By now I’m sure everyone’s heard of Lucas’s further fiddling with the original trilogy. On one hand I’m torn because while Lucas is getting a lot of flack of this, artist reworking their creations is nothing new and Lucas is hardly the only one.
- Stephen King rewrote several scenes in his classic The Stand to update the time period
- After The Lord of the Rings, Tolkien had intended to rewrite several things in The Hobbit to make them more cohesive. He sent a sample chapter 1 to the publisher who did not respond, thinking they were interested Tolkien dropped the plan. However the publisher thought the proposed chapter 1 was the only change and used it the next printing
- Apocalypse Now Redux adds so much new content it’s generally considered to be a separate movie
- Spielberg changing guns to radios in E.T.
- Musicians and ‘remix’ go together like banana peels and kart racing
Lucas’s problem isn’t that he’s making changes (for the most part), it’s that certain changes are stupid. For example there is little outcry over replacing muppet Yoda with digital Yoda in The Phantom Menace. Why? Because digital Yoda looks better.
However take The Revenge of the Sith. Regarded as the best of the prequels, the one scene reviled by most people is Vader waking up after being rebuilt and shouting ‘Nooo!!!!!’. So what’s Lucas do? He has Vader shout ‘Noooo!!!!’ in RotJ. Because, obviously that’s something fans are clamoring for.
OH well. I’ll get them anyway, though I WONT be getting any 3D version that may materialize. I wonder if RotJ would be considered a horrible movie if the original script called for James Earl Jones to shout ‘Noooo!!!’
Lastly: here’s samples of the changes straight from the blu-ray with no alterations. I swear.*
and…
*I’m a big fat liar
