From the pages of Blue Harvest Episode Eleven...
Winter 1997
the Special Edition of
Star Wars: Episode IV: An New Hope
(and it's soundtrack album)reviewed
by Mary Jo Fox
and James Addams
the Special Edition of Star Wars: Episode IV: An New Hope
by Mary Jo FoxSPOILER ALERT FOR OVERSEAS READERS--If you haven’t seen ANH yet and don’t want any surprises ruined for you, don’t read this review!
On January 31, 1997 I got up at 6:45 a.m. to spend a couple of hours with some dear old friends in a galaxy far, far away. It would be the first time since 1982 that I had seen A New Hope in a movie theater (not counting a trilogy marathon at the University of Missouri in 1989). The theater I’d chosen (for its THX sound, natch) scheduled its first showing of ANH at 10:30 a.m.; the box office opened at 10. Based on news reports of fans camped outside theaters across the country, I decided it would be wise to arrive at the multiplex before 8:30. I got there 8:15, ready for action in my SW 20th Anniversary t-shirt and Han Solo vest, the 15th person in line. By 10 a.m. the line had stretched down the stairs and out into the parking lot.
After getting inside and bowing respectfully before the giant cardboard standee in the lobby, Debbie Kittle and I went to get our seats, strategically located in the middle of the theater. As I waited for the film to start, I wondered how all of the additions and changes to ANH would play out. We all agree that ANH was a great film to start out with. Is it possible for even George Lucas to make it better???
Well, I think the old boy has done it!
From the glorious Tatooine sunset as Artoo travels through the canyons to the revamped Death Star battle scenes, I was muttering “Oh wow.” I know it’s too late to say this now, but if you consider yourself a reactionary who can’t bear to see even the tiniest tinkering, you probably should’ve stayed home. By the same token, if you expected the Special Edition to fix every flaw you’ve managed to spot with the freeze-motion button on your remote control, you’d probably be disappointed. That wasn’t the point anyway; if it were, Lucasfilm would’ve set up a 1-800 number for fans to call in their requests. As with your favorite band’s first album, the rough edges are still there. To erase them all, you’d have to remake the entire movie from scratch, and we wouldn’t want that, would we?
With that said, none of the new scenes or effects hamper the flow of the film--it all fits in like buddah. After going with the parental units a second time to see it, my dad had to ask me afterwards which parts were “new.”As for the controversial “Greedo shoots first” scene, I knew it would ruffle a few feathers. But I’m not particularly bothered by it and truth to tell, 99% of the general movie-going audience couldn’t care less. I heard no reactions either way after viewing it twice. But even if you don’t agree with George’s decision on that call, to disparage the entire Special Edition because of a couple of seconds is throwing the cliched baby out with the bathwater; everything else he did honestly were significant improvements.
Mos Eisley for instance. In the original, it was a sleepy lil’ village. The new and improved Mos Eisley feels alive, the way you’d expect a bustling spaceport to be like. People, droids, and animals interact on busy streets. Ships are taking off and landing, something you didn’t see before (how many of you spotted the Outrider? I did!). The sequences in Mos Eisley were some of the most impressive in the film; audiences were gasping both times that I saw it.Or how about the Rebel attack on the Death Star? Before, the ships moved painfully slow compared with with TESB and ROTJ. There were the occasional problems with motion blur and matte lines. Now the ships can maneuver in ways they could not before, the pesky matte lines are gone, and hallelujah, they got rid of the 2D TIE fighter cut-outs that swayed behind the X-Wings! Instead of like 20 ships attacking the Death Star, there’s almost a whole fleet. In summary, a classic scene is even more visually exciting than before.
Then there’s the part where Han Solo is running after the squad of stormtroopers onboard the Death Star...thanks to CGI technology, a moderately funny scene is turned into a howler. The explosions look more spectacular than ever, with those really cool “shock wave” rings. When Alderaan goes kerploowey, planet chunks seem to fly out at you.
In addition to tweaking the effects, never-before-seen footage was added to ANH. The most celebrated of these is the scene with Han and Jabba. Mr. Hutt, looking younger and healthier than he did in ROTJ (I guess the stress of being a big-time galactic gangster got to him in the interim 4 years), demands why Han “crispa Greedo” and lets him know there will be big trouble if Han doesn’t pay up on his debts soon. Han tries to put on his smarmy Corellian charms, but not without showing Jabba a bit of disrespect by stepping on his tail (a hilarious moment). It’s a fantastic scene--I can see why Lucas agonized for years that he couldn’t include it in the film. It better establishes just how much in trouble Han was with Jabba (note Boba Fett’s ominous presence), and why Jabba wasn’t inclined to show Han any mercy in ROTJ.Another added scene is a brief exchange between Luke and Biggs before the Battle of Yavin. This was a concession to fans who wanted to see more of Biggs’s relationship with Luke without having to compromise Lucas’s belief that the scenes of them on Tatooine would slow down the pace of the film. Not only do we get a better indication of their longtime friendship (making Biggs’s death that much more poignant), Luke’s experience as a pilot is made even clearer. Including it was a smart move.
The sound was remastered on 6-track stereo, which really pays off if you’re lucky enough to see it in a THX theater. Everything, from the sound effects to the music to the dialogue, is crisp and clear. My favorite enhanced sound effect is the echoing of Luke and Leia’s voices in the chasm. Very cool. I also liked the way Obi Wan’s voice from beyond the grave had this ethereal quality. The restored color and picture quality are so sharp, you can count Princess Leia’s freckles.
