so it turns out han never shot first

[deano_ue]

Last month George Lucas, emboldened by his impending retirement from the business of blockbusters, opened up about his weariness with the complaints of Star Wars fans who have long griped about his many changes to the saga over the years—for instance, making it so that Han shoots first, to correct what was once a glaring "violation of his own naïve style." And while that's more explanation than George Lucas believes you deserve—and it's already out there for public consumption, and everyone is now familiar with it—there is, of course, no reason why that explanation cannot be tweaked and improved upon after the fact. And so that's exactly what Lucas does in this new interview with The Hollywood Reporter, unveiling the newer, enhanced answer that he always intended you to see.

As it turns out, those who saw that controversial edit as a fundamental betrayal of the character—changing Han Solo from a shrewd, streetwise bad-arse to a guy who got really lucky that Greedo is such a lousy shot; rendering his evolution from amoral antihero to full-blown hero less meaningful, etc. —well, they were just confused all along, because Lucas now says Han never shot first:

    "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 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."

Indeed, it was only the audience's own bloodlust that led them astray and left them so confused for so many years—a bloodlust that festered into their ravenous need to set jaws upon George Lucas every time he tries to make his work a little more innocent and magical. Fortunately, all it took was a wider shot and a grafted-on cartoon laser beam to save future generations from wandering down that same dark path, which leads only to anger, hatred, and in forthcoming editions, a nice periwinkle garden.

http://www.avclub.com/articles/george-lucas-says-han-never-shot-first-you-were-ju,69159/

at least not according to old George

[Talavar]

George Lucas is such a tool these days.

[Mr. Hamrick]

George Lucas is such a tool these days.

these days?  He has been since the... oh I don't know... mid-late 90s when the "revamped" first trilogy was released.

[Kommando]

When they got rid of Starkiller and made Han Solo into a human the whole thing was ruined.

[Tawodi Osdi]

I don't even see how letting Han Solo shoot first makes him a cold blooded killer?  If a potential killer had the drop on me with the intent to force a meeting with a likely killer, I believe it is perfectly justifiable to shoot if you get the chance and stupid to wait to see if the other guy shoots first.

[Talavar]

George Lucas is such a tool these days.

these days?  He has been since the... oh I don't know... mid-late 90s when the "revamped" first trilogy was released.

'These days' clearly includes the mid-90s.  That was only, wow, almost 20 years ago.  *feels old*

[Tomato]

Question: Has George Lucas ever NOT been a tool? Because I've seen interviews with him back on our Star Wars VHS tapes (we have some special edition star wars thing that came out before episode 1... aka pre-dumb vader edit, thus why we still own it) and he seemed like a tool even then.

[JeyNyce]

He's not so bad.  Give him credit, he did give us 3 great stories and let others use the right so they can make great Star Wars stories as well.  With the revamps I think he wanted ti tighten the story a bit better.  Let face it, he has one story in his mind and another on film.

[Tawodi Osdi]

It's been a long time since I read it, but in the novelization, which came out before the movie, Greedo really did shoot first.  I just assumed that that part was changed to give Han Solo a more John Wayne feel, like in Big Jake where he shot throw the shower door to take the hombre that thought that he had the Duke dead to rights.

[Deaths Jester]

He's not so bad.  Give him credit, he did give us 3 great stories and let others use the right so they can make great Star Wars stories as well.  With the revamps I think he wanted ti tighten the story a bit better.  Let face it, he has one story in his mind and another on film.

He didn't give us three stories..he just took the idea from a few other stories..one being the Seven Samuri and another beign..crap...can't remember at the moment..but in the end he took them, threw them in a blender, and mixed them together to get what we have in Star Wars...which most director's/writers do nowadays anyways.  And Lucas is a Tool..specially now that he's letting Episode I come out in 3-d to make more money.  TOOL!!!

[Tawodi Osdi]

To back up DJ, I have noticed a lot of Dune-like elements in Star Wars, especially Tatooine.  In fact, the biggest difference I see between the Dune universe is that Dune operates more in the shades of gray while Star Wars is more black and white.

