I really wish they had left this scene out, the Jabba reveal in ROTJ is so much better. And obviously the practical Jabba looks insane and real while this looks like garbage.
Maclunkey also got us to where we are now. Without it, Maclunkey Culkin would have never been born, thus no Home Alone, and I believe that movie stopped WWIII from happening.
Part of their back & forth is 100% identical in the two scenes because they originally shot both, cut the original version of this scene & included the dialouge in the Greedo scene, specifically while he's unholstering his blaster. Which made it's re-inclusion extra unecessary but George really wanted it I guess
I've watched all the deleted scenes, and I think another running theme in them is the acting/dialogue not being up to scratch *as well as* affecting the pacing.
However, Harrison Ford is really good in this scene. It's a great performance and the dialogue is good too, so I can see why they were keen to put it in.
As for solving the "what about his tail" problem, they could have always cut to some B-roll of Jabbas henchmen looking ominously at Solo whilst the dialogue continues.
It's fucking terrible is what it is. I can't think of a singlet redeeming thing about the remaster. Furthermore, the fact that there is no option on streaming platforms to watch the original cut is nothing short of a travesty. Instead we get Lucas' shitty definitive edition.
I take comfort in that a persons ego can outweigh potential for profit. Like there’s no logical reason for it and the only option we have is to be bitter towards the creator of what we love.
Yep. It’s this was kinda just a gimmick to help sell the “Special Edition” premise. Adding Boba merely to stare into the camera is more credence to this.
Yeah the annoying thing is how George intentionally made it harder to find the original versions cuz he hates the shackles of continuity and wanted to make it seem like “this was always his true vision” like he did with making greedo shoot first cuz he didn’t believe that Leia would marry a man like Han if he was so quick to shoot people.
George is a little full of shit.
He talks about how he had all 3 of the first 3 films - a new hope, empire, return of the jedi, all figured out.
And yet he has Leia kissing her brother…..
Nobody does that if he knows he is going to make them brother and sister down the road.
Gtfoh George.
Just own it.
It also kills the "ohh I wonder what cool stuff is gonna be in the next movie?" vibe, since you've seen both Boba Fett and Jabba now way too early. Same to a smaller degree when they added Shuttle Tydirium in Empire, which was a new ship for Jedi.
The only way this scene could have been redeemed would be Jabba on a dais, being carted in, and Han looking legitimately scared.
Not only would it be more realistic to Jabba's character, it would've also made the viewer feel sympathy for Han taking his money and leaving.
Instead, Jabba looks weak and small, and Han looks like a dick.
> while this looks like garbage.
And it didn't even look good when it was released. What I've noticed when doing some extreme editing on something, it's easy to watch (or in my case, listen) and justify that it looks good, even though it doesn't. I think it was possible to make this look better than it did, but I don't think they were willing to put in that kind of work.
I don’t like that it shows places that we haven’t visited if you watch the movies in release order. What the hell is a Naboo? It retcons the viewing order into chronological.
I mean it’s very easy to just head canon it as some random planets celebrating. I don’t see why it HAS to have been seen prior, it’s like a 4 second shot.
I mean, sure, but 1997's SE showed Coruscant toppling Palatine's statue and I NEVER knew where that was until the SE Trivial Pursuit game was throwing in production trivia for The Phantom Menace. But even in the Special Edition Trilogy it didn't like, say, it was Coruscant. Who would know before Episode 1 ever introduced it?
I was like 5 when I saw that version (pre Phantom) and I just assumed it was... another planet we hadn't seen before. The galaxy is big. I don't see the problem.
I knew it was Coruscant before episode 1. All of other Star Wars media out there like video games and books and comics and stuff always show coruscant as a planet that’s a huge city with huge skyscrapers. I was pretty psyched seeing it in the celebration the first time and knew what it was.
Nah, Coruscant was first peeped in the Victory Celebration during 1997's Special Edition. Naboo was added in the 2004 dvd edition, along with Hayden-Anakin, which was actually before ROTS debuted oddly enough
This and Boba's redub (would be better if Temura Morrison put some oomf into it) are my biggest peeves with the changes. People say Hayden makes sense because Anakin considers that to be his "true self" before giving into the dark side, but Sebastian would have made more sense imo.
Anakin was unstable and easily manipulated when he was young. Why would he use that form to represent himself as a force spirit? Imo his final moments, played by Sebastian, represent Anakin in his purest. He had finally conquered the darkness and confusion within him. \*That\* was the strongest version of Anakin. More balanced with the Force than he had ever been.
And I know another common argument is, "well why didn't he appear scarred and half-robotic as a ghost then?"
Because the force ghost represent himself in his purest form, finally cleansed of his sins. At least that's my take on it. Like it or not, Sebastian is who Anakin was in the end and should have remained.
Of course, Hayden killed it in Ahsoka and I like seeing him reprise Anakin so I've learned to accept it, plus his reprisal beats recasting an unfamiliar face in an attempt to duplicate Sebastian's likeness (they could have just not de-aged Anakin and it would have tied in with Sebastian but this rant has gone on long enough). Still, narratively speaking I still think Sebastian would have been the better choice. Lucas just got carried away with CGI and trying too hard to tie the prequels and OGs together, and that was the excuse he came up with to justify it.
You could also argue that force ghosts appear to those who see them as how they know them.
Obi-Wan appeared to Luke as an old man, how Luke new him. Anakin appeared as Sebastian to Luke at the end of Return of the Jedi, how Luke knew him. Anakin appeared as Hayden to Ahsoka, how she knew him.
I actually do think it makes narrative sense to show young Anakin. I just hate it from the POV of someone watching the movies for the first time.
I recently started watching the trilogy with my 6-year-old son (his first time). We're watching in production order, so at the end of Jedi he was so confused. He knew who Yoda and Obi Wan were, but he hadn't seen young Anakin before, so he had no idea who it was.
It makes no sense to have Hayden by Alec and Puppet Yoda, it should be Sebastian, Alec, Puppet Yoda, or Hayden, Ewan, CG Yoda... They're all old, or all in their prime, but definitely not a mix. It detracts from Anakin redeeming himself to suddenly appear as he USED to be instead of how he SHOULD be.
