The Star Wars Saga is being released on Blu-Ray this Friday amidst controversy – as per usual for the once universally beloved series.
Why the controversy? Because for the third time in fourteen years, George Lucas has heaped somewhat significant changes upon his original classic films – A New Hope, The Empire Strikes Back, and Return of the Jedi. Check out the changes for yourself above, courtesy of MillenniumFalcon.com (click to enlarge).
With the help of User897 over at the MillenniumFalcon.com forums, the fine folks at We Love Cult have provided a pretty extensive (though likely incomplete) list of all the changes in the new Blue-Ray release of the Original Trilogy.
Below, we’ve compiled just a few of the biggest changes to each film. Check them out:
Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope
- There are computer-generated rocks in front of R2-D2 while he’s hiding in the canyon; however, they’re “magically not there” after he comes out of hiding
- Obi-Wan’s fake “Krayt Dragon” roar is once again altered and it sounds “hideous”; keep the mute button at the ready
- Greedo shoots first – again – but this time with slightly fewer frames than the previous release
- Luke’s lightsaber while training on the Millennium Falcon is back to being “white” and “blue” as it was originally – it is no longer pale green, per the 2004 DVD release
Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back
- Flames have been added to the probe droid crater
- Most of the blue tint on Hoth is gone
- The Wampa arm is “fixed” — whatever that means — but it’s still imperfect
- R2-D2’s once black panels are now blue in space
- A la the DVD release, Emperor Palpatine – via hologram – is still played by Ian McDiarmid in his Revenge of the Sith makeup
Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi
- The static shot of C3PO and R2-D2 approaching Jabba’s palace has been replaced by a “wide pan with a huge door”; the door is now peppered with laser blast impacts
- Han Solo’s “carbonite thaw” is now CGI
- A computer-generated “Dug” from the prequels (Sebulba, the evil racer who podraced Anakin in The Phantom Menace, was a dug) is seen walking across the screen after Luke infiltrates Jabba’s palace; the dug looks “really fake, like it was [added at the] last minute”
- Wicket the Ewok now has computer-generated, blinking eyes
- Darth Vadar says “No” several times as he picks up Emperor Palpatine and tosses him into the Death Star reactor core; the “Nos” seem to be sampled from The Empire Strikes Back and Revenge of the Sith, respectively
Again, for the full list, head over to the MillenniumFalcon.com forums and We Love Cult.
As previously stated, George Lucas heaping somewhat significant – and outright significant – changes upon his decades-old films is not atypical at this point. Fans have been complaining about the changes Lucas has made to the Original Trilogy since the Special Editions came out in 1997 (which is why it’s a bit strange that folks are, once again, in an uproar).
Additional changes were made in the 2004 DVD release to better fit with the Prequel Trilogy – such as inserting Hayden Christensen’s head atop ghost Anakin Skywalker’s body at the end of Return of the Jedi.
The biggest changes for this Blu-ray version of the Original Trilogy seem to have been made to Jedi. Having Darth Vadar say “No, no, no” while he awesomely terminates Emperor Palpatine is probably the most controversial of these changes, especially as it utilizes one of the more widely-mocked sound bites from the Prequel Trilogy.
The truth is, most fans probably wouldn’t care that George Lucas continually changes and adds to his own films as long as the original originals were as readily available. The last time the Classic Trilogy – that older fans know and love – was released was in 2006 on DVD, and it was aged and unrestored.
What say you, Screen Ranters? Are you guys going to buy the Star Wars Blu-Ray release? Or have too many changes, big and small, left a bad taste in your mouth? Let us know in the comments.
Star Wars: The Complete Saga arrives on Blu-Ray September 23, 2011.
Sources: MillenniumFalcon.com forums [via We Love Cult]
Images: MillenniumFalcon.com
Follow me on Twitter @benandrewmoore.
![Fall TV 2013: 10 Best New Shows [Trailers]](http://static.srcdn.com/slir/w87-h65-c1.33:1/http://screenrant.com/wp-content/uploads/abc-fall-previews-shield.jpg)
‘Dexter’ Season 8 Trailer: The Hunt Begins – How Will it End? 
‘Game of Thrones’ to End in Season 7? 
‘Pacific Rim’ Featurette Explores ‘Drift Space’; First TV Spot Offers More Action 
‘Halo’ Live-Action TV Series From Steven Spielberg Announced 
I bought it.
