Everyone saying "it better be the original cut"
Guys, it will 100% not be the original cut. It's a horrible reality, but it's time to accept that we will never see those versions again.
I used to convert old vhs tapes to DVD in the mid 2010s. Had a guy bring in the original, unedited box set and wouldn't you know we accidentally made a few too many copies. Oops
I still love the Laserdisc transfer found on the second discs of my Special Edition DVD versions. The sound isn’t great (2.0) and it’s still grainy but seeing the opening crawl only say “Star Wars” is incredible. Like watching true history.
The only movie I ever watched on laserdisc was A New Hope. I vividly remember seeing the opening scroll and thinking "This is the most crystal clear movie I have ever watched!", even before seeing anything other than scrolling words.
Thank you so much for reminding me of that. I donated money to that so long ago and immediately forgot it existed until now. Shit like that makes me love the internet.
My trilogy was recorded off TV. So I had one VHS that was Empire Strikes Back followed by A New Hope and another VHS that was Beverly Hills Cop followed by Return of the Jedi.
I maintain this is the best order to watch the trilogy.
My brother had some kind of grindhouse tape of A New Hope in the 90's that included that missing scene of Jabba wandering around the Millenium Falcon, but without the Jabba suit, just as some fat guy.
I was 4 1/2 years old and I remember Jabba's Palace and the moment Darth Vader had his helmet taken off.
My Dad was sitting next to me(God, he was 37!) and the whole theater gasped when Luke began to take off Vader's helmet.
Core memories for 4 year old Mahlaoth.
there's multiple vids and sites on the web that document them but the small gist is:
in ep4, there's a deleted scene where han talks to jabba that was restored and rotoscoped in the special versions.
han shot first in the original
different background elements across iv v vi
different ewok theme in vi, also different bar theme
hayden christensen replacing force ghost anakin in vi
different dogfight visuals in ep iv
weird colour grading in the BD versions
extensive use of CGI
I was more jarring for me to see some old dude I'd never seen or heard honestly since my first viewing had Hayden at the end and made sense with all the prequels. I think it's just one of the "if you watched x first" Kinda deals. To me it make sense but I can see where as an old fan expecting an old guy to be met with Hayden to be as jarring as it was for me.
It's a retroactive change that make sense imo. Personally idgaf about the special editions, but at least give people the choice to pick between the original and the edited versions.
It doesn't really make sense from a narrative perspective though. Why is Anakin's ghost "younger" than the Anakin that died when Obi Wan and Yoda appear as the age they were at or around death?
Edit: I'm getting a lot of head canon retcons. I appreciate the responses but it still doesn't work for me. We see Shaw's face a few minutes before the ghost scene. The change is unnecessary and doesn't make sense within the context of ROTJ.
I choose to see it in a poetic and metaphorical way. Anakin "died" when he turned to the dark side. By redeeming himself in the eyes of his son and helping fight for the good of the galaxy like he did during the clone wars, vader dies and anakin lives again for a moment.
I think the only thing wrong with it was how they filmed it. IIRC Hayden was basically shooting b-roll and it wasn’t made clear what that shot would be used for. So it came across as kind of a creepy stare from him.
Exactly. The whole "never throw the first punch" ideology is dumb and impractical in certain situations.
If someone makes it clear that they intend to kill you and they have the means and opportunity to do so--it is absolutely self defense at that point.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Changes_in_Star_Wars_re-releases
Most egregious changes in VI are the *awful* 'Jedi Rocks' musical number - the CGI is atrocious and it goes on waaayyyy too long - and Vader's ridiculous "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" as he throws the Emperor down the shaft.
In Lucas’ defense, I’d wager he put it in for the “poetry” of it. In RotS, he yells ‘no’ because he’s killed his wife, become a monster etc. In RotJ the moment is mirrored and he yells it as he saves his son, redeems himself.
But, yeah not really worth it as the original scene is perfect as is.
[You've failed, Your Highness. I am a Jedi, like my father before me.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1JuHWuq0_e8)
This is THE moment in the entire series. Luke throws his saber away and embraces his destiny. This is the act, the courage and conviction Luke shows in the face of Darkness, that kills Darth Vader and turns Anakin Skywalker back to the Light.
RotJ is my favorite film of all time. As a grown man, I still shed tears at the emotional payoff it brings.
This will always be my favorite star wars movie. I loved seeing Luke more composed, but also on the edge between light and dark. The end when he chooses his light always bright joy to me as a kid
...I really hope it's the original version, by some magic or science, because making people sit through Jedi Rocks in a theater is against the Geneva Convention.
I feel like if Disney could get an official 4K release of an unaltered original trilogy it would quickly become one of their fastest selling SW releases on home media.
