I get it. George Lucas created an entire legacy on his 1977 science fiction epic Star Wars. And in that legacy, he expanded on the original film by turning it into the middle part of a nine-film epic saga (renaming the original film Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope), and then spending the better part of my generation editing the original and adding things to blend into that nine-picture epic saga.
And by “re-editing,” I’m talking about adding digital effects over the original practical imagery; changing scenes around to add characters that weren’t in the original film but later appeared in other projects; and essentially creating an entire new experience out of the original film.
But … here’s the problem.
I grew up with the original film. I saw the original film in 1977 at Cine 1-2-3-4-5-6 in Northway Mall. I stood in line on that early Saturday afternoon when it debuted in the Albany area.
And the film I saw back then looks nothing like the film available on digital platforms and on DVD. NOTHING.
But now comes news that, according to the official Star Wars website, the original cut of the 1977 film will re-appear in theaters in February 2027 as part of Star Wars’ 50th anniversary year-long celebration. The original film will get a limited theatrical showing, which means we get the film the way we remember it – and not the way it was re-told and re-adjusted.
And I get it. It’s George Lucas’ film. He can do whatever he wants with it. He could turn the original print into guitar picks, if he so chose. But what he did with the film over the decades has changed it from how we perceive the story. And his changes affected the appearance and motivation of various characters.
None more so than this one scene in the Mos Eisley Cantina, where just before Han Solo and Chewbacca leave with Luke Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobi and R2-D2 and C-3PO … Han and Chewie are greeted by a nasty-looking bounty hunter named Greedo, who is intent on capturing Solo and Chewie and claiming the bounty on their heads.
What follows is this confrontation.
This one scene establishes Han Solo as someone who is willing to kill to achieve his goals. This isn’t some happy-go-lucky sidekick that tags along for the great adventure. He’s a battle-hardened soldier of fortune who has an answer for every situation, and a set of skills that has kept him alive in a world corrupted by the Galatic Empire.
Unfortunately, George Lucas had re-edited this scene so many times in the various “Special Edition” edits, that the end result reduces Han Solo’s motivations. He’s no longer someone who will kill when necessary. As you can see from the various edits below.
In 1977, Han Solo shoots first and kills Greedo.
By 1997, Greedo shoots first and Han kills Greedo in self-defense.
By 2011, they’re shooting simultaneously.
And in 2019, Greedo gets a flinal word in – “Maclunkey,” which I think is Huttese for “Stop editing this clip, for crying out loud.”
Yeah. Every time they edit this scene, it gets worse. It’s the equivalent of Charlie Chaplin taking his original print of The Gold Rush and editing it 20 years later to remove all the intertitles, and dub in his own voice as a narrator.
Oh, wait … He did that. And IMHO, it ruined one of the greatest scenes in silent film.
And there’s no guarantee that the 1977 Star Wars cut is the same one that will re-debut in 2027. How do we know there won’t be a tweak here or there that still ties in to the updated versions of the film?
I mean … I guess we’ll just have to wait.
And honestly, I hope we DO get the original 1977 Star Wars cut.
It’s not like someone’s going to rebuild Cine 1-2-3-4-5-6 so I can watch it in the same theater from 1977 …
Chuck The Writer 
And woe be unto anyone who ever tries to so tweak “The Bells of St. Mary’s.”
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Thank you for that! I am sick to death of being told things are not as I remember, including films. In this age where AI is bastardizing everything it’s bad enough that fake versions of photos and movies clog the Internet without the actual directors ‘repainting’ their films – and ruining them in the process. I recently acquired a “director’s cut” of Amadeus, and all the additional scenes in it were best left on the cutting room floor. Sometimes a director needs additional oversight to make a good movie.
As for Star Wars in general … everything after the first three original films is just franchise-milking to extract maximum dollars from a gullible fan base. Like all of the Star Trek movies or the new, ‘dark’ series versions.
Okay I’ll stop ranting now. For a while at least.
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