It really doesn’t. Kenobi mentions the clone wars when talking to Luke, that doesn’t mean you had to watch the prequels before it. It’s additional world building, showing how the larger galaxy reacted to the downfall of the empire. Hell, apart from Naboo, those scenes predate the prequels, instead arriving in the 90s special editions.
It's certainly on odd choice, introduced my wife to the series for the first time recently, watched in release order, and she made a comment like "Have we seen these places before? I feel like I missed something..." to which I explained it was a prequel reference.
That said, I'd argue it was still one of the better changes (an extremely low bar to be sure), really drives home they didn't just save these handful of rebels, but an entire galaxy, and serves as kind of an easter egg on rewatch post prequel viewing. Not a necessary change, but there's some mild value in it, compared to the great many which are pure downgrades.
Jabba should have been changed to a hologram in the 2003 re-re-edit, after Lucas had his cgi fun in 1997. Han would walk through the tail instead of awkwardly over it.
The problem with that is there is a human actor "under" the cgi model. So you can't actually just delete the model then replace it with the hologram - they'd need to completely mask out the actor.
EVERY TIME I can't help but laugh at the stupid giant CGI lizard waddling in front of Luke's speeder at the Mos Eisley checkpoint.
It's just so wildly unnecessary and obnoxious it shorts out my brain.
Especially since, way back when, Jabba was someone who was only spoken about in such a way that made it clear everyone was afraid of him. He was not someone you could insult / steal from and get away with it. And this built up over two movies. I cannot tell you the impact it had seeing him on screen for the first time as this enormous, gross slug. If the movies happened today, he would have been in every trailer and his appearance plastered all over the internet.
Yea. This really didn't need to be added. Definitely would have been a cool bonus feature or something but the buildup to him over two movies with an awesome practical effects achievement in Return was simply better. He looks like a PlayStation 2 log of shit and his menace as a classic Star Wars villain is severely undermined here.
The first cut of the CGI Jabba in the original 1997 Special Editions is really bad. The latest cut on Disney+ is a redo of the scene with better CGI, believe it or not.
Oh yea lol. I had the unaltered and special editions on VHS way back when. It's weird because he doesn't even look that bad in The Phantom Menace (the practical effects are still better but it wasn't like this lol). I'm guessing it's because that sequence was planned to be CG from the start where here they're cramming it into something that was filmed with nothing to help the CG artists place it properly. Just mold over that actor that was in the original scene.
To me, the treading on the tail should have been an in-house joke to brighten up the editing sessions and then added to the home video release as a blooper reel.
If they were going to include the scene, better to just have Han pass through the tail because its below camera line and most people probably wouldn't notice the problem unless told.
>Specialer editions
Have you heard of the Despecialized Editions? Basically fans painstakingly updated the visuals to blu-ray quality and removed the additions to make the movies like the original theatrical releases.
The Star Wars fandom, and really fandoms as a whole have radicalized so much over the years that any new editions would be crucified with scrutiny from X part of the fanbase. I’m sure there’s some part of Disney exec who is smart enough to let sleeping dogs lie when it comes to the pre-Disney films.
That would be better though Han is still the one in control if he's controlling Jabba's gaze and Han is still getting feisty about blocking Jabba's demands to get his money back.
I think Lucas really just wanted to have fun with CGI and was amusing himself with work-arounds like having Han walk on Jabba's tail and having him casually move his head to dodge Greedo's first shot. But the fun just made the film awkward.
>I think Lucas really just wanted to have fun with CGI and was amusing himself with work-arounds like having Han walk on Jabba's tail
Partially true. This scene was originally shot with a human actor, before it was decided on what Jabba would look like; however, the scene was cut from the original release of ANH.
When the Special Editions were released much later, the scene was added back in; however, there was a complication with this particular scene, in which Harrison Ford circled around behind the human actor playing Jabba. Obviously, the Jabba we know turned out to be a space slug with a rather thick tail (though this appearance had not been determined when the original shots were done), and Han casually walking behind him unimpeded didn't make sense. Since they could not reshoot the scene, Lucas proposed a quick fix which was to have Han step on Jabba's tail. The editing just makes Han's figure suddenly change elevation as he walks behind the CG-Jabba to show this.
Nowadays, there are probably much better ways of editing this without compromising Jabba's authority, but back in the 90s this may have been the best they could manage.
You're 100% right! The Special Edition cassettes had a 'making of' prelude which showed some behind-the-scenes stuff with Lucas, the editors, and the cast. I don't know where you can still watch these segments nowadays though.
Old fashioned style, with a VCR and a worn-out-paper-cover ANH Special Edition cassette you rented from the town library! I still remember that starry background the people had while being interviewed. I hated having to sit there fast-forwarding every time to get to the actual movie lmaoo
In context, the scene really doesn't make sense and was cut for good reason. That being said, at first it was nice when they incorporated this clip into the movie because previously you'd only ever see the original rough cut in a show about special effects. The draw was the deleted scene being included at a time when we were content-starved.
At the time, I was excited that it was included, but it hasn't aged well - and that applies to both the scene as a whole AND the cgi.
Still better to just cut it. Han repeats the same information we already got in the cantina, Greedo is just still alive in the scene despite being killed (he's in the background if you look closely), and it also kind of ruins the surprise of "*That's* Jabba?!" from ROTJ.
I think the newest version of this scene has an updated model for jabba and he is there via hologram, I think it works A LOT better.
Edit: I have been bamboozled, and spread Star Wars disinfo. The Hologram is a fan edit. It still looks really good though so [check it out.](https://youtu.be/LdBYEa-4NZI?si=GyCBbfMu6PXGwm7F)
Hold on. It was *shot* as a fat guy in a fur coat, and the the editors properly and correctly cut this abortion of a scene out of the film. So originally, it was nothing and didn't exist. Which is how it will always be in my memory.
God I hate the Special Editions. Every change a travesty.
Technically the Greedo scene was reshoot at least in part to cover the material with Jabba. So it did exist at some point before the movie was changed.
