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delsyn@msn.com writes:
I loved your article about the Star Wars Trilogy -- especially the bit about how you relive your young child emotions when you watch them. I would disagree with you in one area; you said at the end of the piece that the new additions to the films didn't fundamentally add anything to the films. In fact I though two scenes in particular actually detracted from the arc of the storyline.
First the scene in the cantina in which Han Solo shoots Greedo. In the new edition Lucas put in an animation in which Greedo shoots at Han Solo first. I though this not only destroyed the humor and excitement of the scene (a scene that was echoed in Raiders of the Lost Arkwhen Indy shot the sword-wielding bandit) but also damaged the development of the character. Part of what I enjoyed about Han Solo was his development from an amoral money-grubbing pirate into an honorable general and leader of the Rebellion. That scene should have been the last time we saw the "old" Han Solo, and should be the baseline from which we watch the development of the character.
Second was the scene on Cloud City in which Luke decides to let go of the beam and fall, presumably to his death, rather than give himself over to the Dark Side. In the original version, Luke gets a resigned and peaceful look on his face and falls in absolute silence. I always thought that that was the moment when he became a true Jedi, when he let go and, to quote Ben Kenobi, "took his first step into a larger world." The restored edition has a high-pitched scream accompanying Luke's fall, totally destroying the emotional heft of the scene.
In conclusion, it's really sad that we can analyze these films to death like this, but as I've always said, you can't have that many members of a generation all doing the same thing at the same time and not generate an aftershock of nostalgia twenty years later. Basically Star Wars was our generation's Vietnam.

The Flick Filosopher responds:
Those new added bits with Luke and Han bother me too, but I'm not sure that they fundamentally change anything. They're annoying and unnecessary, yes, but they didn't rock the foundations of the Star Wars universe. And we can always ignore them. The original editions of the films are still around.
I know you're being a bit facetious about the Vietnam thing, but I bet lots of veterans would have a thing or two to say about that.

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MaryAnn Johanson.
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