STAR WARS
Episode IV: A New Hope

Special Edition

There has been quite a bit of controversy raging ever since George Lucas announced his plan to revamp his original Star Wars trilogy. Some call it blasphemy to take a cherished film classic and change it in any way. As a longtime opponent of shoddy techniques like colorization, I can sympathize with this viewpoint. Others have cynically called the plan a slick marketing scheme, much like so many recent "greatest hits" packages by popular recording artists that include one or two (usually inferior) new tracks in an effort to draw attention and boost sales. This argument also has merit - it seems highly unlikely that a twenty year old film, one that is very familiar to everyone via easy availability on video, would be able to make as much of a splash in theatrical re-release with only the promise of a remastered print offered to generate any excitement. I'm all for seeing films in a theater as opposed to video when available, but even I didn't go out of my way to catch the most recent run of Hitchcock's Vertigo.

But what Lucas has done is really more akin to producing the ultimate Director's Cut. The past few years have seen the successful re-editing of films like The Abyss and Bladerunner by their creators. Disney has digitally cleaned and polished every frame of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. These releases have been greeted with almost universal praise. It's doubtless that if Orson Welles had been offered the chance to go back and complete The Magnificent Ambersons as he saw fit that he would have jumped at the chance. The new material in Star Wars is not haphazardly included. The "special edition" is much better paced, and almost every scene plays with more depth and clarity. Every enhancement, every shot that Lucas has added is a detail that he'd originally wanted to include but could not, and reflects his original vision of the project.

And what a vision it is. This is one of those films that changed movies forever, and changed them for the better. It breathed new life into the action/adventure film by simply concentrating on the imagination and keeping a closer eye on the details. I'm sure that Lucas grew up like I did, frustrated that films were rarely able to get close to translating what science fiction and fantasy novels and comic-books accomplished so easily in print. With Star Wars (a project that looked like an incredible long-shot to studio executives) he showed that a a sense of wonder is a strength rather than a handicap, and pointed the way toward a present in which anything in a filmmaker's imagination is possible on film.

Every decade or so, the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel is cleaned, repaired, and even partially repainted. Unfortunately, Michelangelo himself isn't around for the restoration. While I wouldn't encourage anyone to fool around with Star Wars after George Lucas' death, I support his right to do as he sees fit with his works while he is able. And while I agree with those that argue that his time is better spent creating new works, I also understand the marriage of art and business. The "special edition" not only generates profits that ensure that further episodes will be made - and promotes the preservation of these and other classic works - but it just as importantly got Lucas involved creatively again. I doubt that scanning through a videotape would've done that, or else he would have continued his work a long, long time ago...

Sci-fi gadgets; space aliens; monsters; arms roll; light saber fu; zap guns; explosions; exploding planets; etc.

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