Yes, I would say a lot of the additions to the special editions are great, but they are bogged down by horrendous ones. I think ANH easily had the worst special edition with the sheer amount of unnecessary changes
Yeah but it's safely locked away in a movie that is equally mediocre, while the Jabbas Palace dance scene ruins a film that previously would have been counted among the all time cinematic greats.
I wouldn't say that, but it was perfect without all the stupid shit.
It's like when they did a bunch of weird 3d shit after the fact in Ghost in the Shell;
I get it, I guess. You want to implement new technology/techniques, but make a mini project for that. Don't put it into an already perfectly well rounded film and fuck everything up for the people who remember when it wasn't this grievous 2-3 minutes of absolute cringe.
Honestly I think that idea on its own couldâve worked if it had been in a better story. The idea of some long dead Sith predicting the future accurately enough to make carved shapes of the wreckage of a super weapon that wouldnât exist until long after their death is honestly kinda awesome. Itâs just that the movie itself does absolutely nothing with that imagery.
Basically describes the sequel trilogy as a whole. Lot of cool ideas left either unexplored or bogged down by the fact this trilogy wasn't planned from the get go.
There is so much material out there with the expanded universe. The Thrawn trilogy was there for the taking. They had all the blueprints for an awesome story but decided to do a remake instead. That in itself wouldn't be the worse thing but they went into it without having a flushed out story. On top of that gave the trilogy two directors with completely different ideas. What we got was a jumbled mess of ideas and bad story telling. Such a waste. Oh and somehow Palpetine returned.
There's a lot of dumb stuff in that movie. But it's a world with space Wizards who are often able to see the future. Being able to form a blade to be the exact shape needed for someone in the future isn't so crazy.
I guess itâs plausible, but I just found it uninspired and honestly insulting to the audience. Itâs like âhey, we need to get Rey on the Death Star so she can look at a evil version of herself for 10 seconds. Ok umm, letâs just have an old knife match the ruins of something in the future. These idiots will buy that right?â I know I made up that convo but thatâs how it felt to me.
Worse in a way because it's like a piece of the Christmas special escaped it's confinement and managed to get past security and into one of the greatest films of all time.
So while the Xmas special is its own, separate, terrible thing that can be enjoyed as comedy, ROTJ is a previously great film that is now forever tarnished by the stank of that god awful out of place song and dance routine.
The sequel trilogy can be enjoyed or ignored as one sees fit. The Jedi Rocks dance number, however, ruins one of the great films of the original trilogy. It tarnishes a work of art.
Absolutely. It was never good to begin with and it hasnât aged well either. I watched the 4K Blu ray recently and had to skip over that scene. Same when I was in theater for the re-release in the theater. I just kept my eyes shut the whole time. I prefer the sequence as originally released with Lapti Nek and Sy Snoodles puppet as lead singer!
Tangent, but the HD versions of thunderbirds look awful because they were filmed to be viewed in SD on a CRT. The high definition copies make it very obvious just how fake the models are.
They look pretty good on VHS with a CRT actually. I need to watch my RotJ non special edition sometime, itâs the only one I havenât seen in itâs original form now.
And that's not even the bigger issue. It doesn't matter if they look cool, better, whatever. They changed a piece of history and never released the original version.
This is something that pisses off a lot of Movie historians and archivers.
That is not entirely true, it's still not the actual original version with the best quality, something to do with the laser disc special edition or something. I don't remember well.
But you're kind of right, because most of that outrage was before 2005. But still to this day, the best option to watch those original movies is through the fanmade edits, that try to get closer to the actual look of the original versions.
The original version of the special edition. Perhaps the most Star Wars thing that could be said.
This box set was the first home Star Wars I had that wasnât recorded from cable, btw.
Technically there has never been a true theatrical cut release if you count the fact that âEpisode IVâ was added before any home releases. That is the only change though.
I wondered why every time I watched the Greedo scene in the cantina as an adult it seemed different. Thanks for helping me figure this out after literally 20+ years lmao
If you're not being sarcastic, "Han shot first" was a popular internet meme for a long time after the special editions came out. I remember one edit where the radio in the Death Star shoots at Han before he blasts it.