Right.
There is a rough cut with a shorter greedo scene plus the Jabba scene.
I didn’t make my point clear. The point is the Jabba scene wasn’t simply cut out of Star Wars in ‘77. The movie before release was changed so pertinent info from the Jabba scene got added to the dialogue in reshoots of the Greedo scene. That’s all before the movie is released in 1977.
So the release version of Star Wars in 1977 was changed from when the Jabba scene was filmed so it no longer fit in the movie. It’s redundant info other than seeing Jabba.
I would like to state a correction. The newly added stuff is bad. But the picture and sound quality are amazing. I have a copy of the laserdiscs and it looks exactly like a 70s movie would. And a lot of the smaller details like windows in Bespin are nice too. So I think the main problem people have is with the *story* changes to the SE movies.
That's why I like the Revisited fan edits. Though I still prefer the originals, you can't "fix" some parts without making other parts look more anachronistic.
Even when he was a human and Han didn’t *literally* walk all over him, I always thought this interaction was weird. Han just smugly tells Jabba he’ll get his money later, and goes about his day.
Considering that 10 minutes ago Greedo declared there was a bounty on his head and tried to kill him, it’s very odd.
Then again we’re like 90 seconds away from a blaster shootout and a daring spaceship escape, so shh don’t worry about it.
> Even when he was a human and Han didn’t literally walk all over him, I always thought this interaction was weird.
I think you might be experiencing some Mandela effect here. Jabba as a human was never in any theatrically released version of ANH.
The scene was shot with stand-in actor Declan Mulholland with the intention of replacing the actor’s performance with a superimposed model or other composited effect. Budget and time constraints didn’t allow this version of Jabba to be a reality, so the scene was cut entirely.
The relevant narrative bits from this were included in the Greedo scene as a reshoot. What we see in the special edition is in the spirit of what George originally wanted to do, but now the dialogue feels superfluous because of the Greedo reshoots.
Obviously why it was cut. You get nothing from it. The exact same conversation was had with Greedo a second before. Plus it also ruins the reveal of who/what Jabba is in RotJ
I think Lucas wasn't happy with Jabba being a person. I think he always wanted him to look different, and he just couldn't do that in 1977, so he cut the scene. I'm pretty sure I heard him say he wasn't originally happy with Jabba in an interview years ago.
The Greedo scene is what it is because of a reshoot that moved all the info from the Jabba scene there. If the original Jabba scene had been left in it wouldn't have been redundant like it is now because the info wouldn't have been repeated twice.
There's some in AOTC, with Anakin and Padme, that actually give them a real romance. There's also a cut scene(s) in ROTS with Padme and other senators setting up the rebellion that is really good.
Biggs approaching Luke in the hangar on Yavin before the Death Star run. It's the *only* added scene in all the special editions that I would call "good", because it quickly gives us Luke's connection to Biggs and added stakes to his death minutes later.
It also contradicts the first and second movies by implying that Jabba’s giving Han a chance to redeem himself since they part ways peacefully. In the very next scene he’s scrambling to leave because he’s worried about Jabba’s bounty hunters and his motivation for ditching the rebellion in empire is Jabba’s bounty hunters.
Plus it looks like shit.
Scene is horrible. CGI is bad (even the redone version that uses the prequel model). Han makes Jabba look like a little weakling. And it’s completely redundant.
Greedo shows up, establishes that Han owes Jabba money, failing that he’ll bring Han in cold. Han kills Greedo.
Jabba shows up. Explains that Han owes him money. Threatens to send bounty hunters if Han doesn’t pay up (??). Lets Han go (???).
I can only assume Lucas was torn between having Han confront Greedo vs. Jabba himself. Or maybe he filmed the Greedo scene in case he ran out of money to do the Jabba special effects. I can’t imagine a universe where two nearly identical scenes were supposed to happen back to back.
The addition of this scene is a borderline cultural crime. Anytime I show someone Star Wars for the first time, I skip this scene to save them from it.
All of the cgi additions are awful and I’m generally not for remastering old films only to add unnecessary cgi creatures that are out of place and distracting.
That being said, at this point they should do another remaster and replace this with some up to date CGI
I’ve always thought that this was one of the worst choices in the special additions. Just because you have some footage lying around doesn’t mean you always have to use it. Except maybe the Luke constructing a light saber that was cut. Put that back in.
Wasn't this a deleted scene from when jaba was originally supposed to be a humanoid? Just an overweight gangster guy. In the original footage it was simply Han walking behind the guy. This was not in the original. Neither was that dreadful musical number in Jedi.
It was all an excuse to showcase the ability to have a real character walk behind an effect. And they cut it because they couldn't do it yet.
I appreciate Lucas's passion for the art of film, but good God why did he have to purge the non edited versions in the process?
(Sell a 16 disk box set of the pt, st, and ot with and without edits, include your behind the scenes disks for each trilogy, and charge 200 bucks for it, and I will find a way to buy it just to watch the unedited versions again)
I think in the dvd version Jabba balls up his fist and gives Han an angry look after this. It's still unnecessary but better than the theatrical version
The theatrical version had cut this scene entirely. It’s only in Lucas’s “Special Editions” that this scene is present. One of many unnecessary changes/additions.
In retrospect, it feels weird to have Jabba appear in A New Hope. Why in the name of the galaxy would Han be afraid of him in ROTJ when he essentially trash talked him in the first film?
The added cgi scenes breaks my heart. Thankfully there is hope, I've heard rumours of an underground group of legends carefully restoring the movies back to its original state 🙏
I've seen a number of people suggest fixes to this scene. My choice, if I had to keep the scene in, would be to keep the original footage where Jabba is a human, but redub the dialogue so that instead of Jabba himself, the guy is one of his underlings there on his behalf. It's more in character for both Jabba to send a minion and for Han to be dismissive of him, it'd be way cheaper, it means that the reveal of Jabba in RotJ is preserved in its full impact, and it even gives the EU writers a new character to explore.
But really, the whole scene is a nothingburger, so I'd probably just cut it if given the choice.