[BentonGrey]

Yeah, somehow Lucas created three amazing films....but the more I've watched him and what he's created since, the more it seems that these were somehow a fluke.  Maybe he's got a different story in his head than he's got on film, but the one on film is tremendously better.  There's just magic there, in that cast, with that story.  It's lightning in a bottle, and he's never been able to capture it again. 

As for the Greedo/Han thing, it isn't about whether or not Han would have shot first.  It seems like he probably would have, given the circumstances and the character we see in the rest of the movie, but what matters is that it LOOKED like Han shot first, and the way Lucas "fixed" looked freaking ridiculous.  If he wanted Greedo to shoot first, he should have darn well done it that way the first time, because the Green-skinned-jerk's got his barrel pointed squarely at Han's chest.  If he pulled the trigger, there would be one very crispy Correlian sitting in that seat.  So, he needed to just live with it.

[cmdrkoenig67]

Ugh....George Lucas' problem is that he can't let a good movie (the original Star Wars) just be a good movie, his "plan" for what he wanted it to be keeps changing and so he fiddles with the movie any chance he gets.  Thank Dog, I have the DVD that has both the original film and the Special Edition (with CGI and Greedo's poorly done "shooting first")...I only watch the original.

I also agree with some of the folks commenting over at the article...After Greedo's death (in which Han definitely shoots first, but has a clumsily-added laser coming from Greedo's gun), Jabba's scene (clumsily added back in by Lucas) with Han in the hangar makes absolutely no sense what-so-ever, with Jabba being very friendly to the guy whose head he has put a price on.

Last rant...Episode I is absolute crap (bad script, bad acting, annoying characters and filled with offensive racial stereotypes)...I do not want to see Jar Jar Binks in 3D or ever again, thank you very much.

Dana

[cmdrkoenig67]

He's not so bad.  Give him credit, he did give us 3 great stories and let others use the right so they can make great Star Wars stories as well.  With the revamps I think he wanted ti tighten the story a bit better.  Let face it, he has one story in his mind and another on film.

He didn't give us three stories..he just took the idea from a few other stories..one being the Seven Samuri and another beign..crap...can't remember at the moment..but in the end he took them, threw them in a blender, and mixed them together to get what we have in Star Wars...which most director's/writers do nowadays anyways.  And Lucas is a Tool..specially now that he's letting Episode I come out in 3-d to make more money.  TOOL!!!

DJ, all writers/artists are thieves in a way...I actually think there was a writer who said something to that effect.  Everybody borrows/takes from mythology, folk tales, the present, the past, other stories/movies, etc...

Dana

[Kommando]

The phrase "There is nothing new under the sun" is from Ecclesiastes 1:9, which ironically is in a book which also borrowed plot elements from the Enuma Elish and the Epic of Gilgamesh. Recycling stories is a trope that's older than dirt, and so are Lucas bashing threads. IMO, the fellow can do with his Intellectual Property whatever he pleases. If the Fandom Menace really wanted to send a message to Lucas, then they should do so with their wallets. As it is, there are innumerable rehashes of the movie because there is a market for it. We live in a capitalist society, and he happens to be successful at it. I'd like to see the haters pull out a multi-billion dollar franchise out of their back end and then not act surprised when the vocal minority starts moaning about that too. Haters gonna hate just as breathers are gonna breathe. I'm not going to join in just because I'm jealous that he's rich and I'm not.

[Tomato]

I agree with dana... if we went back and forth on who took what inspiration from whom, we'd be here all day. Lucas' big issue is that he's so stuck on his own image of what's a "perfect" image of his film is that he long since lost sight of what matters.

Remember, back when Star Wars was first made, he was limited by financial issues as well as by the technology of the era that he had to compromise on what his vision was... but now, he has money and the technology exists, so he keeps trying to make the movie he had in his head... but without doing a full reboot, he's stuck using the old footage... so he keeps fiddling with that, trying to cobble together some Frankenstein monster of a movie, instead of just leaving it alone and accepting that he did a great set of films despite those limitations.