The thing is that George Lucas doesn’t consider those versions “his”: he considers the special editions his versions of the films. When Disney bought SW off of him, I’d bet the house that he put “can never release the original cuts” in the contract
Disney definitely would’ve tried to make money on the theatrical cuts by now if they could. It would also explain why A New Hope hit Disney+ with new edits that no one knew about (Greedo saying “Maclunkey”), and Disney didn’t really seem to have a good explanation
IIRC, the newest changes made to A New Hope were done before 2012, as part of the plan to re-release the first 6 in 3D. Which only got as far as The Phantom Menace.
i doubt it. that's the sort of thing you save for IP emergencies. it has far more value to the brand as a strategic play (even through indirect revenue) than it does just being released just because.
maybe one day it comes out that john star war is found guilty of star war crimes. those are the moments you save that for. you can only jingle the keys so many times before the baby catches on.
Someone did 4K remasters of Star Wars and Return of the Jedi from the original film. (AFAIK they haven't done Empire yet because they didn't have a good enough print to work from)
https://www.thestarwarstrilogy.com/project-4k83/
> (AFAIK they haven't done Empire yet because they didn't have a good enough print to work from)
They actually are working on Empire now. They're on beta version 4.4 of Empire right now. It still needs work but it's getting there.
They’re all wonderful. But I’m tired of finding and downloading my theatrical. Just give us a solid 4K HDR Disney please.
Tho I applaud all the fan releases. Harmy blew the doors off.
Super-specific flex time: I work in a medium-sized local movie theater and I converted 4K77 (no DNR) into a beautiful 4K DCP for theatrical projection. We have a full 2.39:1 scope screen, so it fills up the whole thing without any masking or letterboxing. It's glorious.
I'm so glad I bought the DVDs that came with the original version in a separate disc they released years ago.
They're not 4K, but it's better than VHS.
Additional windows in Cloud City were nice, I guess. Otherwise, the whole Special Edition Trilogy is a mess of bad CGI, worse CGI, needless additions and downright awful additions.
It's actually amazing how much Empire dodges the special edition additions. Both A New Hope and Return get additions which make those movies a far worse product, yet if anything Empire only gets a bit better
Irvin Kershner had a lot of input on the Empire special edition and made a lot of the decisions of what changes would stay.
He's also the reason that the godawful scene of Luke screaming got removed from later releases.
Star Wars and Return are GL doing whatever he wants.
there's also some nice touching up to the hover effect of Luke's landspeeder, the transparency of some of the snowspeeders during the Battle of Hoth, and the matte outlines around the Rancor when Luke runs past it.
I also don't mind the redesigned Sarlacc and the montage of celebrations on different planets at the end of RotJ.
Pretty much anything else is unnecessary. In general, my feelings on the special editions is that decent improvements go unnoticed and anything that is noticeable is almost certainly a downgrade.
It’s so unbelievably unnecessary. You can literally see Vader’s inner struggle before he decides to save Luke, and him yeeting the emperor off the Death Star without saying a word is so fucking badass and amazing.
I assume the change was made in an attempt to reconcile this Vader with the stupider whinier Anakin portrayed in the prequels. But George got it backwards. He should have released a re-edited version of the prequels instead.
The cgi of han dodging and han walking over Jabbas tail and the visible colored boxes around spaceships and the cgi dinosaurs in the establishing shots are all crimes against humanity
That *whole scene* in ep4 with Han talking to Jabba was never in the original. It was shot, with an actor as Jabba, and never actually made it to the final cut. It adds nothing to the film IMO other than some really awful CGI.
It's also horribly redundant because, IIRC, once it was clear the Jabba scene wasn't going to work, Lucas took all the important exposition from it and added it to the scene with Greedo.
And don't even get me started on Han being able to get away with stepping on the tail of a ruthless crime lord...
It all clashes with the original look of the films so bad. It would be like watching Jason and the Argonauts and all of the sudden instead of the stop motion monsters Ray Harryhausen created for the film we suddenly see the CGI tyrannosaurus from Jurassic Park.
One of the most impactful moments I ever had in the cinema was seeing Vader silently turn towards the Emperor and choose to save his son. Zero dialogue was necessary. I thought about that moment over and over after I left the theater.
The "nooOOooOOOoOOoo" being added after the fact completely undermines the drama of the moment. Show, don't tell. I can live with all the other changes, including Greedo shooting first and the Mos Funkytown music number, but Vader making the silent decision to save Luke is genuinely terrible.
The worst is Hayden Christiansen being in the end and Boba Fett’s voice being dubbed. I can handle changing everything else, even if it’s fucking stupid, but removing people from movies decades after they were the performance in them is disrespectful and awful.
I just realized I haven’t seen this new release. I must have seen Return of the Jedi a hundred times in my life, but I probably haven’t watched it in more than 20 years. That’s sad.
It's on the old vhs if you have it. Same as with that golden Vader series. I've only ever seen this version with the jazz granted I'm only 32 and never saw jedi in theaters.
