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Special Editions: Yea Or Nay?

Discussion in 'Original Trilogy' started by Pomojema, Aug 22, 2014.

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Do you dig the Special Editions and the changes that they bring to the table?

  1. Yes - I think the changes make for a better experience overall.

    18 vote(s)
    15.3%
  2. No - The films are fine as they are; restoration processes are the only changes these movies need.

    50 vote(s)
    42.4%
  3. Divided - I like half of the changes, but the other half I see as unnecessary.

    50 vote(s)
    42.4%
  1. Old Fossil

    Old Fossil Rebel General

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    No. The ROTJ musical numbers (Jabba's Palace, and Ewok celebration) sounded great before Lucas fooled with them for the Special Editions. John Williams did a great job with the original numbers and they had a very "other-worldly" quality about them. They sound ridiculous in the SE. Jabba's palace number sounded like bad Japanese pop music afterwards. Very poor. They should've thrown those cheesy backup singers down the Sarlacc.
     
  2. Yukari

    Yukari Rebel Trooper

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    I was gonna vote 50/50, but the more I think about it, I think I really enjoy the Special Editions more than the original versions. There are a few changes I don't like, but it's not a 50/50 thing, since there are very few changes I don't like.

    I don't understand the Han Shot First change, and the one thing I find ridiculous about the Blu-Ray releases is the addition of "No... NOOO" of Vader at the end of Return of the Jedi.

    But other than those two changes, I think the Special Editions are more the kind of Star Wars Orignal Trilogy experience I want, and I started thinking about why, and I think it's actually really simple. I've seen that most people who enjoy the original release are people who experienced the movies like that for the first time, where me, being a kid during the 90's was first exposed to Star Wars via the Special Editions. I remember seeing the CGI new shots and at the time I didn't think they collided so hard with the original effects. I thought the exploding Death Star looked super awesome with the ring, and some other shots with some digital effects I always thought looked really nice. Then there's the 2004 Emperor Scene in Empire, and even though many people hate what they did, I just think that Ian is the one and true emperor, and that he really deserves that spot in the movie. Ian was the original emperor in Jedi, and his performance is what defined the character, so I always thought it was for the better to have him be in Empire, though I think they shouldn't have replaced the original dialogue. The highlight for me, (not saying it's better, I only enjoy it more) is the replacement of the original Yub-Nub song with the Victory Theme at the end of Jedi. It was to a point where I watched the original version once, and thought it felt really childish and a bit silly to end the whole saga with that original track, where the Special Edition version has a joyful-grand song. It feels really epic, and I always felt it tied everything up together much better.

    So yeah... I don't understand some of the changes, but I do think I like the Special Editions more than the original versions. I have to point out the Adywan Versions of the movies. You know? That fan who is doing his own Special Editions? He did really cool things with Hope, like adding Sith music to the Obi-Wan/Vader duel, and I've heard many people find these versions to be their preferred versions. He also used a Jedi emperor face and restored the dialogue to the original in his Empire revisit, but used Ian's voice.

    I'm a bit tired right now, so I'm not 100% sure of what I'm writing, but i think this Special Editions thing has a lot to do with what you were exposed to first as a kid, cause that will probably be the version you grew with, and what you identify as your "original" Star Wars experience, and it that sense I believe everyone's opinion on this as a lot of truth. Cause we may be bias towards the version we first saw.

    That's what I think.
     
  3. Ree Yees

    Ree Yees Rebel Official

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    I voted 'no' on this one. I remember being very excited to see Star Wars return to the big screen. I saw A New Hope two times in a row on opening night, and saw the others several times as well.
    At first I was a little positive about it - particularly the additional dogfight footage during the attack on the Death Star. But I cringed during the added Jabba the Hutt scene, and wondered why it was re-inserted at all. It made no sense.
    Boba Fett's camera hugging was quite annoying as well. And soon enough I found myself disliking most changes.
    It felt as if the creator no longer understood his creation.
     
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  4. jarjarstinks

    jarjarstinks Rebel Trooper

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    I watched the Harmy Despecialized editions last week and I prefer them to the special editions in all ways with the exception of a couple of things. As much as I HATE Joh Yowza, that furry CG dude that sings "Jedi Rocks", that song (insofar as there had to be a song at all) is far superior to the one that Sy Snoodles sings in the original version of RotJ. Maybe it's because it's the first time I ever heard the original song since I was a little kid. It just sucks in general. I mean, both are bad, but Jedi Rocks provides a better transition to Jabba killing the Twi'lek dancer Oola at the end of the song. On the other side, I could understand arguments that the original song is more in line with the dank atmosphere of the den of a Huttese crime lord.
    I also kind of like little things like the adding the "praxis effect" to the exploding of Alderaan and the Death Stars, the shot of the rebels approaching the death star, and the shot of the Millennium Falcon leaving Mos Eisley. Those things don't diminish the film in any way by crowding the shot or making it impossible for R2 to have gotten into his hiding place from the sand people for instance. They just make things look more visually appealing by augmenting. That kind of thing is ok with me. I just don't like them adding lines of dialogue, changing character motivations, adding crappy CGI models, and adding unnecessary nods to the prequels. The 2006 and 2011 versions are particularly egregious.
     
