so han never shot first

[the_ultimate_evil]

Last month George Lucas, emboldened by his impending retirement from the business of blockbusters, opened up about his weariness with the complaints of Star Wars fans who have long griped about his many changes to the saga over the years—for instance, making it so that Han shoots first, to correct what was once a glaring “violation of his own naïve style.” And while that’s more explanation than George Lucas believes you deserve—and it’s already out there for public consumption, and everyone is now familiar with it—there is, of course, no reason why that explanation cannot be tweaked and improved upon after the fact. And so that's exactly what Lucas does in this new interview with The Hollywood Reporter, unveiling the newer, enhanced answer that he always intended you to see.

As it turns out, those who saw that controversial edit as a fundamental betrayal of the character—changing Han Solo from a shrewd, streetwise bad-ass to a guy who got really lucky that Greedo is such a lousy shot; rendering his evolution from amoral antihero to full-blown hero less meaningful, etc. —well, they were just confused all along, because Lucas now says Han never shot first:

"The controversy over who shot first, Greedo or Han Solo, in Episode IV, what I did was try to clean up the confusion, but obviously it upset people because they wanted Solo to be a cold-blooded killer, but he actually isn’t. It had been done in all close-ups and it was confusing about who did what to whom. I put a little wider shot in there that made it clear that Greedo is the one who shot first, but everyone wanted to think that Han shot first, because they wanted to think that he actually just gunned him down."

Indeed, it was only the audience’s own bloodlust that led them astray and left them so confused for so many years—a bloodlust that festered into their ravenous need to set jaws upon George Lucas every time he tries to make his work a little more innocent and magical. Fortunately, all it took was a wider shot and a grafted-on cartoon laser beam to save future generations from wandering down that same dark path, which leads only to anger, hatred, and in forthcoming editions, a nice periwinkle garden.

http://www.avclub.com/articles/george-lucas-says-han-never-shot-first-you-were-ju,69159/

at least not according to old George

 

[obin_gam]

Kinda sad that I'm not surprised by this statement.

 

[henzINNIT]

He's such an old fool, haha. Definitely a good time to retire George.

 

[Blue Sugar]

I love it! Cause it's one of those changes I've never been bothered by but that most fanboys keeps raving about.

The whole thing is like the most overblown thing ever.

 

[Thebumwhowalks]

I love it! Cause it's one of those changes I've never been bothered by but that most fanboys keeps raving about.

The whole thing is like the most overblown thing ever.

did you see the SE first? Or the original cut?
Because the reason it was a big deal to a lot of SW fans was that it overcomplicated and made awkward Han Solo's introductory scene, which *is* a big deal.
Sure, we saw him talking with his cocky attitude to Ben and Luke, but here we got to see how he handled himself in a fight for the first time.
Even apart from it now being unbelievable that Greedo missed at such close range, the scene they added of them both shooting looked awkward and fake.

the first version was especially crappy, it was improved a bit by the time the dvds came out though, where they were shown to basiclaly shoot simultaniously, so you can just imagine that Greedo's shot was his death twitch(which is what i do), explaining why his close range shot missed.

I hear the blu-ray version has been further improved, someone said that in the Sw thread, so i'm curious how that was changed.

Anyway, folk have been talking about this already all day in the SW thread.

 

[Lord]

I feel more sad for old George Lucas, he's in a point where not mater what he does or says, he will only get extreme criticism

 

[Blue Sugar]

Oh I saw and fell in love with the originals first.

 

[jmc]

Who shot first? Who cares.

 

[ThePowerCosmic]

I understand why Lucas meant for Greedo to shoot first. Han might have been a criminal but he wasn't a cold-blooded killer according to Lucas.

Did this really need its own thread? It should have been posted in the one for Star Wars.

 

[Thebumwhowalks]

Who shot first? Who cares.

Yeah, who cares about people discussing artistic changes to films because of moral reasons, and if that imapcts on the work qulaity? how boring.
It's much more interesting to go into 'the artist's' thread and announce you are going to see the film today, that is the kind of post people want to read and interact with, haha.

 

[dark_b]

i diagree with how he is lying about his own movie. but i still have to bow down to the guy. he is using the angry SW fans to promote the 3D SW realese. everyone is talking about what Lucas said . yet at the same time they mention how SW is again in the theaters.

everything is happening like he wants it. the guy is using the anger of SW fans to promote the movie. this has to be brilliant. its like a Joker master plan

 

[Thebumwhowalks]

i diagree with how he is lying about his own movie. but i still have to bow down to the guy. he is using the angry SW fans to promote the 3D SW realese. everyone is talking about what Lucas said . yet at the same time they mention how SW is again in the theaters.

its like a Joker mater plan.

that is a very astute observation, or maybe it is just a decent observation and i am a dimwit, haha, but aye, that is probably true.

 

[the_ultimate_evil]

Anyway, folk have been talking about this already all day in the SW thread.

ahh my search turned up no results, so if the mods wish to merge

 

[Thundercrack85]

Alderaan shot first.

 

[Rocketman]

Oh, Christ. Someone give this franchise to Christopher Nolan or Guillermo Del Toro already. Or ANYONE with marginal talent.

 

[LOBO3315a]

did you see the SE first? Or the original cut?
Because the reason it was a big deal to a lot of SW fans was that it overcomplicated and made awkward Han Solo's introductory scene, which *is* a big deal.
Sure, we saw him talking with his cocky attitude to Ben and Luke, but here we got to see how he handled himself in a fight for the first time.
Even apart from it now being unbelievable that Greedo missed at such close range, the scene they added of them both shooting looked awkward and fake.

the first version was especially crappy, it was improved a bit by the time the dvds came out though, where they were shown to basiclaly shoot simultaniously, so you can just imagine that Greedo's shot was his death twitch(which is what i do), explaining why his close range shot missed.

I hear the blu-ray version has been further improved, someone said that in the Sw thread, so i'm curious how that was changed.

Anyway, folk have been talking about this already all day in the SW thread.

Sorry, couldn't resist.

 

[Thebumwhowalks]

Sorry, couldn't resist.

eh, I don't see anything outlandish about my post, I'm sure a lot of SW fans agree with me. I actually find the changes to the SW films a very interesting point of discussion when it comes to examining how the impact and meaning of art can radically change, by the merest tweak of it's elements.

so stick that up yer kilt big man.

 

[Lord]

I kinda wish Lucas decides to direct other original movies again, he proved talent in his first 3 films, then he decided to sit for some 20 years with the money gained from the saga, that's one of the reasons the prequels had problems, Lucas was out of practice.

I think Lucas should let other directors play with the star wars universe like it was originally supposed to happen, when lucas in the 70s planed 12 movies with him directing the first and last movies, while other directors would do the middle ones.

And LOBO, i don't see the point of your post besides making a star wars meme joke

 

[danoyse]

Don't be so proud of this ridiculous story circulating the internet. To ability to create a seperate thread about it is insignificant next to the power of the Force, or the mods that are about to close it.

In other words, we already have a Star Wars thread. This doesn't need a seperate one.

 

[CapedCrusader14]

Yeah I already originally posted it in the Star Wars thread.

I woke up this morning and my Dad had read his statement.

*cue 5 minute speech by me*