Not so Special Editions

I finally got around to getting myself a copy of the Star Wars: A New Hope "Limited Edition" that came with the original theatrical version on disc 2. I've been meaning to pick up the trilogy in these editions for some time but as they are no longer in production and haven't been for some time, I've had to do some searching for the right price.

So I watched Star Wars in it's original glory from before it was even called "A New Hope." I was immediately hit with a sudden wave of nostalgia as I saw this:

                                Instead of this:

I felt excitement at seeing Star Wars as I hadn't seen it in a long time, without Lucas' tinkering. To see Han shoot first and without CGI that felt so out of place. No re inserted Jabba scene with awful editing to make it look like Han stands on his tail (urgh!)

I'll admit when the Special Editions came out in the mid 90s, my younger self lapped them up and loved every added scene. Back then the CGI seemed amazing an flawless. Looking back now it hasn't aged well, and now I've grown older and "matured" I just find the changes and additions jarring and unpleasant.

However, I was surprised that whilst watching the original version the was one small scene from the Special Edition that I missed. The originally deleted scene of Luke and Biggs reunion before taking off in their X-Wings.

We all know that Luke had history with Biggs, from the odd mention of his name at the dinner with his Aunt & Uncle and references to "Beggars Canyon" back home. But those few seconds that were originally deleted added that little bit more and really drove home the extent of their friendship, making (spoiler alert) Biggs' death that little more impactful.

I realise now that the Special Editions weren't a bad idea, just like the prequels they were poorly executed. Adding deleted scenes is acceptable if the scene warrants re-inserting. The Jabba scene doesn't actually bother me that much, as it was a deleted scene rather than tinkering for the sake of tinkering. Whether it needed to be added back in can be debated, and the fact that it included a character (Jabba) that was by Return of the Jedi considerably re imagined from the version that was originally filmed, should maybe have made Lucas and his cohorts think twice about what they did.

All in all, I think 99% of the time when I come to watch Star Wars, I'll be using disc 2 more than I will disc 1.