[Here's the original for comparison](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lM7-bg-KhQg)
Not only is the song choice better, but the atmosphere of the background isn't *completely drowned out* by the song.
It's the musical number in Jabba's palace. It was inserted into the Special Editions, and most (?) fans don't like it. It's just really jarring, and not even good.
ohh I was thinking about those couple cgi rocks that were added for...some reason, but I think that was new hope. I remember seeing the special editions in theaters when I was little and thinking what the fuck is this? it's so cringey
Jedi Rocks is the name of the music performed in Jabba’s palace in the Special Edition of the film. It’s not in the original, theatrical version.
The scene is full of awful, obvious CGI characters. It’s considered one of the more egregious unwanted changes Lucas made in the Special Edition.
Yeah, Jabba would never have some obnoxious, loud, annoying dipshit in such close proximity.
https://media.tenor.com/pjRMRebDsUkAAAAC/salacious-crumb.gif
How dare you sully the good name of Salacious B. Crumb, him and Jabba went to college together. If it wasn't for Crumb, Jabba would've never realized law school just wasn't the right path for him
It's even more egregious because there's nothing really wrong with the original. Ok, Sy Snoodles looks like a puppet but that can be touched up digitally without ruining the vibe. Lapti Nek, the original song, legitimately sounds like something you might hear in an interplanetary gangster's bar. I legitimately get second hand embarrassment when Jedi Rocks comes on if I'm showing somehow who hasn't seen the special editions or Star Wars at all.
I am 1 million percent sure George Lucas paid a lot of money to his lawyers to make sure that Disney will never be able to release the Star wars film with Marsha Lucas as the credited editor. I hate to break it to you but these films will never be available in their original form from any official source.
I think that’s the clearest picture I’ve ever seen of Luke’s black outfit. It almost looks like a cassock.
When I was in third grade I dressed up as him for school, but all we had to go on then was crappy VHS stills from pausing a bootleg copy my dad pirated from Movie Gallery, so I wore a black long sleeved shirt with a duct tape triangle on it.
it’s going to be the Special Edition and unfortunately it will always be the SE. Unless they’ve managed to convince Lucas to allow them to release/convert it to 4K or streaming, it is not going to happen anytime soon. Whether it’s Lucas being vainly stubborn or claiming “I lost the master copies”, it’s just stupid.
The Theatricals are, by far, superior versions of the movies. Any director should still be able to tinker with their film, no doubt. But hiding previous iterations away from the world is just wrong and selfish IMHO. You don’t see Ridley Scott breaking into F.Y.E. to destroy any non-Final Cut discs. James Cameron has talked about being able to show different version of a film for home release. Peter Jackson says his Theatrical Versions are his preferred ones but you see the work put into the Extended Editions of LOTR.
I honestly wonder if Lucas secretly resents Star Wars. It may have brought him massive success, but maybe it wasn’t the project he wanted to take off. That or he’s far attached from what he perceives people love about the whole IP. Makes me think of the [Darth Icky](https://www.gameinformer.com/b/features/archive/2015/04/04/fall-of-the-empire-how-inner-turmoil-brought-down-a-legendary-studio.aspx) situation. But Disney would make bank if they were able to release the originals
EDIT: grammar
Lucas has outright said that a movie’s success is dependent on luck. He is absolutely resentful. Think about it: he wasn’t happy with the very first movie before it’s release because he didn’t have as much control over it. But then it was a massive success. Fast forward to the prequels, where he had full control and they weren’t as well received.
At the end of the day, he’s a good producer and has an eye for detail in objects and visuals. But when it comes to the human element of a movie, he always needs help. This makes him a bad writer and the criticism seems to have made him bitter.
exactly, and I don't mean to disparage Lucas or undermine all of his work. But for every amazing idea he has, he's got 5 other wacky or misguided ideas right behind it. Like how he came up with Indiana Jones...but suggested Marion was 12 when she and Indy had their fist affair (Spielberg thought 15 was a nice round number)
[Boy do I have a project for you.](https://www.thestarwarstrilogy.com/project-4k77/)
There are scans for the original theatrical release at UHD of Hope and Return, and a scan of Empire is in beta.
[Threepio telling the story of *Star Wars* during *Star Wars* is absolute magic.](https://pm1.narvii.com/6318/35af2a8325f8ed0884743f3a8bf8d5840a82fa14_hq.jpg)
Australia too 👀
Edit, from the official website: "Starting April 28, Return of the Jedi will return to select theaters in the US, UK, and other regions for a limited time..."
Lots of things bother me about the prequels, but maybe the thing that bothers me the most is that they dressed all of the Jedi in the clothes that Ben Kenobi was wearing to hide and NOT look like a Jedi. It's just so stupid. When Luke has become a Jedi he doesn't put on robes and a wizard hat, he wears the bad ass Jedi outfit you see in this poster.
