Lucasfilm is taking advantage of the brand-new Disney+ streaming service to act a bit sneaky. Okay, maybe that sounds a bit more nefarious than it should, but basically, now that the new streaming platform is live, fans rushed to check out the first six “Star Wars” films in all their 4K glory. And upon doing so, some changes to the Original Trilogy have become apparent. It seems as if Disney/Lucasfilm thought they’d tinker a bit with George Lucas’ classic films just in time for the new streaming service.
According to the eagle-eyed “Star Wars” fans on social media (via /Film), it appears that Disney+ does indeed have the new 4K versions of the first six films in the franchise. However, they’re not all the same versions that you remember.
The first couple of changes are purely cosmetic, with the 20th Century Fox fanfare that began the Original Trilogy returning in this new release, much to the delight of diehards who want all the “feels” (that’s what the kids say right?) when they relive their childhood on Disney+. The other minor change is the introduction of a new Lucasfilm logo, which is…whatever.
But the change that is surely going to get people talking is yet more tinkering with the legendary (now, infamous) Han/Greedo scene from ‘A New Hope.’ As you probably know, when Lucas went back and gave fans the controversial “Special Edition” version of the Original Trilogy, the firing order of the scene was altered, Greedo shooting first, altering the moral framing of the scene. Fans were obviously very upset over the change. Now, it appears that Lucasfilm tried to alter the sequence just a bit more, and probably not just for story purposes.
We’ll let Twitter user Star Wars Visual Comparisons explain:
“So we’ve got a new insert shot of Greedo saying something without a subtitle before shooting, Han finally shoots once, then a new explosion covers a transition from them shooting to Greedo hitting the table, removing the Greedo dummy altogether.”
Again, it appears that this is a change that is exclusive to the Disney+ version. We’ll have to see if this makes its way to home video down the line.
And no, the launch of Disney+ does not mean that the original versions of the Original Trilogy have been restored and remastered. So, that’s a bit of a bummer. But at least we get 4K “Star Wars” with Dolby Atmos support, even if Lucasfilm tinkered with it just a little.
https://twitter.com/JonLeeBrody/status/1194140307861848064
Oh my god. This is not a joke. pic.twitter.com/RMkh7Blg7D
— Star Wars Visual Comparisons (@StarWarsVisComp) November 12, 2019
So we’ve got a new insert shot of Greedo saying something without a subtitle before shooting, Han finally shoots once, then a new explosion covers a transition from them shooting to Greedo hitting the table, removing the Greedo dummy altogether.
— Star Wars Visual Comparisons (@StarWarsVisComp) November 12, 2019
In the Disney+ version of Star Wars Greedo now shouts "MACLUNKEY" before getting shot. This is now my favorite version because why the hell not? MACLUNKEY! #starwars #maclunkey pic.twitter.com/k1XmP8wAZT
— Eric Fell, Reverse Dracula. (@ericfell) November 12, 2019
Well, they've done it again. #DisneyPlus appears to have altered the infamous Han and Greedo scene from #StarWars. See for yourself. pic.twitter.com/6aGqwoOrzF
— Garrett McDowell (@GarrettMcDowell) November 12, 2019
