Film Discussion of the Week: Star Wars "Special Editions"

I’m giving this a big, stinking 1. And it’s not because the original movies were actually bad, but they somehow managed to defile the original movies with the CG nonsense. If Disney were to take these versions of the movies and toss them into the sun, then their purchase of Lucasfilm will be worth it.

This is the first time I saw the movies, I was really excited because I saw all three at the actual movie theater on the big screen as they were coming out. At that age I did not notice the CGI, just like I didn't notice it on the Matrix Trilogy. I was too young to notice those things, so the CGI didn't affect my experience at all. I enjoyed them all the way through.

This were the versions I watched for most of my life before I bought the Definitive Trilogy on LaserDisc. I have never watched the Special editions since. Why? Because they are inferior in almost every way. They aren't a 1/5 on their own merit, but compared to the Definitive version, they certainly are. It's a reason why they called it The Definitive version.

I didn't even know what a LaserDisc was until some years ago. Pick one up at the 2nd hand market if you have some space in your console rack.

I think it's actually 425.

Seeing as how May is the unofficial month of Star Wars ("May the 4th be with you"), I thought it would only be appropriate to talk about the controversial special editions of episodes IV, V, & VI. I mainly just wanted to hear what changes you guys liked ( if any) and which ones you didn't like.

I was lucky enough to have grown up with the original unaltered versions on VHS. Having seen all the added special edition scenes now, I get the feeling that Lucas did them because he wanted to familiarize himself with the process of directing CGI, which he would need to know how to do since he would go on to use CG almost exclusively in the prequels. Honestly I think the special edition edits were overall a missed opportunity. Instead of fixing legitimate problems with certain scenes from the unaltered OG trilogy (namely parts of the sarlacc pit scene from ROTJ, like Boba Fett's death), he and his team just decided to add new details to some scenes and remix other scenes entirely; the problem is that practically all the scenes he remixed (like the alien dance number in Jabba's palace) were superior before and had no reason to be replaced, so ultimately the special editions just felt like a downgrade, with the new effects coming across as a juxtaposition when mixed with the old effects.

Even the few scenes which were intended to appear in the original versions of the films but were cut (like Jabba's appearance in A New Hope) should've just been left out since they were completely unnecessary to begin with.

The one edit that I feel truly transcends the original scene is the addition of the celebration theme at the end of ROTJ, replacing the underwhelming original yub-nub song. The new theme is better in every possible way; it's longer, more emotional, and much more powerful.



I'd go as far to say that it's my favorite music track from the ENTIRE Star Wars franchise. It's that good (in my opinion). Definitely a much more satisfying theme to end on. It's just a shame they had to ruin one improved song with the addition of another sacrilegious one (Jedi Rocks).

So while I'm tempted to give the special editions a 1/5, ultimately I'm bumping my score up to a 2/5 because it did add that amazing celebration theme to ROTJ.

I have the original VHS somewhere.