# Star Wars: The Phantom Menace Special Edition? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [January 19, 2001, 12:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-wars-the-phantom-menace-special-edition/50777 "2001-01-19T00:02:50Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2001, 12:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-wars-the-phantom-menace-special-edition/50777/1 "2001-01-19T00:02:50Z")
George Lucas and his ILM studio created Special Edition versions of the classic Star Wars trilogy. New characters and scenes were added throughout all three movies. Who would like to see him create a Special Edition version that uses the same technology to digitally REMOVE Jar-Jar Binks from The Phantom Menance? ---
**Author:** ![Atreyu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5e9695/32.png) [@Atreyu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atreyu)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2001, 12:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-wars-the-phantom-menace-special-edition/50777/2 "2001-01-19T00:28:13Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by msmith537 \* > \*\*George Lucas and his ILM studio created Special Edition versions of the classic Star Wars trilogy. New characters and scenes were added throughout all three movies. > > Who would like to see him create a Special Edition version that uses the same technology to digitally REMOVE Jar-Jar Binks from The Phantom Menance? \*\* Not me, but only because I’m afraid of Lucas replacing Jar Jar Binks with something even **more** annoying. My main source of irritation with Binks isn’t necessarily his personality, although it is grating. It’s his impenetrable speech. The first time I saw the movie, I don’t think I understood more than 10% of what the big-eared tadpole was saying. Because of my severe hearing loss, I typically miss a certain percentage of the dialogue at the movie theater, but Binks was ridiculous. Not until I got the video and watched the movie with closed captioning did I finally understand everything he said. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2001, 12:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-wars-the-phantom-menace-special-edition/50777/3 "2001-01-19T00:55:14Z")
Considering Jar Jar was a digital effect in the first place, there’s no need to digitally remove him, just play the original shots. Doesn’t anyone have anything more original to complain about Star Wars than Jar Jar freakin Binks? ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2001, 7:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-wars-the-phantom-menace-special-edition/50777/4 "2001-01-19T07:29:48Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by GuanoLad \* > \*\*Doesn’t anyone have anything more original to complain about Star Wars than Jar Jar freakin Binks? > \*\* I wasn’t really going for originality. I just think that Lucus could have cast Tori Spelling instead of Jar Jar and it would have improved an otherwise entertaining movie. There isn’t much about Star Wars I don’t like, however, I do have one legitimate complaint: In the new Special Edition, I was very impressed by the addition of new scenes and new CG effects. However, with all these new enhancements, I noticed that you can STILL see the discolored boxes around the TIE fighters in certain shots. Whats up with that? ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2001, 9:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-wars-the-phantom-menace-special-edition/50777/5 "2001-01-19T09:48:48Z")
The Special Editions were a bit of a failure, really. They ran out of time to do all the fixes that they wanted to do, because George was so obsessed with getting the new Jabba and Han scene done, and then went nutty over doing extra stuff for the other two movies. So some of the easiest effects to fix never got done properly. ---
**Author:** ![Atreyu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5e9695/32.png) [@Atreyu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atreyu)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2001, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-wars-the-phantom-menace-special-edition/50777/6 "2001-01-19T16:48:38Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by GuanoLad \* > \*\*Doesn’t anyone have anything more original to complain about Star Wars than Jar Jar freakin Binks? > \*\* I agree that the criticism of **The Phantom Menace** regarding Jar Jar Binks has been a little too much. It’s become almost chic to knock the character. However, I should say that once I did watch the video with closed captioning and understand what Binks was saying, my opinion of the movie improved. I actually own the video now (letterboxed, thankyouverymuch) and I actually do like the movie quite a bit. Not as much as Episodes 4 and 5, but it’s better than Episode 6. The only thing now that I wish was better was some of the awkward lines given to Anakin. At times it seems to often to me that the actor (I’ve forgotten his name…Jake something) seems to be reciting the script versus acting out the character. Too bad the kid from **The Sixth Sense** wasn’t discovered in time for this movie. ---
**Author:** ![Montfort](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d6d6ee/32.png) [@Montfort](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Montfort)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2001, 6:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-wars-the-phantom-menace-special-edition/50777/7 "2001-01-20T06:03:42Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Shy Ghost \* > \*\*Too bad the kid from **The Sixth Sense** wasn’t discovered in time for this movie. \*\* Actually, he auditioned for the role of Anakin, and didn’t get it.