George Lucas Attempts Jedi Mind Trick on Gullible Fans

You don’t need to watch the original scene. This isn’t the film footage you’re looking for. We can go about our business. Move along.

In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter last week, George Lucas had this to say about the infamous “Greedo Shot First” change he made to ‘Star Wars’:

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.

Yes, you read that right. George Lucas now claims that Han Solo never shot Greedo first, even in the original version of the movie. Greedo always shot at Han first. We just couldn’t see it clearly because of bad editing.

Huh.

As a reminder, here’s how the scene played back as it was released in 1977:

Now, I will give you that, the way this scene is edited, we don’t see Greedo not shoot at Han. He’s largely obscured by the smoke from Han’s blaster. Lucas is using this to argue that Greedo in fact did shoot, even if we don’t see it.

Except that… well, wait a minute… why is there clearly only the sound of one blaster firing on the soundtrack? Was that just bad editing too?

I can’t imagine that anyone but Lucas’ most sycophantic of apologists will buy into this claim that the scene was always intended to depict Greedo shooting first. But, you know, those people are out there.

In the upcoming 3D version of the movie currently scheduled for a 2015 theatrical release, expect a further adjustment to the scene where we see that Greedo was actually the only character to shoot in that scene. Han Solo pulls his gun as a warning. Greedo shoots at him and, in a new CGI slo-mo close-up, we’ll be able to see the laser blast hit Solo’s gun directly in the barrel, where it’s reflected back in the direction it came from. Thus, Greedo shoots himself. A CGI recreation of Harrison Ford’s likeness will then get out of his chair to rush over and give Greedo CPR while calling out for a medical droid.

Because that’s the way that George Lucas always intended it. Only the pesky technological limitations of the day prevented him from shooting and editing the scene the way he really wanted it.

17 comments

  1. Yeah, comments like this make me wonder how long it has been since LUCAS has seen the original theatrical versions. Its obvious to anyone with half a brain that there is only one laser blast, and it came from Han. In fact, I never understood fans who say “Han shot first”. No, Han was THE ONLY ONE who shot.

  2. Random Commenter

    We should at least be happy George doesn’t write history books.
    “Japan nuked us first.”
    At this point, I’m sure he only does it to see how furious his fans can get. He’s probably laughing his ass off at our comments while he watches his pristine Technicolor print of the unaltered Star Wars.
    Now it’s just a matter of waiting until he replaces Yoda with CG in Empire and Jedi. The internet will implode when that happens.

  3. Sorry, I don’t buy Lucas’ claim for a second. He could have easily had Greedo *try* to shoot first and his blaster jams so nothing happens and then Han retaliates. Besides, Greedo’s comments insinuates that he was about to kill Han, so it wasn’t in cold blood anyway. It was clearly self-defense. But having Greedo shooting first and missing Han from 2 feet away is just plain stupid. It really wouldn’t surprise me if Greedo does shoot himself Bugs Bunny-style in the next revision.

  4. “In the upcoming 3D version of the movie currently scheduled for a 2015 theatrical release, expect a further adjustment to the scene where we see that Greedo was actually the only character to shoot in that scene. Han Solo pulls his gun as a warning. Greedo shoots at him and, in a new CGI slo-mo close-up, we’ll be able to see the laser blast hit Solo’s gun directly in the barrel, where it’s reflected back in the direction it came from. Thus, Greedo shoots himself. A CGI recreation of Harrison Ford’s likeness will then get out of his chair to rush over and give Greedo CPR while calling out for a medical droid.”

    As bad as this sounds, I unfortunately can see Lucas stealing this idea. You’d better copywrite it now!!!

  5. besch64

    From the fourth draft of the original Star Wars screenplay, written by a Mr. George Lucas, dated 1976:

    “Suddenly the slimy alien disappears in a blinding flash of light. Han pulls his smoking gun from beneath the table as the other patron look on in bemused amazement. Han gets up and starts out of the cantina, flipping the bartender some coins as he leaves.”

    • Baked Waker

      Actually, to add on this, I went back to Lucas’ own novel, Star Wars: from the adventures of Luke Skywalker, and the passage goes a bit further, however there is room for ambiguity if you insist on polishing a turd and being an ungrateful douche:
      “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 cantina’s patron and clucking sounds from its more knowledgeable ones. They had known the creature had committed its fatal mistake in allowing Solo the chance to get his hands under cover.”

      Screw you George, I still haven’t bought the BDs.

      • Josh Zyber
        Author

        While credited to George Lucas, the original Star Wars tie-in novel was actually ghost-written by Alan Dean Foster. It was based on Lucas’ screenplay, but does have several notable changes.

        The screenplay excerpt is the most damning evidence to prove that Lucas is outright lying about the scene.

  6. When will pooor George finally lean to leasve well enough alone?
    If he wantws to win his fan base back he will give us the original Star Wars Trilogy on blu-ray, not the revisionist 1997 editions.
    Fox and George miseed the boat big time by not offering either choice with the last release of the films.