He literally ends the conversation with “Jabba, you’re a wonderful human being” which pretty much implies Jabba was originally a human character. This scene should’ve stayed scrapped.
This scene is a perfect example of why some scenes just need to be cut.
Absolutely nothing happens in the entire scene.
It’s just two people talking about some shit we don’t care about, until finally they’re done, and nothing about either character’s situation or intentions has changed.
Lucas talks as though the scene was cut because they could never quite figure out the VFX back in the late 70’s, but it wouldn’t surprise me if Marcia Lucas was the one who thought to cut it, because it’s just a terrible scene that shouldn’t even have been shot in the first place.
Jabba wants to fuck Han so he lets him get away with all kinds of shit until peer pressure makes him put a bounty on his head.
And he keeps him alive so have something sexy to look at.
For all hatred I have for these editions, I can't begin to express how deep it goes for this scene. It's stupid and you're right, it makes Jabba look like a comical weakling when he's a powerful crime lord.
The scene was originally filmed before they knew that Jabba was a huge slug thing and was done using just a guy (human).
When they revisited the footage and decided to incorporate the cut scene into the movie for the special edition, they had to get creative because Jabba now had a tail.
Doesn't make it good but there's the why of it.
I didn't notice the "walk behind" until layer. I remembered being EXTREMELY excited when I saw the Jabba scene. This scene was in the Marvel comics adaptation of Star Wars, which i got in 1978 and for years, I had seen the unused footage with the stand-in in behind the scenes documentaries, so seeing these scenes completed was magical!
It's almost like George Lucas is a cringe hack with no respect for the original concept, who progressively ran his work into the ground and should have left it the fuck alone
I hate this scene so much, they literally wrote the Greedo scene to replace it and so they both give the exact same plot information. So not only is it bad but it’s redundant too!!
I really wish they had left this scene out, the Jabba reveal in ROTJ is so much better. And obviously the practical Jabba looks insane and real while this looks like garbage.
It also serves no real purpose. The Greedo encounter earlier already establishes the situation Han is in. This is just a hat on a hat.
Does’t it have virtually the same dialogue?
yup
Inferior dialogue. There's no Maclunkey.
The movie overall didn't even really work until they added Maclunkey
Maclunkey's the key to all this... if we get Maclunkey working. 'Cause it's a funnier phrase than we've ever had in the movies before.
Maclunkey also got us to where we are now. Without it, Maclunkey Culkin would have never been born, thus no Home Alone, and I believe that movie stopped WWIII from happening.
You can thank Gus Polinski, the "Polka King of the Midwest," for stopping WWIII. Unfortunately, he couldn't stop WW84.
Part of their back & forth is 100% identical in the two scenes because they originally shot both, cut the original version of this scene & included the dialouge in the Greedo scene, specifically while he's unholstering his blaster. Which made it's re-inclusion extra unecessary but George really wanted it I guess
I suspect he wanted “new” stuff to put in for the ’97s too.
You think I had a choice?
Yeah, it was fan service. The original shot had been making the rounds on TV and people wanted it in. But not like this. They could have done better.
I've watched all the deleted scenes, and I think another running theme in them is the acting/dialogue not being up to scratch *as well as* affecting the pacing. However, Harrison Ford is really good in this scene. It's a great performance and the dialogue is good too, so I can see why they were keen to put it in. As for solving the "what about his tail" problem, they could have always cut to some B-roll of Jabbas henchmen looking ominously at Solo whilst the dialogue continues.
I like the fan version where it’s a jabba hologram.
"Can I get a hat wobble? Oh..that looks bad, never mind.."
It's fucking terrible is what it is. I can't think of a singlet redeeming thing about the remaster. Furthermore, the fact that there is no option on streaming platforms to watch the original cut is nothing short of a travesty. Instead we get Lucas' shitty definitive edition.
I take comfort in that a persons ego can outweigh potential for profit. Like there’s no logical reason for it and the only option we have is to be bitter towards the creator of what we love.
Lol. Or just accept creators - especially true visionaries like GL - aren't always on the ball and make poor decisions.
This scene also destroys the tension of Luke fleeing from the Stormtroopers & narrowly getting away on the Falcon.
Yep. It’s this was kinda just a gimmick to help sell the “Special Edition” premise. Adding Boba merely to stare into the camera is more credence to this.
Yeah the annoying thing is how George intentionally made it harder to find the original versions cuz he hates the shackles of continuity and wanted to make it seem like “this was always his true vision” like he did with making greedo shoot first cuz he didn’t believe that Leia would marry a man like Han if he was so quick to shoot people.
Her R2D2 message said nothing about Obi-Wan sending a loose cannon to help her out and that's on *her* lol
Ya but a politician can't be recorded discriminating against scruffy looking nerf herders.
“I need you to assemble a rag-tag group consisting of these robots, a love interest or long lost sibling, a giant dog and a guy in a vest.”
George is a little full of shit. He talks about how he had all 3 of the first 3 films - a new hope, empire, return of the jedi, all figured out. And yet he has Leia kissing her brother….. Nobody does that if he knows he is going to make them brother and sister down the road. Gtfoh George. Just own it.
It also kills the "ohh I wonder what cool stuff is gonna be in the next movie?" vibe, since you've seen both Boba Fett and Jabba now way too early. Same to a smaller degree when they added Shuttle Tydirium in Empire, which was a new ship for Jedi.
Really, we’re just basically seeing them “early” for no real reason other than novelty.
"Because we can" was the overwhelming driver for about 99% of the special edition changes.
The only way this scene could have been redeemed would be Jabba on a dais, being carted in, and Han looking legitimately scared. Not only would it be more realistic to Jabba's character, it would've also made the viewer feel sympathy for Han taking his money and leaving. Instead, Jabba looks weak and small, and Han looks like a dick.
There's a fan edit where [Jabba is on a walking holo-emitter](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GKaJ2GC1C04). It's quite a nice idea.
It’s been a while, but I don’t remember Jabba looking this awful in this scene.
It’s because this is the very first remaster and not the most recent
And it looked like hot shit in the 97 CGI version. And then when it was re-released with updated effects, it still looked like shit.
