# So let me get this straight. Han \*never\* shot first? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 11, 2012, 7:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-let-me-get-this-straight-han-never-shot-first/612505 "2012-02-11T07:06:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![standingwave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9de0a6/32.png) [@standingwave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/standingwave)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2012, 7:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-let-me-get-this-straight-han-never-shot-first/612505/1 "2012-02-11T07:06:42Z")
Well, I’m glad that’s settled. :smack: > [@](#): > > In a [2012 interview with The Hollywood Reporter](http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/heat-vision/george-lucas-star-wars-interview-288523), Lucas altered his previous statements by announcing that **Greedo had always shot first** - stating that a combination of bad close-up shots and the audiences’ inaccurate perception of the Han Solo character was what actually caused all the confusion: “The controversy over who shot first, Greedo or Han Solo, in Episode IV, what I did was try to clean up the confusion, but obviously it upset people because they wanted Solo [who seemed to be the one who shot first in the original] to be a cold-blooded killer, but he actually isn’t. It had been done in all close-ups and it was confusing about who did what to whom. I put a little wider shot in there that made it clear that Greedo is the one who shot first, but everyone wanted to think that Han shot first, because they wanted to think that he actually just gunned him down.”([wiki](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Han_shot_first#George_Lucas.27_rationale)) ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2012, 7:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-let-me-get-this-straight-han-never-shot-first/612505/2 "2012-02-11T07:12:20Z")
What’s wrong with Han being a cold-blooded killer? Has Lucas lost all testosterone in his dotage? ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2012, 7:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-let-me-get-this-straight-han-never-shot-first/612505/3 "2012-02-11T07:14:13Z")
> [@Bryan\_Ekers](#): > > What’s wrong with Han being a cold-blooded killer? Has Lucas lost all testosterone in his dotage? Maybe. Clearly tho he’s lost all his mind. ETA: Besides, it’s not “cold-blooded” to kill the guy who you know is about to shoot you. Is it? Not to me. That’s just smart. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Second\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bbe5ce/32.png) [@The\_Second\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Second_Stone)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2012, 7:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-let-me-get-this-straight-han-never-shot-first/612505/4 "2012-02-11T07:16:52Z")
Han shot first George. I will engrave it on your tombstone. It is called establishing character. This guy was dangerous and didn’t have a traditional sense of fair play. Our heroes were throwing in with a guy who just might kill them or turn them in for a reward. And it is an opportunity for the character of Han to grow, which he does by the end of the movie and moreso in TSB. ---
**Author:** ![MEBuckner](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mebuckner/32/2896_2.png) [@MEBuckner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MEBuckner)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2012, 7:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-let-me-get-this-straight-han-never-shot-first/612505/5 "2012-02-11T07:20:44Z")
The Rebel Alliance has always been at war with Eurasia. ---
**Author:** ![standingwave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9de0a6/32.png) [@standingwave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/standingwave)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2012, 7:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-let-me-get-this-straight-han-never-shot-first/612505/6 "2012-02-11T07:21:41Z")
> [@Snowboarder\_Bo](#): > > ETA: Besides, it’s not “cold-blooded” to kill the guy who you know is about to shoot you. Is it? Not to me. That’s just smart. I guess in Lucasland you have to let the bad guy shoot first. Good guys never ever throw the first punch! ---
**Author:** ![standingwave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9de0a6/32.png) [@standingwave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/standingwave)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2012, 7:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-let-me-get-this-straight-han-never-shot-first/612505/7 "2012-02-11T07:23:31Z")
> [@The\_Second\_Stone](#): > > Han shot first George. I will engrave it on your tombstone. It is called establishing character. This guy was dangerous and didn’t have a traditional sense of fair play. Our heroes were throwing in with a guy who just might kill them or turn them in for a reward. And it is an opportunity for the character of Han to grow, which he does by the end of the movie and moreso in TSB. Even more to the point, Han shot _only_. At least in the original version. ---
