With this announcement on the Star Wars homepage, Lucasfilm shook up the world. Ok, not really, but it's a big deal to Star Wars geeks. The original trilogy will be available on DVD in their original theatrical version. That means no digitally added young Anakin in ROTJ, no calling the original "Episode IV" and in the Mos Eisley Cantina, Han shoots first.
For those of you who don't tend toward Star Wars geekiness, let me recap. In Star Wars, we first meet Han Solo while he arguing with the bounty hunter, Greedo, in the cantina. Greedo intends to kill him to collect a bounty from Jabba. Before he can, Han shoots and kills Greedo. In a move similar to Spielberg's use of digital technology to replace all government agents' guns with walkie talkies in the rerelease of ET, the Special Edition version of Star Wars Episode IV, A New Hope, featured Greedo shooting at Han first, followed by Han returning fire and killing Greedo. Following me so far? Good.
This moment has come to sum up the issues many people have with the newer Star Wars films and especially the changes made to the original trilogy. In fact, the phrase "Han shoots first" has become somewhat of a battlecry for fans who wish the films were allowed to remain in their original state.
The topic has been hotly debated and because of the rapid nature of the blaster exchange the argument has been made that Greedo always shot first and that it's just clearer now. Now, however, the issue has been resolved. The original trilogy will be released in the original format on DVD for a limited time (September-December of this year), and on the frontpage of the Star Wars website they featured this banner, fully acknowledging the scene and the controversy.
I wish they'd decided to announce the release of these DVDs before I bought my OT DVD box set, because now I have to get them again. Now if I can only find that "tennis shoe" ship in Jedi.
Until later...
May 04, 2006
Han Shoots First!
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3 comments:
Geek out, man! That's cool. Especially since I haven't yet bought the trilogy on DVD. Now I can get it the way it was meant to be.
"Attractively priced?" Attractive to whom?
If they really wanted to do us a favor, they'd just release the originals by themselves, so people like you and me could just buy that copy to sit next to the altered "Special Edition" set that we already have.
So the question becomes: do I put my set up on eBay now when I can probably get a dollar or two more for it than I'll be able to after September?
woot!
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