List of changes in Star Wars re-releases

The 1997 "Special Edition" of Star Wars depicts Greedo firing a shot at Han Solo shortly before Han responds in kind. In the original 1977 release, Han is the only one to fire. This clip shows the 2004 version.

This is a partial list of visual and audio alterations incorporated into the theatrical and home video re-releases of the Star Wars films. Dissatisfied with the initial theatrical versions of Star Wars (1977) and its sequels, The Empire Strikes Back (1980) and Return of the Jedi (1983), series creator George Lucas altered the films several times, changing their visual effects and sound quality. Changes were also made in an attempt to produce Lucas' ideal versions of the Star Wars films, which he could not achieve originally due to the limitations of visual effects in the late 1970s and early 1980s.

In commemoration of the franchise's 20th anniversary in 1997, Lucas and his production company, Lucasfilm, digitally preserved and restored the original negatives of the first three films. In addition, new computer-generated (CG) special-effects shots, CG additions to existing shots, new scenes, and changed musical pieces were added. The alterations have been controversial among fans, giving rise to the phrase "Han shot first", which references one of the more contentious changes made to the original film.

For the original trilogy's 2004 DVD release, the negatives were re-scanned, the color timing was redone, and further changes were made to the films to fix continuity issues with the prequel trilogy. At the time, Lucas claimed the original films were "25 to 30 percent" of what he had intended and stated these DVD releases are the canonical versions of the original trilogy.[1] However, the original, unaltered theatrical editions were released on DVD in 2006. The six films received Blu-ray releases in 2011: The original trilogy used the same masters as the 2004 DVDs with additional tweaks,[2] and minor changes were made to the three films comprising the prequel trilogy.

George Lucas on the Special Editions

There will only be one [version of the films]. And it won't be what I would call the "rough cut", it'll be the "final cut". The other one will be some sort of interesting artifact that people will look at and say, "There was an earlier draft of this." The same thing happens with plays and earlier drafts of books. In essence, films never get finished, they get abandoned. At some point, you're dragged off the picture kicking and screaming while somebody says, "Okay, it's done." That isn't really the way it should work. Occasionally, [you can] go back and get your cut of the video out there, which I did on both American Graffiti and THX 1138; that's the place where it will live forever. So what ends up being important in my mind is what the DVD version is going to look like, because that's what everybody is going to remember. The other versions will disappear. Even the 35 million tapes of Star Wars out there won't last more than 30 or 40 years. A hundred years from now, the only version of the movie that anyone will remember will be the DVD version [of the Special Edition], and you'll be able to project it on a 20-foot-by-40-foot screen with perfect quality. I think it's the director's prerogative, not the studio's, to go back and reinvent a movie.

Changes

Pre-Special Edition

Star Wars

1977 Theatrical audio versions

One of the earliest changes made to Star Wars was within weeks into its theatrical run. Star Wars was initially released in 70mm 6-track audio (closer to the equivalent of a 4.2 track as opposed to a 5.1 track). The more-widely distributed 35mm release had a 2-track Dolby Stereo matrixed 4-channel optical soundtrack. A mono mix was released in June 1977 for exhibition in cinemas with no Dolby Stereo support, which contains some changes from the stereo version (some of which were incorporated into subsequent releases if noted):

1981: Title change

Like in the other films in the series, the 1977 crawl begins to roll before the Star Wars logo dissolves. For the 1981 re-release, the crawl was modified, only beginning after the logo has dissolved; also, the subtitle Episode IV: A NEW HOPE was added to the crawl, one year after The Empire Strikes Back was released. The text was rearranged so that each paragraph did not end with a single word, as well as capitalizing 'Rebel' in 'rebel spies.' As a result of the reworked crawl, the initial Star Destroyer flyover was recomposited, removing a thick black matte line.[4] The Episode IV: A NEW HOPE subtitle would appear in all future releases of the film, theatrical and home video, with the exception being the 2006 bonus DVD release of the unaltered film.

1985: VHS release

Ben Burtt supervised remastering of the sound mix for the 1984 digital audio version which was used for the VHS release of the film in 1985. C-3PO's tractor beam line was added to this mix. Aside from this line, better dynamic range, and a slightly wider stereo image, this version is almost the same as the 1977 stereo mix.

