difference. I still have the LP somewhere, I'll dig it out sometime and have a listen to the blast doors sequence for old times sake :o)
Correct! I saw it at the movies when it first came out, and "close/open the blast doors" were definitely both there. Always wondered why later viewings changed this?
Great list. Loved the changes to the Empire Strikes Back, especially Ian playing The Emperor for later re-releases.
I agree that putting Ian in there was perfectly fine.
The script changes to that scene, however, were totally unnecessary - it pretty much gave everything away and really lost the element of shock/surprise that we all felt.
Ian IS the emperor in my eyes. No one else can play that part!
@Mike Milner like you, you mean?
@@jacob4920 The best way to preserve all of the dramatic reveals of the series is to watch them in the Machete Order. Watch IV and V, meet Luke and co, get the big reveal about Vader. Then watch II and III (+/- I) as sort of an extended flashback of how Vader fell. Then you come back to VI, and Luke is dressing in black and Force-choking people! Makes it much more believable that Luke is actually in danger of turning out the way Vader did.
I have to disagree. I like the original emperor because he was a lot more mysterious and I like how he had a more elegant voice. Sometimes being more subtle is the better way.
Now that we’re talking about changes, I actually like seeing Hayden Christensen as a Force ghost rather than the original actor. Maybe it’s mostly because I grew up with the 2004 version of the films, but I also believe it was a great choice as it shows how Anakin really died in The Revenge of the Sith and that it wasn’t until The Return of the Jedi when he finally came back.
Absolutely! I grew up with the old originals and 100% agree. When I rewatched the whole saga after Hayden was implemented as a force ghost, I wasn't aware of this change. And after seeing Anakin Skywalker dying to Vader, this scene hit harder then I could have expected...
I disagree. This is being nit-picky but if they were going to "Force Ghost" the younger version of Vader they should have done the younger versions of Kenobi and Yoda also. Up until then, the Force Ghost showed people at the age they were when they died. They should have done all three of them or none of them. Why show a younger Vader but not the others?
Anyway, I think Lucas made a HUGE mistake there. When Vader was dying and Luke peels his helmet off he was all blistery and pale etc. BUT, when he originally appeared as a Force Ghost he was normal again (ie SAVED as he said to Luke right before he died). That had much more impact to me than seeing his younger goofier self...
@@ElroyMcDuff I disagree, the idea of having a young vader shows how he is back to the lightside and its like his turn to the darkside never happened. Not bring blistered makes it seem like he was never burnt in revenge of the sith and never turned to the darkside. He is on the lightside.
@@pyrogamer011 The older Force Ghost of Anakin wasn't scarred/blistered either so you could say the same about both of them right?
I just saw it theorized on another channel that (as far as we know) only a Jedi can become a Force Ghost so that might help explain it. Kinda' sorta'?
@@ElroyMcDuff I understand your point of view on it but I'd like to share mine with you, the force ghost being young Anakin is because that is when Anakin "died" as a Jedi, the moment he gave himself over to the dark side Anakin Skywalker was no more and he became Darth Vader. So when he chooses to save Luke, when he chooses to embrace the light again, that's the "death" of Vader followed by his actual death. So when he reappears as a force ghost, I feel it makes sense for him to appear young, as that was when Anakin truly "died"
The original emperor’s eyes look like when children make mock glasses by cupping their hands over their faces.
At the time of filming, the crew was unsure how successful these movies would have been. I bet the younger Lucas and crew were anxious and stressed in trying to make do with various limitations. I also bet the older Lucas has held those memories of not being able to do everything he wanted, or the drive to overcome those past feelings of anxiety and regret. I personally think it's wholesome how he's excited about modern movie tech, and letting his imagination run wild. Just look at how much he put into Phantom Menace. The movie was bloated and the story was all over the place, but you could really feel the man's excitement in it. The prequel trilogy was like his sandbox, and was certainly a lot more fun than the sequel trilogy.
Exactly! People like to criticize him for the amount of CGI in those movies but fail to realize that that's a tool that finally allowed Lucas to do whatever he wanted in those movies. He had the chance to finally let his imagination run wild.
Perhaps I am among the very few to whom _The Phantom Menace_ did not feel bloated.
The phantom menace was a great movie if you take the time to figure out what’s going on. It can seem incoherent at times and very confusing, but it’s just introducing too many new things at once, making it difficult to keep up with the story, which is completely coherent if you pay attention. It’s just Lucas having a frenzy with all the new stuff he has access to, and going nuts trying to show everyone the full scope of his vision.
@@minecrafter3448 if you think phantom menace is difficult to keep up with don't watch any Christopher Nolan movie
The Phantom Menace was amazing.
I think what is most funny about this list, is another list made a month or so later. In "10 Most Pointless Star Wars Movie Changes You Never Even Noticed", half of these were mentioned again, and called pointless.
What you can expect from these generic list channels?
I'm one of those people who just likes to see movies the way they were when they came out, warts and all. To me it's a piece of art that entered the public consciousness and I want to see it as the people saw it when it first arrived on the scene. If you're going to make updates at least allow us to see it the way it originally was as well.
Agreed!
Not to mention that the CGI addition look so out of place in the Special Editions. They all pull me out of the films.
