Hell predates Christianity. The Christians picked it up from the Platonic Greeks, who used “Hel” as the name for the realm where all dead people went, good and bad.
I rented the first Star Wars DVD from Netflix to see if, despite all the changes, it was worth buying. My decision was no, it wasn’t. For, you see, despite all Lucas’ rights to modify and all the fanbases’ complaints, what I want to do is sit down and be immersed in a film. With all the revisions, I can no longer do that.
One of the things that I immensly liked about Star Wars was how real it felt. It didn’t look animated, faked, or anything. I liked how the robots looked real, the shots of some of the ships looked like they were actually there, and how aliens looked alien. Sure, their skin looked a bit rubbery, but it’s easier for me to believe that an alien might have rubbery skin than computer generated skin.
It’s jarring to see a computer generated image next to something that looks more realistic. CGI is basically animation and I always seem to be able to distinguish it from real shots in a Star Wars flick for some reason. Adding shots of obviously computer-animated items throughout the movie removes the immersive reality and makes it difficult to watch. It’s like going to see your favorite artwork and find that someone has scribbled graffiti all over it.
“Your Honor, I argue that even though Dan Rather – I mean, George Lucas – did submit forged documents into evidence about this case, it does not change the essential facts. Greedo had a weapon pointed at Han Solo and made a verbal threat to kill him. This clearly constitutes justifiable use of lethal force in self-defense, whether or not Greedo fired the first shot. In my opinion, no DA in the galaxy would have even filed charges.”
I am surprised that nobody has mentioned that in the DVD SE of ESB, at the showdown between Luke and Vader when Luke drops off the vane (or whatever you want to call it) he does not scream in the DVD SE release, like he did in the theatrical and VHS release of the SE. I actually used to put my fingers in my ears and la la la when I watched the SE on VHS and this happened. I like the silent defiance better.
As for the scene with Han and Jabba in ANH, I have never liked it. I saw SW for the first time in '77 when I was 7. I heard about Jabba in ANH and through ESB and lived in fear of Jabba until (and even when) I finally saw him in ROTJ. To me, to introduce him in ANH takes a lot of his impending ominence away. I have known for years that the scene was filmed using a human actor as Jabba, but to have it in there took something away. Then there was Boba Fett following him. I didn’t like that either. Fanboy stuff, there.
I didn’t really mind the scene at the end of ROTJ with Christianson as Anakin’s ghost. It was a surprise.
I still don’t think that explains why Han Solo knows what it is.
No one said that Han Solo knew the word hell but that doesn’t mean he doesn’t understand the concept of wishing your enemy to die and go to a bad place even at the expense of you going as well. As others said Han could have said something like “see you ing gaarsh!-hübbotha” but people might have thought they were planning to meet at the mall. Using common language helps the story flow better for the audience. Think about it, if it really was a long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away would anyone have spoken english?
I’m surprised that Lucas didn’t correct some of Yoda’s dialogue in tESB to make his subject/verb placement more consistent.