[lugaru]

Lucky me I'm more of a cinephile than fanboy. I loved the first three films, but not enough to rewatch 'em more than once or twice in my lifetime.

As for episode 1 - 3... they did not offend me because I'm not personally invested in the characters or stories. On the other hand I did not find 'em that great, so I only watched the first two.

As for who shot first... man... I barely remember the scene, so I just find it sloppy that he keeps revisiting again and again.

[Talavar]

Couple of points:

1.  Of course Lucas can do whatever he wants with his intellectual property; the point is that he shouldn't.  At one time he led the campaign against colourizing and otherwise "updating" older, black and white films, despite them being movie studio's intellectual property; what he's doing with his constant revisionist tinkering is basically the same thing, because...

2.  The original movies were not wholly Lucas' work.  Empire and Jedi both had non-Lucas directors, who - particularly the director of Empire - did not always agree with Lord Toolington, I mean Lucas.  They also had script collaborators that presumably had more sway, as Lucas was not yet the industry powerhouse he has become.  The films were not wholly his vision and intellectual creation, and him changing them now that he does have sole control seems petulant.

3.  Lucas is not the same person he was when he made these films.  They came out 30+ years ago, and people change a lot in that amount of time.  Look at any artist; what they produce at the beginning of their careers is rarely the same as near the end.  Imagine other artists re-did their original works from early in their career because they no longer care for that style - it'd be seen as a travesty.  And so is this.

[JeyNyce]

Here a question for all of you guys:

OKay, Lucas is saying goodbye to the series/ franchise.  How would you feel if later on somebody wants to make Star Wars 7- 9?  Han & Leia Kids, Boba Fett returning, Luke being a Jedi Master and teaching others, good or bad thing?

[Tomato]

At this point? Bad. In order to do a third trilogy (which I understand is what Lucas originally intended) you'd almost have to hire a brand new cast to play them. Putting aside the fact that many members of the original cast wouldn't really want anything to do with it anymore, they'd have to set it a good thirty years after the original trilogy just to account for the differences in the actors ages. Besides, you'd have to really stretch things to get another arc out of it... who're the bad guys now? The Sith Lords are all gone, the Empire is over, etc.

If there is any story left to be told, I feel like it's actually further back... the formation of the Jedi, the original division with the Sith, etc. That could be something worth hearing, and it wouldn't depend on any of the actors that have already more or less retired from the Star Wars stuff.

[Tawodi Osdi]

In order to revive Star Wars as a relevant franchise, you would have to do what they are doing with the Star Trek and James Bond franchises and do a complete reboot which I am not sure if a reboot would work with the sagaistic nature of Star Wars, but still, a good enough creative staff might make it work.

[Kommando]

Couple of points:

1.  Of course Lucas can do whatever he wants with his intellectual property; the point is that he shouldn't.

This I disagree with. People have been panning his movies and complaining about the direction they have been going in since Empire came out. Sure, they are seen as classics now but when Empire came out having a muppet as a Jedi master did not gain the best reaction. And people who hate Jar Jar were obviously not around for the venom that was cast at Ewoks. Teddy bears using sticks and stones to defeat soldiers in high tech gear pretty much killed the franchise for a lot of fans. In 1983.

The fact is, the only way to fail is to try and please everyone. Lucas has been smart and has worked to realize his vision. And it has paid off. For every raging fanboy there is a mother with kids forking out dough for that Jar Jar collectable. A friend of mine in town owns a Star Wars collectible store and he LOVES Jar Jar? Why? Because for years Jar Jar paid his bills. Kids loved him. Lucas made the movies for kids to enjoy, and succeeded immensely. Why exactly should he try to please a fan base which by nature is unpleasable and who has been complaining about his movies for the better part of 30 years? He's working in an industry where money talks, and raging fans are not $peaking loud enough to be heard.