I saw the original new hope a few years ago, its…. rough.
Alot of the updates are really really smooth and good, the effects when attacking the Death Star for example or the cardboard cutouts mentioned here.
Problem is George goes too far an inserts ugly cgi shots of big Rontos or Stormtroopers riding Dewbacks for some reason.
He should have blended it to make the movie aesthetics, like the Wampa, thats a flawless addition.
One change I did not like was when R2D2 was eaten by the swamp monster. The original line Luke said was "you're lucky you don't taste very good". The replacement is "you're lucky you got out of there". I really like the comedy of the original.
To clarify an earlier comment.... the 'Close the Blast Doors' line was in the first theatrical version that I saw way back in 1977. Later versions removed it.
The thing is even among the original theatrical cuts, there were multiple versions. The line was in the mono audio release, but not the stereo audio release for some theaters
When are they gonna fix the sequels ? Episode 9 should be completely removed.
Don't you mean Episode 8?
@@darkaoshi27 Both
Just toss them all
Episode 7 and 8 are DOG SHIT but episode 9 is a bit better than 7 and 8
@@eliaskjrbo8142 I don't know chief. It's really not that great. Also, I'm Bright Kjaerbo now if you'll ask for my name.
I think that the joke works better when Solo chases the stormtroopers, and they realise that they outnumber him with just a few of them, and not a room full of them.
The change that irked me the most was in Empire when Luke screams as he falls. In the original, I always thought he was badass for making the choice to leap. The scream just kills that for me
My favorite change is the more recent change added to the Greedo and Han shoot out scene in the 2019 Disney+ release. Right before he is shot, Greedo utters the line "maclunkey!" I feel this really gives us insight into Greedo as a character. He always had to have the last word, and this truly would be his last.
That line spoke to me on a visceral level
Such a great callback to the maclunkey scene in the Tatooine marketplace.
Han shot first!
Also both Han and Greedo shot at the same time.
The best thing about this change is how it inspired McDonalds to release a happy meal called the McClunky. The meal came with a small pistol which allowed children to shoot Ronald McDonald's mortal enemy Hamburglar, whose name was temporarily changed to "Greedo the greedy burger thief".
Sadly, the pistols had to be discontinued after one child fatally shot his brother under the table during a trip to the restaurant. When questioned, the boy showed no remorse over his brother, insisting "He started it!" There is an ongoing investigation into which of the children shot first.
The other nice thing about the re-done Emperor scene in ESB is that it fills in a small plot hole. In the original version, it was unclear when or how the baddies figured out who Luke was. The Emperor just calls him "the son of Skywalker" and Vader doesn't react. In the SE, Vader is clearly learning Luke's identity for the first time. (This also recontextualizes Vader's attempt to recruit Luke, feeling more spontaneous.)
@Mike Milner Amazing. Every word of what you just said was wrong.
I grew up on the OT. I was in college when the prequels came out. So do the math. And honestly, there's no reason to go around attacking people like that just because they enjoyed a movie that you did not. People have different opinions.
As for ESB, I like the idea that we actually see the moment that Vader/Anakin starts to really realize how badly the Emperor had been lying to him. That's a nice touch, in context of the prequels.
In the EU, Vader already knew Luke’s identity before The Emperor told him, he just acted surprised to not bring suspicion
@@gianfrancoortizvera6161 What's EU? The European Union? LOL
@@rabarebra Expanded Universe
@@rabarebra I just wanted to explain what it means because I know not everyone knows about the Expanded Universe
I first got the extended editions in 97-98 on VHS. The DVD version did not come out until after the Phantom Menace. There are quite a few difference between the two. The ones I can name off the top of my head are the bits from the ending scene from RotJ, that featured anything from the prequel trilogy. Naboo and Hayden Christianson did not appear, since they did not exist in the Star Wars Universe in 97.
I know a lot of people disagree with me on this, and I mean no offense to Sebastian in any way, but I actually am really glad for the Hayden insertion at the end of return of the jedi. As someone who grew up with the prequels first it really hit home all the emotion and story coming dull circle to see him there, MY Anakin. The one that I knew. I cried the first time I saw it as it was completely unexpected and it still makes me tear up to this day.
I completely agree with you, and I grew up with the Original Trilogy. Hayden's Anakin has become iconic, and I like seeing him at the end because it makes sense, and it really brings his whole story home. After some initial resistance, I've come to love the Prequels. Hayden Christensen and Ian McDiarmid made those movies grow on me.
@Monsieur Commissaire yeah to a certain extent the hate they get is like a "huurhurr it's hip to shit on them" type of thing. But they're not that bad and people make fun of Hayden for being stiff with his acting but if you think about it he was trying to mimic how Darth Vader spoke, he had a ton of trauma and emotional issues. He talks weird. It's part of the character and always has been. It just sounds more noticeable when there's no voice filter on. Imagine all his lines but sounding like Vader and suddenly they don't sound so stiff.
The ages don't match though. Kenobi is still old and Anakin is young. It doesn't make sense.
@@j.p.1214 I agree, Vader was old when he died
@@j.p.1214 it’s because he was that age when anakin ‘died’ and became farther Vader
I don't think everyone will agree with me on this one, but here's another change I think is perfectly justified: Temuera Morrison Re-recording Boba Fett's voice lines in Empire.
