Star Wars Gets a How It Should Have Ended Special Edition

Screen Rant

By John Casteele

Published Dec 16, 2016

Nine years after releasing the original Star Wars: How It Should Have Ended, the team gives Star Wars the Special Edition update treatment.

How It Should Have Ended became a major internet sensation thanks to one video: How Star Wars Episode VI Should Have Ended. Released in 2007, the video has been viewed over 11.5 million times to date and is still credited by the HISHE team as being the episode that really got things started. Unfortunately, the HISHE video style has evolved since Star Wars was released and the original video simply doesn't hold up as well compared to newer releases.

The original Star Wars video is still a favorite of the team, though, and they've decided to do what they can to update it for the modern age. Taking a page from George Lucas' playbook, they've now released How Star Wars Should Have Ended (Special Edition) for fans to enjoy.

The new video, seen above, features significant improvements in graphical quality that fits in much better with the current HISHE style. It incorporates takes on several different Star Wars scenes in addition to riffing on the ending of the film. Once it does reach the ending it still features most of the beats from the original, though it does changes one detail up to make this ending unique. If you've never seen the original or simply want to compare the two, you can view the 2007 video here:

The differences between the two videos are pretty obvious. Without even getting into differences in animation quality, the "Special Edition" video has a more polished presentation and a stronger connection to the brand that HISHE was just starting to build with the first video. The "Special Edition" pays a lot of respect to the original, but it's obvious that it comes after years of refining animation techniques and storytelling to get the most out of each sequence.

The "Special Edition" video came after a significant amount of fan requests for a Star Wars update, and for the most part it's obviously a better video. Perhaps the only place it falls short is the change that it made to the ending of the original; the new joke is similar to the original one, but some may feel that the original version of that joke is a bit funnier overall. Still, if you only have one possibly questionable joke in a 5-minute video, you're doing something right.

How Star Wars Should Have Ended (Special Edition) will likely be another fan favorite for HISHE, especially given the surge in Star Wars popularity due to the new saga and the release of Rogue One: A Star Wars Story. It certainly won't be the last time that HISHE riffs on the Star Wars franchise.