**Author:** ![garygnu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/garygnu/32/2924_2.png) [@garygnu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/garygnu)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2012, 7:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-let-me-get-this-straight-han-never-shot-first/612505/8 "2012-02-11T07:32:22Z")
Why did Greedo need to actually _shoot_, anyway. He had a gun pointed at Han, that makes Han’s shot plenty justified. I wonder, when Lucas was giving that quote, if he was waving his hand. ---
**Author:** ![chacoguy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/50afbb/32.png) [@chacoguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chacoguy)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2012, 7:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-let-me-get-this-straight-han-never-shot-first/612505/9 "2012-02-11T07:39:38Z")
The fact that Han does the misdirect of tracing on the wall behind him just before the shot gives it away. He also starts shooting immediately when the dining room doors open in the Cloud City. I can’t belive that I’ve been drawn into a Nerdgasm. ---
**Author:** ![standingwave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9de0a6/32.png) [@standingwave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/standingwave)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2012, 7:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-let-me-get-this-straight-han-never-shot-first/612505/10 "2012-02-11T07:41:59Z")
> [@garygnu](#): > > I wonder, when Lucas was giving that quote, if he was waving his hand. He was gesticulating wildly with his crack pipe. This is what frustrates me with Lucas. I tend to think that he caught lightning in a bottle with Star Wars, never really understanding what made it successful. His initial instinct with the Han-Greedo was correct. Han isn’t going to fight fair and he’s going to do whatever he has to do to survive. Perfect. Then Lucas starts having second thoughts and decides that was a bad message to send to the children and changes it so Greedo fires first and misses. Then he changes it again so they fire simultaneously. Now he’s claiming it was always so. :smack: George, put down the editor. Trust your feelings. ---
**Author:** ![foolsguinea](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foolsguinea/32/14751_2.png) [@foolsguinea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/foolsguinea)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2012, 7:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-let-me-get-this-straight-han-never-shot-first/612505/11 "2012-02-11T07:44:29Z")
I think he’s been trusting his feelings too long. His feelings keep changing. ---
**Author:** ![Morgyn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morgyn/32/3041_2.png) [@Morgyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morgyn)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2012, 7:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-let-me-get-this-straight-han-never-shot-first/612505/12 "2012-02-11T07:54:20Z")
I’ve got the novelization somewhere (ghost written for Lucas, but he must have approved it). My recollection is that Han shot first, and there was a line that everyone in the bar knew that Greedo’s mistake had been in letting Han get his hand under the table. I’ll dig it up at some point to confirm. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2012, 8:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-let-me-get-this-straight-han-never-shot-first/612505/13 "2012-02-11T08:05:36Z")
At this point, I’m pretty sure Lucas is just trolling. Can’t say as I wouldn’t do the same, were I him. ---
**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2012, 8:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-let-me-get-this-straight-han-never-shot-first/612505/14 "2012-02-11T08:19:53Z")
Lucas always intended Greedo’s walkie-talkie to send its signal first, but inferior 1977 radio towers meant that his got rerouted while Han’s got right to the destination on the first try. ---
**Author:** ![standingwave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9de0a6/32.png) [@standingwave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/standingwave)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2012, 8:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-let-me-get-this-straight-han-never-shot-first/612505/15 "2012-02-11T08:51:22Z")
> [@Morgyn](#): > > I’ve got the novelization somewhere (ghost written for Lucas, but he must have approved it). My recollection is that Han shot first, and there was a line that everyone in the bar knew that Greedo’s mistake had been in letting Han get his hand under the table. > > I’ll dig it up at some point to confirm. Your recollection is good. I don’t have the book but I did find [this](http://gamingtrend.com/forums/off-topic/han-shot-first-the-smoking-gun/?PHPSESSID=b9fd5ee4806e3ba5f39dc57ae4ae5f56;wap2). \*\*\* I don’t think they’d like another killing in here," Solo pointed out. ``` Something which might have been a laugh came from the creature's translator. "They'd hardly notice. Get up, Solo. I've been looking forward to this for a long time. You've embarrassed me in front of Jabba with your pious excuses for the last time." "I think you're right." Light and noise filled the little corner of the cantina, and when it had faded, all that remained of the unctuous alien was a smoking, slimy spot on the stone floor. Solo brought his hand and the smoking weapon it held out from beneath the table, drawing bemused stares from several of the cantina's patrons and clucking sounds from its more knowlegeable ones. They had known the creature had committed its fatal mistake in allowing Solo the chance to get his hands under cover. "It'll take a lot more than the likes of you to finish me off. Jabba the Hut always did skimp when it came to hiring his hands." Leaving the booth, Solo flipped the bartender a handful of coins as he and Chewbacca moved off. "Sorry for the mess. I always was a rotten host."*** ``` ---