I don’t know, boba doesn’t sound as menacing after Morrison’s voice added to the empire strikes back. I do LIKE the Mandalorian version of boba’s voice though
@@ehclan mandalorian boba is the same guy and it makes sense because boba is a clone
@@obi-wankenobi5499 yeah i know that but the Mandalorians boba fett doesn’t have a smooth voice. I feel that it seems similar to bobas og voice. I guess both voices of boba are good.
To be clear, we like the OG voice in the originals right? ...right? If I showed someone Empire before the prequels, the old-style voice is so much more frightening, that is until the carbonite and then you can't really hear much at all.
@@jlinkous05 I like original boba fetts voice for the” what if he doesn’t survive, he’s worth a lot to me” because he sounds more menacing and threatening but the newer one for the scene just makes him sound worried..
See I always thought the stormtroopers ran from Han cause well they aren't use to being charged at so they are like "he's running at us we better run away" Then they stop and realize hey wait it's only two of them!
Yes, the original scene is good. The new scene is shit.
@@TheFanatical1 Why is it shit?
@@catman-du8927 because having an unpopular opinion makes u seem smarter
@Fill Kaggots F a lot of people in this comment section have said the exact same thing as him. I’m not stating that every unpopular opinion is said to appear smarter like we’re cynics but he’s just blatantly shitting on an improved scene so it feels like that’s the case
Han charging after a group of baddies is actually more of a Harrison Ford thing than a Han Solo thing. He does the same thing in many of the Indiana Jones Movies as well.
I saw Star Wars in Japan while in the USAF in 1977. The original corridor scene with the blast doors did not need to be changed.
A change I always enjoyed was when Han was chasing those stormtroopers before having to run away from them. In the original, it was just the same number of troopers, having probably realised that they outnumbered the guy chasing them. But the changed version had Han chase them into an entire hanger filled to the brim with troopers. Then the reason for Han running away from them goes from 'damn, they called my bluff' to 'Too many. TOO MANY!'
Frankly, I found the original scene funnier. Han chases the stormtroopers without thinking and his utter commitment is enough to spook them, but they quickly realise they outnumber him and he realises he is out of his depth. It's funny, and it tells a story about his character.
The update is still funny, but it just tells a story about there being more stormtroopers round the corner.
The original was funnier, and much better.
One change I liked was the added scene of Vader getting on his shuttle in Empire after his fight with Luke. I wish they didn't give him any lines for that, because while the inflection for "bring me my shuttle" makes it sound like he's pissed, Vader not saying anything and just is seen walking to his shuttle makes him even more terrifying
I'm not sure if that line was in the Theatrical cut but it definitely pre-dates the Specail Edition. My pre-SE LaserDisk has it. The line has since been changed to "Tell my Star Destroyer to prepare for my arrival." New line is so much worse, he sounds like a pompous asshole instead of a brooding menace.
The way he says bring me my shuttle is pissed off....and it should have been.....I hate they changed that line.....there was so much emotion in it.....he was pissed he couldn't turn Luke and Luke showed him how weak he is.....and he hated himself for it........
Devil's advocate here.
Of course Vader would want his shuttle. He's done with Bespin, and he's leaving. They can see he wants off this planet, so why would he ask for something he knows they're going to do anyway? Alerting his Star Destroyer makes more sense, since they can't see him wanting to leave, and they sure as hell wouldn't get ready to leave without him, whether they knew or not.
While the removal of the matte paintings (calling them cardboard cutouts feels flatout disrespectful to the artistry that went into it) does make it look more realistic, I personally loved them. Plus it's easy to pick apart the ones that include people cause they're not moving but what about when an imperial ship lands on Endor? Everything except for the AT-AT in the background is a painting and it's indistinguishable cause it's so detailed.
I have watched these movies since they were in the theater, and I never realized those clusters of people were cutouts, lol. I'd be ashamed, but the fun thing about Star Wars nerdery is learning something new even this long into fandom.
That Endor scene was "fake"? Oh wow.
m.ruclips.net/video/uZdv-TtiMkg/видео.html
After the victory, Lando sends the order to Cloud City on the gas-planet Bespin, to launch ALL of the celebratory fireworks.
All the Gas-Mine workers: "OMG!! NOOOOOOOOO!!!" {0.o}
Cinemasins: "no"
🤣😂🤣
I never knew until this moment.
The final scene of RotJ is triumphant and powerful, perfectly ending the t-"WE'SA FREE!"
Almost perfectly ending the trilogy.
hilarious that those are the last coherent words in the entire trilogy now
bigg's death when i originally saw it, i thought they were just trying to portray luke as being strong minded and willed, a testament to his training, and dedication to the cause... his looking back briefly made it seem like he was at least aware, but that he knew deep down things like that had to happen and that regardless he had to continue on the path he was on
I personally think The Empire Strikes Back had the best changes, which improved the overall film for me: Wampa Reveal, Cloud City windows, Replacing the Emperor, and changing Boba Fett’s voice.
For continuity, I understand changing Fett's voice. But I also just really liked his original voice.
