List of Changes in Star Wars Re-releases

List Of Changes In Star Wars Re-releases

The following are partial lists of changes in Star Wars re-releases. The commercial success of Star Wars gave George Lucas the opportunity to alter the original films of the trilogy: Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope, Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back, and Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi. Many changes were motivated by Lucas's stated desire to make the original films closer to his vision for them.

The new versions made heavy use of computer-generated imagery (CGI) and other new production techniques that emerged in the decades after the original trilogy was produced. Other changes enhanced the cohesiveness of the films and eliminated continuity errors between the original trilogy and the three prequels produced in the late 1990s and early 2000s. The changes are controversial, with opponents claiming that the changes detract from the character arc of the films and tend to be more distracting than expedient.

In a September 2004 MSNBC article, Lucas claimed that the original films were "25 to 30 percent" of what he intended. Along with obvious changes to various scenes, the re-releases set out to improve the visual and audio quality of the films. According to Lucasfilm, the 2004 Special Edition is the canonical version of the original trilogy, though the original, unaltered theatrical editions were later released on DVD in 2006.

Changes to Star Wars films after their theatrical release were not limited to the original trilogy. Changes were also made to the DVD releases of Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace and Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones; all six movies were modified again for the 2011 release of Star Wars: The Complete Saga Blu-ray edition.