But the best thing about the ANH:SE is seeing this glorious masterpiece on the big screen again, as God and George Lucas intended. No matter how good your laser discs are, no matter how great your home theater system sounds, nothing compares to the experience of seeing it in a movie theater with a wildly enthusiastic crowd. In 20 years, ANH has lost none of its allure, none of its enchantment. If I’d been brought in as a little kid to see it for the first time, I’d never guess that it wasn’t brand new. This is still the real homemade cookie, the standard by which all else is measured.
Now bring on the TESB and ROTJ Special Editions!
the Special Edition of Star Wars: Episode IV: An New Hope
by James AddamsI can’t really review Star Wars: A New Hope for you guys. That would be silly, wouldn’t it? I’ve spent hundreds and hundreds of hours over the past four years putting together this ‘zine, not making a dime off of it, and you’re asking me to review the movie that this ‘zine is all about? Get real! I’ve spent thousands and thousands of dollars on Star Wars merchandise over the past 20 years, and you want me to review the film? HA!
Of course I like this movie. You already know that.
So this isn’t really a review of ANH. This piece of writing, as is almost everything else being written these days concerning the SpEds, isn’t really so much about ANH as a film, as it is about the differences found in the SpEds. Specifically, which parts did I like, which ones did I dislike, and how do I feel about the overall concept of a SpEd?
Well, since you asked...
The best parts are the subtle ones. I loved the new shot of the outside Ben Kenobi’s house. I adored the “close the blast door!” line, previously immortalized in the record album The Story of Star Wars , and nowhere else. I like the scene where Han is chasing the stormtroopers down the corridor - he now turns the corner to find... an entire legion of the Emperor’s best troops all turning to stare at him! Of course the expolsions and space battles are magnificent, and little things like the extra moon over Tatooine are nice touches. The token Biggs scene was fascinating - almost better than the Jabba scene in many ways. Said Jabba scene was a wonder to behold, but Jabba himself doesn’t look all that great, does he?
Overall, I really liked the Special Edition. As has been stated by so many others (not to mention the advertising for the films) the big screen is the way to see these films! The level of detail is unreal. I have probably seen this film close to 100 times, and watching the SpEd, I comtinually noticed things I had never seen before. Little things. Details you’d never see on video, no matter how amazing your home theatre system is.
And now, I’ll introduce you to my big “but”. You didn’t think I would fail to nitpick, did you?
What bugged me (with respect for Mary Jo’s opinions), were the things they didn’t fix. Some ten million bucks were spent to restore these films, and some of the scenes in the Death Star Conference Room are still washed-out or faded looking. In one scene, Vader still keeps gesturing at Tarkin after he’s done speaking. The dubbing of Beru’s voice is still not properly balanced with Owen and Luke’s. Vader and Ben still both loose the glow of their lightsabres in places. The “remote” that Luke is practicing with on the Falcon still mysteriously vanishes when he turns his sabre off. These are hardly things that require “the freeze-motion button on your remote control” to notice. I won’t go from nitpicky to downright petty by mentioning the rest!
In the classic version of the film, these were simply small produciton flaws, and were no big deal. It happens. But after all of the hype about a full-scale fix-up and restoration, the few remaining mistkes stand out sorely, and make you wonder what the real motivations were for going back and tweaking this film. With all of the time and effort spent adding gratuitious (but very cool looking) rontos and womp rats, you’d think that fixing the litlle stuff wouldn’t have been a big deal.As did most of you, I saw it on a huge screen at a THX theatre. I was assured that this theatre had the biggest screen and the best sound in the Chicago area. Unfortunately, the first third of the film looked like an old, old print, with all of the scratches and dust marks that you would see in a cheap second-run theatre, and there were a lot of glitches and distortions on the soundtrack. This of course was the theatre’s fault (most likely) and not Lucasfilm’s, but I thought that having a THX logo on a theatre meant that said theatre had met certain rigid specifications involving audio and projection quality standards. This theatre needs to be re-evaluated!
My last gripe is the Greedo scene. Everyone has an opinion on it, and I hated it. It just doesn’t work. Why George? Why? After Greedo fires, Han doesn’t flinch, move, duck or react to the shot at all, except for firing the same single shot he’s always fired. His cool and bad-ass stride out of the Cantina isn’t so cool anymore - and he’s suddenly far less of a bad-ass than he had been before. Poor little Hanny, forced into shooting ol’ Greedo in self defense. Awww...
Summing it all up, I’d strongly recommend this film to anyone. That goes without saying. The bottom line is that if George Lucas is now fully satisified with the film, and if it now measures up to the artistic vision he had in the first place, then it is an artistic success. As if it wasn’t before! As for financial success, well the SpEd made its money back in its first weekend of release, and the merchandising is expected to head toward the $1,000,000,000 mark, so you be the judge!
Well, I’m gonna go see it again, while I can. The SW films won’t be in first-run quality theatres forever. This is a time of luxury for SW fans everywhere, and we should all take full advantage of this once-per-decade opportunity to expirience the trio of films that have brought Mary Jo, myself, and all of you together in the manner in which they are most worthy of being viewed.
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