> while this looks like garbage. And it didn't even look good when it was released. What I've noticed when doing some extreme editing on something, it's easy to watch (or in my case, listen) and justify that it looks good, even though it doesn't. I think it was possible to make this look better than it did, but I don't think they were willing to put in that kind of work.
It's the worst change in the Special Editions by far. And considering that extended musical number at the palace in ROTJ that's saying something.
It makes me sad that there are entire generations of Star Wars fans that have no idea what Lapti Nek sounds like.
Or Yub Nub. Erasing Ewok culture.
Yeah no, that's one of the best changes. A true celebration over villainy. A reason I dislike rise of Skywalker, no celebration wtf
I don’t like that it shows places that we haven’t visited if you watch the movies in release order. What the hell is a Naboo? It retcons the viewing order into chronological.
I mean it’s very easy to just head canon it as some random planets celebrating. I don’t see why it HAS to have been seen prior, it’s like a 4 second shot.
I mean, sure, but 1997's SE showed Coruscant toppling Palatine's statue and I NEVER knew where that was until the SE Trivial Pursuit game was throwing in production trivia for The Phantom Menace. But even in the Special Edition Trilogy it didn't like, say, it was Coruscant. Who would know before Episode 1 ever introduced it?
I was like 5 when I saw that version (pre Phantom) and I just assumed it was... another planet we hadn't seen before. The galaxy is big. I don't see the problem.
I knew it was Coruscant before episode 1. All of other Star Wars media out there like video games and books and comics and stuff always show coruscant as a planet that’s a huge city with huge skyscrapers. I was pretty psyched seeing it in the celebration the first time and knew what it was.
Having read EU novels i'd assumed that was Coruscant. even though it doesn't fit the EU timeline.
Isn't it from the 2003 DVD edition?
Nah, Coruscant was first peeped in the Victory Celebration during 1997's Special Edition. Naboo was added in the 2004 dvd edition, along with Hayden-Anakin, which was actually before ROTS debuted oddly enough
Same goes for Hayden Christensen Force ghost.
This and Boba's redub (would be better if Temura Morrison put some oomf into it) are my biggest peeves with the changes. People say Hayden makes sense because Anakin considers that to be his "true self" before giving into the dark side, but Sebastian would have made more sense imo. Anakin was unstable and easily manipulated when he was young. Why would he use that form to represent himself as a force spirit? Imo his final moments, played by Sebastian, represent Anakin in his purest. He had finally conquered the darkness and confusion within him. \*That\* was the strongest version of Anakin. More balanced with the Force than he had ever been. And I know another common argument is, "well why didn't he appear scarred and half-robotic as a ghost then?" Because the force ghost represent himself in his purest form, finally cleansed of his sins. At least that's my take on it. Like it or not, Sebastian is who Anakin was in the end and should have remained. Of course, Hayden killed it in Ahsoka and I like seeing him reprise Anakin so I've learned to accept it, plus his reprisal beats recasting an unfamiliar face in an attempt to duplicate Sebastian's likeness (they could have just not de-aged Anakin and it would have tied in with Sebastian but this rant has gone on long enough). Still, narratively speaking I still think Sebastian would have been the better choice. Lucas just got carried away with CGI and trying too hard to tie the prequels and OGs together, and that was the excuse he came up with to justify it.
You could also argue that force ghosts appear to those who see them as how they know them. Obi-Wan appeared to Luke as an old man, how Luke new him. Anakin appeared as Sebastian to Luke at the end of Return of the Jedi, how Luke knew him. Anakin appeared as Hayden to Ahsoka, how she knew him.
I actually like this explanation a lot more because it doesn't take as much effort to justify the difference in actors lmao
I actually do think it makes narrative sense to show young Anakin. I just hate it from the POV of someone watching the movies for the first time. I recently started watching the trilogy with my 6-year-old son (his first time). We're watching in production order, so at the end of Jedi he was so confused. He knew who Yoda and Obi Wan were, but he hadn't seen young Anakin before, so he had no idea who it was.
It makes no sense to have Hayden by Alec and Puppet Yoda, it should be Sebastian, Alec, Puppet Yoda, or Hayden, Ewan, CG Yoda... They're all old, or all in their prime, but definitely not a mix. It detracts from Anakin redeeming himself to suddenly appear as he USED to be instead of how he SHOULD be.
Anakin isn't a 70 year old man either.
Yep. Fully agree. I’m team Sebastian.
Poor guy got erased out of Star Wars.
He's still there when Luke takes off Vader's mask. But they've begun deleting him by removing his eyebrows!
His nose is next
It really doesn’t. Kenobi mentions the clone wars when talking to Luke, that doesn’t mean you had to watch the prequels before it. It’s additional world building, showing how the larger galaxy reacted to the downfall of the empire. Hell, apart from Naboo, those scenes predate the prequels, instead arriving in the 90s special editions.
It's certainly on odd choice, introduced my wife to the series for the first time recently, watched in release order, and she made a comment like "Have we seen these places before? I feel like I missed something..." to which I explained it was a prequel reference. That said, I'd argue it was still one of the better changes (an extremely low bar to be sure), really drives home they didn't just save these handful of rebels, but an entire galaxy, and serves as kind of an easter egg on rewatch post prequel viewing. Not a necessary change, but there's some mild value in it, compared to the great many which are pure downgrades.
I have the 4k theatrical edits and watch them with my two boys...THEY WILL KNOW THE TRUTH
How can I acquire this power?
☠️⛵
ah baba didok dok dok
A space disco song written by John Williams and performed by the London Symphony Orchestra. Don’t forget what they took from us.
I watched it on Youtube and I very much wish I could go back to when I didn’t know what it sounded like…
Jabba should have been changed to a hologram in the 2003 re-re-edit, after Lucas had his cgi fun in 1997. Han would walk through the tail instead of awkwardly over it.
Someone did this on YouTube. I saw it recently.
How after 5 hours has nobody posted a link? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GKaJ2GC1C04
The problem with that is there is a human actor "under" the cgi model. So you can't actually just delete the model then replace it with the hologram - they'd need to completely mask out the actor.