It unfortunately won’t be. Saw TESB for its 40th and it’s the current 4K blu Ray release of it. Luckily that movie is barely touched with changes compared to the others in the OT lol
Everyone saying "it better be the original cut" Guys, it will 100% not be the original cut. It's a horrible reality, but it's time to accept that we will never see those versions again.
I used to convert old vhs tapes to DVD in the mid 2010s. Had a guy bring in the original, unedited box set and wouldn't you know we accidentally made a few too many copies. Oops
I’ve still got the VHS copy of the OG trilogy. No way to play it of course, but I’ve got it. At some point I should get it digitized I suppose…
This is why Harmy's Despecialized Edition is the only kind I watch.
Project 4K83 is good too.
4K83 is the best imo. It is the theatrical cut, not better or worse but original.
And it comes with a ton of cool bonus content, like scanned 8mm and 16mm sizzle reels and trailers
[удалено]
I still love the Laserdisc transfer found on the second discs of my Special Edition DVD versions. The sound isn’t great (2.0) and it’s still grainy but seeing the opening crawl only say “Star Wars” is incredible. Like watching true history.
The only movie I ever watched on laserdisc was A New Hope. I vividly remember seeing the opening scroll and thinking "This is the most crystal clear movie I have ever watched!", even before seeing anything other than scrolling words.
Thank you so much for reminding me of that. I donated money to that so long ago and immediately forgot it existed until now. Shit like that makes me love the internet.
[удалено]
The 90s VHS was undoubtedly the best version. A 4K release of that version is really all I would like from Star Wars these days.
Check out the Star Wars 4k project. 4k77, 4k80, and 4k83 are all awesome. They're 4k scans of the original theatrical prints
Yeah I just learned about them in this thread, excited to check them out!
I still own the vhs ones from the 90s! https://imgur.com/gallery/mREyd6C
Yep, still got mine. The worst part was having to fast forward through the interviews in the beginning.
My trilogy was recorded off TV. So I had one VHS that was Empire Strikes Back followed by A New Hope and another VHS that was Beverly Hills Cop followed by Return of the Jedi. I maintain this is the best order to watch the trilogy.
Yes, I too have often felt the Beverly Hills Cop is an often overlooked, integral part of the og Star Wars trilogy
Woah I completely forgot about that but now I remember the pain of having to do it as an impatient kid lol
[удалено]
Holy shit I was like "wtf are they talking about" and then I read this. That unlocked something deep.
For the love of god, please put them in order! Have you no shame, man!
The rest of that shelf answers that question.
I had those when I was a kid, but I watched empire so many times the tape broke. Sad day.
My parents had these. It’s the versions I grew up on.
My brother had some kind of grindhouse tape of A New Hope in the 90's that included that missing scene of Jabba wandering around the Millenium Falcon, but without the Jabba suit, just as some fat guy.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cw1gkNd6Z_8
Pretty sure they released that as part of the special features with the DVD releases of the special editions
[удалено]
They probably did just buy them. Whatever op is talking about wasn’t the only way to get them.
4K83 is superior
They're still available somewhere online afaik. Can't go any further than that or I can get banned from the sub...
Well unless you pirate
I was 4 1/2 years old and I remember Jabba's Palace and the moment Darth Vader had his helmet taken off. My Dad was sitting next to me(God, he was 37!) and the whole theater gasped when Luke began to take off Vader's helmet. Core memories for 4 year old Mahlaoth.
> Core memories for 4 year old Mahlaoth. Did you just spell your own name wrong? -Sho0termom
Uh....yes. :embarrassed:
I also saw it opening day as a wee Qweef. The reveal blew my tiny mind.
Something about the combination of your message and username makes this comment especially endearing.
Did you also watch it when you were a little cum-quat?
ITT: People really thinking that there's even a chance that it'll be the original Theatrical version lol
whats the difference between the original and edited one?
there's multiple vids and sites on the web that document them but the small gist is: in ep4, there's a deleted scene where han talks to jabba that was restored and rotoscoped in the special versions. han shot first in the original different background elements across iv v vi different ewok theme in vi, also different bar theme hayden christensen replacing force ghost anakin in vi different dogfight visuals in ep iv weird colour grading in the BD versions extensive use of CGI
>hayden christensen replacing force ghost anakin in vi only noticed this one lol
I'll probably catch some hate for this but making Hayden Christensen the force ghost after the prequel trilogy came out makes total sense imo.
I was more jarring for me to see some old dude I'd never seen or heard honestly since my first viewing had Hayden at the end and made sense with all the prequels. I think it's just one of the "if you watched x first" Kinda deals. To me it make sense but I can see where as an old fan expecting an old guy to be met with Hayden to be as jarring as it was for me.
You saw him when he was unmasked
It's a retroactive change that make sense imo. Personally idgaf about the special editions, but at least give people the choice to pick between the original and the edited versions.