That doesn't have Luke screaming when he falls, does it? I feel like that's a thing.
They are the least intrusive changes. They don't mess with the pacing of the movie. The changes to a new hope take an extremely well paced movie and add a fair amount of clunk to it.
@@andrewj1754 whitgren is good, but I’ve always preferred morrison for both bobas
Return of the Jedi emperor will always look better than the prequel makeup. They should have used that look for the hologram as it is closer in the timeline.
I think we need a second special edition that undoes some but not all of George Lucas's changes. For me the biggest change needs to be the majority of stuff happening in episode IV at Mos Eisley. The CGI characters contrast really hard with the old footage and they are EVERYWHERE! some of them even walk through the foreground in front of the stuff we're supposed to be looking at, like some clueless extra wandering loose on a closed set.
Anyway that, the sarlac pit redesign, and the Jabbas palace musical number.
And ofc, Han shot first! It does not make him a scumbag, it's self defense!
I really wish we could just get the 1995 release (last release before any of these updates) with the blu-ray colors,
Why do people care so much who shot first?
@@sirspaceface People have like written full anaysis of this but the short version I always supported was
- If Han shoots in reaction to Greedo shooting him then it's self-defense and he's just a good guy in a rough job from the start
-If Han shoots first then he's just a cut throat as Greedo who is threatening him and perfectly willing to drop another in his own interests lending more weight to the possibility he really will just take the money and run when it comes to the final battle at the Death star. (also he's literily a "shoot from the hip" type)
@@sirspaceface because trying to make Han Solo look like a typical good guy undoes his entire character persona.
Han is a scumbag who winds up doing the right thing, that's his whole character arc.
He is a smuggler and criminal who only cares about himself.
On number 10 I actually didn't know that the wampa eating was added in years later. That is definitely a good add-in. I remember seeing that as a kid and that thing terrified me, which is good, because it adds to the stakes of the scene significantly.
3:53 so they could CG out all the cardboard cutouts, but they couldn't CG my man Chewy a medal?
YOU'RE RIGHT
I personally like the removal of English writing from consoles and replacing them with Aurebesh. It's a little touch that helps sell that it's not our Galaxy.
That said I really wish Disney would change that scene from Phantom Menace where that guy reads R2-D2's name off his chassis, despite there being no writing at all.
I would agree with that, except then there should be a subtitle of what the readout reads, like they do in foreign films whenever they show what a sign is supposed to say. Yet all the characters (human characters anyway) in Star Wars apparently speak English in this other galaxy...go figure.
@@ebinrock Anyone speaking English is Star Wars movies is actually speaking "Basic" in universe.
Is the removal of English writing supposed to signify that the English alphabet, or even the whole language itself, just doesn't exist in Star Wars? How does that jive with all the vehicles that are named for their resemblances to certain letters?
@@DaPopeANata Hmm..interesting point. I guess they need to retcon the reason for those names. (If they haven't done so already.)
@@steverino6954 clearly they are nicknames not the official names (is that an ok reason?)
I always think that any CGI remastering that replaces the work done by the Creature Shop is a real shame, considering just how much work they put into puppetry. But that may just be me.
However, I really do appreciate so many of the changes Lucas made. I wish they could reinsert the deleted scene of Luke and Biggs in the beginning of A New Hope, though!
If it makes you feel any better all those guys in the creature shop embraced CGI basically.
The biggest amount of changes was in E4 ANH. Lucas was at odds with John Dykstra for most of the shoot and was angered when Dykstra used the SW equipment (including the first Dykstraflex camera) on Battlestar Galactica the following year.
4:35. I saw a fan made version of the fight between old Obi and Vader on RUclips. I really wish Disney took inspiration from that and updated the fight between them. I've been considering pasting it into my copy of the movie lol
Everyone would hate it cuz they think it’s cool to hate Disney and they think it’s disrespectful to the actors or some other shit
It's funny that he extends the Oola death scene to make Jabba seem more ruthless, yet includes a new scene of Solo stepping on Jabba's tail, making him seem weak and meek.
It still doesn't neglect the fact that Lucas never rereleased the theatrical cuts and they're only viewable illegally.
Not true. They were released on DVD before the sale of Lucas to Disney. They were a limited edition set that included a second disc which has the original release included.
You can still find them on Ebay, or even Amazon if you're lucky - www.ebay.com/itm/Star-Wars-Original-Theatrical-Trilogy-DVD-A-New-Hope-Empire-Strikes-Back-Jedi/254763988459?epid=70420734&hash=item3b511df5eb:g:egMAAOSwtM1fnIN~
Some second-hand shops might also have copies floating around.
@@JesperJotun I know, I'm have them. But they're a copy of the laser disc and they're in very poor quality. The only good quality version you can get is by piracy.
@@loomman5296 debatable, and also not the point. They were rereleased and you can/could get them legally. A bad transfer doesn't change that fact
They were on the dvds but okay
@@ontos8914 In the lowest possible quality, yeah. I've had a look at Project 4K77 and it looks amazing! It's what those DVDS should have been.
5:00 There was also a point when Kenobi did this little pair of unimpressive twirls with his lightsaber pointing almost directly at the camera, and the SFX department forgot to color it. It was just this clear plexi stick with a blue light shining through it.
