(Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back Poster, 1980)
The original Star Wars Trilogy, are American Space Western Films, directed by Irvin Kershner, George Lucas and Richard Marquand. As part of Star War's 20th anniversary celebration in 1997, This original trilogy was remastered and re-released under the title Star Wars Trilogy: Special Edition.
The changes in these films span from 1977 to 2011. These changes have been center of huge controversy within the fan base. Some fans welcomed the changes, while others feel it takes away from the history of the series. Putting all these fancy new special effects over the original vfx, removes the hard work put into the original film. This is most evident in The Empire Strikes back, in the scenes where the crew are escaping from Cloud City. In the original 1980 film, they are running through white halls, whereas in the 2011 remaster, there are beautifully painted backgrounds.
(The Empire Strikes Back, 1980)
A famous change in the original Star Wars movie bears the title of "Who shot first?". The scene in the original 1977 movie, has Han shoot first. Han Solo is meant to be a mercenary and an Anti-Hero. The scene where he shoots Greedo establishes this, as while Greedo is giving a monologue about killing him, Han takes advantage of his being distracted and shoots him. In the remastered Special Edition, it was changed, with Greedo shooting first.
"Having Greedo shoot first undermines all of that. Lucas says that he altered the scene to make Han seem less unscrupulous and more like the hero he would eventually become. The point of character development is that the character changes, though. Han is supposed to amoral to begin with and becomes more heroic as time goes by." (T, 2011)
(Star Wars, 1977)
In an interview with George Lucas in 2012, Alex Ben Block asked about the who shot first controversy. Lucas States that they always intended Greedo to shoot first, and the way the movie was cut originally made that confusing, and when they made that clear in the remastered version, people got mad because they wanted Han to be a cold blooded killer.
"I hate to tell people that. It’s a movie, just a movie. The controversy over who shot first, Greedo or Han Solo, in Episode IV, what I did was try to clean up the confusion... ...I put a little wider shot in there that made it clear that Greedo is the one who shot first, but everyone wanted to think that Han shot first, because they wanted to think that he actually just gunned him down." (Lucas, 2012)
However, according the original script from 1977, Solo was the first shooter. Peter Mayhew, the man who plays Chewbacca, tweeted out pictures of the original script that he kept.
(Mayhew, 2016)
"Not only does Han Solo shoot Greedo down, he does so in the middle of a quip. While the script does include a longer exchange between Greedo (simply called "Alien" here) and Han,... ...it seems fairly clear that the only shot fired comes from Solo. There is no mention of the bounty hunter somehow being missed at point blank range." (Libbey, 2018)
So who's right? The director George Lucas? Or the Fans of the show? There's been so many changes to these movies its difficult to tell, and as long as this remains a subject in Pop Culture as a media we'll never know.
Star Wars at this point, has been edited so many times, its difficult to say if it even belongs to the original creators anymore, especially since fans make their own versions of the franchise, and many others, in Fan Created content. Star Wars (1977) belongs to Fox, and the rest of the franchise was bought by Disney. So it's hard to say who truly owns this iconic series, and who will in the future.
Bibliography:
Images:
Kastel, R. The Empire Strikes Back (1980). [image] Available at: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/3/3c/SW_-_Empire_Strikes_Back.jpg [Accessed 26 Sep. 2018].
The Empire Strikes Back. (1980). [DVD] Directed by I. Kershner. United States: 20th Century Fox.
Star Wars. (1977). [DVD] Directed by G. Lucas. United States: 20th Century Fox.
Mayhew, P. (2016). [image] Available at: https://twitter.com/TheWookieeRoars/status/705043238382604288?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E705043238382604288&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.cinemablend.com%2Fnew%2FEnds-Star-Wars-Han-Shot-First-Debate-Once-All-115797.html [Accessed 26 Sep. 2018].
Quotes:
T, J. (2011). The 10 worst crimes against the original Star Wars trilogy. [online] Den of Geek. Available at: http://www.denofgeek.com/movies/star-wars/17281/the-10-worst-crimes-against-the-original-star-wars-trilogy [Accessed 26 Sep. 2018].
Block, A. (2012). 5 Questions With George Lucas: Controversial 'Star Wars' Changes, SOPA and 'Indiana Jones 5'. [online] The Hollywood Reporter. Available at: https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/heat-vision/george-lucas-star-wars-interview-288523 [Accessed 26 Sep. 2018].
Libbey, D. (2018). Newly Discovered Star Wars Script Answers The Who Shot First Riddle. [online] CINEMABLEND. Available at: https://www.cinemablend.com/new/Newly-Discovered-Star-Wars-Script-Answers-Who-Shot-First-Riddle-71911.html [Accessed 26 Sep. 2018].
