George Lucas Now Claims Han Never Shot First, Stupid Or Liar?

Date: Feb 9, 2012 | Author: Josh Tyler | Category: Sci-Fi

George Lucas has made a lot of changes to the Star Wars movies that people don’t really like, but the one that almost everyone agrees is completely heinous is Han Shot First.

In the original version of A New Hope Han Solo is confronted by a bounty hunter named Greedo in the Mos Eisely Cantina and, before Greedo can get off a shot, Han stone cold shoots him dead. In the re-released versions (and the only versions Lucas will let people see now) that scene happens differently. Now it’s been re-edited to make Han seem more family friendly. Greedo shoots first, and he’s so incompetent that even though his gun is less than a foot from Han Solo’s head he misses. Then Han fires back and kills him.

Except George Lucas now claims he didn’t change anything. In another one of his lame attempts to rewrite history the way he wants us to remember it, instead of the way it actually was, he now says that Han never shot first in the original version of A New Hope and you just dreamed it all up.

Here’s what he said to THR today…

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 [who seemed to be the one who shot first in the original] 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.

Here’s the scene as it originally appeared in A New Hope…

It’s pretty clear what’s going on there. Even George Lucas’s own published version of the Star Wars script disagrees with what he’s saying. The official January 15, 1976 version of the script for Star Wars describes the above scene this way:

GREEDO: That’s the idea. I’ve been looking forward to killing you for a long time.

HAN: Yes, I’ll bet you have.

Suddenly the slimy alien disappears in a blinding flash of light. Han pulls his smoking gun from beneath the table as the other patron look on in bemused amazement. Han gets up and starts out of the cantina, flipping the bartender some coins as he leaves.

HAN: Sorry about the mess.

I only see two possiblities. George Lucas is either stupid or a liar. He’s either lying about it to make himself look smarter (he’s done this before) or he’s so stupid that he no longer actually remembers anything about his own movie.

The worst thing here is that this horrible tactic will work. Now fanboys will claim that Han never shot first and slowly, bit by bit the real history of Star Wars will be replaced by the inferior, more kid-friendly fakery Lucas has been peddling since the nineties.

George Lucas: Stupid or Liar?

Stupid

Liar

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Comments

starbase63

As long as I have my VHS copies of the Original Trilogy well preserved, there will never be any doubt Han shot first. Who is he trying to kid besides himself?
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1404051881 Gene Crane

I seen it 27 times during the summer 1977, I had 3 original copies over the years and even have the original version on DVD. And in every single one of them Han shot FIRST!!!!!
Anonymous

Sad. At his advanced age, I’m sure George also thinks Leia never kissed Luke.
Fred

That is an unusual amount of sparks and smoke from just Han shooting. I think it is possible Greedo fired and possibly first, but where did Greedo’s shot go? A charred hole in the wall would have gone a long way to proving it.

JT

“The worst thing here is that this horrible tactic will work. Now fanboys will claim that Han never shot first and slowly, bit by bit the real history of Star Wars will be replaced by the inferior, more kid-friendly fakery Lucas has been peddling since the nineties.”

AverageJoe

There should be a choice for “Both” in the voting.
http://pulse.yahoo.com/_XHXGOBCF566HVY6N5XUECHDMRI Eternalgreenknight

With all due respect to his great achievements (the original releases), he’s a stupid liar.
theskyguy

I hear one shot in the original. In the revised versions, Greedo shoots first and there are a total of 3 shots heard. Lucas is nuts.
http://www.facebook.com/zero32483 William Hoke Jr

Damn, people. It’s a stupid thing to have a debate over! WHO CARES if Han shot first or not? Either way, only one of those two was going to leave alive and they BOTH knew it! Besides, Star WArs belongs to George Lucas, therefore he has the right to edit it as he sees fit. Don’t like it? Play one of the many games, blow something up, and deal with it.

http://www.facebook.com/david.schmitt#!/ David R. Schmitt

From Lucas’s own mouth Mar 3 1988 speaking in front of Congress:

“People who alter or destroy works
of art and our cultural heritage for profit or as an exercise of power
are barbarians, and if the laws of the United States continue to condone
this behavior, history will surely classify us as a barbaric society.
The preservation of our cultural heritage may not seem to be as
politically sensitive an issue as “when life begins” or “when it should
be appropriately terminated,” but it is important because it goes to the
heart of what sets mankind apart. Creative expression is at the core of
our humanness. Art is a distinctly human endeavor. We must have respect
for it if we are to have any respect for the human race.