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  5. Jedi77-83

    Jedi77-83 Force Sensitive

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    I still believe if Lucas would have just updated some special effects scenes (Battle of Yavin, Millenium Falcon leaving Mos Eisley, etc), then most fans like myself would have been OK with it and wouldn't have made such a stink about it. But when he started changing scenes, that is when he divided the fanbase: Greedo Shooting first, Jedi Rocks, Hayden as Force Ghost, etc pissed off alot of fans (including me) and then you had to choose a side. OOT or SE? I took the OOT side!
     
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  6. Ree Yees

    Ree Yees Rebel Official

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    Man, Ghost Hayden is the single worst decision made by Lucas ever and forever amen. I have yet to see one solid excuse for this travesty. When they added a "Noo" before Vader grabs the Emperor, I felt tje same thing: He did it just to 'have fun' with those who rightly argued against Hayden's acting and Vader's noooOOOoo in 'It ROTS'. A slap in the face of decent story telling. . Oops the Dark Side is making me angry and more powerful..
     
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  7. DEKKA129

    DEKKA129 Professional Slinger of Balderdash

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    Gotta say Ree, Anakin's "Simpsons ending" in ROTS was embarrassing as hell and remains so to this very day. If there was anything in that movie that absolutely did NOT need to be "rhymed" in the OT: Endlessly Futzed With Edition, it was that.

    I think that plenty of the SE changes were things that Lucas actually thought would add to the films (even though I personally felt that most of them were unnecessary and distracting.) But a few of those changes, particularly swapping Hayden into the Force Ghost scene in ROTJ and dubbing in that asinine "NNNNNOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!", really seem a lot more like Lucas was just taking a shot at fans who weren't thrilled by the PT.
     
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  8. Cole

    Cole Force Sensitive

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    Back when they first came out I thought I was going to love the changes. Deleted scenes added, cooler looking space battles etc. But I was mostly excited to see SW on the big screen for the first time(which was awesome!). After watching the special editions...they just felt different. I had seen each Episode probably 50 times and now they were suddenly different and I didn't like it. I never bought the special editions in any form. I've still got my old 90s THX tapes. There are a TON of reasons I don't approve of the Special Editions, but I won't get into them. I'm sure they are the same as most people's. But the most unforgiveable, I think, is Jedi Rocks. I'm hoping these rumors of the OT on blueray are true!
     
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  9. Ree Yees

    Ree Yees Rebel Official

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    We have spoken (lando)(pwned):p
     
  10. Shawshank

    Shawshank Rebel General

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    Lucas had every reason to put Hayden as the force ghost in ROTJ.

    Without the PT, we had no conception of Anakin as he was before becoming Vader. Sebastian Shaw representing him was fine, it was an easy assumption. But, with the PT, everyone would be familiar with Hayden as Anakin (and we wouldn't assume he was a short chubby guy who needed a shave). He did it for continuity.

    Here's an example. I used to teach a film studies class, and over the course of two weeks we would watch both trilogies. When we got to ROTJ, it so happened that I had the last SE before they put Hayden's face in there. At least a third of my students were confused and asked me if that old guy was Uncle Owen. And I don't really blame them.

    If it makes you guys feel better, I'm sure when Hayden is in his 40s that they'll do another rerelease and use his updated look so he looks like Vader's age. Then everyone will be happy.
     
  11. Ðꧧï©å‡êÐ ©ø®þ§ê

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    I don't like them, but I cannot vote "no" because it also says you like the "restoration" part which I don't. No matter how much time you put into restoring a film, it will never be as accurate as it originally was.
     
  12. Vegeta Fett

    Vegeta Fett Rebelscum

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    I had to vote no, as much as I love SW the original movies were so great they didn't need to be changed. For all of the great special effects people that won awards and put so much time and effort into those movies there was no reason to change them. I know if I ever have kids I will show the the original VHS movies I grew up on, since those versions are nearly perfect.

    I understand that lucas felt he needed to update, but I am not sure why. A big part of movies in my experience is all about pacing and rhythm. Yes there are things he wanted to add but they just seem to alter the great cuts and timing of the originals. While I don't hate the special editions I think they are far less stunning. Seeing the original death star battle in ANH there is almost something magical about it, but when you add in little effects that in no way add to the story it takes away for the greatness they were able to accomplish back then.

