George Lucas made sure you'll never see these Star Wars moments (officially) ever again.
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00:00 Now, Star Wars is undeniably one of the most successful franchises in the history of not
00:03 only cinema, but pop culture as a whole. And though the series has created many lifelong
00:08 memories for fans, both young and old, it's no secret, of course, that George Lucas has
00:12 used modern technology to 'revise' the earlier Star Wars films over the last 25 years.
00:17 And rather than continue to offer both the original, untouched versions and the newer
00:21 editions, Lucas has basically done away with what came before.
00:25 So let's take a look at them, weirdly enough, today, as I'm Jules, this is WhatCulture.com,
00:29 and these are 10 Star Wars Moments You'll Never See Again.
00:33 Number 10. Han shoots first. A New Hope
00:36 Let's kick things off with the single most infamous change instituted by George Lucas
00:41 across the entire Star Wars franchise. In the original version of A New Hope, Han Solo
00:46 memorably guns down bounty hunter Greedo in the Mos Eisley Cantina, an act which demonstrates
00:51 his cunning ruthlessness taking out a threat before said threat can get the drop on him.
00:56 Yet for the 1997 special edition of the film, Lucas made the decision to digitally alter
01:01 the scene, showing Greedo firing at Han first, before Han awkwardly dodges it and fires back
01:06 at him, killing him. Fans argued that this diminished Han's character arc over the
01:11 course of the original trilogy, softening his personality as originally presented, while
01:15 Lucas has since maintained that he never intended to portray Han as a cold-blooded killer.
01:20 Though the scene has received mild revisions in subsequent home video releases, Han shooting
01:24 first has never been restored to any version of A New Hope, and given Lucas' passionate
01:29 stance on Han's rules of engagement, it surely never will be.
01:33 Number 9. Sebastian Shaw's Anakin Force Ghost
01:36 Return of the Jedi
01:38 Return of the Jedi of course concludes with a triumphant rebel celebration, where Luke
01:42 notices the Force spirits of Obi-Wan, Yoda, and Anakin Skywalker observing nearby. In
01:48 the original release, the Anakin Force Ghost was portrayed by Sebastian Shaw, who also
01:52 portrayed Anakin during his iconic unmasking scene earlier on in the film. But for the
01:57 2004 Special Edition re-release, Lucas re-edited the scene to replace Shaw with Hayden Christensen,
02:02 who of course played a younger Anakin in the prequel trilogy.
02:06 While the logic here is at least understandable, that Lucas wanted to create a greater sense
02:10 of visual continuity between the prequels and the original trilogy, does it even make
02:15 sense to have Anakin's Force Ghost resemble his younger self? Some attempt to explain
02:19 this away by suggesting that Anakin truly died when he became Vader, but it's a bit
02:23 of a stretch. And then there are those who simply object to Hayden Christensen being
02:27 injected into the original films in any form on pure principle.
02:31 Number 8. The Proto-Palpatine Hologram
02:34 The Empire Strikes Back
02:36 Now here's a change that actually has its fair share of supporters, even as some would
02:40 prefer that Lucas simply left the original trilogy alone. In The Empire Strikes Back,
02:44 Emperor Palpatine makes his first appearance in the series via hologram. Though at the
02:48 time of the film, Ian McDiarmid hadn't yet been cast in the part in earnest, and so the
02:52 cameo was physically portrayed by Margaery Eaton under heavy layers of makeup, complete
02:57 with chimpanzee eyes superimposed over the eye sockets, while the voice was provided
03:02 by Clive Revell.
03:03 From the 2004 special edition onwards, however, Eaton and Revell's work has been deleted,
03:08 with the hologram footage being reshot with Ian McDiarmid in place, with alterations also
03:13 being made to the original dialogue. Again, the effort to create visual continuity throughout
03:17 the series makes sense, and the original Palpatine makeup doesn't exactly look great. Yet many
03:21 fans argue that jettisoning Eaton and Revell's work from the franchise is rather cruel and
03:26 unnecessary. Plus, changing the original dialogue added nothing worthwhile to the scene.
