Star Wars 1997 Special Edition Retrospective

In 1997 in celebration of the 20th anniversary of Star Wars: A New Hope George Lucas made the bold decision to "finish" his original trilogy by adding a number of changes and rereleasing the movies to theatres. Acting as a primer for The Phantom Menace that would come two years later it remains one of the most controversial moves in Lucasfilm history with scenes added, recut and digitally altered to move things more in line with Lucas' original vision. But it wasn't all bad. In this retrospective we take a look back at the decision made behind every single change including big ones like Greedo shooting first as opposed to Han right down to minor tweaks you might not even have noticed. Thanks for watching!



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#StarWars

[mrsundaymovies]

HEY READ THIS NERDS. I didn’t mention the 2006 DVD release that included the unaltered trilogy because it was essentially an update of the 90s laser disk version and the quality is terrible. And the 4K77 trilogy version as of recording isn’t complete as Empire is still in the works

[terryhurley]

I used to work for British Airways, many many years ago. One time, I checked in Rick McCallum. I get the feeling that he wasn't used to being recognised, because when I did recognise him, he seemed chuffed. Anyway, when I checked him in, it was a couple of weeks before the release of Star Wars the special edition on dvd. The first time any star wars appeared on the format. So, when checking in McCallum, I jokingly said "and if you have any copies of Star Wars on dvd with you, I'm afraid I'm going to have to confiscate them. Not my decision. Those are the rules." He laughed, and asked for my name and address. A couple of weeks later, I received a copy of the trilogy on dvd, and a" Lucasfilm " headed letter, from Rick McCallum, thanking me for making him smile. He may be a yes man, but he certainly was a nice man

[BonJoviBeatlesLedZep]

It's incredible how, in the absence of Maso or Claire, James goes back to teacher mode.

[OfficialAndies]

It's quite strange knowing that the Special Editions have been around longer than the original theatrical cuts

[gregorypendell]

He’s been working on this video for weeks and he uploaded it with the wrong title?! XD “Stat Wars, ” I love it.

[splat]

I myself would actually like to see a prequel special edition, I’d love to see modern cg touch up some of the shots, strictly visual, no added characters just better scenery

[_its_lunar_]

James is absolutely fantastic at making these longer form deep dive videos, they captivate me from start to finish and I hope he makes more of these going forward!

[battleupsaber]

George changing the name of the franchise from "Star Wars" to "Stat Wars" has to go down as one of the most controversial decisions in the 1997 Special Edition. Up there with adding that one dinosaur that walks past and blocks the camera.

[robbiefl]

I'd genuinely love to see more content like this. I love seeing behind-the-scenes stuff for some of my favourite films, and reading people's experiences in the comments just adds to these types of videos even more

[FabulousKilljoy]

I love when James does these extremely niche nerdy deep dives, I know they take a lot of work and I just really appreciate it. I’m someone who only knows the rerelease versions and it’s always fascinating to see the madness behind the methods.

[behindyoujamie]

I still think the Empire remaster is actually really cool. It's what the other remasters should've been, little changes (like windows in Cloud City) to make the world feel more immersive.

[TheVCRTimeMachine]

The dialogue in the Han/Greedo scene always made it clear that Greedo was going to kill Han right then and there (“Over my dead body/That’s the idea! I have been looking forward to this for a long time!”) Adding in Greedo firing his gun wasn’t necessary for anyone to understand that it was self defense.

[chafrey]

Replacing yub nub is still such a betrayal for me. I knew every single word of that song. And the ending fit so well into the beginning of the credits and the theme song.

[Anynom]

I was working at a movie theater showing these and the audiences were mind-blowing, bigger than we expected and just excited there for them. Big thing was so many kids brought to see it on the big screen and a huge deal to remind people how loved the movies were.

[gcap]

Wow what a perfect re-release, I’m sure they’ll be no more future alterations to this classic!!

[AndorRobotnik]

I remember being very confused on how they managed to cast a guy identical to Hayden Christensen back in the day fpr Return of the Jedi not realizing it was a late adition. Not a smart kid I was.

[wwCs]

I remember getting the DVD version while in Costco with my dad, not long after the 2004 release. I viewed Star Wars completely ass backwards: ep 2 on dvd, then ep 3 in theaters, then ep 1 on dvd. When I got this OT dvd watched the whole thing that weekend and was hooked, for better or worse!

[MattMcIrvin]

19:04 There are, I think, other reasons people have different memories. A college roommate insisted he'd seen a cut in 1977 that had the Jabba scene in it, with the stand-in actor on screen. As far as I can tell, no such (official) version of Episode IV ever existed. It took me a long time to figure out that what he was probably remembering was the TV special "The Making of Star Wars", where that whole scene appeared as shot.

[CptMunta]

I love how the editors are either mentioned or thanked for their efforts in these videos.

[DJHD]

Little known fact, the first time I ever saw the original Star Wars trilogy in full was when I went to the cinema to see the special editions in 1997. I loved the movies and I have ever since. Thanks for this wonderful nostalgia filled deep dive into the special editions James. You’re alright really