List of changes in Star Wars re-releases

"There will only be one. And it won't be what I would call the 'rough cut,' it'll be the 'final cut.' The other one will be some sort of interesting artifact that people will look at and say, 'There was an earlier draft of this.' The same thing happens with plays and earlier drafts of books. In essence, films never get finished, they get abandoned. At some point, you're dragged off the picture kicking and screaming while somebody says, 'Okay, it's done.' That isn't really the way it should work. Occasionally, [you can] go back and get your cut of the video out there, which I did on both American Graffiti and THX-1138; that's the place where it will live forever. So what ends up being important in my mind is what the DVD version is going to look like, because that's what everybody is going to remember. The other versions will disappear. Even the 35 million tapes of Star Wars out there won't last more than 30 or 40 years. A hundred years from now, the only version of the movie that anyone will remember will be the DVD version [of the Special Edition], and you'll be able to project it on a 20' by 40' screen with perfect quality. I think it's the director's prerogative, not the studio's to go back and reinvent a movie."

- George Lucas on the Special Editions

The following are partial lists of changes in Star Wars re-releases. The commercial success of Star Wars has given George Lucas the opportunity to tinker with his original trilogy, now called Episode IV: A New Hope, Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back, and Episode VI: Return of the Jedi. In a September 2004 CNN article, Lucas points out that the original films were "25 or 30 percent" of what he intended. Along with obvious changes to various scenes, the re-releases also improved the visual and audio quality of the films.

Many changes were motivated by the vast improvements in CGI technology and other production techniques that occurred in the two decades after the original trilogy was produced. Other changes improved the cohesiveness among the films, and eliminated continuity errors between the original trilogy and the prequel trilogy. However, opponents claim that these changes detract from the character arc of the films and tend to be more distracting than expedient.

Changes to Star Wars films after the theatrical release aren't always limited to the original trilogy. In the release of The Phantom Menace DVD, two deleted portions were either partially or completely restored.

Pre-Special Edition changes
Although not as obvious as the 1997 Special Edition re-release of the trilogy, there were still some alterations made between versions, for VHS, TV and other subesequent media.

A New Hope

 * The line "Episode IV: A NEW HOPE" was added to the opening crawl from 1981 forward.
 * Alternate takes of C-3PO's dialog is used in the original mono sound version.
 * The line "Close the blast doors!" is gone from the stereo sound releases.
 * C-3PO's tractor beam line is also gone from the stereo sound versions.
 * The line "Blast it Wedge, where are you?" from the original mono sound version was changed to "Blast it Biggs, where are you?" for the stereo sound releases.
 * Beru Lars is voiced by a different actress.
 * A shot of Chewbacca growling at a mouse droid on the Death Star was removed from some versions after the opening release.

