— Ch. 1 · Lucas's Editing Philosophy —
Changes in Star Wars re-releases.
~6 min read · Ch. 1 of 6
George Lucas stood before the U.S. House of Representatives in 1988 to argue for artist moral rights. He declared that people who alter or destroy works of art are barbarians. His speech warned that engineers with computers could add or subtract material to suit a copyright holder's taste. This testimony reflected his own history of losing control over his early films. Warner Bros removed five minutes from THX 1138 in 1971. Universal Pictures cut several minutes from American Graffiti in 1973. These experiences drove his later insistence on controlling how Star Wars appeared to audiences. He believed future generations should see past works as they were originally made. The National Film Registry selected the original Star Wars film for preservation in 1989. Lucas refused to submit the 1977 version, stating he no longer authorized its release. The Library of Congress used a 1978 print to create a digital copy available by 2015. In June 2025, the British Film Institute screened the unaltered film at a festival. Lucasfilm announced a restoration would return to theaters on the 19th of February 2027.
The Special Edition Era
A major motivation for the 1997 changes was to test computer-generated imagery for upcoming prequels. Industrial Light & Magic produced visual effects intended to prove CGI viability. The Special Edition theatrical run occurred from January through March that year. For A New Hope, additional sound effects and dialogue lines from the original mono mix were carried over. The franchise celebrated its twentieth anniversary with these remastered versions. George Lucas stated the goal was to show ILM could effectively produce new visual effects. This era marked the first significant alterations to the original trilogy films. The 1997 release included new shots of stormtroopers and CGI Dewback lizards during the Empire's search for droids. A static Dewback was replaced with a moving CGI version in one shot. Writing in Wired magazine, Drew Stewart claimed the rationale illustrated the extent of the Empire's search. He criticized the new shots as people wandering aimlessly. The scene featuring Jabba the Hutt was reinserted using a fully CGI character. This character preceded Jar Jar Binks by two years as an early example of a speaking CGI figure. Artist Claudia Mullaly conceived repulsorlifts to explain Jabba's mobility but dropped the concept.