**Author:** ![Pitchmeister](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pitchmeister/32/3459_2.png) [@Pitchmeister](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pitchmeister)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2012, 9:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-let-me-get-this-straight-han-never-shot-first/612505/16 "2012-02-11T09:25:08Z")
I wonder if there will soon be a Raiders of the Lost Ark Special Edition where the guy with the sabre in the streets of Cairo (?) draws a gun and shoots at Indy first, to make that scene send a better message as well. ---
**Author:** ![grude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47774/32.png) [@grude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/grude)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2012, 10:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-let-me-get-this-straight-han-never-shot-first/612505/17 "2012-02-11T10:38:33Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > At this point, I’m pretty sure Lucas is just trolling. > > Can’t say as I wouldn’t do the same, were I him. I absolutely agree, not only that I think on some level he actually despises the fact Star Wars is his lasting memory in the popular mind and not one of his “serious” movies like THX1138 or American Graffiti, and even despises the films and the fans. I think he despises the obsessive fans who studied famous scenes with lots of background aliens like the cantina or Jabba’s palace or Luke and Ben driving through Mos Eisley and wondered what each one was. He despises the fact people took the films as seriously as they did, so he is almost in a sense defacing them by inserting CGI slapstick and poop jokes. I was watching ROTJ with my son for the first time and it struck me how the otherworldly quality of the music and dance scene has been pissed all over by inserting singing muppets that not only hog the screen but look totally out of place in Star Wars, its a fuck you to fans who took the movie seriously. Its shocking how much better a lot of EU stuff is compared to the prequels, but then you remember it is made by people who likely LOVE Star Wars, Lucas hates Star Wars and the fans. I remember reading somewhere that Lucas very nearly washed his hands of Star Wars during early production of ROTJ, including stepping down from directing and producing. He had just gone through a nasty divorce which both he and his exwife blamed on the SW films taking up all his time and energy, and he also was bitter SW overshadowed his other films. I think he said some downright nasty stuff about these movies costing him his marriage and career, that he never wanted to make another(and indeed he basically walked away from the most lucrative films series in history until 1999). I imagine that feeling is still in him somewhere. TLDR- Lucas hates Star Wars and the fans. ---
**Author:** ![FinnAgain](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/finnagain/32/12500_2.png) [@FinnAgain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FinnAgain)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2012, 10:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-let-me-get-this-straight-han-never-shot-first/612505/18 "2012-02-11T10:49:28Z")
Lucas is an asshat. ---
**Author:** ![Alka\_Seltzer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c89c15/32.png) [@Alka\_Seltzer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alka_Seltzer)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2012, 11:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-let-me-get-this-straight-han-never-shot-first/612505/19 "2012-02-11T11:28:51Z")
> [@standingwave](#): > > I guess in Lucasland you have to let the bad guy shoot first. Good guys never ever throw the first punch! Good job the bad guys don’t have a planet killing laser or something then. > [@Pitchmeister](#): > > I wonder if there will soon be a Raiders of the Lost Ark Special Edition where the guy with the sabre in the streets of Cairo (?) draws a gun and shoots at Indy first, to make that scene send a better message as well. IIRC, Lucas is on record saying he hates that scene, saying something like it was “too brutal”. ---
**Author:** ![DrFidelius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drfidelius/32/3447_2.png) [@DrFidelius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrFidelius)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2012, 12:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-let-me-get-this-straight-han-never-shot-first/612505/20 "2012-02-11T12:57:12Z")
> [@MEBuckner](#): > > The Rebel Alliance has always been at war with Eurasia. [polite golf clap] Well played, sir, well played. [/pgc] [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-let-me-get-this-straight-han-never-shot-first/612505.md?page=2)