A Small Voice

This is going to sound like heresy to some in the geek community, but I actually prefer the special editions of the Star Wars movies.

I think the CGI added in was done quite well (minus the weird Jabba the Hutt in the first film, but apparently that's been improved on DVD) and made the movies look subtly better.

Changing a good chunk of the end of "Return of the Jedi," including the ditiching the original music and adding views of other celebrations, didn't hurt certainly. It softens the "teddy-bear picnic" aura.

This may be most controversial, but I think it's better now that Greedo shoots first. Every time I saw the original, I could never figure out what happened in that scene. Why did Han shoot? Believe it or not, it doesn't fit with his character trajectory for him to be a cold-blooded murderer. Were he to turn out to be an agent of the Empire in disguise, then him simply murdering Greedo would have made sense as a foreshadowing device. But otherwise, it's just inconsistent with the rest of the film since Han's character is essentially good. Murder ain't cool, kiddies.

I understand the concerns of film preservationists who want to save the originals simply for the sake of history. But clinging to editions that just aren't quite as good otherwise smacks of stubbornness to me. True, I never saw the originals in the theater, only the special editions (hey, I was maybe a year old when the third one arrived), and so I don't have a sentimental attachment, but for pity's sake, it's a movie, and a blockbuster-style one at that. It's not like he's tampering with the Bible -- but then, that seems to upset people a lot less.

CNN.com - Five major changes in the 'Star Wars' DVD - Sep 20, 2004