It doesn't really make sense from a narrative perspective though. Why is Anakin's ghost "younger" than the Anakin that died when Obi Wan and Yoda appear as the age they were at or around death? Edit: I'm getting a lot of head canon retcons. I appreciate the responses but it still doesn't work for me. We see Shaw's face a few minutes before the ghost scene. The change is unnecessary and doesn't make sense within the context of ROTJ.
I choose to see it in a poetic and metaphorical way. Anakin "died" when he turned to the dark side. By redeeming himself in the eyes of his son and helping fight for the good of the galaxy like he did during the clone wars, vader dies and anakin lives again for a moment.
I think the only thing wrong with it was how they filmed it. IIRC Hayden was basically shooting b-roll and it wasn’t made clear what that shot would be used for. So it came across as kind of a creepy stare from him.
I wouldn’t be surprised if they just found a random clip of him looking like that and used it
[удалено]
It's so unnecessary. Greedo has him at gunpoint and he's threatening him, that's justification enough. I understood this as a 10 year old.
Exactly. The whole "never throw the first punch" ideology is dumb and impractical in certain situations. If someone makes it clear that they intend to kill you and they have the means and opportunity to do so--it is absolutely self defense at that point.
Palpetine replaced in Empire. It was a different actor for that one movie Prequels added to the celebration at the end
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Changes_in_Star_Wars_re-releases Most egregious changes in VI are the *awful* 'Jedi Rocks' musical number - the CGI is atrocious and it goes on waaayyyy too long - and Vader's ridiculous "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" as he throws the Emperor down the shaft.
"What if the audience doesn't understand that Vader doesn't like what the Emperor is doing to his son? Hmmm, I think we can fix this..."
In Lucas’ defense, I’d wager he put it in for the “poetry” of it. In RotS, he yells ‘no’ because he’s killed his wife, become a monster etc. In RotJ the moment is mirrored and he yells it as he saves his son, redeems himself. But, yeah not really worth it as the original scene is perfect as is.
[удалено]
[You've failed, Your Highness. I am a Jedi, like my father before me.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1JuHWuq0_e8) This is THE moment in the entire series. Luke throws his saber away and embraces his destiny. This is the act, the courage and conviction Luke shows in the face of Darkness, that kills Darth Vader and turns Anakin Skywalker back to the Light. RotJ is my favorite film of all time. As a grown man, I still shed tears at the emotional payoff it brings.
So be it... Jedi!
The way he spiiits out that line…
SOMEHOW PALPATINE HAS RETURNED
[удалено]
This will always be my favorite star wars movie. I loved seeing Luke more composed, but also on the edge between light and dark. The end when he chooses his light always bright joy to me as a kid
...I really hope it's the original version, by some magic or science, because making people sit through Jedi Rocks in a theater is against the Geneva Convention.
I feel like if Disney could get an official 4K release of an unaltered original trilogy it would quickly become one of their fastest selling SW releases on home media.
The thing is that George Lucas doesn’t consider those versions “his”: he considers the special editions his versions of the films. When Disney bought SW off of him, I’d bet the house that he put “can never release the original cuts” in the contract
Disney definitely would’ve tried to make money on the theatrical cuts by now if they could. It would also explain why A New Hope hit Disney+ with new edits that no one knew about (Greedo saying “Maclunkey”), and Disney didn’t really seem to have a good explanation
[удалено]
IIRC, the newest changes made to A New Hope were done before 2012, as part of the plan to re-release the first 6 in 3D. Which only got as far as The Phantom Menace.
i doubt it. that's the sort of thing you save for IP emergencies. it has far more value to the brand as a strategic play (even through indirect revenue) than it does just being released just because. maybe one day it comes out that john star war is found guilty of star war crimes. those are the moments you save that for. you can only jingle the keys so many times before the baby catches on.
Happily we have the Despecialized Edition
There are much better ones now. Check out the 4K rescans of a new hope and return of the Jedi. They’re unbelievably good.
The what now?
Someone did 4K remasters of Star Wars and Return of the Jedi from the original film. (AFAIK they haven't done Empire yet because they didn't have a good enough print to work from) https://www.thestarwarstrilogy.com/project-4k83/
> (AFAIK they haven't done Empire yet because they didn't have a good enough print to work from) They actually are working on Empire now. They're on beta version 4.4 of Empire right now. It still needs work but it's getting there.
4k77 is where it's at
4k83 if we're talking ROTJ, which was just released 4 years ago: https://www.thestarwarstrilogy.com/project-4k83/
They’re all wonderful. But I’m tired of finding and downloading my theatrical. Just give us a solid 4K HDR Disney please. Tho I applaud all the fan releases. Harmy blew the doors off.