The Empire Strikes Back
The 70mm version of the film was substantially different from the 35mm version that was more widely seen.
 * After the Probot lands and moves left, there is an optical wipe to the overhead shot of Luke on his Tauntaun.
 * After Luke wanders through the snow and falls face down, there is an optical wipe to Han instead of a straight cut.
 * The bacta tank scene starts on a close-up of Two-One-Bee and pans right to a closeup of Luke in the tank. It then cuts to FX-7 extending its arm to the tank. There is no cut to Leia, Han and Threepio observing.
 * In the snow battle scene, when Luke drops into the snow after throwing a charge into the Imperial walker, the AT-ST in the background has no atmospheric depth. It looks too close and small.
 * In the Emperor scene, the hologram of the Emperor is already present in the first shot - it does not "tune in" gradually.
 * The Imperial fleet establishing shot after the cave scene has a different TIE fighter sound effect.
 * When Luke falls from Cloud City into the Millennium Falcon, the Falcon's radar dish is not added to the shot.
 * The telepathy between Luke and Vader during the "Hyperspace" cue has straight cuts instead of quick dissolves.
 * On Hoth, right after C-3PO tells R2 to "Switch off," R2 gives out a little 'blurp.'
 * When Luke finally collapses in the snow, he lets out a grunt as he lands on his face.
 * Han says "until I can get the shelter up" instead of "until I can get the shelter built."
 * Luke says an additional "Ben... Dagobah..." just before Han says "and I thought they smelled bad on the outside."
 * When C-3PO tells Luke "It's so good to see you fully functional again," Luke replies "Thanks, Threepio."
 * The line "Headquarters personnel report to Command Center" is repeated three times instead of two.
 * The line "The first transport is away!" is said in a different voice altogether.
 * When R2 is being loaded into Luke's X-Wing, C-3PO says the word "and" before saying "do take good care of yourself."
 * Han's line "Transport, this is Solo. Better take off, I can't get to you. I'll get her out on the Falcon" is followed by, "Come on!"
 * In the asteroid field, after C-3PO says "Oh, this is suicide." He says, "There's no where to go."
 * Luke says "You're lucky to get out of there" instead of "You're lucky you don't taste very good."
 * Yoda makes a frightened "Ehhhhh!" sound just before Luke says "Like we're being watched" and points his blaster at him.
 * Yoda says the word "Run!" before "Yes. A Jedi's strength flows from the force." The following lines "But beware the dark side. Anger, fear, aggression. The dark side of the force are they. Easily they flow, quick to join you in a fight" are also much louder and clearer.
 * In Cloud City, after C-3PO says "That sounds like an R2 unit in there. I wonder if it..." he says "Hello?" only once instead of twice.
 * Before C-3PO gets shot, a different voice says "Who are you?"
 * While C-3PO is on Chewie's back when they enter the carbon freezing chamber, the line "Now remember, Chewbacca, you have a responsibility to me, so don't do anything foolish" is louder and heard more clearly.
 * During the duel, when Luke knocks Vader off of the platform, Vader lets out an "ooooh!" instead of an "aaargh!"
 * Lando's line at the end, "Luke, we're ready for takeoff." is a different take.
 * In the final scene, there is no tracked music from "Yoda and the Force".
 * When Lando's head comes out of the hatch to get Luke it's actually the head of a doll.

1997 Star Wars Trilogy Special Editions
Special coverage on CNN in 1997 notes that Lucas spent $10 million to rework his original 1977 film, which was roughly what it cost to film it originally. $3 million of that was spent on the audio track for the special edition. Lucas also spent $2.5 million each on Episodes V and VI.

The following is a partial list of changes:

A New Hope

 * Additional dewbacks are visible as the stormtroopers look for the missing robots. A Sentinel-class landing craft can be seen taking off, and new (costumed) stormtroopers have been added to the scene.
 * More CG dewbacks have been added in front of the Cantina, and a stormtrooper is shown dismounting from one as the droids look on.
 * New shot of Ben Kenobi's hut done in CG replaces a previous shot of the Landspeeder parked in front of it.
 * Luke's landspeeder hovers over the ground in a cleaner and more "realistic" manner.
 * Mos Eisley is bigger and busier with an extended opening showing dinosaur like Rontos, slapstick Jawas, and droids. A ship takes off in the background which is said to be Dash Rendar's ship, the Outrider. Two stormtroopers can also be seen in a far shot standing watch.
 * The far shot of Mos Eisley spaceport, shows a ship taking off from the ground.
 * New aliens are seen in the Cantina replacing the "Wolfman" characters in two shots. Although these new characters look different from each other, they are actually both portrayed by the same mask.  The mask was just turned around backwards for the second creature.
 * Greedo now fires a very badly aimed shot at Han before being shot in the cantina while Han bobs his head to "dodge" the shot. (It's worth noting that, although it seems like a minor change, it caused a great uproar in the community, and thousands of fans complained.)
 * A CGI version of Jabba the Hutt confronts Han Solo in the Millennium Falcon's launch bay, replacing a human actor from a deleted scene that is now re-inserted after the Greedo scene.
 * Due to a color timing error, when Luke swings his father's lightsaber in Ben's hut, it appears green (instead of blue).
 * A new Mos Eisley scene of the Falcon taking off with Troopers firing upon it. The angle of the Falcon flying off has also been adjusted.
 * Large shockwaves from the destruction of Alderaan and the Death Star have been added, and the explosions themselves are redone.
 * Due to color timing errors, a "pink glow" was apparent in many of the new Tatooine scenes, including the extended entry into Mos Eisley.
 * C-3PO's line where he describes the tractor beam's power systems is put back in.
 * New superimposed shots of the Stormtroopers in the Death Star after Han Solo charges them, with extra "return fire" as Han flees the regrouped troopers.
 * The flashes of blaster impacts on the Imperial officers' chests were censored in all but one shot.
 * "Close the blast doors!" is put back into the scene where Han and Chewbacca jump through the doors as they close
 * A digital version of a shot of the Millennium Falcon flying below the Planet Yavin towards Yavin 4.
 * A scene between Luke Skywalker and Biggs Darklighter, just before the Battle of Yavin. A pilot has been digitally inserted walking past the camera at one point to mask a deleted line by Red Leader (which in the script indicated that he knew Luke's father and his reputation as a pilot).
 * New digital shots of the X-Wings and Y-Wings taking off from Yavin 4 (in the original version, they just appeared as red flashes) and assembling in front of the Death Star.
 * New, additional, and revised dog fighting and attack run scenes during the battle with the Death Star
 * The line "Blast it Biggs, where are you?" was changed to "Blast it Wedge, where are you?"
 * After Red Leader's unsuccessful trench run, the line "He's on your tail!" was added to the film.
 * A blast scar indicating Red Leader's missed shot has been added to shots of the exhaust port, visible when Luke fires his.
 * The shot of the Rebel fighters flying to the Death Star and away from the Death Star has been revised.
 * Some garbage matte boxes around starships in space were removed (but some still remained).
 * During the victory celebration, as Luke, Han and Chewbacca enter the assembly hall, Rebel soldiers standing on the sides were cardboard cutouts in the original, they have now been replaced with actors composited in.
 * James Earl Jones was added to the credits as the voice of Darth Vader.

The Empire Strikes Back

 * Cockpits of the Snow speeders were cleaned up so as not to appear transparent.
 * New shots on Hoth of a wampa ice creature (man in a suit) in the cave where Luke is held.
 * New and additional shots of Cloud City with a CG Falcon and Cloud Cars approaching and flying through.
 * Several wall panels have been digitally replaced with windows on Cloud City.
 * Background cityscapes have been replaced in some areas with new CG versions.
 * Luke's line, "You're lucky you don't taste too good," after R2-D2 is spit out by a Dagobah swamp creature, is changed to "You were lucky to get out of there."
 * Additional shot of Slave I pursuing the Millennium Falcon has been added.
 * Shots of people listening to Lando on the Cloud City PA ordering the evacuation of the city are added
 * Luke screams as he jumps off the platform in Cloud City (the scream is actually lifted from the Emperor's death scream from Return Of The Jedi)
 * Darth Vader's line, "Bring my shuttle," is changed to "Alert my Star Destroyer to prepare for my arrival." The rest of the scene is extended with an additional shot of Vader's shuttle flying, and his arrival on his Star Destroyer, actually an unused outtake from Return of the Jedi (that's Moff Jerrerod with his lines muted out who greets Vader).
 * A digital hatch has been added to replace the white light that appears when Lando opens the outer hatch of the Falcon to rescue Luke.
 * Some garbage matte boxes around starships were removed (but not all).