2.  The original movies were not wholly Lucas' work.  Empire and Jedi both had non-Lucas directors, who - particularly the director of Empire - did not always agree with Lord Toolington, I mean Lucas.  They also had script collaborators that presumably had more sway, as Lucas was not yet the industry powerhouse he has become.  The films were not wholly his vision and intellectual creation, and him changing them now that he does have sole control seems petulant.

Then it would be up to them to take legal action. As petulant means bad tempered, child-like or sulky I would disagree on this as I have seen no evidence that the new movies and revisions have been anything like that.

3.  Lucas is not the same person he was when he made these films.  They came out 30+ years ago, and people change a lot in that amount of time.  Look at any artist; what they produce at the beginning of their careers is rarely the same as near the end.  Imagine other artists re-did their original works from early in their career because they no longer care for that style - it'd be seen as a travesty.  And so is this.

Fans also change over time. Imagining the original trilogy through nostalgia tinted lenses does make them flawless by any stretch. And I have seen cases of manga and comic artists re-drawing their early works because they weren't pleased. If other artists decided to do this, then it would be their own business anyways. Lucas or any creator doesn't owe anything to anyone. When his life comes to a conclusion he can feel assured that he did things his way, instead of the impossible task of trying to please the seething hordes. I respect him for that and wish I could go through my life without trying to placate ingrates.

The way I see it, its like 30 years ago someone in town makes a nice house. Some people like it more than others. Some people hate it, but a lot just come out to see it. Now over the years he adds additions. The second addition is a kid's wing filled with teddy bears which many people take a disliking too. Then over the years he paints it and renovates to keep things fresh because unlike other houses, people have seemed to develop some sort of emotional attachment to this house they don't even own. And the majority with appreciate things looking new, but there will be a few out there that disagree and think that they should be considered when making these changes. And then the owner makes new additions, and even more people become upset because its not the same house that they remember from years ago. And the owner can only shrug, because its not his fault that people are crazy and become emotionally attached to something and can't let go of the past. Why pay attention to them anyways, when the fast majority of people's faces light up when they see this really nice house?

Yes, I consider fandom to be crazy. I started calling them the Fandom Menace people started wishing Ahmed Best harm. I realized at that point that a certain portion of fandom is simply psychotic and you cannot reason with crazy people. So why bother?

Here a question for all of you guys:

OKay, Lucas is saying goodbye to the series/ franchise.  How would you feel if later on somebody wants to make Star Wars 7- 9?  Han & Leia Kids, Boba Fett returning, Luke being a Jedi Master and teaching others, good or bad thing?

I think its a little late to try and do something like the Thrawn trilogy with the original actors. Besides, Clone Wars (being T-canon which is a higher level of canon to the novels, which are C-canon) could negate it at any time. I think either an Old Republic movie could work, though personally I think setting it in the Legacy era could work. Though Cade Skywalker isn't exactly the good example of a hero. I mean he shoots first and such...

In order to revive Star Wars as a relevant franchise, you would have to do what they are doing with the Star Trek and James Bond franchises and do a complete reboot which I am not sure if a reboot would work with the sagaistic nature of Star Wars, but still, a good enough creative staff might make it work.

Honestly, I would love to see the original movie redone to bring it inline with the prequels. You could even cast Ewan Macgregor and Hayden Christensen and actually have a lightsaber fight, rather than two people who could barely move trying not to break the fragile lightsaber props. Daniel Logan is now old enough to play Boba Fett, and has voiced the role in several episodes of Clone Wars. I think it would be awesome, and probably not a few fans would spontaneously explode.

[Tawodi Osdi]

This may get me thrown out of the forums, but I don't think the Gungans and Ewoks are necessarily that bad.  I also don't have a problem with primitive cultures winning against advanced cultures.  The movies were as much about fantasy as they were about science fiction, and to a degree, fantasy is about wish fulfillment and not to a slavish devotion to reality. 

Besides, culturally primitive societies beating culturally advanced societies is not entirely without historical precedent.  There are things like the will to win, and in a morally spiritual universe, there is a certain power that comes from being on the right side, and the presence of the Force makes the Star Wars universe a morally spiritual universe.

