Junto Boys

STAR WARS DVD

There was a big controversy in the 1980s when Ted Turner began colorizing films. Woody Allen testified in Congress. Orson Welles told Ted Turner to keep his crayons off his films etc. I didn't understand the hoopla. They weren't eliminating the classic B&W versions. Colorization meant that the best prints of the the film to be colorized were brought together in one place in order to eliminate the bad frames in any one print. The result was that many classic films were restored for one reason but utilized in another. A few years later when Turner began releasing the classics on VHS, the boxes said "In Glorious Black and White." Just like New Coke made Coke Classic an even stronger brand, Turner's colorization made people think about and appreciate black and white. I read once that Casablanca sold only 1,000 colorized copies. I don't know what kind of ratings the colorized films got on TV, but it would seem that colorization was a bust financially.

I say all that to ask why no one is upset at what George Lucas has done to the Star Wars films. In some ways he has improved them. Many of the visual effects look sharper and many of the masking flaws have been cleaned up. Good idea. But other parts of the films have been altered for content or just the sake of change.

The added scene in which Han Solo meets Jabba the Hut in the original Star Wars is useless. He looks like a cartoon and acts like a Godfather parody. The way his eyes get big when Han steps on his tail would have been better suited to a Ren and Stimpy segment. His very presence in episode four ruins the anticipation of seeing him in the final film. On top of that, the bit is a rehash of the scene between Greedo and Han in the Cantina. In short, the scene is not only fivalous but cheapens the film and the series as a whole dramatically.

For as bad a choice as the added Jabba scene may be, the scene between Greedo and Han in the Cantina is even more objectionable. Lucas became bothered that Han shot Greedo the way he did. Of course Greedo has a gun aimed at Han point blank and even says that he's been waiting a long time for this before Hans pulls the trigger and saves himself. No matter, because Lucas now sees it as a cold blooded killing. Was it any more cold-blooded than when Indiana Jones pulls out his gun and kills the swordsman in Raider of the Lost Ark? Anyway, Lucas adds a ridiculous effect that shows Greedo shooting at Han first and missing, although Ray Charles wouldn't have missed from that distance. Now Hans is supposed to be justified in killing the gremlin looking monster because the monster shot first. Since this is the first scene in the series that shows Han as a take-action guy, it gives an entirely new spin on the events that are to come later.

Originally we're introduced to Han the rogue who is only interested in saving his own skin, and we gradually see him change into a guy who believes in the cause. This character has a great tradition in movie history. It's Bogie from Casblanca repackaged in space. What if Ted Turner wanted to go back and have Bogie try to save Peter Lorre at the beginning of that movie to make him look more human? Let's cut that "I stick my neck out for nobody" line. That's practically what Lucas has done here. We get the less cold and therefore more easy-to-convert Han in the new fashionable Lucas version.

Does Lucas have the right to do this? Yes. He owns the movies and can do whatever he wants. Ted Turner had the same rights to alter the films he owned. Maybe Lucas has a greater right because he created the films he's altering, but his damage is greater. Turner's altering resulted in a better version of the originals, Lucas has vowed that the original films will never be released on DVD. He wants to wipe them out.

Lucas is a sad case. He made a series of classic films when he was young and ambitious. He then created the most famous special effects company in movie history. His reputation was set and then he decided to continue the Star Wars series in the late 1990s. Not a bad idea, but instead of letting someone else direct the films like he did with EMPIRE and JEDI, he decided to do it himself. The result is an incoherant mess. Too much CGI, poor acting, and weak storylines that makes it seem impossible that he can weave this third film in a way that matches what is to come in the the classic three. I think he knows he can't do it and that's why he changed the end of JEDI to place Hayden Christensen ghost where the old English actor use to reside. He's got to do everything he can to remind us that these movies go together.

I don't care that he wants to weave the six films as one. I just wish he would let the old films stand on their own as well. He should release both versions like Turner did. Let the marketplace decide which version of the films are better. Lucas is being stingy when he insists that we can only watch the version he like best today.

UPDATE: Jonathan Last goes even further than I