George Lucas even wore a Han shot first shirt at one point while making the prequels.
They've tried to make the scene less awkward in future edits, but always have Solo fire second or nearly at the same time.
At this point I think they were forced to have Solo fire second to keep a PG rating or a lower rating in non US markets.
Not the original commenter, but the way they modified the Han v Greedo exchange looks horrible. Theyâve modified it a few times since. It still looks bad. The first iteration, the âspecial editionâ, looked the worst; it looked like they cut Hanâs head out and slid over to dodge the blaster shot, before Han shoots and kills Greedo.
I prefer to watch the dvd non-special edition, which is a transfer of the laser disc, just to avoid seeing this nonsense and other really bad CGi additions. Itâs grainy on modern TVâs but itâs so much better.
Aside from the changes looking bad, they nerfed the impact of Hanâs introduction and character arc. He was a smuggler, not a heroic character. He killed in cold blood to save his own hide. His character evolved in the trilogy (before the changes). Now, he just has magical head warping abilities and heâll let you shoot at his face rather than shoot first.
The funniest part is that itâs arguably gotten worse each time theyâve fiddled with it. The current iteration is a joke.Â
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3g6pDeGG8oc
There's a Cantina scene where Han is talking to one of Jabba's bounty hunters, Greedo, who is after Han
In the og Han says "yes I bet you have" and then shoots Greedo under the table
In the Special Edition, Han says "yes I bet you have" and then Greedo shoots first and Han does a dumb cgi head dodge and then shoots Greedo
In the new Disney+ SE Han says "yes I bet you have" then Greedo says "mcclunky" before shooting and then Han does a different cgi head dodge and then shoots Greedo
iirc anyway it's been awhile since I've seen anything but the despecialized editions.
In the original Star Wars, Han shot Greedo under the table at Mos Eisley. Makes sense cause Greedo was pointing a gun at him ready to kill right?
Then in 1997 Lucas digitally adds in *Greedo* shooting at Han first point blank, Han's entire torso moving to dodge it in a split second, *then* Han shoots Greedo. It looked terrible and made no sense.
In the original edition of Star Wars, Han shoots Greedo in cold blood. In the 1997 update, Lucas modified a bunch of scenes, including the Han shooting Greedo scene. Every edition since has Greedo fire first, miss the shot, and then have Han fire back and fry the Rodian.
My local library had the original trilogy free to borrow on VHS. The whole special edition. I probably borrowed them dozens of times before finally buying the sets on DVD.
What cracks me up about technology and also makes me a little sad is that in another decade your whole sentence will be completely nonsensical to the average person.
> in another decade your whole sentence will be completely nonsensical to the average person.
No it won't. DVDs came out in 1997, that's like saying the average person now wouldn't know what a pager is, a device that came out in 1987. The average person may not have experience with them in a decade, but I'd be willing to bet most still know what they are.
But since its VHS you shouldn't notice as much, lines should be a little fuzzy expecially if viewed on a CRT tv. I think the CGI ends up looking worse in the 2011 bluray since its in ultra high def.
One good thing about the 1997 VHS special edition is that *Return of the Jedi* still has Sebastian Shaw as force ghost Anakin, *not* Hayden Christensen.
I still wonder why that was never redone in â97, I donât know the filming schedule for TPM but Ian was there so I dunno why they didnât dedicate a day to redoing it until ROTS
Youâre absolutely right
Itâs sad I remember this, but I had the 1997 Special Edition on VHS. For 15 minutes at the beginning of each film, George Lucas would talk about what heâd changed in each film
In one of these segments, he hypes up the new trilogy (the prequels) that he was just starting to work on
I just learned the other day that the original on-screen version of the Emperor was played by an actress named Marjorie Eaton, who was uncredited (Clive Revill received credit in the original film, even though he only provided the Emperor's voice)
The story goes a little bit deeper.
The actor portraying the Emperor was a mystery for decades. The first time we got any word on who it might be was in the book *Making of Empire Strikes Back* in 2010, which identified Marjorie Eaton as having been involved in test shootings for the film while Elaine Baker, the wife of the make-up designer, appear in the actual film. It was later confirmed by several people that the book got this backwards, but unfortunately the only source I am aware of is from a tweet from Pabl Hidalgo that I can not find.