[Talavar]

Couple of points:

1.  Of course Lucas can do whatever he wants with his intellectual property; the point is that he shouldn't.

This I disagree with. People have been panning his movies and complaining about the direction they have been going in since Empire came out. Sure, they are seen as classics now but when Empire came out having a muppet as a Jedi master did not gain the best reaction. And people who hate Jar Jar were obviously not around for the venom that was cast at Ewoks. Teddy bears using sticks and stones to defeat soldiers in high tech gear pretty much killed the franchise for a lot of fans. In 1983.

The fact is, the only way to fail is to try and please everyone. Lucas has been smart and has worked to realize his vision. And it has paid off. For every raging fanboy there is a mother with kids forking out dough for that Jar Jar collectable. A friend of mine in town owns a Star Wars collectible store and he LOVES Jar Jar? Why? Because for years Jar Jar paid his bills. Kids loved him. Lucas made the movies for kids to enjoy, and succeeded immensely. Why exactly should he try to please a fan base which by nature is unpleasable and who has been complaining about his movies for the better part of 30 years? He's working in an industry where money talks, and raging fans are not $peaking loud enough to be heard.

2.  The original movies were not wholly Lucas' work.  Empire and Jedi both had non-Lucas directors, who - particularly the director of Empire - did not always agree with Lord Toolington, I mean Lucas.  They also had script collaborators that presumably had more sway, as Lucas was not yet the industry powerhouse he has become.  The films were not wholly his vision and intellectual creation, and him changing them now that he does have sole control seems petulant.

Then it would be up to them to take legal action. As petulant means bad tempered, child-like or sulky I would disagree on this as I have seen no evidence that the new movies and revisions have been anything like that.

3.  Lucas is not the same person he was when he made these films.  They came out 30+ years ago, and people change a lot in that amount of time.  Look at any artist; what they produce at the beginning of their careers is rarely the same as near the end.  Imagine other artists re-did their original works from early in their career because they no longer care for that style - it'd be seen as a travesty.  And so is this.

Fans also change over time. Imagining the original trilogy through nostalgia tinted lenses does make them flawless by any stretch. And I have seen cases of manga and comic artists re-drawing their early works because they weren't pleased. If other artists decided to do this, then it would be their own business anyways. Lucas or any creator doesn't owe anything to anyone. When his life comes to a conclusion he can feel assured that he did things his way, instead of the impossible task of trying to please the seething hordes. I respect him for that and wish I could go through my life without trying to placate ingrates.

The way I see it, its like 30 years ago someone in town makes a nice house. Some people like it more than others. Some people hate it, but a lot just come out to see it. Now over the years he adds additions. The second addition is a kid's wing filled with teddy bears which many people take a disliking too. Then over the years he paints it and renovates to keep things fresh because unlike other houses, people have seemed to develop some sort of emotional attachment to this house they don't even own. And the majority with appreciate things looking new, but there will be a few out there that disagree and think that they should be considered when making these changes. And then the owner makes new additions, and even more people become upset because its not the same house that they remember from years ago. And the owner can only shrug, because its not his fault that people are crazy and become emotionally attached to something and can't let go of the past. Why pay attention to them anyways, when the fast majority of people's faces light up when they see this really nice house?

There's no question George Lucas started to go off the rails long ago.  When merchandising trumps storytelling, you've started down a bad path as an artist, and ewoks sold a lot of toys to kids.  Return of the Jedi was the real start of that, when ewoks replaced the originally called for wookies in the final battle.   My real problem with the prequels and his constant revisions of the original films - they reveal Lucas to be artistically bankrupt and hypocritical.  I am not a fan that thinks Lucas betrayed me; George Lucas owes me nothing.  But he has betrayed the artistic vision of himself as a young man by constantly revisiting and altering that work, and his own convictions that older classic movies should not be altered to meet the changing tastes of the times. 