I’m hoping that the added benefits of the blu-rays will outweigh the changes
as long as these classics are released in the theatre NOT in 3-d, I’ll be happy. I was too young to see these when they were re-released, and seeing theses great films on the big screen-just seeing the words STAR WARS go by bigger than my house, is a joy I thought I would never experience
The entire saga is going to be re-released in 3D Theatrically, that’s the problem! The star wars experience has been ruined finally.
I’ll stick with the 2006 DVD release, the special additions, for the most part, look horrible, and are a step backwards from where the films went forwards, IMO.
After 34 years, I have finally given up on Star Wars. George Lucas has made me feel foolish for spending so much time and MONEY on the franchise. I feel like when people tried to take the p*ss out of me liking Star Wars I could defend it. It was cool to like Star wars, but now I feel that I just cannot defend what Star Wars has become over the last few years.
People will think me silly for saying all this, but I just can’t help how I feel and how disappointed I have become over something I loved so much. George Lucas has ruined something genuinely marvelous and turned it into something cheap and awful.
…well, I say cheap, but everyone knows that nothing with the words “Star Wars” printed on it is cheap!
Perfectly agree with motoko.
It’s getting ridiculous at this point.
Lucas was fighting the studio system in the 70s, when they rejected his films.
Now he created an empire like those. That’s ironical.
He should be a producer and give money and tools to people who can actually direct.
I woke up 10 years ago, welcome to the fold motoko.
Best comment
NOT a fan of changes. When a body of work (movie or book) is finished, that’s it and it stands or falls as is. The time to edit or make changes was before the release.
The Wampa arm was just the arm on a pole held by a person when it attacked Luke. The pole was visible in the corner of the screen. I never noticed it before, but it shows up in slow-motion. They are supposed to have CGI’d the pole out.
I am not giving GL any more of my money…. until SW:TOR.
That’s Bioware so you have an out. lol
Been in the Beta it needs a lot of work still.
Sad to say but I think we won’t get another GREAT STAR WARS film until Lucas croaks. There is so much more to the story and so many other great stories in the STAR WARS universe that just won’t happen because Lucas is stuck in the clone wars telling the same old story beating the hell outa a dead Tauntaun.
Luke’s lightsaber being blue = Good
Darth Vader saying “no” = Why?
There also several asthetical changes in the prequels. But no one really cares about that.
I wouldn’t bat an eyelid if Lucas accidentally deleted every copy of the prequels on the planet. ^-^
Except for Darth Maul’s footage. He was a boss.
That’s b/c any change to the prequels would be an improvement.
Han is glowing like an angel.
I still have my 1995 box set on VHS. I’ll stick with that.
There was nothing wrong with them. As the old saying goes if it isn’t broke then don’t fix it. This was borderline ridiculous years ago and now it’s just plain sad
I feel as if George Lucas is scared that Star Wars will become outdated with all the new advancements in CGI so he keeps tinkering with Star Wars (or he is money grubbin whore). The original star wars made huge leaps in special effects but little does he know, is that the original abd newer fans (born in ’89) are fine with the classic with all its old school Han shoots first fun. I wonder what is goin on in that mind of his. Does he do it for himself or does he think this is what the fans want.
Sorta reminds me of when te released New Coca-Cola. And everybody hated it. And then they brought back original Coca-Cola with the best sales ever. Hopefully we will get a blu ray original in all its Han shoots first glory.
I´ll go with the “money grubbin whore” option.
After spending 30+ years following George Lucas, I think these new editions can stay on the shelf.
While growing up in the 80s and 90s, the only science-fiction movies that catered to children were “Star Trek and “Star Wars”. Once I graduated from high school in the 90s, I started to get exposed to other franchises. “Star Wars” had fallen into the background, and my science-fiction pallet began to opened up. “Star Trek” was the only franchise, which survived throughout my lifetime.
If someone asked me, at the age of twelve, which franchise do I love?
I would say “Star Trek”.
If someone asked me, at the age of twenty, which franchise do I love?
I would say “Star Trek”.
If someone asked me, at the age of thirty, which franchise do I love?
I will say “Star Trek”.
As a result of buying into the hype train for years, I started to move rapidly away from being a fan. While playing the game “SW: Knights of the Old Republic”, I realized my love interest for the franchise had ended. “SW: Knights of the Old Republic” was a repackaged version of the original trilogy. Even though I loved playing the game, I woke up to a very painful reality.