03:31 Number 7. Puppet Yoda - The Phantom Menace
03:34 Now here's another change that's actually a little bit less controversial than it might
03:38 seem at first. If you saw The Phantom Menace in the cinema or watched the earlier home
03:42 video releases, Yoda was actually portrayed as a physical puppet for the most part, but
03:46 dissatisfied with the results, Lucas opted to replace him with a digital double for the
03:51 2011 Blu-ray release. It's an interesting choice, though Star Wars fans generally do
03:55 bang the drum for the original charming Puppet Yoda. In the case of The Phantom Menace, the
04:00 puppet really doesn't seem up to snuff, and clashes harshly with the film's pervasely
04:04 digital aesthetic. As such, while not everybody loves the CGI Yoda throughout the prequels,
04:09 this is one alteration which isn't exactly infuriating, even though many surely wish
04:13 the puppet version was still readily available without seeking out a 20-year-old DVD.
04:18 Number 6. Lapti Nek & Yub Nub - Return of the Jedi
04:22 Two majorly involved changes that Lucas made to Return of the Jedi continue to infuriate
04:27 fans to this very day. The film's initial release included two songs which were ultimately
04:31 replaced in more recent versions. Firstly, in Jabba the Hutt's palace, the Mac Rebo
04:35 band and Psy Snootles perform a song called "Lapti Nek", which Lucas swapped out for
04:40 the more contemporary, yet obnoxious "Jedi Rocks". Lucas didn't stop there, though.
04:45 He also replaced the puppet of Psy Snootles with an obnoxiously cartoonish CGI equivalent,
04:50 and added nine more members to the Mac Rebo band. And secondly, there's the climactic
04:54 Rebel Celebration, which was originally scored to the song "Yub Nub", but was later replaced
04:59 with a new John Williams track entitled "Victory Celebration". While the original songs aren't
05:03 exactly masterpieces by any metric, they do hold a special place in the hearts of fans
05:08 who grew up with Return of the Jedi, and so replacing them with more "modern" music
05:12 only undermined that initial feeling. Sadly, CGI Psy Snootles is here to stay.
05:17 5. Boba Fett's original voice – The Empire Strikes Back
05:21 The Empire Strikes Back, of course, introduced audiences to bounty hunter Boba Fett, and
05:26 until the 2004 special edition, Fett was voiced with acid-tongued delight by Jason Wingreen.
05:32 But in order to reflect the prequel revelation that Boba was a clone of Jango Fett, Lucas
05:36 had Morrison record Wingreen's original lines and then plug them into the 2004 re-release.
05:41 As much as we all love Morrison and his portrayals of both Jango and Boba Fett, there's just
05:46 no contest between him and Wingreen. Listening to the two side-by-side, Wingreen's line
05:50 readings are imbued with a greater sense of menace and mystery that truly made the audience
05:55 want to know more about this masked man. Morrison's delivery, on the other hand, sounds weirdly
05:59 casual and off-the-cuff, like Lucas just had Morrison record a single take and decided,
06:04 "Yeah, that's good enough."
06:05 4. Vader Silently Betrays Palpatine – Return of the Jedi
06:09 Here's a change that really pissed off a lot of fans, because it basically dilutes
06:14 the intensity of one of the series' most iconic moments and arguably even renders it
06:19 unintentionally comical. Originally in Return of the Jedi, Darth Vader silently betrays
06:23 Emperor Palpatine and throws him to his death, but seemingly because Lucas felt the scene
06:28 needed to spell every emotional beat out for the audience, he added some extra vocalizations
06:32 to it. For the 2011 Blu-ray release, Lucas added Vader saying "No!" as he watches
06:38 Palpatine torture Luke with Force lightning, and then letting out a more prolonged "Noooo!"
06:43 as he picks Palpatine up. For one, it just makes everyone remember Vader's laughable
06:48 "Noooo!" from Revenge of the Sith, and needlessly spells out Vader's emotions,
06:52 which are already made perfectly clear by his body language and, you know, his actions.
06:57 It's an incredibly awkward addition that shows a lack of faith in the audience to intuit
07:01 basic, obvious emotions, and surely makes fans the world over cringe every time they're
07:06 forced to endure it.