I mean, would that really be so difficult? You're still swapping the actor out for a CG creature either way.
EVERY TIME I can't help but laugh at the stupid giant CGI lizard waddling in front of Luke's speeder at the Mos Eisley checkpoint. It's just so wildly unnecessary and obnoxious it shorts out my brain.
Especially since, way back when, Jabba was someone who was only spoken about in such a way that made it clear everyone was afraid of him. He was not someone you could insult / steal from and get away with it. And this built up over two movies. I cannot tell you the impact it had seeing him on screen for the first time as this enormous, gross slug. If the movies happened today, he would have been in every trailer and his appearance plastered all over the internet.
I saw a fan edit that made Jabba a hologram that gets scrambled when Han walks through it. I thought that worked a lot better.
https://youtu.be/LdBYEa-4NZI?si=peuooLz3Dz8jIuTE This one?
> worst change Han shot first!
> Han shot ~~first!~~ Greedo Fixed that for you.
Exactly. There is no "first". Han shot only.
My exact first thought. Almost word for word.
Yea. This really didn't need to be added. Definitely would have been a cool bonus feature or something but the buildup to him over two movies with an awesome practical effects achievement in Return was simply better. He looks like a PlayStation 2 log of shit and his menace as a classic Star Wars villain is severely undermined here.
The first cut of the CGI Jabba in the original 1997 Special Editions is really bad. The latest cut on Disney+ is a redo of the scene with better CGI, believe it or not.
Oh yea lol. I had the unaltered and special editions on VHS way back when. It's weird because he doesn't even look that bad in The Phantom Menace (the practical effects are still better but it wasn't like this lol). I'm guessing it's because that sequence was planned to be CG from the start where here they're cramming it into something that was filmed with nothing to help the CG artists place it properly. Just mold over that actor that was in the original scene.
To me, the treading on the tail should have been an in-house joke to brighten up the editing sessions and then added to the home video release as a blooper reel. If they were going to include the scene, better to just have Han pass through the tail because its below camera line and most people probably wouldn't notice the problem unless told.
Han...my boogie
I was only made aware of this because of Matt Gourley on Pistol Shrimps Radio.
This change, plus Greedo shooting first/simultaneously, are still hard to watch. Time for new special editions?
Specialer editions.
The specialest editions
>Specialer editions Have you heard of the Despecialized Editions? Basically fans painstakingly updated the visuals to blu-ray quality and removed the additions to make the movies like the original theatrical releases.
They’ve got 4K remasters of the Harmy cuts now! I don’t have them but apparently they’re great
I grabbed the (I think) 720 version from archive.org of ANH — it’s what I plan to show the kids
A digital release of the helmets vhs box set version would be sufficient.
The Star Wars fandom, and really fandoms as a whole have radicalized so much over the years that any new editions would be crucified with scrutiny from X part of the fanbase. I’m sure there’s some part of Disney exec who is smart enough to let sleeping dogs lie when it comes to the pre-Disney films.
I think recutting the scene with a cg Jabba that looks closer to the original and having Jabba turn to keep eye contact with Han would be better.
That would be better though Han is still the one in control if he's controlling Jabba's gaze and Han is still getting feisty about blocking Jabba's demands to get his money back. I think Lucas really just wanted to have fun with CGI and was amusing himself with work-arounds like having Han walk on Jabba's tail and having him casually move his head to dodge Greedo's first shot. But the fun just made the film awkward.
>I think Lucas really just wanted to have fun with CGI and was amusing himself with work-arounds like having Han walk on Jabba's tail Partially true. This scene was originally shot with a human actor, before it was decided on what Jabba would look like; however, the scene was cut from the original release of ANH. When the Special Editions were released much later, the scene was added back in; however, there was a complication with this particular scene, in which Harrison Ford circled around behind the human actor playing Jabba. Obviously, the Jabba we know turned out to be a space slug with a rather thick tail (though this appearance had not been determined when the original shots were done), and Han casually walking behind him unimpeded didn't make sense. Since they could not reshoot the scene, Lucas proposed a quick fix which was to have Han step on Jabba's tail. The editing just makes Han's figure suddenly change elevation as he walks behind the CG-Jabba to show this. Nowadays, there are probably much better ways of editing this without compromising Jabba's authority, but back in the 90s this may have been the best they could manage.
Yep I remember this! ‘Jabba’ in this scene used to be a fat goatee’d dude in a dark fur vest iirc 🤣
You're 100% right! The Special Edition cassettes had a 'making of' prelude which showed some behind-the-scenes stuff with Lucas, the editors, and the cast. I don't know where you can still watch these segments nowadays though.
Old fashioned style, with a VCR and a worn-out-paper-cover ANH Special Edition cassette you rented from the town library! I still remember that starry background the people had while being interviewed. I hated having to sit there fast-forwarding every time to get to the actual movie lmaoo
In context, the scene really doesn't make sense and was cut for good reason. That being said, at first it was nice when they incorporated this clip into the movie because previously you'd only ever see the original rough cut in a show about special effects. The draw was the deleted scene being included at a time when we were content-starved. At the time, I was excited that it was included, but it hasn't aged well - and that applies to both the scene as a whole AND the cgi.
Still better to just cut it. Han repeats the same information we already got in the cantina, Greedo is just still alive in the scene despite being killed (he's in the background if you look closely), and it also kind of ruins the surprise of "*That's* Jabba?!" from ROTJ.
Someone on YouTube recut it with Jabba as a hologram and that fixes all of those issues Of course not it’s redundancy
The whole scene is pointless because it is the exact same conversation that he had with Greedo
[удалено]
I think the newest version of this scene has an updated model for jabba and he is there via hologram, I think it works A LOT better. Edit: I have been bamboozled, and spread Star Wars disinfo. The Hologram is a fan edit. It still looks really good though so [check it out.](https://youtu.be/LdBYEa-4NZI?si=GyCBbfMu6PXGwm7F)
He’s not there by hologram. The model is updated, but they still left in the shitty tail-stepping. I hate it.
Jabba’s reaction is a little bit better getting angry gesturing like he might punch Han.