George, I am no longer ten years old.
OH MY GOD! MY CHILDHOOD IS RUINED! NOT BLASTER MARKS ON THE DOOR!
seriously? who cares?
I love Star Wars, but… I just can’t.
Why don’t you love me anymore, George?
“A filmmaker should always be pleased by his final work; he shouldn’t look back on it and try to “fix” anything. He should be proud of his triumphs and even more so of his mistakes.”
-S. Green
well….enough said.
Nope, no more of my hard-money for you, George. I think the cow has been milked into oblivion. Just don’t care any more.
The only think I don’t like really is Vader saying “NO”
Give it a couple of years and George will have them remastered again to Vader doing the cha-cha as he throws the Emperor over in the pit.
Theatrical version: Han shoots first.
Special Edition: Greedo shoots first.
2004 DVD: Greedo shoots first, but only just.
BR: Greedo shoots first, but only just, with fewer frames.
Next release: Greedo holds two guns. Cycle of revisions begins again.
BR: Vader shouts “NOOOOOOOO!”
Next release: As above, then “Luke. Are you…ALL RIGHT?”
The new Krayt dragon roar sounds like the agonised toilet-yell of a man trying to pass a grapefruit in an echoing public washroom. Hideous indeed.
Wow,
Over-Reaction at its best. I see the word ‘Significant Changes’, but they’re not significant at all.
Do these changes alter the plot? No.
DO these changes make the characters any different? No.
Do these changes take away from the triumph of good over evil? No.
These are simply minor cosmetic changes to flesh out some of the character development.
No movie is ever perfect, no book is ever perfect. How often do authors wish they could go back and fix something in their novel? All the time.
Besides I didn’t hear anyone complain when Star Trek ‘Remastered’ their DVD’s releases of the original series with updated effects, etc.
If you don’t want to buy them, than that is your right, but I’ll be sitting on my couch watching them in awesome High-Def with new eyes and all the excitement from when I was little, not to mention all the deleted scenes and extra footage we’ve been waiting years for.
Don’t worry, I’m sure they’ll be on You-Tube soon enough where you can all watch them on your small monitor.
“Over-Reaction at its best. I see the word ‘Significant Changes’, but they’re not significant at all.”
I think you missed the word “somewhat” in front of the word “significant.”
Something like Han no longer taking the first shot was an attempt to say something entirely different about his character, Xan, and a dialogue addition is always significant. Don’t imagine for one second the revisions end here either.
The Star Trek Remasters didn’t attempt to fill the screen with endless visual clutter from the movie or TNG eras, and the fact is one still actually has the option to buy the undoctored TOS.
Greedo shooting first does change the character of Han. He used to be a tough-as-nails son of a b**** who knew when to shoot first when someone had a gun in his face. Now, he’s an idiot with more patience than a trained monk whose willing to let the other guy have the first shot (at point-blank range, mind you).
It’d be like making the Swordsman in the market place shoot at Indy first with his sword… or something. It does say something completely different about the characters.
shart_bite, not only is Han Solo patient, he’s also just lucky. Lucky and dumb.
Knowing that Han Solo is just a slow-to-the-draw space pirate who’s lucky to be alive does indeed change who he is, and how we are to perceive his character. Before, he was a shoot-first, better that than dead type of space pirate.
I’m really tired of people saying about certain significant changes (such as Darth Vader’s Nooooo!) that they only take up a few seconds of time. It wouldn’t matter if it they took up less than 3. It’s THE CHANGE that matters, not how long it takes. Using their thinking, getting shot once through isn’t as bad as getting hit several times by someone’s fists because the shot only took a split second.
You know why you don’t hear anyone complain about Star Trek being remastered? Because the original versions of each episode were made available in excellent quality right alongside the remastered versions. No one is bothered by Lucas’s many “enhanced” versions of the original trilogy. What bothers everyone is Lucas’s efforts to erase the original versions from existence.
Well said.
Didn’t notice until now that you beat me to the punch by a few hours.
Putting in the “No’s” into Jedi completely changes the emotion of the scene. You know, there is a musical score for a reason. You can’t see Vader’s face, but John Williams’ score punctuates home exactly what Vader is going through there. There is NO REASON to add the “no’s.” It completely devalues the scene.