And when the stormtroopers tried to kill luke after obi died, vader's lightsaber wouldn't be colored in for the orginal release.
Peter Kuran couldn't rotoscope over the end of the balsawood dowel and keep perspective, nor did the Scotchlight on the dowel reflect much.
I didn't think "unimpressive twirl" so much as "Let's poke at Vader a few times and see what happens!" You're right though, the original effect was a bit lacking but hey, it was "A Long Time Ago..." =)
I like the changes, it makes the prequels and sequels all feel perfectly connected in the end
This explains so much!!! I didn’t know about these changes and recently rewatched the original 3 movies with my husband for the first time since I was a child and I kept pausing them going, “I don’t remember this…..?”. I thought I was losing it!
I’ll never forgive them for changing the Ewok celebration song in ROTJ. I use to bump that shit when I was little
Celebrate the loooooove.
One year at GenCon, the entertainment between the costume contest and the announcement of the winners included a girl doing a belly dance to the Yub Yub song, wearing a skirt made of Pokemon cards instead of beads and balancing a little Pikachu on her palm like a water glass. :-D
@@CritterKeeper01 I love when fandoms cross over lol. That sounds like a work of art lol
I'm so glad they took that shit out. Frankly, Jim Henson was the worst thing about RotJ.
The extended ending, Couroscant should NOT have been celebrating. The empire and its secret police was still in full control of the planet.
Expanded material elaborated that the Empire cracked down hard on the celebrators after the initial fracas broke out.
@@GoGojiraGo And then the sequels shit on anything expanded :C
@@dutchdragon2472 The Filoni-verse seems to be bringing back a lot of EU stuff at least
@@GoGojiraGo Even then that sorta feels like a cover up - weren’t the inner core super pro-imperial for the most part? After all, they benefitted a lot and where subjugated to most of the propaganda.
See robot chickens take on this... "but we still control thousands of planets and millions of ships!"
"No, no, the destroyed the death star AND the emperor so THEY win!"
Thanks for the video!
Here's a great change that needs to happen: All of the Disney Wars movies being erased from history, retconned as not existing, and generally being forgotten about. *That would fix it.*
Rogue One can stay but that's it.
I'm of 2 minds about the Wampa. Making it scary without knowing what it was that was going to get Luke, built the tension and made it almost like a horror scene. Seeing it, I still think gives away too much of the mystery.
You are right. The original one was scarier and set the mood and tone much better.
The next change I hope happens is the release of the entire 4 hours that episode 3 originally was.
With proper editing software you can get pretty close. There's about...what...20 more minutes of the originally 1 hr long coruscant battle out there....in fact I think there's about an hour of usable deleted scenes on the DVD and Blu-ray besides that. you are missing about half an hour.
If you take the utapau and extended Yoda/palpatine senate animatics that will leave a handful of total scenes we don't have from that cut, probably almost all of it the remaining battle over coruscant footage (some of that is in the rots video game).
The sarlac pitt remodel: “Don’t even act like I’m here!”
Those blast doors were a nice homage touch to the same style of diagonal closing doors seen in Forbidden Planet.
Wampa: Me was going to take you to monster ball, but now forget it!
I think the Wampa worked better with the “less is more” idea from “Jaws” that it originally had.
Exactly! If they did a Jaws Special Edition and showed added shark scenes it would ruin the movie.
Agreed. Plus in the original you had the "roar" from the Wampa as he made his way through his den towards Luke. In the 1997 version they kept the approaching roars, but added shots of the Wampa sitting chowing on a tasty treat. As such, it no longer made sense that the roars were still getting closer
Yes, seeing the beast definitely made the whole thing less impactful. The original approach made complete sense with Luke still being disoriented as he's gradually coming back to consciousness and hung upside down.
@@MyriadOfHoops Luke could only hear the wampa, so the scene was playing out from his perspective.
@@wonderfulwookiee6443 Like CGI bouncy ET for the anniversary edition.
The whole close the blast doors/open the blast doors were there from the beginning and was edited - for reasons - for the tv and cable syndication. You can tell which is which by what part is edited out. I'm glad it was restored in it's entirety for the re-release. And that turning the corner to the hangar bay scene absolutely made the escape sequence thrilling.
The extra "Close the blast doors!" line could be heard in the original 1977 cut's mono audio mix which was made for general theatrical releases.
The extended ending is ok. The removal of the Yubnub song much less so, and the replacement of Anakin's force ghost is downright criminal.
I like how the latest release made Anakin's lightsaber, that Obi-Wan gives Like, blue instead of white or even green. First it's white, then for some reason it had a green tint. Finally it matches
One of those windows in cloud city suddenly disappears, they messed up on that one. Perhaps some kind of blast shutters covered them when we're not looking
"Close the blast doors" was a restored line. Biggs was a restored scene, I wouldn't mind a version that includes the Tatooine stuff too (at least they're extras on the blu ray I can watching between Rogue One & Episode Four)
No mention of Boba Fett's voice in Empire Strikes Back matching Jango in Attack of the Clones, the clones in Revenge of the Sith & himself in The Mandalorian
Morrison in The Empire Strikes Back sounds nothing like he does in The Mandalorian. In The Mandalorian he put in an effort to sound like Fett's original voice.