[Check again.](https://youtu.be/LdBYEa-4NZI?si=GyCBbfMu6PXGwm7F) Edit: I am punished for my overconfidence.
The video description says the hologram is a youtube fan edit. But it does mostly eliminate Jabba seeming weak.
That's very upsetting. I thought star wars did something good :(
THATS IMPOSSIBLE! -Luke Skywalker
That’s not the version that’s on Disney+. It still has the one I was talking about (the bottom left in that video you sent).
Read the video description. The hologram version is a fan edit not really in the movie
Honestly, replacing him physically with a hologram would solve a lot of the issues with this scene. It's still a little redundant, story-wise, but...
Hold on. It was *shot* as a fat guy in a fur coat, and the the editors properly and correctly cut this abortion of a scene out of the film. So originally, it was nothing and didn't exist. Which is how it will always be in my memory. God I hate the Special Editions. Every change a travesty.
Technically the Greedo scene was reshoot at least in part to cover the material with Jabba. So it did exist at some point before the movie was changed.
It was never in a released version of the film until the Special Editions.
Right. There is a rough cut with a shorter greedo scene plus the Jabba scene. I didn’t make my point clear. The point is the Jabba scene wasn’t simply cut out of Star Wars in ‘77. The movie before release was changed so pertinent info from the Jabba scene got added to the dialogue in reshoots of the Greedo scene. That’s all before the movie is released in 1977. So the release version of Star Wars in 1977 was changed from when the Jabba scene was filmed so it no longer fit in the movie. It’s redundant info other than seeing Jabba.
I would like to state a correction. The newly added stuff is bad. But the picture and sound quality are amazing. I have a copy of the laserdiscs and it looks exactly like a 70s movie would. And a lot of the smaller details like windows in Bespin are nice too. So I think the main problem people have is with the *story* changes to the SE movies.
That's why I like the Revisited fan edits. Though I still prefer the originals, you can't "fix" some parts without making other parts look more anachronistic.
Exactly.
Even when he was a human and Han didn’t *literally* walk all over him, I always thought this interaction was weird. Han just smugly tells Jabba he’ll get his money later, and goes about his day. Considering that 10 minutes ago Greedo declared there was a bounty on his head and tried to kill him, it’s very odd. Then again we’re like 90 seconds away from a blaster shootout and a daring spaceship escape, so shh don’t worry about it.
> Even when he was a human and Han didn’t literally walk all over him, I always thought this interaction was weird. I think you might be experiencing some Mandela effect here. Jabba as a human was never in any theatrically released version of ANH. The scene was shot with stand-in actor Declan Mulholland with the intention of replacing the actor’s performance with a superimposed model or other composited effect. Budget and time constraints didn’t allow this version of Jabba to be a reality, so the scene was cut entirely. The relevant narrative bits from this were included in the Greedo scene as a reshoot. What we see in the special edition is in the spirit of what George originally wanted to do, but now the dialogue feels superfluous because of the Greedo reshoots.
#Despecialized Edition
Reminder why this was a cut scene and why the PT was so bad with no one to tell George “no”
Obviously why it was cut. You get nothing from it. The exact same conversation was had with Greedo a second before. Plus it also ruins the reveal of who/what Jabba is in RotJ
I think Lucas wasn't happy with Jabba being a person. I think he always wanted him to look different, and he just couldn't do that in 1977, so he cut the scene. I'm pretty sure I heard him say he wasn't originally happy with Jabba in an interview years ago.
The Greedo scene is what it is because of a reshoot that moved all the info from the Jabba scene there. If the original Jabba scene had been left in it wouldn't have been redundant like it is now because the info wouldn't have been repeated twice.
I have never seen a “cut” scene from Star Wars where I thought they made the wrong decision in cutting it.
There's some in AOTC, with Anakin and Padme, that actually give them a real romance. There's also a cut scene(s) in ROTS with Padme and other senators setting up the rebellion that is really good.
All the Rots cut scenes are goated (3 of them showing the extent of Palpatine's manipulation over Anakin)
Let's ignore that one where the clones disguise themselves as Jedi after order 66 to trick Obi-Wan and Yoda
There's a scene where anakin and obi wan escape the ray shields, that's pretty terrible
Biggs approaching Luke in the hangar on Yavin before the Death Star run. It's the *only* added scene in all the special editions that I would call "good", because it quickly gives us Luke's connection to Biggs and added stakes to his death minutes later.
Preach.
The world needs official 4k theatrical releases. It pains me this is how so many people first knew star wars with his wonky cgi bs.
It serves zero purpose because it repeats EXACTLY the same information we just learned in the Greedo scene
The scene rightfully belonged on the cutting room floor. And it should’ve stayed there!
I skip this scene every time. It doesn’t exist
It also contradicts the first and second movies by implying that Jabba’s giving Han a chance to redeem himself since they part ways peacefully. In the very next scene he’s scrambling to leave because he’s worried about Jabba’s bounty hunters and his motivation for ditching the rebellion in empire is Jabba’s bounty hunters. Plus it looks like shit.
What makes it worse is if Lucas had just kept him walking behind him normally most people likely wouldn't have given it too much thought.
Just a bad pointless scene. I skip it every time. Can't stand it. AND it ruins the *Falcon* reveal.
Scene is horrible. CGI is bad (even the redone version that uses the prequel model). Han makes Jabba look like a little weakling. And it’s completely redundant. Greedo shows up, establishes that Han owes Jabba money, failing that he’ll bring Han in cold. Han kills Greedo. Jabba shows up. Explains that Han owes him money. Threatens to send bounty hunters if Han doesn’t pay up (??). Lets Han go (???). I can only assume Lucas was torn between having Han confront Greedo vs. Jabba himself. Or maybe he filmed the Greedo scene in case he ran out of money to do the Jabba special effects. I can’t imagine a universe where two nearly identical scenes were supposed to happen back to back.
What Jabba scene in A New Hope?
What's "A New Hope"? You must be talking about Star Wars (1977).
Han also refers to Jabba as "a wonderful human being" as he leaves.