1993: Definitive Collection

The Empire Strikes Back

The 70mm film version of the film included a number of visual differences from the more widely seen 35mm version. Since all subsequent home video releases have been based on the 35mm version, it is difficult to substantiate these differences; however, the list below was provided by Michael Matessino (who apparently saw the film 70 times theatrically in 1980) in Volume 2, Issue 1 of Film Score Monthly.

There were also a large number of audio differences between the 70mm version and the 35mm version, all of which were incorporated into all subsequent releases of the film (unless otherwise noted):

Early releases and broadcasts

During the era of the LaserDisc and CED videodisc systems, Star Wars and The Empire Strikes Back were time-compressed (sped up) by 3% for initial single-disc issues; the 121-minute Star Wars became 118 minutes long, and the 124-minute The Empire Strikes Back became 120 minutes long. No scenes were modified. The time-compressed A New Hope has been used for some early CBS/Fox Video VHS issues and initial cable broadcasts on HBO, as well as years later for USA Network. (The pan-and-scanning on the HBO airings was visually different from the VHS issues.) The time-compressed The Empire Strikes Back aired on NBC for its broadcast premiere, and also aired later on USA.

1997: Star Wars Trilogy Special Edition

In early 1997, the Star Wars trilogy was re-released theatrically as the Special Edition to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the original film. Special coverage on CNN in 1997 notes that Lucas spent $10 million to rework the original Star Wars, which cost $26.49 million (in 1997 dollars) to produce in 1977. Of the $10 million, $3 million was spent on the audio track. Lucas also spent $2.5 million each on The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi. All of the films have newer versions of the 20th Century Fox and Lucasfilm logos.

Many large changes were made for the Special Editions, including the replacement of special-effects shots with brand-new CGI shots, CGI added to existing shots, the addition of new scenes and shots, and the replacement of musical pieces. These changes have been highly controversial among Star Wars fans, giving rise to the saying, "Han shot first".

Star Wars: A New Hope

The Empire Strikes Back

Return of the Jedi

Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace 2001 DVD Release

Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones: The IMAX Experience

Along with the 35mm and DLP theatrical releases, Attack of the Clones was also released in the IMAX format under the title Attack of the Clones: The IMAX Experience. Because of a technical limitation on the size of the IMAX film reel at the time, the run time of the film was two hours. The following are some of the scenes were cut from the IMAX version to fit the new run time:

Also due to the limited size of IMAX platters. The closing credits are played in a slide-show format rather than the traditional upward scroll.

Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones DVD Release

This version is identical to the digitally-projected theatrical release of the film.

2004: Star Wars Trilogy DVD release

On September 21, 2004, a DVD box set of the original trilogy was released with further changes. These DVDs also received digital restoration and visual enhancement by John D. Lowry. All three films feature an extensively altered color palette, resulting in issues such as crushed blacks, strange blue or magenta color casts, miscolored lightsaber blades, and many other anomalies.[5] The new 5.1 audio mix of A New Hope also had the music's left and right channels swapped in the rear channels, and in several instances the music was nearly completely mixed out of the film. Lucasfilm at the time claimed that these issues were "deliberate creative decisions",[6] but the later releases of the movie starting with Blu-ray had them fixed.[7]

Note that in each film, the ending credits have remained unchanged from the 1997 Special Edition releases. Thus, they do not reflect such changes as Ian McDiarmid's Palpatine in The Empire Strikes Back or Hayden Christensen's Anakin in Return of the Jedi. However, the format of the ending credits was changed to that of the prequel trilogy.

Episode IV: A New Hope

Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back

Episode VI: Return of the Jedi

Original scene with Sebastian Shaw as Anakin Skywalker (above), retouched version with Hayden Christensen as Anakin Skywalker (below)

2006: Star Wars Trilogy DVD release

In 2006, a Limited Edition DVD box set was released. These individual releases included the 2004 DVD versions of the original trilogy, and a bonus disc for each movie containing the "original theatrical" versions.[9] The original theatrical versions were not from a high-quality source, but were rather primarily the transfers used for the 1993 Definitive Collection LaserDiscs. The original title crawl for Star Wars was spliced in, replacing the updated crawl created for the 1981 theatrical re-release. This makes it the only home media release to contain the true theatrical cut of the original film. The video transfers were in 4:3 letterboxed widescreen, as opposed to 16:9 anamorphic widescreen. The video also had excessive grain, low contrast, and serious aliasing. Motion smearing, as a result of primitive digital video noise reduction (DVNR), caused moving objects to be blurred and leave behind a trail of their own shape. The audio mixes were the same Dolby stereo surround tracks from the Definitive Collection Laserdisc.