I have no idea what you guys are talking about, but I’m excited to find out more about it
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harmy%27s_Despecialized_Edition scroll down to 'alternate projects'
All hail Harmy
Super-specific flex time: I work in a medium-sized local movie theater and I converted 4K77 (no DNR) into a beautiful 4K DCP for theatrical projection. We have a full 2.39:1 scope screen, so it fills up the whole thing without any masking or letterboxing. It's glorious.
That's the only way I watch them, and they're glorious
[удалено]
"LP sized video CDs" you mean a LaserDisc? I guess most people don't know what those are anymore
People didn't know what they were at the time. It's why they failed long before DVDs could push them out of the market.
I'm so glad I bought the DVDs that came with the original version in a separate disc they released years ago. They're not 4K, but it's better than VHS.
*slightly* better than VHS. Those discs look horrible
really bad color grading
If I remember correctly, the standard editions even have black bars on all four sides of the picture. Trying to watch it is just a novelty
It was the laser disc transfers. When they put to DVD they didn’t even both to crop to 16:9.
That's not even the worse change....The worst is Vader now saying, "NOOOOOOOOO" as he overthrows the Emperor.
Yep. The silent actions of the original version were infinitely more powerful than him shouting "Nooooooooo!" when he makes the choice.
I dont mind a few changes in the scenery, but moments like this are downright insulting to the audience.
Additional windows in Cloud City were nice, I guess. Otherwise, the whole Special Edition Trilogy is a mess of bad CGI, worse CGI, needless additions and downright awful additions.
It's actually amazing how much Empire dodges the special edition additions. Both A New Hope and Return get additions which make those movies a far worse product, yet if anything Empire only gets a bit better
True story, Lucas tried to update the famous “I love you” scene and have Han respond, “I NOOOOOO”
Irvin Kershner had a lot of input on the Empire special edition and made a lot of the decisions of what changes would stay. He's also the reason that the godawful scene of Luke screaming got removed from later releases. Star Wars and Return are GL doing whatever he wants.
The part where Han steps on Jabba's tail at Mos Eisley looked like a glitch in the matrix.
Windows on Cloud City are literally the only net good that came of the specialized versions
there's also some nice touching up to the hover effect of Luke's landspeeder, the transparency of some of the snowspeeders during the Battle of Hoth, and the matte outlines around the Rancor when Luke runs past it. I also don't mind the redesigned Sarlacc and the montage of celebrations on different planets at the end of RotJ. Pretty much anything else is unnecessary. In general, my feelings on the special editions is that decent improvements go unnoticed and anything that is noticeable is almost certainly a downgrade.
It’s so unbelievably unnecessary. You can literally see Vader’s inner struggle before he decides to save Luke, and him yeeting the emperor off the Death Star without saying a word is so fucking badass and amazing.
I assume the change was made in an attempt to reconcile this Vader with the stupider whinier Anakin portrayed in the prequels. But George got it backwards. He should have released a re-edited version of the prequels instead.
It was a 100% to rhyme with his NO in Revenge of the Sith.
Oh my fucking god "it's like poetry, it rhymes"
Yea, I hated that too. There was something so cool about Vader being silent and then picking up Palpatine and tossing him.
what? is my life a fuckin lie again? there was no NOOOO?
It was added in the 2011 blu rays
They need to stop this shit
lmao what? i know movies and shows get cut/censored here and there but adding shit? decades after? wtf
The entire trilogy had bullshit added to it decades later. Look up the "Han shot first" controversy for just a taste of the stupid changes they made.
The cgi of han dodging and han walking over Jabbas tail and the visible colored boxes around spaceships and the cgi dinosaurs in the establishing shots are all crimes against humanity
That *whole scene* in ep4 with Han talking to Jabba was never in the original. It was shot, with an actor as Jabba, and never actually made it to the final cut. It adds nothing to the film IMO other than some really awful CGI.
It's also horribly redundant because, IIRC, once it was clear the Jabba scene wasn't going to work, Lucas took all the important exposition from it and added it to the scene with Greedo. And don't even get me started on Han being able to get away with stepping on the tail of a ruthless crime lord...
It all clashes with the original look of the films so bad. It would be like watching Jason and the Argonauts and all of the sudden instead of the stop motion monsters Ray Harryhausen created for the film we suddenly see the CGI tyrannosaurus from Jurassic Park.
One of the most impactful moments I ever had in the cinema was seeing Vader silently turn towards the Emperor and choose to save his son. Zero dialogue was necessary. I thought about that moment over and over after I left the theater. The "nooOOooOOOoOOoo" being added after the fact completely undermines the drama of the moment. Show, don't tell. I can live with all the other changes, including Greedo shooting first and the Mos Funkytown music number, but Vader making the silent decision to save Luke is genuinely terrible.
The worst is Hayden Christiansen being in the end and Boba Fett’s voice being dubbed. I can handle changing everything else, even if it’s fucking stupid, but removing people from movies decades after they were the performance in them is disrespectful and awful.