Return Of The Jedi

 * A new Jabba's Palace Band musical number, "Jedi Rocks" replaces "Lapti Nek"; Oola is now accompanied by three back-up dancers. Some other footage is added from the extended music video of Lapti Nek.
 * Boba Fett is briefly shown flirting with a dancer at Jabba's palace, and walking past Jabba.
 * A new shot of Oola was added showing her getting up inside the Rancor's den and screaming.
 * Added scene on Tatooine of a herd of Banthas before heading to the Pit of Carkoon.
 * Right after the scene of the Banthas, the poorly composited guard walking about on the Sail Barge's deck was redone.
 * A revised version of the Sarlacc at the base of the Pit of Carkoon which features a beaklike mouth and extra tentacles.
 * CGI rope has been added around Han's ankles as he hangs onto the skiff by his toes.
 * In the original version, a flight of four TIE fighters appear from behind the camera flying towards the Death Star and disappear a second before the scene changes to the Emperor's arrival. This is corrected and the fighters continue heading toward the Death Star.
 * As with the destruction of the first Death Star, the second has been given a shockwave ring.
 * At the end of the trilogy after the Empire is defeated, scenes of celebration on Endor, Bespin, Tatooine, and Coruscant are shown. The "Ewok celebration" song (often referred to as "Yub Nub") during this sequence has been replaced with an entirely new John Williams composition, "Victory Celebration". A few quick shots of the Ewoks celebrating by bonfires and with different musical instruments (horns) have been added.
 * James Earl Jones was added to the credits as the voice of Darth Vader.

2001 Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace DVD

 * Podrace grid sequence is extended
 * Podrace lap 2 extended
 * Air taxi sequence is reincorporated
 * Orn Free Taa's human companions in his Senate pod are replaced by Twi'leks

Unreleased The Phantom Menace DVD

 * At the DVD press conference for Revenge of the Sith, Star Wars prequel trilogy animation director, Rob Coleman confirmed that the animation department at Lucasfilm has replaced the Yoda puppet from the original version of the film with a digital Yoda. This was done to better match up the look of the Yoda from The Phantom Menace with that of the other two films of the prequel trilogy.

A preview of these changes can be viewed on the Revenge of the Sith DVD, which was released on November 1, 2005. The clip is included as part of "The Chosen One" featurette. When Rob Coleman announced the change, he did not specify when the revised version of The Phantom Menace will be released.

2002 Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones DVD
Most of these changes did not appear in the main theatrical release, but made it into a version shown in select digital theaters.


 * New dialogue added to the scene where Anakin confesses to the Tusken slaughter to Padmé.
 * Additional sparks and smoke have been added to Jango Fett's jetpack shortly before his death to better present its malfunction.
 * After falling out of the gunship on Geonosis, a clone trooper asks if Padmé is all right. Her response of "Yes" has been changed to a more realistic groggy "Uh-huh."
 * Anakin's mechanical hand now holds Padmé's hand during the closing wedding sequence (this was originally included in the DLP theater release of the film).

2005 Revenge of the Sith DVD

 * No wipe transition for Anakin's hand digging into the ground on Mustafar
 * Different wipe and slightly shorter "Noooo!!" from Darth Vader
 * When Obi-Wan is confronting Grievous (who is doing his buzzsaw routine), closeups of Obi-Wan from the Mustafar duel have been added.

2004 Star Wars Trilogy DVD
The 2004 DVD changes were made in an attempt to make a better connection between the old and new trilogies. The following is a partial list of changes:

A New Hope

 * When the Jawa Sandcrawler stops outside the Lars Homestead, C-3PO says "We're stopped" before telling R2-D2 to wake up. He also says "Wake up!" an additional time.
 * Obi Wan Kenobi's scream to scare off the Sand People has been changed to a higher-pitched wail. This is similar to the sound that Boga on Utapau in Revenge of the Sith makes. Previously the sound had a Dewback roar tacked onto the end.
 * More debris have been digitally added to the scene at the destroyed Jawa sandcrawler.
 * A brief shot of Luke's landspeeder as it enters Mos Eisley carrying Luke, Ben Kenobi, and the droids has been redone.
 * The Mos Eisley/Greedo scene is redone yet again, so that Greedo and Han shoot at almost the exact same moment, but Greedo is still fractionally ahead. Han also dodges Greedo's shot by moving to his right in the new version in a slightly more lifelike manner.
 * An improved CGI version of Jabba the Hutt now confronts Han Solo in the scene added to the 1997 re-release. This new version more closely resembles the way Jabba looked in Episode I.
 * When the docking bay controller tries to contact TK-421, slightly audible static can be heard over the communicator.
 * The Matte painting in the detention block had been extended, making the corridor seem longer and more realistic.
 * The Dianoga(garbage masher monster)'s eye stalk that pops up over the water to spy on the heroes has been modified so that it blinks.
 * The odd "pink glow" accidentally added in the 1997 Special Edition in the Mos Eisley shots was removed.
 * Due to color timing errors, R2-D2's blue domes are now a much brighter blue while he is on the Tatooine sands with Threepio after the pod crashes (compare to his coloration in other scenes).
 * Due to color timing errors, Princess Leia's makeup appears very caked on and pasty in several scenes, especially those on the Tantive IV (also in Episode VI on the Endor mission).
 * Due to color timing errors, the Rebel troopers on the Tantive IV sometimes appear to be wearing blue uniforms (they are actually gray in most shots).
 * The English writing in the Death Star tractor beam control panel is changed to the standard Star Wars "foreign" (Aurebesh) writing
 * An audible bump was added to the infamous gaff where the one screen-right shacks his head on the door-frame when the stormtroopers break into the control room. This mistake had been hinted at in Episode II.
 * Line "There's no one here" has been added as the stormtroopers are searching the Falcon.
 * Luke and Leia's voice echo when they are trapped in the Death Star chasm has been redone more realistically.
 * Lightsabers now glow similarly to the other episodes (NOTE: In Luke's training on the Millennium Falcon, the lightsaber is not blue as it ought to be in every shot; for one shot the blade is green, and for the others it was not colored at all and remains white. In the new version the lightsaber is green in almost every shot except near the end, when Luke dons the helmet and begins to block the shots fired by the remote. There are also several lightsaber mistakes still visible in the battle between Obi-Wan and Vader, such as Vader's lightsaber changing color, and Obi-Wan's missing its core, plus a few far shots still show uncolored lightsabers)
 * Additionally, the first instance of Luke swinging a lightsaber, in Ben's hut, has been fixed so that it is blue again (the glow effect is remarkably different than when it is seen again on the Falcon).
 * Obi-Wan's lightsaber blade is thinner than previous versions in every shot, including when he uses it in the Cantina.
 * John Williams's score has been quieted or eliminated from some portions of the Battle of Yavin scene, such as "The Force Theme" when the X-Wings make their first attack run which is now drowned out by the loud engines (except on the French audio track).
 * During the dialogue between Tarkin and Leia, their voices change modulation noticably mid-sentence, and Leia's lines exhibit background hiss whenever she speaks.
 * The left and right rear channels of the score have also been swapped. 20th Century Fox claims these and other audio changes are "deliberate creative decisions" and not mistakes.
 * The line "Blast it Wedge, where are you?" was changed back to "Blast it Biggs, where are you?"
 * The "He's on your tail!" that was added for the 1997 Special Edition was removed.
 * The Code Cylinders in Grand Moff Tarkin's uniform jacket no longer move up and down between shots.
 * As the blast door closes after Luke blasts the controls, Darth Vader's lightsaber is finally red.