@@Carabas72 I heard George Lucas called him up in the middle of the night on a whim to get those voice line recordings.
The bits on Tatooine that introduced Biggs really didn't *work* within the movie - they're an example of a *good* editing choice, one that improves the pace and focus of the movie. DVD extras is exactly where they should go, something you watch for extra background after you're seen the story told well.
(I've seen it suggested that Episode I should be treated that way, too. I haven't yet tried directly comparing IV, V, I, II, III, VI with IV, V, II, III, VI, but either one is a vast improvement over either release order or numeric order!)
The new 4K versions of the films are beautiful and need more attention because people are still using the awful 2011 Blu Rays.
The movies had color timing issues during several of the remasters. That particularly had issues fixing the lightsabers.
I liked the color correction on 3PO when he was in pieces in Cloud City, when I was a kid that part always made me scratch my head, why was 3PO silver when he was in pieces? The Blu-ray version of Empire Strikers Back fixed that and made him golden again
@@rabarebra what are you talking about? It was a perfect change, maybe they just didn't have gold colored parts available at the time of shooting, now a days filmmakers would fix problems like that in post but they didn't have that kind of technology back then so this change was completely necessary
@@rabarebra its not that noticeable
@@rabarebra you have me confused with fans that cry over everything, I love all the Star Wars movies (except the Disney ones) I didn't complain about anything, I've watched all 6 a million times and I love them all to death ever since I was a kid and I love George Lucas, I am not a hater of his and I'm sick and tired of all the hate that George Lucas is getting from the fans
I read some of your comments. While some of the commentators give you nice answers back, you attack them for no reason, making you the whining one. You are what you accuse them of: Someone who just can't genuinely enjoy the films, being nerdy and get personal when cornered.
I don't mind there being changes, I would just like some 4K official releases of the original cuts of the films. I do not buy the excuse that they can't do it, because the original negatives have been altered. The fan restorations of the films were all done using an original print that was cleaned up digitally. Lucasfilm or whoever has the rights to the originals could do the same. And you can't tell me they don't have 4K video restorations in a computer somewhere already....and I was never distracted by the matte paintings or Cloud City not having windows. I just loved the movies and the stories.
an obvious thing that you have to keep in mind though for some of the changes is that back when the OT was being produced the possibilities and capabilities werent so vast resulting in a smaller amount of cool visual scenes such as the ending of ROTJ or the windows of Cloud City, that later became possible alongside the development of technology and got added later on
The big change to the end of Return of The Jedi to show how toppling the head of the Empire impacted the rest of the galaxy, only for JJ Abrams to null and void it all because 'nostalgia'
The Emperor was thought dead after ROTJ. Then it was 30 years between the OT and the ST. Time went on and things in the galaxy changed. Other than Snoke riding to power and seducing Kylo to the Dark side, we don’t know how or what the Emperor did to influence the events of the galaxy. But none of that changes what happened in the OT. J.J Abrams didn’t ruin anything. All he did was tell a new story set AFTER the OT.
That’s the Beauty of Star Wars. Every trilogy is separate but connected. You can start and end the story wherever you want and it doesn’t ruin the story being told.
At least that’s how I see it.
@@jpaotv9355 By starting The Force Awakens with the First Order already a huge, dominating power in the galaxy and then wipe out the entire New Republic (Who were for some reason all based in one system), and having The Emperor return from the dead, they effectively render Vader's redemptive arc and the entire efforts of the Rebel Alliance pointless because it ended up changing nothing since it all effectively reset back to how it was before. All because JJ Abrams can't work with original ideas and just wanted to repeat the first trilogy. Narratively it's an absolute mess that negates all previous story before it.
It's weak, unimaginative writing that wastes the IP license.
Poe's line from TROS perfectly sums up how poor the creativity was behind the new trilogy "Somehow, Palpatine returned."
@@simonfox1391 I can agree that palpatines return does cause problems with the OT in regards to Vader (though the issue is more in line to the Prophecy of the chosen one rather than his overall redemption), the ST starts out when the first order is regarded as a threat, but the books reveal it was created by palpatine, that gained power and defied the republic, who were blind and Pacifistic to the threat. That being said, All that but the revelation that Palpatine was behind it SHOULD have been in TFA to flesh it out more instead of related books. but that doesnt change the fact that the Rebel alliance was able to create a time of peace by killing the emperor and fragmenting the empire.
As for the end of the OT being rendered pointless being 'pointless' think of it this way. the OT and ST are literally World War 1 and World War 2 with everything in between being the equivalent of the Rise of Nazi Germany (with the PT being the equivalent of any civil war in history)
As for the narrative being messy I do agree, and thats unfortunately from both Lucasfilm not creating a plan from the get go (which Lucas at least did have a plan even though the PT was messy in execution) and J.J Abrams and Rian Johnson not working together between productions. Hopefully Lucasfilm will learn from it and do better in future endeavors.
@@jpaotv9355 A film shouldn't have to rely on books to explain the chunks of exposition missing from the script though. The age old rule for filmmaking is 'Show, don't tell.' and that's massively overlooked with the new trilogy. Abrams is so obsessed with his mystery box idea that he just leaves gaping plot holes and inconsistences throughout his stories.