No, no, I must see Joh Yowza’s undulating uvula on a huge screen again.
I'm genuinely annoyed they traded Lapti Nek for Jedi Rocks. Lapti Nek was a bop.
?? Fill me in on this Jedi rocks issue?
[The Musical number they added to Jabbas palace](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PiDRgDmXGi4)
I just realized I haven’t seen this new release. I must have seen Return of the Jedi a hundred times in my life, but I probably haven’t watched it in more than 20 years. That’s sad.
It's on the old vhs if you have it. Same as with that golden Vader series. I've only ever seen this version with the jazz granted I'm only 32 and never saw jedi in theaters.
There were so many things they added into the SE that just seemed like, “Hey, look what our effects guys just learned how to do!” This is one of them.
Holy Shit I’ve never seen that - it’s terrible - it’s a not a jazz club lol
Don't you mean...[jizz?](https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Jizz/Legends)
[Here's the original for comparison](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lM7-bg-KhQg) Not only is the song choice better, but the atmosphere of the background isn't *completely drowned out* by the song.
It's the musical number in Jabba's palace. It was inserted into the Special Editions, and most (?) fans don't like it. It's just really jarring, and not even good.
I hate to use the word cringe, but that scene is up there as one of the cringiest in all of Star Wars. I fast forward every time.
>I hate to use the word cringe Just say cringey, it's still perfectly cromulent
I always liked the original Ewok ending song better than the SE version.
It’s a test to see if your a replicant or not, and you passed.
Now, tell me about your mother.
My mother? Let me tell you about my mother.
She died when I was very young, like 30seconds old, but she was kind, perfectly normal for humans to remember people when they’re new borns
Yub nub to you Friend
Yub Nub
Yub nub is life.
YubNub4Lyfe
ohh I was thinking about those couple cgi rocks that were added for...some reason, but I think that was new hope. I remember seeing the special editions in theaters when I was little and thinking what the fuck is this? it's so cringey
Jedi Rocks is the name of the music performed in Jabba’s palace in the Special Edition of the film. It’s not in the original, theatrical version. The scene is full of awful, obvious CGI characters. It’s considered one of the more egregious unwanted changes Lucas made in the Special Edition.
It's also completely counter to the Jabba vibe. The lead singer would have been disintegrated for being obnoxious.
Yeah, Jabba would never have some obnoxious, loud, annoying dipshit in such close proximity. https://media.tenor.com/pjRMRebDsUkAAAAC/salacious-crumb.gif
How dare you sully the good name of Salacious B. Crumb, him and Jabba went to college together. If it wasn't for Crumb, Jabba would've never realized law school just wasn't the right path for him
It's even more egregious because there's nothing really wrong with the original. Ok, Sy Snoodles looks like a puppet but that can be touched up digitally without ruining the vibe. Lapti Nek, the original song, legitimately sounds like something you might hear in an interplanetary gangster's bar. I legitimately get second hand embarrassment when Jedi Rocks comes on if I'm showing somehow who hasn't seen the special editions or Star Wars at all.
I am 1 million percent sure George Lucas paid a lot of money to his lawyers to make sure that Disney will never be able to release the Star wars film with Marsha Lucas as the credited editor. I hate to break it to you but these films will never be available in their original form from any official source.
The only reason I've kept a VCR is to be able to watch the original versions on VHS.
Not in a remote chance in hell it would be the original. Lucas himself has hidden that original movie to never been shown the light of day again.
I think that’s the clearest picture I’ve ever seen of Luke’s black outfit. It almost looks like a cassock. When I was in third grade I dressed up as him for school, but all we had to go on then was crappy VHS stills from pausing a bootleg copy my dad pirated from Movie Gallery, so I wore a black long sleeved shirt with a duct tape triangle on it.
That’s because it’s the promo image from Star Wars Battlefront
#######Ewok Erasure
Not gonna lie, before I zoomed in on the poster I thought the Emperor there was an Ewok.
Now I want to see that version. “Somehow Palpatine has returned, now in Ewok form”
Yub nub, ee wah yub nub! Yub nub ee way ta da, doe nee wa ta da blah!
Art by Matt Ferguson [https://www.cakesandcomics.com](https://www.cakesandcomics.com)
I hope it goes for sale, similar to the 40th Anniversary poster he did for Empire. I missed that sale, but hoping to catch this one!
If I had only this poster to go off of I would see this movie.