Itâs kind of insane that they completed edited Shaw out of Star Wars film history. I know he wasnât a big face in the film regardless, but deleting him entirely feels a bit uncalled for
It should be Hayden though so its a bad thing. So annoying how stubborn OT fans refuse to appreciate the prequels and their role in the overarching saga
Agree completely, force ghosts are you at how you want to be seen. Anakin doesn't want to be the old husk that was Vader, he's Anakin Skywalker again at last!
My college roomie had the SE Trilogy on VHS. I had my parents VCR which was the first non-popup model to hit the market, it had to weigh like 15lbs. We watched IV and were waiting for it to rewind before loading up V and it popped the tape off the dang reel. VCRs didnât have the slow-down rewind feature back then and just broke it.
I felt SO bad my machine murdered his tape.
This is where it started. You are looking for the blue red green VHS that have the storm trooper, Vader and Yoda on the boxes. Those came out in 94 i believe
Yes. If youâre buying VHS the only one you want is the THX version from the mid 90s that has a stormtrooper helmet on the cover. That was the best version of the OT before the Special Editions.
where can a person find versions of the films that DO NOT have the jarringly shitty animation added in? the first time i watched A New Hope was in the nineties on a VHS tape that was already getting old and i was 5. that tape is burned into my memory. but every time i watch a version with that fuckin animation i feel icky..
like the scene with Jabba, thereâs also a couple cut scenes on Tattooine with goofy looking animation, the last thing is they changed the DS explosion at the end, or tried to make it fancy. iâm just a purest i guess, they should have just left it alone.
Ah that small window in time where the special editions were out and the first movie was still going by the proper original name of the movie. Star Wars.
There was a VHS box set that contains the movies in widescreen, but you're better off searching for the 2006 DVDs that contain the laserdisc masters as a bonus feature disc.
I didn't think the OG were made available in any capacity once specialized came out. You're saying the dvds from 2006 have the entire trilogy twice in the dvd set, both special and original?
I've got the laser discs though.
This was the first release of Star Wars that I ever saw. My brother got the set on release day. I was 7. I didnât see the theatrical versions until my late 20s.
The CGI is not bad. It's just not as great as current day CGI. Why would George Lucas intentionally put bad CGI in his movies? It was state of the art at the time.
My dad used to have this exact tape in the early 2000âs. He unfortunately gave it all to goodwill when dvdâs became more popular at the time.
I lowkey miss using tapes to watch movies
The limited edition DVDs of the OT have the theatrical versions on the films on a second disc for each movie as well as the special edition versions on a separate disc. Theyâre pretty cheap on eBay and will play in modern blu ray or 4k players.
Special edition does! You want the edition right before that with the forward interviews by George Lucas and Leonard Martin. I believe that was the last edition of the "old" movies.
Wait Im confused, which version of jabba was in the orginal release of ANH? Because online it says the human guy had his scene cut so was jabba not part of the movie until way later when they added in CGI jabba?
Han jerkily walking over his tail while Jabba yelps as though somebody did something else surprising back there â yeah. That wasnât part of anyoneâs original plan. Originally Jabba wasnât on screen until ROTJ.
The THX boxed set that was released prior to this one remains the prime version of the trilogy imo. If only that version were remastered for Blu-Ray or even DVD.
If you can find it, get Harmy's despecialized edition
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harmy%27s_Despecialized_Edition?wprov=sfla1
All the crappy edits were reversed
If anybody has any doubts about this, just download a copy and try it. The picture quality is damn near perfect, and you get to experience the best version of the movies. It's worth at try at the very least.
you want me to buy the VHS, find a VCR player somewhere in my attic, and then test it myself instead of just asking a simple question that I know fans will shoot me a simple answer quickly? I just donât understand the harm in asking, itâs clearly started some fun and nostalgic conversation for a lot of people
Yup it will. Gorgeous artwork and box set but they had the edits. The box set before that had the vader helmet, trooper helmet, and yoda from 1994/1995 were the original films but had improved THX sound.
yes. it's the 1997 special edition so it's going to have the worst looking Jabba CGI plus Greedo shooting first...