The Empire Strikes Back

 * In a scene where Darth Vader speaks to the Emperor via hologram, the Emperor is now Palpatine as portrayed by Ian McDiarmid (in the original film and the Special Edition, an unidentified actress in heavy makeup portrayed the Emperor, whose voice was dubbed in by Clive Revill.) A few lines of new dialogue have been added to this scene as well, in which Palpatine informs Vader that their new enemy is "the offspring of Anakin Skywalker."
 * The four lines spoken by Boba Fett are now in the voice of Temuera Morrison, the actor who played Jango Fett (Boba Fett's clone "father"). The engines of his ship, the Slave I have also been modified to sound like they did in Attack of the Clones.
 * In both the original and Special Edition film, during the scene in which Han is lowered into the carbon-freezing chamber, a shadow on the actor's clothing has given rise to a rumored (but false) wardrobe blooper of him wearing his dark jacket during one shot (behind the scenes shots of the scene dispell the rumor). The "jacket" has been digitally erased in this release.
 * The tracked Emperor death scream by Luke Skywalker introduced in the Special Edition re-release was removed.
 * In the original and special edition, when Darth Vader asks if the Falcon's hyperdrive is deactivated, Admiral Piett's rank plaque and code cylinders are on the wrong side of his uniform (the plaque is suppose to be on the left side of his tunic, but it was on his right side). This is corrected and Piett has the correct rank placement on his uniform. The same was done for another officer in the same shot.
 * Darth Vader's lightsaber in the Luke/Vader duel now looks pink instead of red in almost all the shots it is in (this problem is also in the Episode VI lightsaber duel as well). It also changes to orange in a few shots (when Vader leaps at Luke in their duel in the Carbon freezing chamber, and when they encounter in the cave on Dagobah).
 * Due to color timing issues, Yoda appears much more green than in previous versions.
 * At least one shot of R2-D2 in space has been modified with CG recoloring to make him have blue panels instead of black (the blue screen technique in the original film removed all color from the droid). With the new coloring, his black central "eye" appears much smaller than normal. Despite this fix, R2-D2's domes appear black in several other shots throughout this release of the trilogy.
 * The credits are unchanged from the 1997 Special Edition.

Return Of The Jedi

 * The matte lines on the Rancor have been completely erased and the blue screen glow on the figure of Luke has been removed, with the colors being retimed to match, making the two appear to be in the same scene together.
 * Boba Fett now laughs along with Jabba the Hutt while Luke fights the Rancor, matching his laugh from Attack of the Clones.
 * In Anakin Skywalker's final scene, when he is not wearing his helmet, the eyebrows of actor Sebastian Shaw have been digitally removed. This is to indicate what happens with Anakin's eyebrows when he gets burned up on Mustafar after the duel with Obi-Wan Kenobi.  His eyes have also been changed to blue, to better resemble the Anakin portrayed by Hayden Christensen in the prequel trilogy. His skin tone has also been altered so it appears gray and colorless, instead of fleshy and pale like it was previously (also compare to his exposed head in Empire Strikes Back).
 * Another scene of celebration, this one on Naboo, is shown after the Empire is defeated. A Gungan can be heard saying "Wesa free!" Some Star Wars fansites suspect this is Jar Jar Binks; however, this is only speculation.
 * On the Coruscant celebration scene, one can see the Galactic Senate building in the distance at the start of the shot, and the Jedi Temple at the end. These replaced generic buildings that appeared in the 1997 Special Edition.
 * Due to color timing errors, Leia's makeup in the shuttle on their way to the Endor mission and on the ground appears very caked on and pasty.
 * Vader's lightsaber appears pink or red-violet in several scenes, then changes back to the normal red (compare the shot where he is searching for Luke who is hiding, versus most of their fight prior).
 * At the beginning of the duel between Luke and Vader, in the scene where their sabers clash in front of the Emperor's face, the scene has been noticably darkened. The lowered brightness hides the "Emperor's Slugs" gaffe (dark colored blobs on the actor's hood to cover gaps in the makeup). This darkening makes the lightsabers appear to intersect, and makes it appear that Vader's saber is in front of Luke's, suggesting that he was trying to kill his master rather than defend him (this is of course an unintended consequence of the gaffe).
 * In the final scene where the spirits of Anakin Skywalker, Obi Wan Kenobi, and Yoda appear to Luke, the head of Sebastian Shaw (as Anakin) has been replaced with the head of Hayden Christensen (the body remains Shaw's).

Note that in all three films, the ending credits have remained unchanged from the Special Edition releases in 1997. Thus, they do not reflect such changes as Ian McDiarmid's Emperor in The Empire Strikes Back or Hayden Christensen's Anakin in Return of the Jedi. However, the font was changed in order to reflect the credits of the prequel trilogy.