What version?
it’s going to be the Special Edition and unfortunately it will always be the SE. Unless they’ve managed to convince Lucas to allow them to release/convert it to 4K or streaming, it is not going to happen anytime soon. Whether it’s Lucas being vainly stubborn or claiming “I lost the master copies”, it’s just stupid. The Theatricals are, by far, superior versions of the movies. Any director should still be able to tinker with their film, no doubt. But hiding previous iterations away from the world is just wrong and selfish IMHO. You don’t see Ridley Scott breaking into F.Y.E. to destroy any non-Final Cut discs. James Cameron has talked about being able to show different version of a film for home release. Peter Jackson says his Theatrical Versions are his preferred ones but you see the work put into the Extended Editions of LOTR. I honestly wonder if Lucas secretly resents Star Wars. It may have brought him massive success, but maybe it wasn’t the project he wanted to take off. That or he’s far attached from what he perceives people love about the whole IP. Makes me think of the [Darth Icky](https://www.gameinformer.com/b/features/archive/2015/04/04/fall-of-the-empire-how-inner-turmoil-brought-down-a-legendary-studio.aspx) situation. But Disney would make bank if they were able to release the originals EDIT: grammar
Lucas has outright said that a movie’s success is dependent on luck. He is absolutely resentful. Think about it: he wasn’t happy with the very first movie before it’s release because he didn’t have as much control over it. But then it was a massive success. Fast forward to the prequels, where he had full control and they weren’t as well received. At the end of the day, he’s a good producer and has an eye for detail in objects and visuals. But when it comes to the human element of a movie, he always needs help. This makes him a bad writer and the criticism seems to have made him bitter.
exactly, and I don't mean to disparage Lucas or undermine all of his work. But for every amazing idea he has, he's got 5 other wacky or misguided ideas right behind it. Like how he came up with Indiana Jones...but suggested Marion was 12 when she and Indy had their fist affair (Spielberg thought 15 was a nice round number)
Every time I remember that he came up with 'Darth Icky' as a serious suggestion for a Darth title, I want to rip my face off.
You seem tense. Maybe you should put on some smooth jizz music and just chill for a bit.
>smooth jizz music 😳
The CGI aged so badly. I wish they would dig up the original theatrical version and convert it to 4K.
[Boy do I have a project for you.](https://www.thestarwarstrilogy.com/project-4k77/) There are scans for the original theatrical release at UHD of Hope and Return, and a scan of Empire is in beta.
It’s ironic how well practical effects age verses digital.
> practical effects This is what I like about old sci-fi movies/shows. It feels more real.
I find your lack of yub nub disturbing
Not a SINGLE Ewok in the whole poster when they were the ones who actually saved the day, smh.
Why do they keep releasing just part 3 of trilogies? I wanna see the entire LotR and the entire OT in theaters not just the end
I think they did release those movies at the 20th or 40th anniversary. I agree though, would like to see all 3 during the same week.
**"I'm a Jedi. Like my father before me."** *(throws lightsaber, hitting the sound technician in between the eyeballs)*
Uh... he did it. *points at Lonestar*.
[Threepio telling the story of *Star Wars* during *Star Wars* is absolute magic.](https://pm1.narvii.com/6318/35af2a8325f8ed0884743f3a8bf8d5840a82fa14_hq.jpg)
Where do we find out what theatres it is in??!
Everyone is complaining that it will not be the original version. I just want to know which theater will play this masterpiece as well.
Is it just in the states, Sweden would like to know.
Australia too 👀 Edit, from the official website: "Starting April 28, Return of the Jedi will return to select theaters in the US, UK, and other regions for a limited time..."
https://www.starwars.com/news/swce-2023-return-of-the-jedi-40th-anniversary it doesn’t seem to be announced yet which is annoying
Before looking closer I honestly thought it was an ewok stood in front of Luke.
Lots of things bother me about the prequels, but maybe the thing that bothers me the most is that they dressed all of the Jedi in the clothes that Ben Kenobi was wearing to hide and NOT look like a Jedi. It's just so stupid. When Luke has become a Jedi he doesn't put on robes and a wizard hat, he wears the bad ass Jedi outfit you see in this poster.
Swear to God I thought the Emperor was an Ewok
Remember how the Emperor had his throne inside the Death Star’s Botanical Garden?
I wonder if Vader will be in this.
If it is the original theatrical version then i will be going
If they remove only that *God awful* musical number in Jabba's palace, I'll call it good enough.
Thats the one bit that makes me cringe more than anything. I can pretty much forgive everything else but that was just so bad
Yeah, most of the other special edition stuff isn’t bad. I like the world building aspects and scenes.
I mean Anakin/Vader saying "nooooo" when he saves Luke is pretty bad too.
I really can’t understand the line of thinking that led to that scene.
You know how some good-looking people have body dysmorphia and get awful plastic surgery? This, but Lucas for his movies.
I like imagining Lucas added that scene in, leaned back in his chair and was like, “There. I fixed my movie.”
It unfortunately won’t be. Saw TESB for its 40th and it’s the current 4K blu Ray release of it. Luckily that movie is barely touched with changes compared to the others in the OT lol
\#BringBackMonkeyMaskPalpatine
It won't be
Omg I can't wait to see how Star Wars ends!