The fighters slowly taking off from Yavin was added too. That looked cool
Yes, I would say a lot of the additions to the special editions are great, but they are bogged down by horrendous ones. I think ANH easily had the worst special edition with the sheer amount of unnecessary changes
The dance number from return of the Jedi would like a word
You didnt like Joh Yowzas awesome freestyle?
Goo ne tah
No louaw. GOO NE TAH!
I prefer Lapti nek
Kali ma!! Kali ma!!
You betrayed Shiva!
đˇđ˝đˇđ˝đˇđ˝
The ROTJ dance number is the worst thing in all of Star Wars.
Idk man Reys knife thing matching the Death Star was really fucking dumb
Yeah but it's safely locked away in a movie that is equally mediocre, while the Jabbas Palace dance scene ruins a film that previously would have been counted among the all time cinematic greats.
>have been counted among the all time cinematic greats. Ehhh...
Agreed, I wouldnât call it an all time great. Besides, Empire was better than Jedi.
Get outta here, the dance scene was sick as fuck.
I wouldn't say that, but it was perfect without all the stupid shit. It's like when they did a bunch of weird 3d shit after the fact in Ghost in the Shell; I get it, I guess. You want to implement new technology/techniques, but make a mini project for that. Don't put it into an already perfectly well rounded film and fuck everything up for the people who remember when it wasn't this grievous 2-3 minutes of absolute cringe.
That is true
Honestly I think that idea on its own couldâve worked if it had been in a better story. The idea of some long dead Sith predicting the future accurately enough to make carved shapes of the wreckage of a super weapon that wouldnât exist until long after their death is honestly kinda awesome. Itâs just that the movie itself does absolutely nothing with that imagery.
Dude thatâs the worst part about it. It could have been cool. Instead it comes off as nonsensical and contrived.
Basically describes the sequel trilogy as a whole. Lot of cool ideas left either unexplored or bogged down by the fact this trilogy wasn't planned from the get go.
There is so much material out there with the expanded universe. The Thrawn trilogy was there for the taking. They had all the blueprints for an awesome story but decided to do a remake instead. That in itself wouldn't be the worse thing but they went into it without having a flushed out story. On top of that gave the trilogy two directors with completely different ideas. What we got was a jumbled mess of ideas and bad story telling. Such a waste. Oh and somehow Palpetine returned.
No, itâs definitely worse than that.
I mean one is just a silly dance that doesnât affect much else, the other the entire plot of the movie hinges on a ridiculous idea
A lot of things in Star Wars hinge on ridiculous ideas
True true. But that oneâs especially bad.
There's a lot of dumb stuff in that movie. But it's a world with space Wizards who are often able to see the future. Being able to form a blade to be the exact shape needed for someone in the future isn't so crazy.
I guess itâs plausible, but I just found it uninspired and honestly insulting to the audience. Itâs like âhey, we need to get Rey on the Death Star so she can look at a evil version of herself for 10 seconds. Ok umm, letâs just have an old knife match the ruins of something in the future. These idiots will buy that right?â I know I made up that convo but thatâs how it felt to me.
I think the cavalry charge on the Star Destroyer was worse.
What's that sir? You want us to tilt the star destroyer a little bit? *roll credits*
ROTJ special edition is maybe my least favorite. I just love me some yub nub at the end of my Star Wars saga.
Even worse than the og Christmas special?
Worse in a way because it's like a piece of the Christmas special escaped it's confinement and managed to get past security and into one of the greatest films of all time. So while the Xmas special is its own, separate, terrible thing that can be enjoyed as comedy, ROTJ is a previously great film that is now forever tarnished by the stank of that god awful out of place song and dance routine.
Absolutely movie ruining change totally takes you out of the story. What the fuck was he thinking?
I think the Jabba scene in ANH might be worse, it looks so bad.
I was ready to disagree and give an example but I think you're right!
Prequels' 50's diner scene would like to have a word.
The sequel trilogy would like a word.
The sequel trilogy can be enjoyed or ignored as one sees fit. The Jedi Rocks dance number, however, ruins one of the great films of the original trilogy. It tarnishes a work of art.
