Someone asked me how I felt about the upcoming changes to Star Wars (they’re all here on Topless Robot if you’ve been in a bubble and missed the uproar) and because I know you’re all dying to know…
I am angry about them. Here’s the thing: I know that for every person who is all up in arms about the changes there is someone crying, “but they’re his movies, he can do what he wants with them”. And I get that, I really do. For me though, I love Star Wars because of the original trilogy as it was first released. I think if the changes were isolated to an extended DVD version, I wouldn’t have as much of a problem with them as I do. Unfortunately the way that George Lucas changes things means that the original unaltered trilogy is not available anywhere in a high quality format. This really pisses me off. If he wants to throw in a bunch of stupid garbage, fine, that’s his right. I just wish that he would give me the option to have the movies I actually still love without all the added stuff, because it actually takes away from the experience of watching. Even a lot of the stuff in the 1997 versions I find jarring. These are movies I’m so familiar with that minor differences from the original breaks me out of the story when I’m watching, so that I’m more focused on what’s been changed than what’s going on.
As far as the individual changes that have been discussed, in order from most to least hated:
* I don’t think I’ll ever be able to hear “NOOOOO” again in any context without thinking of the prequel movies. Since I do my best to actively forget that the prequel movies ever came out, to have Darth Vader saying it during such a powerful moment… I just can’t even. This one is definitely the worst.
* The kryat dragon call just sounds ridiculous; the original was much more subtle.
* Having R2 hidden behind more rocks just seems silly.
* Ewoks blinking doesn’t seem like the end of the world to me; I always found it a little unsettling that they didn’t blink honestly.
* Extra TIE Fighters for the second Death Star battle are actually not bad, and I think the least offensive of the changes.
So, yeah. George Lucas can do whatever he wants to his movies, but this is the first time that I (a lifelong Star Wars fan) will not be purchasing a re-release of the trilogy.