As for the Vader/Palpatine thing, it was great to see Vader overcome years of conditioning and corruption to finally stand up to the ruler of the Sith, sacrificing himself in doing so, only for Palpatine to magically pop back up with no explanation! That's why it ruins all the story from before hand, because it's saying none of it mattered.
It'd be like getting to the end of Lord of The Rings, then in a post credits scene Sauron just pops back up being like "Nah, I didn't even need that ring."
I think the bigger pain is when you look at what came after. The Empire didn’t immediately end with the Battle of Endor. There were still several battles and skirmishes in the wake of the emperor’s death that didn’t finally end until the Battle of Jakku, when the last imperial holdout surrendered.
The original emperor Hologram Looks Like a Fallout 1 or 2 character 🤣
One other change you didn't mention was after the prequels release, they changed Anakins ghost (at the end of Return of the Jedi) to Hayden Christensen's image instead of the old Anakin (original). That tied the whole prequel to the original trilogy which was an absolute must.
In the 90s and the 2000s, for the record, this take would've been considered "spicy", for what it's worth. :V
@@SpaceDrake I know it’s unrelated, but I really just wanna mention to someone that this will be the same story with the sequels in the next couple decades
nah this dumb as hell cuz obi wan is old
don’t make no sense
That change probably wasn't featured here because it's so controversial, hated by so many fans. This was only a list of DEFINITE improvements.
@@Scripture-Man people that hate that change aren't fans, if you don't like the prequels you don't like star wars enough said
I had the originals on VHS when I was younger and I’d watch them all the time, my dad eventually got the Blu-ray films and he got me all the toys from the films, I’d come home to my toys set up for battle and watch Star Wars/ play battlefront 2 and have mega toy battles with my dad. A long time ago...
I thought the X-wing fly-bys in A New Hope's Death Star battle sequence were improved for sure, more dynamic and allowing the viewer to travel with the ships in the dogfight.
But even then, they got lazy and just copy/pasted the same file. All of the ships were Red 5. (at least at in one of the special editions)
Yes the 3rd act of A New Hope is 💯 times better.
I think there a a few things I like, but the originals are superior. My big issue is that they have not released the originals in a reasonable format. Give us both the original amd newer versions. We shouldn't have to do it ourselves.
I watched SW for thefirst time on VHS around 95'. Then I rewatched the complete trilogy in 2008 and I was shocked to have picked up most of the changes. It was very memorable movie to my 95' self.
Why is "A new hope" look and sound so much older than the other movies? Great video!
Han chasing the stormtroopers makes sense when you realise that’s a dead end, so now they have to fight back, and as soon as Han runs away, well, have him on the run, now.
I think that the change to that scene absolutely ruins it. In the original you see Han doing something that Han would do. He chases away a larger force just using bluster. It was never a case that he could beat them, he just surprised them and took advantage of the situation.
The scene is stupid😂😂
The "Close the Blast Doors" line was present in one of the alternate theatrical mixes way before the Special Editions. I have a PBS American Masters special from the mid-90's on George Lucas' career, and that line is present when featuring that scene.
Yes. It was present in the very first TV broadcast in the early 1980s. I should know, as my folks had just got a VHS. And myself and younger brother watched and re watched it over and over... And that line always got a chuckle from us both
They also had some deleted scenes from The Empire Strikes Back where Wampas attacked the Rebel Base and the Rebels had several of the creatures locked up in a room with a sign marking the danger inside till Threepio ripped it off and a group of Stormtroopers found the door and one of them opened it and a Wampa's arm came out and grabbed a Trooper and pulled him in and the door closed with the 2 other troopers just standing there and Vader came up to them and looked at the door before walking away.
The “Close the blast doors”, and the Biggs scenes were in the original release in the first week of 1977, I saw them. They were cut for pacing. And the 2nd time I saw Star Wars, I was disappointed with the missing scenes.
Mind you, I saw it opening week at Grauman’s Chinese Theater in Hollywood, so most people didn’t get to see these parts
I also heard the Biggs scenes were in from a schoolmate who saw SW on opening day in L.A.!
I prefer the Emperor mysterious so it makes him coming in The return of the Jedi interesting and menacing you couldn’t see him fully so you didn’t know what he was like
Except two things. The dialogue had to be changed and a chimp superimposed on a woman doesn't make him that mysterious. In my opinion, Ian made the character darker with his facial features and dark eyes.
The Wampa change was completely UNjustified, and on par with Lucas’ sudden, misguided need to spell everything out (right there with adding Vader’s “nooooo”). The Wampa scene was much more intense precisely because we couldn’t see him.
Totally agree.
There were supposed to be wampas in the Rebel base. That's what I wanted them to add.
But if you couldn't see the Wampa, how could Kenner make a toy of it then?
@@dhenderson1810
Il was for the merchandising they added more screen time to the Wampa , Lego .
Not everything needs to be revealed can't people use their mind instead . Same goes for the final scene from Return of the Jedi a happy ending with a happy ending . Showing us every city from the galaxies doesn't add more to the story . It was great enough with the dancing Ewoks . But yeah many people doesn't like the Ewoks sadly .