Your statement that Lucas stayed true to his vision rather than changing to try and please fans is pure bull hockey.  After the backlash to Phantom Menace, Jar Jar was nearly excised from the following two movies, fan-favourite Boba Fett went from tertiary character (at best) to major plot point, characters from the original films showed up in the prequels for no real reason.  Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith were obviously grossly altered  from their original ideas after the chilly reception Phantom Menace received.  If Lucas had decided he wanted to make Star Wars children films with the prequels, that would have been one thing, but he instead made terrible children films, with awful humour mixed with sometimes horrific levels of violence trying to appeal to adult Star Wars fans and kids simultaneously.

Your house analogy is an obvious straw man argument.  It supposes that most people like the new house.  The prequels were critically panned and saw diminishing box office returns - particularly when compared to ticket sales rather than dollar value with the original trilogy, so its core presumption is wrong.  To follow the house analogy anyway, if an architecturally significant building was added onto with garish and poorly made additions, historical preservation groups, architects and artists would also get up in arms about it.

[Deaths Jester]

He's not so bad.  Give him credit, he did give us 3 great stories and let others use the right so they can make great Star Wars stories as well.  With the revamps I think he wanted ti tighten the story a bit better.  Let face it, he has one story in his mind and another on film.

He didn't give us three stories..he just took the idea from a few other stories..one being the Seven Samuri and another beign..crap...can't remember at the moment..but in the end he took them, threw them in a blender, and mixed them together to get what we have in Star Wars...which most director's/writers do nowadays anyways.  And Lucas is a Tool..specially now that he's letting Episode I come out in 3-d to make more money.  TOOL!!!

DJ, all writers/artists are thieves in a way...I actually think there was a writer who said something to that effect.  Everybody borrows/takes from mythology, folk tales, the present, the past, other stories/movies, etc...

Dana

I know, Dana, was just making a bit of a point that Lucas wasn't going that original with his stuff as some people believe he was.  Kind of a reminder that there are only thre types of stories in the world and they've been done to death type thing..I think...oh, just give me my bottle of vodka back!

[Panther_Gunn]

...oh, just give me my bottle of vodka back!

That story's been done already.  And in your case, to death.

[ow_tiobe_sb]

...oh, just give me my bottle of vodka back!

That story's been done already.  And in your case, to death.

To be fair, he only asked for a bottle, not a case.

For the record, Lucas lost me at "midi-chlorians."

ow_tiobe_sb
Phantom Bunburyist and Whirled Braker

[Kommando]

...oh, just give me my bottle of vodka back!

That story's been done already.  And in your case, to death.

To be fair, he only asked for a bottle, not a case.

For the record, Lucas lost me at "midi-chlorians."

ow_tiobe_sb
Phantom Bunburyist and Whirled Braker

I rather liked the idea of The Force having a scientific basis to it. Sure its still space opera, but having some sort of tangible basis for Force users is something that appeals to me instead of it being just a fancy term for magic.

[ow_tiobe_sb]

I rather liked the idea of The Force having a scientific basis to it. Sure its still space opera, but having some sort of tangible basis for Force users is something that appeals to me instead of it being just a fancy term for magic.

I would have accepted this understanding of the Force as well, had it not been rather offhandedly revealed in a single scene in a film released 22 years after the basic concept was introduced.  There was ample time to develop this idea gradually, not unlike the way a reader of Frank Herbert's Dune series might gradually make the connection between the spice melange and the sandworms; instead, AFAIK, midi-chlorians are mentioned once, almost as an afterthought meant to distance the Star Wars saga from accusations of half-baked spirituality in this, a rather skeptical era.

ow_tiobe_sb
Phantom Bunburyist and Whirled Braker

[Kommando]

The original trilogy had its own throwaway lines as well. Remember "Only Imperial Stormtroopers are so precise"? Either they were trying to establish Obi-Wan as being in the latter stages of dementia, or his Jedi far-seeing couldn't even sense the rest of the trilogy let alone later on in that particular movie. In fact for that statement to have any relevance you would either have to accept that Stormtroopers could only shoot when they were off camera, or he was referencing Episode II Attack of the Clones in the longest example of movie foreshadowing ever.