Exactly. Most of us (if not all of us) already knew what Darth Vader was thinking. I could almost see it in his “eyes.” Just the looking back and forth between Luke and the Emperor was powerful. We could see “the conflict.” We could see that he was torn.
And when we finally see him move toward the Emperor to lift him up, it was an incredibly moving scene. I still remember people clapping and cheering. They first were surprised then happy.
But now, by telegraphing it, it takes away any sort of surprise as to what he’s going to do. It takes some of the power away from the scene. As you said, it devalues it.
Perhaps, in the future, we’ll know about Luke’s plans before he’s sent to Jabba’s barge. Maybe he’ll whisper it to Han while they’re being flown off to walk the plank.
I agree except when it comes to the “NOOOOO!” added into the most important, integral scene and moment in the entire franchise. The original silence as Vader thinks and makes up his mind to destroy the emperor and thus fulfilling the prophecy that he would be the one to bring balance to the force was brilliant.
Having him vocalize it makes me feel like Lucas thinks the viewer is stupid; it doesn’t match up well with the scene (i.e. it sounds added even to someone who didn’t see it any other way) and it reduces Vader’s actions to simply caring about his son, Luke, which to me wasn’t entirely what that scene was about.
Is it just me or is that the most bland and unimaginative artwork for a DVD case you have ever seen? With all the talented artists in the world and Lucas picks that picture to use. Typical……
Looks like a hack watercolour by the same people who sell paintings of unicorns on Etsy. The other two for the separate original and prequel trilogies are a mess as well. Not to worry – they’ll be changed soon enough.
With all of the talented people he has working for him someone had to have come up with a better dsign or work of art that that one. I have seen it before on the internet and always thought it was so/so.
His kids probably did the cover art, after all, they wrote the prequel trilogy.
The only thing they need to add to star wars is, some one, anyone just kills jar jar binks.
I would buy that for sure, and watch it over and over in slo-mo.
I have an idea.
Boba Fett will show up, and after a night of hard drinking, wearing a fogged up mask, someone will tell him about Jar Jar.
He’ll then say “Jar Jar? Where?!?,” and as he turns around, a drink in one hand, his rifle in the other, he’ll accidentally shoot Jar Jar between the eyes, sending the flippy floppy Gungan into a tower of stacked chairs.
“Sorry for the mess,” Boba says, flicking a Mandalorian coin to the bartender as the bounty hunter stumbles out of the bar.
Why all the complaining?
Yes, the changes are irritating, but most of them are minor changes.
If you were lucky enough to see the FIRST versions of the movie then good for you (I wasn’t so I’m stuck with the “new versions” – maybe that’s why I’m not making a big deal about the changes)
It is disgusting to see Lucas ROBBING innocent fans of their money, but I think I may have come up with a solution (now bare with me, this may seem a little “out there” – note sarcasm): JUST DON’T BUY THE BOX SET!
The reason for the new set: to get more people interested in the franchise! I never bought any of the movies because at the time I wasn’t interested in Star Wars – now I am, so for a guy like me, the new Blu-Ray set is perfect.
It’s human nature for people to fiddle with their creations… sure, Lucas is a PRO at doing it, but at least he’s trying to keep the franchise ALIVE.
I saw the theatrical version when they came out in 1977, I was 12 years old, and the changes are glaring. If you loved the first movies you have to hate all the changes that Lucas “forced”. 1% of the changes are good the other 99@ are both uneccesary and in fact detract from the original.
This re-imaging the Star Wars Universe is not “keeping the franchise ALIVE.”
The best way to do that is to license out the rights to another filmmaker who IS interested in expanding the vision since Lucas has obviously tired of it.
Plenty of books have been written using the familiar characters and also many new ones. I would be happy to go to the theater to see a new film featuring new stories.
I say it’s all Bantha Poo Doo.
I am not planning on buying the Blu Ray STar Wars at all.
The Lord of the Rings Blu Ray is a much more worth while purchase.
Blinking ewoks, really?????
Enough already. George needs something else to do. I hope Red Tails is
successful so he stops tampering with his baby.
Thus saith Mozie41
They should have the theatrical versions on the DVDs as an option, but Lucas would never do that.
I really don’t care anymore. Not buying this. Ever.
What Michael said.
If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.
It’s funny is you think about it. Someday, the originals are going to be worth a LOT of money.
may get this in the future /=