Han shot first is actually important
Trekkie is right though I agree
Important? It’s down-right fundamental!
I have a bad feeling about this.
“Who cares” about the altering of a major story beat?
The Jabba scenes did make it into the novelization and comic adaptation (where he was some furry alien thing, not human).
VHS and Laserdisc copies would have the same issue, though. (Also, does your nice big flatscreen TV not have a “zoom” function?)
The version on the “bonus” DVD actually does not have that (even though it’s on every VHS version I’ve ever encountered), so you should try to find a copy for your own peace of mind.
Minor nitpick: it was added in the 1981 re-release after Empire the year prior.
Let’s talk about the real versus prosthetic factions of the debate over Ricardo Montalban’s chest in The Wrath of Khan and get back to me about the heights of anality.
Jesus, can’t you guys just close your eyes and run the original version in your brain by now?
By the way, the Jabba scene as filmed was never intended to be in the movie. Lucas planned to add some kind of stop-motion Jabba but didn’t have time, so the whole scene was scrapped. The actor was essentially a stand-in.
Bumpy vs. smooth Klingon heads?
Malcolm Reynolds shot first.
I haven’t really heard the idea that you have to seek out laserdiscs…not since the DVD’s did come out with the original releases.
Even before 2006, it was possible(I think) to download the laserdisc versions from the internet using bit torrent, so there were avenues of getting them.
Now that Lucas does not own Star Wars, I wonder if Disney will put out a re-mastered dvd/blu-ray of the theatrical releases. I think they would sell pretty well and it would be a great way to show fans that they are going to handle Star Wars well.
Mahaholth, you’re out of line. Leave arguments from other discussions out of this thread – deal with them where they arose or take them to the Pit.
Don’t do this again.
twickster, Cafe Society moderator
Oooh, burn! Well played, sir.
Allow me to counter with. …
Jar-Jar Binks?
I spent my entire childhood watching these movies as recorded on VHS off the TV in like 1985, so I consider the “original, unadulterated version” to be the one with commercial breaks. 
Most of the changes made in The Final Cut were made to fix obvious mistakes. It is not really an editorial change to reframe a shot so that a boom mic does not show or digitally erase the stray reflection of a gaffer in a window. The real change was between the Theatrical and Director’s Cut. Blade Runner differs from Star Wars, however, in that they made it quite clear that the different versions were different movies.
Lucas had been making changing long before the Special Editions. Along with adding Episode IV to prints prior to home video he also added narration by Threepio to help explain the Tractor Beam and exactly what Ben was going to do and changed the audio to hide Mark Hamill calling Leia “Carrie” at the end. I saw a print on the big screen in the 90s that didn’t have these changes.
In addition to Bladeruuner, The Night of the Living Dead probably fits the bill. After being rer-eleased in a colorized version and a 3D version, the co-writer reshot and added new scenes and added a new soundtrack.
My apologies to the board. I almost pulled that back and obviously should have.
There are unofficial, restored, “despecialized” versions out there that fans have made by editing together scenes from different releases–including laserdiscs, the OOT DVDs, and the blu-rays–to get the best picture quality available while staying true to the original versions. Not hard to find if you look.
Sure, but again, the drop in quality is a bit too much for me. And note that I don’t have the VHS or Laserdisc either, though I think Laserdisc was anamorphic widescreen.
The Laserdiscs were letterbox non-anamorphic–indeed, the 2006 DVDs are straight from the Laserdisc masters.