Absolutely. It was never good to begin with and it hasnât aged well either. I watched the 4K Blu ray recently and had to skip over that scene. Same when I was in theater for the re-release in the theater. I just kept my eyes shut the whole time. I prefer the sequence as originally released with Lapti Nek and Sy Snoodles puppet as lead singer!
Also Vader yelling no, and yub nub.
Love me some yub nub
And that word is maclunky.
Bo Shoodaaaaaaaaa
what do you mean? The Ronto moving in front of the camera blocking all the cool original effects and characters adds SO much to the movie.
It was almost like he was trying to piss people off with that one.
Ronto is the key to all of this
Low res skin detail. The tasteful thickness of it.
Arguably it would look decent on VHS. Itâs when you move to Blu Ray and 4K that the FX really donât scale.
Tangent, but the HD versions of thunderbirds look awful because they were filmed to be viewed in SD on a CRT. The high definition copies make it very obvious just how fake the models are.
They look pretty good on VHS with a CRT actually. I need to watch my RotJ non special edition sometime, itâs the only one I havenât seen in itâs original form now.
And that's not even the bigger issue. It doesn't matter if they look cool, better, whatever. They changed a piece of history and never released the original version. This is something that pisses off a lot of Movie historians and archivers.
Thatâs not true the 2005 release on dvd has the special edition and the orginal version
That is not entirely true, it's still not the actual original version with the best quality, something to do with the laser disc special edition or something. I don't remember well. But you're kind of right, because most of that outrage was before 2005. But still to this day, the best option to watch those original movies is through the fanmade edits, that try to get closer to the actual look of the original versions.
That kind of addition I like, but other kinds like have a cgi dinasuar walk in front of the camera and ruining an entire shot baffles me.
And worst of all, no maklunkey
Itâll also have the blue filter in the Tantive IV and the orange smudge under the landspeeder removed.
I'd say decently collectible too as VHS is the only place to find the original version of the Special Edition.
The original version of the special edition. Perhaps the most Star Wars thing that could be said. This box set was the first home Star Wars I had that wasnât recorded from cable, btw.
I have the original trilogy on laser disc.
That sounds so sexy, *Laser Disk.*
oh they are, a record sized cd and double sided, in an widescreen format, pure sex.
Simultaneously futuristic and dated. Like seeing buck rogers or 90s Star Trek
This is the most desired version right? The theatrical release in the highest available resolution
Technically there has never been a true theatrical cut release if you count the fact that âEpisode IVâ was added before any home releases. That is the only change though.
Pretty sure the DVD release special editions had the THX sound versions of the original cuts as extra features.
I wondered why every time I watched the Greedo scene in the cantina as an adult it seemed different. Thanks for helping me figure this out after literally 20+ years lmao
If you're not being sarcastic, "Han shot first" was a popular internet meme for a long time after the special editions came out. I remember one edit where the radio in the Death Star shoots at Han before he blasts it. George Lucas even wore a Han shot first shirt at one point while making the prequels.
lmao when they came out I was like 7 years old, so this helps a lot!
They've tried to make the scene less awkward in future edits, but always have Solo fire second or nearly at the same time. At this point I think they were forced to have Solo fire second to keep a PG rating or a lower rating in non US markets.
Seems like a big thing I wasnât aware of somehow all these years. Would love to see a video clip of the two scene cuts compared or back to back
What they said. But donât forget also in super low resolution!
Including Solo having the sudden dance urge?
I had this box set and somehow lost it, and that's always annoyed me. It's the worst version, but I wish I had it for historical purposes.
So the worst version
I do like how they had Han walk over Jabba. That was funny.
Literally just shot a dude to avoid being taken to Jabba, then meets Jabba and stands on his tail.
Iâm a lifelong Star Wars fan but have never given a crap about the whole âHan shot firstâ thing. Can you elaborate on it?
Not the original commenter, but the way they modified the Han v Greedo exchange looks horrible. Theyâve modified it a few times since. It still looks bad. The first iteration, the âspecial editionâ, looked the worst; it looked like they cut Hanâs head out and slid over to dodge the blaster shot, before Han shoots and kills Greedo. I prefer to watch the dvd non-special edition, which is a transfer of the laser disc, just to avoid seeing this nonsense and other really bad CGi additions. Itâs grainy on modern TVâs but itâs so much better. Aside from the changes looking bad, they nerfed the impact of Hanâs introduction and character arc. He was a smuggler, not a heroic character. He killed in cold blood to save his own hide. His character evolved in the trilogy (before the changes). Now, he just has magical head warping abilities and heâll let you shoot at his face rather than shoot first.