07:07 3. The Victory Celebration Without Gungans - Return of the Jedi
07:12 Even with the changes made to its music throughout the years, Return of the Jedi's Rebels celebration
07:16 is an undeniably triumphant cinematic moment, right? Well, George Lucas made an arguably
07:21 even more egregious change to the scene for the 2004 special edition, when he decided
07:26 to add the thing in that every Star Wars fan surely wanted to see included in this scene
07:30 - Gungans. In yet another attempt to tie the prequels and original films together, the
07:35 celebration montage is extended to show a giant celebration in Naboo, complete with
07:39 Gungans visible atop a building as one of them screams ecstatically "Wheezer Free!"
07:44 Given that the Gungans remain one of the most divisive aspects of the prequels, throwing
07:48 them into the originals where they had no presence previously was always going to ruffle
07:52 a lot of feathers. Had they simply been a silent part of the celebrations, it would
07:56 have been fine enough, yet the moment we hear one of them bleating from the rooftops, we're
08:00 instantly pulled out of the euphoric moment and reminded of just how damn annoying Jar
08:03 Jar Binks truly was.
08:05 2. The Creepier Sarlacc Design - Return of the Jedi
08:10 Another divisive change Lucas made for the special edition release of Return of the Jedi
08:13 was digitally altering the Sarlacc pit from its original design, adding in CGI tentacles,
08:18 a beak, and a tongue. Yet this ultimately reeks of over-design that gives far too much
08:23 away. As originally presented in the movie, the Sarlacc was made all the more terrifying
08:27 in its ambiguity and mystery, but by making it seem more recognizably animalistic through
08:32 its physiology, the Sarlacc was too made considerably less intimidating.
08:36 Lucas has stated that he revised the design to make the Sarlacc seem more alive, but wasn't
08:41 that precisely what made the Sarlacc so damn creepy in the original version of Return of
08:45 the Jedi? By making it more obvious and cartoonish, much of that initial cosmic horror vibe was
08:50 aggressively ripped away.
08:51 1. The Original Mos Eisley Introduction - A New Hope
08:55 There are few Star Wars scenes more distinctive, memorable, or straight-up iconic than the
09:00 introduction to Mos Eisley, and yet George Lucas evidently wasn't entirely happy with
09:04 how it had initially panned out, so decided to make it "busier" for the special edition
09:09 re-release. While we'll give Lucas some minor credit for cleaning up some shots that
09:12 looked a little scratchy in the original cut and adding in some not-all-that-bad establishing
09:17 shots of the area, Lucas just couldn't resist but drown Mos Eisley in garish, overbaked
09:22 CGI chaos. In an attempt to make Mos Eisley seem like a more bustling place, Lucas added
09:27 new digital creatures to many shots, whilst also using VFX to extend the backgrounds.
09:32 The most egregious change occurs when Luke, Obi-Wan, C-3PO, and R2-D2 are stopped by Stormtroopers,
09:37 and Obi-Wan performs the Jedi Mind Trick. For reasons that will never become clear,
09:41 a gigantic CGI Ronto walks in front of the frame for several seconds, obscuring our view
09:47 of the scene in a misguided attempt to make it seem more interesting.
09:50 CGI is a wonderful tool in the right hands, but as Lucas has proven so often, it can also
09:55 be a source of frustration and even destruction when wielded without due diligence.
09:59 And there we go, my friends. Those were 10 Star Wars Moments You'll Never See Again.
10:03 I hope that you enjoyed that, and please let me know what you thought about it down in
10:06 the comments section below. As always, I've been Jules, and you can go follow me over
10:09 on Instagram @retroj but the O is a zero. Hope to see you over there, my friends. But
10:14 before I go, I just want to say one thing. Even though we discussed about Star Wars Moments
10:19 You'll Never See Again, at the end of my videos you will always hear this same thing.
10:23 And that is a message of positivity for you, the listener, because I wish you nothing but
10:26 the best. I wish you love, happiness, and success. Because you're a massive ledge,
10:31 and you deserve all of those things, alright? Don't let anything or anyone else tell you
10:35 otherwise. As always, I've been Jules, you have been awesome, never forget that, and
10:39 I'll speak to you soon. Bye.
10:41 (upbeat music)