2011: Star Wars: The Complete Saga Blu-ray release

The 2011 Blu-ray release features all six films along with extensive special features. George Lucas stated, "there's some really good material that will be included in there, more deleted scenes that you haven't seen yet." One of the deleted scenes is an alternate opening to Return of the Jedi.[10][11]

The 2011 Blu-rays of the original trilogy were made from the same scan as the 2004 DVDs, and feature the same color correction as the 2004 DVDs. Some lightsaber errors from the 2004 DVDs were corrected for the 2011 Blu-rays, but many other shots remain unrevised.

Episode I: The Phantom Menace

Comparison between the puppet of Yoda and the computer-generated model.

Episode II: Attack of the Clones

Episode III: Revenge of the Sith

Episode IV: A New Hope

Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back

Episode VI: Return of the Jedi

2015: Star Wars: The Digital Movie Collection

In April 2015, all six films were released digitally to various online streaming services. These versions feature the exact same changes to the 2011 Blu-ray release,[13] as well as removing the 20th Century Fox logo on all films but A New Hope.

Deleted scenes from Star Wars

This is a partial list of scenes that were not in a film version of the original trilogy or prequels and changes made to deleted scenes. These deleted scenes are included in some home video versions. Some scenes deleted from the original editions of the original trilogy were modified and added back in later versions.

Episode IV: A New Hope

Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back

Episode VI: Return of the Jedi

Episode I: The Phantom Menace

Episode II: Attack of the Clones

Episode III: Revenge of the Sith

Notes:

  • Note 1. ^ Available on Star Wars: The Complete Saga 2011 Blu-ray edition.

3-D rerelease

At a ShoWest convention in 2005, George Lucas demonstrated new technology and stated that he was planning to release all six films in a new 3-D film format. Following the release of the films on Blu-ray, Lucasfilm theatrically re-released The Phantom Menace in 3D on February 17, 2012. Attack of the Clones was originally set for re-release in February 2013, but was moved back to September 2013 followed by Revenge of the Sith in October. On October 30, 2012, Lucasfilm was sold to The Walt Disney Company, which led to 3D re-releases of both films, along with the original trilogy, being postponed to focus on developing the Star Wars sequel trilogy.

References

  1. "Lucas talks as ‘Star Wars’ trilogy returns". MSNBC. September 15, 2004. Retrieved May 26, 2011.
  2. "Who Shot First? The Complete List Of Star Wars Changes". Empireonline.com. August 22, 2014. Retrieved August 29, 2014.
  3. Magid, Ron (February 1997). "An Expanded Universe". American Society of Cinematographers. p. 4. Retrieved August 24, 2009.
  4. "Star Wars Special Edition Changes HD". Google+. Retrieved June 30, 2015.
  5. http://savestarwars.info/specialeditionfail.html
  6. "My Two Cents - Archived Posts (9/23/04 - 9/2/04)". thedigitalbits.com. Retrieved January 2, 2016.
  7. "Blu-ray Reviews - Star Wars: The Complete Saga". thedigitalbits.com. Retrieved January 2, 2016.
  8. "Palpatine". StarWars.com. Lucasfilm. Retrieved August 24, 2009.
  9. Snider, Mike (May 4, 2006). "Star Wars goes back to basics". USA Today. Retrieved September 25, 2011.
  10. "Lucas Announces Star Wars Blu-ray". IGN. August 14, 2010. Retrieved August 15, 2010.
  11. "George Lucas Announces Star Wars on Blu-Ray at Celebration V". StarWars.com. Lucasfilm. August 14, 2010. Retrieved August 14, 2010.
  12. Star Wars Episode III Revenge of the Sith Blu-ray Changes (2011). YouTube. July 8, 2012. Retrieved June 30, 2015.
  13. O'Brien, Lucy (April 7, 2015). "Star Wars Digital Movie Collection Announced". IGN.

External links

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