The funniest part is that itâs arguably gotten worse each time theyâve fiddled with it. The current iteration is a joke.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3g6pDeGG8oc
MACLUNKEY
There's a Cantina scene where Han is talking to one of Jabba's bounty hunters, Greedo, who is after Han In the og Han says "yes I bet you have" and then shoots Greedo under the table In the Special Edition, Han says "yes I bet you have" and then Greedo shoots first and Han does a dumb cgi head dodge and then shoots Greedo In the new Disney+ SE Han says "yes I bet you have" then Greedo says "mcclunky" before shooting and then Han does a different cgi head dodge and then shoots Greedo iirc anyway it's been awhile since I've seen anything but the despecialized editions.
In the original Star Wars, Han shot Greedo under the table at Mos Eisley. Makes sense cause Greedo was pointing a gun at him ready to kill right? Then in 1997 Lucas digitally adds in *Greedo* shooting at Han first point blank, Han's entire torso moving to dodge it in a split second, *then* Han shoots Greedo. It looked terrible and made no sense.
In the original edition of Star Wars, Han shoots Greedo in cold blood. In the 1997 update, Lucas modified a bunch of scenes, including the Han shooting Greedo scene. Every edition since has Greedo fire first, miss the shot, and then have Han fire back and fry the Rodian.
Yep, it's the *special* edition.
This actually has even worse CGI than youâre used to as it was redone for the DVD and later releases.
oh man lol, now i kinda wish i bought it, thatâs a pretty funny fact right there
I owned and loved that tape when it came out, but thatâs because 10 year olds are idiots. đ
My local library had the original trilogy free to borrow on VHS. The whole special edition. I probably borrowed them dozens of times before finally buying the sets on DVD.
What cracks me up about technology and also makes me a little sad is that in another decade your whole sentence will be completely nonsensical to the average person.
> in another decade your whole sentence will be completely nonsensical to the average person. No it won't. DVDs came out in 1997, that's like saying the average person now wouldn't know what a pager is, a device that came out in 1987. The average person may not have experience with them in a decade, but I'd be willing to bet most still know what they are.
Thatâs reassuring actually.
Lol, I also grew up on those editions. Bad CGI be damned, they'll always have a special place in my mind.
Same lol. My family had the box set, and I was almost equally entertained by slowly closing the box set and it would make a fart noise.
You be digging around in my core memories, bro.
Also the TV you watched it on is a potato by todayâs standard. Even a smartwatch has a higher resolution.
1997? 13 year olds are also idiots. I watched the hell out of the box set.
But since its VHS you shouldn't notice as much, lines should be a little fuzzy expecially if viewed on a CRT tv. I think the CGI ends up looking worse in the 2011 bluray since its in ultra high def.
One good thing about the 1997 VHS special edition is that *Return of the Jedi* still has Sebastian Shaw as force ghost Anakin, *not* Hayden Christensen.
Also the 97 Empire version still has creepy monkey eyes emperor instead of Ian
I still wonder why that was never redone in â97, I donât know the filming schedule for TPM but Ian was there so I dunno why they didnât dedicate a day to redoing it until ROTS
I think the SE stuff was filmed earlier. Production on PM began in June 1997 after the SE was already released.
Youâre absolutely right Itâs sad I remember this, but I had the 1997 Special Edition on VHS. For 15 minutes at the beginning of each film, George Lucas would talk about what heâd changed in each film In one of these segments, he hypes up the new trilogy (the prequels) that he was just starting to work on
I just learned the other day that the original on-screen version of the Emperor was played by an actress named Marjorie Eaton, who was uncredited (Clive Revill received credit in the original film, even though he only provided the Emperor's voice)
The story goes a little bit deeper. The actor portraying the Emperor was a mystery for decades. The first time we got any word on who it might be was in the book *Making of Empire Strikes Back* in 2010, which identified Marjorie Eaton as having been involved in test shootings for the film while Elaine Baker, the wife of the make-up designer, appear in the actual film. It was later confirmed by several people that the book got this backwards, but unfortunately the only source I am aware of is from a tweet from Pabl Hidalgo that I can not find.
