[Ginkasa]

Alright. I picked up the DVDs earlier today right after school and have been watching all three back to back to back until now. Apparently not many people here know of the new changes to the movies, so I'll list them and my thoughts on them.

Star War: Episode IV: A New Hope

-Removing the Vasoline Wasn't Enough
Lucas enhanced the digital landspeeder Luke and Co. ride into Mos Eisley a bit. It looks better, so no complaints.

- The Infamous "Greedo Shirts First" Scene
For those not in the know: in the original Star War: Episode IV: A New Hope (the original classic unaltered version), Han shot Greedo in the Mos Eisley cantina before Greedo was able to do anything. In the Special Editions, George Lucas added in Greedo shooting at Han (and missing, obviously) before Han shoots Greedo.

Although Greedo still shoots first in the DVDs, Lucas has made Han jerk to the side to make the miss more believable...or something. While I don't really care who shoots first, the jerky movement of Han to the side just really doesn't look right.

- Extra Jabba Scene
Lucas has enhanced the digital model of Jabba in the SE scene to better match the Jabba from Episode I and look a bit more like the puppet Jabba in RotJ. Jabba looks a lot better. Han's movement when he steps on Jabba's tail also looks a bit better.

- Obi-Wan Can't Read English!
Any and all English text in the film (mostly in the scene where Obi-Wan is shutting down the force fields) have been changed into Aurebesh (Star Wars language) to fit the other movies. Gotta dig continuity.

- Is It White? Blue? What?
The lightsabers in ANH have been enhanced. Although they aren't perfect, they are much brighter and more defined than they originally were. Great improvement. However, is it just me or did Luke's lightsaber in the remote training scene turn lightish green?

Star Wars: Episode V: The Empire Striles Back

- Well Now the Shadows of the Empire Prologue is Ruined!
The Emperor during the short conversation between Vader and Palpatine in ESB was originally played by some guy other than Ian McDirmiad, who plays Palpatine in every other Star Wars movie (except ANH, where Palpatine never shows up). They replaced the original ESB guy with Ian, which is an improvement in my opinion (continuity and all). However, they also changed the Emperor's dialogue significantly. Originally, I always got the impression that Vader already knew Luke was his son and alive, etc. Now it seems more like the Emperor is telling Vader who Luke is. I don't really get why it was changed this way....

- If He's A Clone, Why Does He Sound Different?
They replaced Boba Fett's original voice with Temuera Morrison, who plays Jango Fett in the prequels. Makes sense to me. I have no problem with it.

- Aaaaaaaaahhhhh! Er...is that right?
Originally, when Luke jumped off that platform away from Darth Vader, he just fell without a noise. In the SE, Lucas added in the scream from the Emperor in RotJ to make it seem less like Luke was trying to commit suicide. The scream is gone now.

Star Wars: Episode VI: The Return of the Jedi

- Wormtongue Had to Shave His Eyebrows, Too
Vader's eyebrows have been removed from his face when Luke takes his helmet off. Being burned in a lake of lava does that.

- The Ewoks Are No Longer The Most Despised Creatures In The Original Trilogy (and other celebration stuff)
They added in Naboo during the celebration scene near the end. Jar Jar screams out, "Wesa free!" I'm not kidding. I personally think its a neat tie in to the prequels, but that's just me.

They also stuck in the Jedi Temple in the Coruscant scene.

- The Forgotten Ghost Scene
In the original and SE versions of the movies, an actor named Sebastian Shaw played Anakin Skywalker for that short scene in the end of the movie that has the ghosts of Obi-Wan, Yoda, and Anakin standing near the celebration (Shaw also plays Anakin after Vader's helemt has been taken off). For the DVDs, Lucas has removed Sebastian and inserted Hayden Christensen, the guy who plays Anakin Skywalker in AotC and RotS. I can get the continuity reasons, but its still a little weird seeing Hayden there...

***

That's all the important stuff. There's probably some smaller enhancement that I might have missed (like the Jabba or landspeeder ones), but nothing important.

*is still looking for a window of oppurtunity to proclaim that Ewoks and the prequels and the SE aren't as bad as most people make them out to be*


*shrugs and walks away*