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Khuutra on 18 December 2011
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coolbeans said:
Khuutra said:


I think it's interesting to see how Lucas's ideas of acceptable characterization and storytelling change as he ages, though. The Han vs. Greedo scene is probably the best in the franchise for that; thirty-some years ago, Han shooting Greedo in the guts was daring and radical, a way to establish that even if he was a joking rogue, Han Solo was someone that you did not mess with. He had that air of potential ruthlessness to him, and it was established in that first scene.

The revision just shows that Lucas no longer finds that characterization acceptable, which is an interesting change - more interesting in Lucas than in Solo, though.

Certainly, but I don't consider this flucuation surprising given how the character changes like a heartbeat moniter in Empire to Return.  Even when looking at the scene now, it's not like the change isn't in his character: from shoot first, pay bartender to charging weapon for split-second self-defence. 

I'm not saying criticism can't be handed to some of Lucas' divisive moves with the series especially when considering how prominent a figure he was for 'keeping with the original motion picture' back in the 80's (I think).  But can any SW fan honestly say that Lucas' changes have gone so far as to even deficate the series as a whole?  He's just as much a fan of his own work as we are, and I think we can all agree we enjoy tinkering with some of our own ideas.


There's no question that some of this feeling comes down to the question of ownership of Star Wars, and that to many fans they feel that the viewers own the work, rather than Lucas. Lucas, of course, holds the opposite stance.

I don't think the whole thing would be that big of a deal, except that Lucas has repeatedly gone out of his way to make it harder to obtain the theatrical cuts of the films, especially in higher-end formats like DVD and blu-ray. It's definitely his series, but I can't blame fans for being angry when they don't get what they want.