Itâs kind of insane that they completed edited Shaw out of Star Wars film history. I know he wasnât a big face in the film regardless, but deleting him entirely feels a bit uncalled for
i mean, he's still there when luke takes vader's mask off at the end. except for his eyebrows anyway
The biggest flaw of the movies is changing Boba fett's voice. It's just so unnecessary.
Well duh, Hayden wasn't Anakin yet. Lol
It should be Hayden though so its a bad thing. So annoying how stubborn OT fans refuse to appreciate the prequels and their role in the overarching saga
Agree completely, force ghosts are you at how you want to be seen. Anakin doesn't want to be the old husk that was Vader, he's Anakin Skywalker again at last!
Well it says âspecial editionâ donât it?!
The fact that you don't already know this makes me feel super old. I was 5 when my dad came home with these babies and it launched me into Star Wars
Thereâs more time between now and the Special Edition release (27 years) than there was between the Special Edition and original release (20 years).
Why are you doing this to me
My college roomie had the SE Trilogy on VHS. I had my parents VCR which was the first non-popup model to hit the market, it had to weigh like 15lbs. We watched IV and were waiting for it to rewind before loading up V and it popped the tape off the dang reel. VCRs didnât have the slow-down rewind feature back then and just broke it. I felt SO bad my machine murdered his tape.
Same, but 6. I still have my original set and the one my mom bought us a year later, one with the sleeve still
I skipped high school to see the first showing at the theater. And then went again that night.
This is where it started. You are looking for the blue red green VHS that have the storm trooper, Vader and Yoda on the boxes. Those came out in 94 i believe
Yes
The words, âspecial edition.â Are a dead giveaway that you are in for a bad time.
This is where the fun begins đ
Yes. If youâre buying VHS the only one you want is the THX version from the mid 90s that has a stormtrooper helmet on the cover. That was the best version of the OT before the Special Editions.
Yes. This was the first edition to include the bad CG, as well as Greedo shooting first.
That's the version that introduce me to star wars.. I'm ok with the cgi. Each to their own.
*to each their own
Yes thankyou
Lets see...it says "Special Edition" and is from the year that the Special Editions were released....hmmm....what a mystery!!!!
I have this one! Nice find!!
Does your hand burn when touching it?
get the DVD version and watch disk two .... it has the theatrical release . only downside its a laser disk transfer.
where can a person find versions of the films that DO NOT have the jarringly shitty animation added in? the first time i watched A New Hope was in the nineties on a VHS tape that was already getting old and i was 5. that tape is burned into my memory. but every time i watch a version with that fuckin animation i feel icky..
Which animation specifically i cant remember
like the scene with Jabba, thereâs also a couple cut scenes on Tattooine with goofy looking animation, the last thing is they changed the DS explosion at the end, or tried to make it fancy. iâm just a purest i guess, they should have just left it alone.
It says Special Edition right on it, so yeah.
I think ESB had the best improvements
Ah that small window in time where the special editions were out and the first movie was still going by the proper original name of the movie. Star Wars.
Oh yes.... that's what the Special Edition is
This is where the bad CGI edits began.
Yes, thatâs the Special Edition. Get the â93 VHS box set. Theyâre in 4:3, but other than that theyâre completely unaltered.
Is there any original cut thatâs in widescreen?
There was a VHS box set that contains the movies in widescreen, but you're better off searching for the 2006 DVDs that contain the laserdisc masters as a bonus feature disc.
Ooh that sounds great thank you!
I didn't think the OG were made available in any capacity once specialized came out. You're saying the dvds from 2006 have the entire trilogy twice in the dvd set, both special and original? I've got the laser discs though.
I don't know about original, but I bought the Despecialized Edition off of Etsy a while back for $50 or so. No complaints.
You should check out the despecialized edition.