    The scenes I really have an issue with are of course Gredo shooting first(not much point getting into this everyone already has lol) and the singing scene in ROTJ it looks so fake and it just brings down the whole dark feeling of Jabba's palace. It is so out of place and unnecessary, the original music was great and kept with the pace of the film. The other parts I have major issues is with the little X-Wing battle shots, not everything is changed but the ones that are are just unnecessary. Seeing the original 70's one is a triumph of technical skills and is beautiful, Even when I first got to watch them in the 90's I was blown away. The special edition version was good but the CGI shots seem out of place and I just don't get the same feeling from them.

    Another scene I have an issue with is were Vader is going back to his ship in ESB from cloud city, nothing is bad with this scene it's just unnecessary. I have never met anyone that was so confused as to were Vader was going that there needed to be a short scene showing him going there . Parts of which are from the inside of the death star in ROTJ lol.

    The scenes I myself don't really have any complaints about are. First off the Han Jabba scene in ANH it was originally in the script and I can understand wanting to add a scene that Lucas didn't want to cut.Seeing more of the Wampa was cool as you never really got to see the whole monster clearly just parts . Also seeing more of Biggs and red leader were cool, I also don't mind changing the Emperor in ESB since they changed it with the actor that played him in ROTJ.

    I guess My over all point would be I don't mind restoring film or adding deleted scenes. But when you start adding things that aren't from that time they stand out and not in a good way. I will say that even with these changes I will still enjoy the movie but most are very unnecessary and sometimes I have to look away or go get a drink of water
     
  13. Qui-Riv-Brid

    Qui-Riv-Brid Rebelscum

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    You'd never notice the difference. For the SE they seemed to have pretty much had to recomposite all of the VFX shots. They went back to all the original elements that were composed in the 70's which made up the O-Neg and redid all the work in the 90's with then state of the art optical compositers. The goal was to match the original shots which they did to a degree that you'd need a frame by frame comparison between the two to notice the differences. The goal was to reduce both dupe grain and matte lines, objects going through each other, all the wipes and transitions etc.

    That part is pure restoration because of the fading, damages to the negative etc. The movie was really remade due to the film stock breaking down.

    They needed the restoration which was in fact as I said a complete overhaul. So the original composition from the 70's was going to be lost anyway.

    So they could get them to be viewed on movie screens at first. It was actually Dennis Muren who really pushed for dozens of shots to be redone. George's ideas were really Mos Eisley and Jabba. Then others at ILM pushed to make a bunch of changes which got him going. Plus Fox was paying for it all.

    I think the SE version is far better. I find it adds so much. Remember what for you is greatness for Lucas was frustration because he had to cheat with a lot of editing to make it work. He can't be precious about something he labored over and make a thousand decisions on when he could have made dozens of different decisions that would make it still work and you'd still think it great. Anything he did would be great to you and other people but not to him.

    Again you are precious about things he isn't and can't be. Until it was pointed out I didn't notice anything about that footage from ROTJ and the general audience won't notice at all.
     
  14. Vegeta Fett

    Vegeta Fett Rebelscum

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    Really I noticed this when I was 10 in theaters it's the same shot lol . But the main point is what does it add to the film ? Does it really contribute anything that was missing before ?

    These are just my personal opinions
     
  15. DarthDaniel

    DarthDaniel Rebelscum

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    I stick solely to the theatrical version on the 2006 DVD; bad quality or not, it's the closest and most easily accessible thing to what it would have been like to watch Star Wars back in 77. I want to watch Star Wars for what made it popular back in the day, not for what Lucas thinks will be popular for today. There wouldn't be a problem if Lucas had just released both versions on Bluray and let people choose what they want to watch.
     
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  16. Vegeta Fett

    Vegeta Fett Rebelscum

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    Exactly I don't see the problem with releasing both versions , how many do verzions of Brazil are there lol
     
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  17. Vangorn

    Vangorn Clone

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    I like most of the new content in the new editions, but some of them are unnecessary. The new scene with Jabba in New Hope had Han repeating a line that he said to Guido. It wasn't important to show the scene since you already know from the Guido scene the Han has a bounty on his head. I do like the event that my profile picture shows when Han is chasing storm troopers and then sees that more are ahead. The original only had about twenty, but the special edition had a hundreds. It made the joke more funny than it was. I agree that the new content in Jedi was awful.
     
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  18. DEKKA129

    DEKKA129 Professional Slinger of Balderdash

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  19. Ðꧧï©å‡êÐ ©ø®þ§ê

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    Yeah well if you compared the original theatrical version when it was newly released to the restored one, there would be a huge difference. What they did for the Special Edition was paint stuff back in digitally and colour graded it, so they would never be able to achieve accurate restoration-- they can only guess what the film looked like at the time.
     
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  20. Shawshank

    Shawshank Rebel General

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    Let me get this straight...

    There are some of you that would have rather let the original film decay beyond use than have them restore it because "they can only guess what the film looked like at the time?"

    And there's those of you who think that ESB emperor shouldn't have been replaced with the REAL emperor?

    Must people hate simply to hate? Because it's pretty absurd sometimes.
     
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