I preferred the original washed out lightsabers, I thought they were more visceral and raw somehow. I felt all the neon colours cheapened them.
Did you know that you can see the Jedi temple on that added scene in Return of the Jedi😂
It’s awesome seeing it still standing despite the downfall of the Jedi order
@@garretsmith7561 Palpatine converted it into the Imperial Palace.
I personally believe having young Anakin in Ep6 at the end was justified b/c it just ties the 2 trilogies together.
Why should he remain old as a force ghost when there wasn't even a normal form of him at that age? He was conflicted and manipulated and he never had a normal looking old self.
For the people who blatantly misunderstand my reply, I can't help you, because I shouldn't have to explain this more than I already have. If you really need me to explain even further I guess I will even though I shouldn't have to.
Actually, fuck it, I'll hop on that band wagon, the ghost change WAS justified cause that was when fuckin *_ANAKIN_* the Jedi died, and even Kenobi says it before they beef it out on Mustafar, *_VADER_* the Sith Lord (and thereby no Jedi Spooky ghost) kicked the bucket on that Death Star after doing what he could to keep his fuckin kid from getting killed
I hate having to see Hayden Christensen in an otherwise wonderful film, he’s just a bit of a wooden actor in the Pt
@@acgproductions7663 you do realize that was the intention, right? He was supposed to act the way he does. That's how his character was supposed to be.
@@ARandomInternetUser08 oh, I didn’t thank you for telling me,
@@acgproductions7663 Anakin is better in the Clone Wars cartoon
I've got the redone theatrical on disc I love the "close the blast doors. Open the blast doors open the blast doors"
One thing to remember is many of these changes came months after a special (and expensive) digital rerelease, so people were sour the additions weren’t included in the rerelease.
Yes! Finally someone who actually admits that some of the changes in the original trilogy, in fact, improved it. Of course, not all of them were for the better, but I agree with the narrator about every change mentioned in this video. Although, I did not even know about the change number 5, and I thought that "Close the blast doors!" line was in the original version as well. This video definitely deserves a like from me.
They got this wrong: "Close the blast doors!" was in the original theatrical cut. The thing is even among the original theatrical cuts, there were multiple versions. The line was in the mono audio release, but not the stereo audio release for some theaters. So some people, like my father, heard the line but not many other people.
No, as an art form, the movie was what the movie was. Going back and making changes because he thought “all this would be cooler“, is disrespectful to the original movie. If you want these changes, do a remake. Enough time has passed now.
@@spankynater4242 what tou just said its just a tremendous nonsense that has nothing to do with anything
@@spankynater4242 I disagree with you completely. Artificially setting things in stone seems unnecessary and futile, because although you may be able to set the presentation and visuals of certain art forms in stone you'll never be able to keep its meaning or impressions fixed- for other art forms, such as theatre or architecture, reiteration is at its core. Just because a structure is already in place does not imply a moral obligation to leave it be- improving upon it for aesthetical or functional reasons. In theatre, new actors, new audiences, and new lines, even, are par for the course even while the original playwright is still alive. Art is about communication and expression, altering the expression in order to maintain the intended communication is perfectly valid in my eyes
@@beansworth5694 so to you, art is like an Etch-a-Sketch that you just shake to erase on a whim? I have to strongly disagree with your definition.
I think the absolute best change to later releases of the OT is by far the editing of the music in scene transitions. In the theatrical releases, the music from one scene to the next is always clumsily cut short or awkwardly crossfaded. In later editions of the films, the musical transitions between cuts were reworked to flow into each other and maintain continuity instead of sounding like a bad tape splice
4:30 for the folks wondering what the thumbnail was.
the scene where han solo ran around the corner to see the storm troopers always reminded me of when he ran into the natives in the indiana jones movies soo good lol
It also created ties to some of the more prominent extended lore of the time, with the Outrider being in the special edition of A New Hope which was a ship of a smuggler who was part of the main cast of Shadows of the Empire
Yub Dub will always be the better song at the end of Jedi
Said no one ever.
@@Erlisch1337 actually a vast majority agree with me, but if you like that foolish instrumental music playing instead, I’m sure some folks agree with you as well.
@@DW3010 I'm with you, Yub Nub rules!
@@wonderfulwookiee6443 it’s just the one I think and by the sounds of things you as well grew up with, I didn’t mind the extra scenes at the end, but I wish they would’ve kept the song the same 😃
Removing the Ewok song at the end of ROTJ was the most egregious change. I hate the expanded ROTJ ending with the scenes on different planets, and the anachronistic elevator music. The original Ewok song was iconic for the generation that grew up with the original films. The smaller scale of the ending made it more human and sincere.
i wish yub nub stayed
That shot of the x wings and y wings looked glorious
CLOSE THE BLAST DOORS was actually on the [if I remember correctly] on the mono soundtrack versions of the original film's release. You can hear it on "The Story of Star Wars" LP I had as a kid. It's posted somewhere here on uTub.
Same goes "You were lucky to get out of there" on The Empire Strikes Back Story LP [with the added caption "The Adventures of Luke Skywalker"].
Scroll through the comments.. others are saying similar things.
I had "The Story of Star Wars" on (compact) cassette tape.