Yep
Yes.
yes, thatâs the year they re-released starwars for itâs 20 year anniversary
This was the first release of Star Wars that I ever saw. My brother got the set on release day. I was 7. I didnât see the theatrical versions until my late 20s.
Yes. The Special Edition is the ones with the cgi added. ANH and Empire aren't awful though. It gets bad in Jedi at Jabbas palace...
Yes gold edition has the golden cgi
Thats the first version that did add it iinm.
That is whatâSpecial Editionâ is warning you of, yes.
The CGI is not bad. It's just not as great as current day CGI. Why would George Lucas intentionally put bad CGI in his movies? It was state of the art at the time.
My dad used to have this exact tape in the early 2000âs. He unfortunately gave it all to goodwill when dvdâs became more popular at the time. I lowkey miss using tapes to watch movies
Is your vhs copy of the special addition a copy of the special addition? Yes
The limited edition DVDs of the OT have the theatrical versions on the films on a second disc for each movie as well as the special edition versions on a separate disc. Theyâre pretty cheap on eBay and will play in modern blu ray or 4k players.
yup but its kinda iconic it being in vhs quality as well.
Special edition does! You want the edition right before that with the forward interviews by George Lucas and Leonard Martin. I believe that was the last edition of the "old" movies.
Yeah you need the THX Black Box set for any pre-CGI.
âSpecial editionâ
I would suggest looking up what was changed in this special edition, and then decide if you care about those changes
đđ Tell me youâre GenZ without telling me youâre GenZ
Lol making me feel old... It's a shame that these kids weren't raised with the OG movies/ despecialized editions.
yeah honestly Iâve probably never even seen the despecialized version, even with as much resentment i have for the edits haha
Doesn't the box also reference the changes made that make it the "Special Edition"? lmao
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Says special edition. It's special in the same way a slow child is "special".
Dude
Wait Im confused, which version of jabba was in the orginal release of ANH? Because online it says the human guy had his scene cut so was jabba not part of the movie until way later when they added in CGI jabba?
Correct. We don't meet Jabba in ANH originally
That's fucking nuts, I had no idea
Han jerkily walking over his tail while Jabba yelps as though somebody did something else surprising back there â yeah. That wasnât part of anyoneâs original plan. Originally Jabba wasnât on screen until ROTJ.
It will have dated CGI and dated edits but that doesnât make it bad
Itâs special edition so yes
The THX boxed set that was released prior to this one remains the prime version of the trilogy imo. If only that version were remastered for Blu-Ray or even DVD.
I got to see Star Wars in the theatre. Thatâs all that mattered to me. Fuckin epic.
Yeah, it was my first exposure to the OT. Whatâs cool is that they have behind the scene stuff before the movie plays.
What the hell is going on with Lukeâs face? Also yes this is the one they added the cgi to.
Try finding any made around 1995 and before 1995 because they're unaltered
You get the very worst versions of the CGI.
If you can find it, get Harmy's despecialized edition https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harmy%27s_Despecialized_Edition?wprov=sfla1 All the crappy edits were reversed
If anybody has any doubts about this, just download a copy and try it. The picture quality is damn near perfect, and you get to experience the best version of the movies. It's worth at try at the very least.
This was the beginning of George Lucaâs downfall
Watch the movie and fast forward for 30sec to find out âď¸âď¸ Ask the internet and wait hours for a reply â ď¸â ď¸
you want me to buy the VHS, find a VCR player somewhere in my attic, and then test it myself instead of just asking a simple question that I know fans will shoot me a simple answer quickly? I just donât understand the harm in asking, itâs clearly started some fun and nostalgic conversation for a lot of people
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Yes
Yes. And thatâs the gold box, too, which means itâs cropped to a 4:3 aspect ratio.
It will have some of the bad CGI added. George kept adding / changing more and more over the years. This was the first round of revisions
Yes
Yup. It'll have the first wave of the CGI additions, of which there are many.
Yes. It infact look like the first release of it aswell.
Yup it will. Gorgeous artwork and box set but they had the edits. The box set before that had the vader helmet, trooper helmet, and yoda from 1994/1995 were the original films but had improved THX sound.
Makes me appreciate owning this original version on CED.
Yup
I ended up getting movies 1-3 and 4-6 recently