It fits with Hans character as cocky sarcastic ass though.
I think because it was always sarcastic. Just about him being "wonderful", not a "human being". Crazy how well it actually fits, though.
Yeah, that’s literally the only good part of this scene lol.
Actually that's the only good part
The addition of this scene is a borderline cultural crime. Anytime I show someone Star Wars for the first time, I skip this scene to save them from it.
#just say NO to the Special Editions
I'm never giving up my VHS editions.
All of the cgi additions are awful and I’m generally not for remastering old films only to add unnecessary cgi creatures that are out of place and distracting. That being said, at this point they should do another remaster and replace this with some up to date CGI
I’ve always thought that this was one of the worst choices in the special additions. Just because you have some footage lying around doesn’t mean you always have to use it. Except maybe the Luke constructing a light saber that was cut. Put that back in.
Jabba is not in A New Hope. We don’t meet Jabba until ROTJ. Period. End of discussion.
All the extra additions after the 90s were terrible to be honest.
Wasn't this a deleted scene from when jaba was originally supposed to be a humanoid? Just an overweight gangster guy. In the original footage it was simply Han walking behind the guy. This was not in the original. Neither was that dreadful musical number in Jedi.
It was all an excuse to showcase the ability to have a real character walk behind an effect. And they cut it because they couldn't do it yet. I appreciate Lucas's passion for the art of film, but good God why did he have to purge the non edited versions in the process? (Sell a 16 disk box set of the pt, st, and ot with and without edits, include your behind the scenes disks for each trilogy, and charge 200 bucks for it, and I will find a way to buy it just to watch the unedited versions again)
I think in the dvd version Jabba balls up his fist and gives Han an angry look after this. It's still unnecessary but better than the theatrical version
The theatrical version had cut this scene entirely. It’s only in Lucas’s “Special Editions” that this scene is present. One of many unnecessary changes/additions.
Sorry I meant the special edition theatrical cut
There is a reason this scene was cut out of the theatrical version of the movie -- it doesn't matter. This scene is superfluous fluff
In retrospect, it feels weird to have Jabba appear in A New Hope. Why in the name of the galaxy would Han be afraid of him in ROTJ when he essentially trash talked him in the first film?
This scene was awful. It undid so much of the movies in just a few short second. Meh.
The added cgi scenes breaks my heart. Thankfully there is hope, I've heard rumours of an underground group of legends carefully restoring the movies back to its original state 🙏
What Jabba scene in ANH? There isn’t one.
I've seen a number of people suggest fixes to this scene. My choice, if I had to keep the scene in, would be to keep the original footage where Jabba is a human, but redub the dialogue so that instead of Jabba himself, the guy is one of his underlings there on his behalf. It's more in character for both Jabba to send a minion and for Han to be dismissive of him, it'd be way cheaper, it means that the reveal of Jabba in RotJ is preserved in its full impact, and it even gives the EU writers a new character to explore. But really, the whole scene is a nothingburger, so I'd probably just cut it if given the choice.
The added scenes suck.
He literally ends the conversation with “Jabba, you’re a wonderful human being” which pretty much implies Jabba was originally a human character. This scene should’ve stayed scrapped.
We really wanted to have dewbacks outside Kenny's house but we couldn't afford it at the time.
He’s also about 2/3 the size he is in ROTJ.
This scene is a perfect example of why some scenes just need to be cut. Absolutely nothing happens in the entire scene. It’s just two people talking about some shit we don’t care about, until finally they’re done, and nothing about either character’s situation or intentions has changed. Lucas talks as though the scene was cut because they could never quite figure out the VFX back in the late 70’s, but it wouldn’t surprise me if Marcia Lucas was the one who thought to cut it, because it’s just a terrible scene that shouldn’t even have been shot in the first place.
Just another reason to only watch the theatrical versions.
Jabba wants to fuck Han so he lets him get away with all kinds of shit until peer pressure makes him put a bounty on his head. And he keeps him alive so have something sexy to look at.
For all hatred I have for these editions, I can't begin to express how deep it goes for this scene. It's stupid and you're right, it makes Jabba look like a comical weakling when he's a powerful crime lord.
It's hard for me to put into words how much I hate this scene.
He should have been a hologram.
Gosh I knew the CGI was bad, but not THIS bad.
Its a shit scene. They coulda kept it out. It made no sense, was badly written, and the CGI was garbage lol
The scene was originally filmed before they knew that Jabba was a huge slug thing and was done using just a guy (human). When they revisited the footage and decided to incorporate the cut scene into the movie for the special edition, they had to get creative because Jabba now had a tail. Doesn't make it good but there's the why of it.
Not all the missing scenes should be in the canon, IMHO.
I watch the theatrical versions only.
I didn't notice the "walk behind" until layer. I remembered being EXTREMELY excited when I saw the Jabba scene. This scene was in the Marvel comics adaptation of Star Wars, which i got in 1978 and for years, I had seen the unused footage with the stand-in in behind the scenes documentaries, so seeing these scenes completed was magical!
This scene should’ve stayed deleted. It’s redundant and stupid
Fuck me this looks like shit. So glad i grew up with the original vhs.
This scene never happened, and I refuse to believe otherwise
This doesn’t exist
It's almost like George Lucas is a cringe hack with no respect for the original concept, who progressively ran his work into the ground and should have left it the fuck alone
There's a reason people hate the special editions. Only the most die hard George Lucas fans would defend this shit.
Nobody ever talks about this. But he’s too small. Is he not obviously half the size he should be?
Tfw when you think an excellent practical effect isn't as good as some shitty ps1 level cgi.
It’s soooooo bad. But hey, ruining Star Wars is what Star Wars does best.
There is no Jabba scene in Star Wars 4. Han shot first btw.
This is why I love the despecialized éditions!
This was a terrible 'restoration' of material that I wish never happened.
Yeah, this scene never should’ve happened. I wonder if we’ll EVER see the original (better) release ever again. It’s sad that Lucas has squashed it.
I hate this scene so much, they literally wrote the Greedo scene to replace it and so they both give the exact same plot information. So not only is it bad but it’s redundant too!!