These
current defacements are just the beginning. Today, engineers with their
computers can add color to black-and-white movies, change the
soundtrack, speed up the pace, and add or subtract material to the
philosophical tastes of the copyright holder. Tomorrow, more advanced
technology will be able to replace actors with “fresher faces,” or alter
dialogue and change the movement of the actor’s lips to match. It will
soon be possible to create a new “original” negative with whatever
changes or alterations the copyright holder of the moment desires. The
copyright holders, so far, have not been completely diligent in
preserving the original negatives of films they control. In order to
reconstruct old negatives, many archivists have had to go to Eastern
bloc countries where American films have been better preserved.
In the future it will become even
easier for old negatives to become lost and be “replaced” by new altered
negatives. This would be a great loss to our society. Our cultural
history must not be allowed to be rewritten.”Sure he owns the rights. I guess he owns the right to be a big fat hypocrite too huh William?

http://twitter.com/slade37 Slade Simon

I’ll stick to my original editions on DVD – added as an afterthought as an Extra in 4:3 instead of 16:9. I refuse to purchase the Blu-Ray.

I don’t mind director cuts of movies, and I can understand the reasons for some. Yes, ET got changed, but the DVD I got had both versions. Robert Wise redid Star Trek – The Motion Picture because the original release was a rushed job. They were shipping prints that were still wet from developing fluids so they could make the release date. (Mentioned in extras on DVD) Wise never got a chance to careful edit it the way he wanted to. For the most part, the CGI effects were done to look like 70s effects. While Lucas added CGI and created a mess – including a mess with his memory. I wonder if he can keep track of all of the changes he made.

Now Star Wars looks like they took the old Flash Gordon serial and added CGI ships without changing the sets. There are no more examples of the Academy Award winning special effects. Should the awards those non-CGI effects won be surrendered? Lucas seems to want to deny any previous edition existed. I just recently watched my old recordings of the TV specials about those erased effects. (SP FX: The Empire Strikes Back) All of that hard work – gone!
http://pulse.yahoo.com/_AXBT2XMVNYLYXHUAFVI725VH2Q Zarathustra

C’mon people, what does it matter? We know that Han is a good guy at heart but a little shady around the edges. So he shot an evil bounty hunter that was threatening his life. So what? Either way, it is really inconsequential. If George wants to portray Han as a little nicer, it does nothing to destroy the effect of one of the landmark films of all time. One can’t fault Lucas for being a “perfectionist.” (But I also hope he stops messing with the films. At some point he IS going to screw something up.)

http://www.facebook.com/scottymac66 Scott Macaulay

“If George wants to portray Han as a little nicer, it does nothing to
destroy the effect of one of the landmark films of all time.”
Are you serious? Of course it does! It’s like someone painting in bits on the Sistine Chapel to update it for modern Catholics. You know, Goliath shot first. ( I don’t know if David and Goliath are in that fresco, just making a point

http://www.facebook.com/misterobnoxious Brian Rose

To the people crying ‘So what? What difference does it make?’ my response is ‘a whole world of difference’. Did we not watch the same movie? The whole point of the Solo character in the first movie is to show what a lowlife scum he was, and how he changed into a good guy doing the right thing. He was bad, and he got better. It changes the whole friggin’ movie! If Lucas can’t see that, then he’s an idiot. If he can, and decided to change it because he didn’t want people to think Solo was anything but a good guy, then he’s a liar now. I vote for both, myself, because the man has obviously lost it and will never make another good movie again.
CB2001

Han shooting first shows how he is drastically different from Luke, Leia and Ben at the start of his involvement. It shows that he’s the kind of guy who shot first and never asked questions later. He actually changes much later after going through everything with Luke at the Death Star, and he’s completely changed when he comes soaring out of nowhere to save Luke’s butt from being killed by Vader. The evolution of Han in the the film shows that he goes from a ego-centric, screw everyone, I’m saving myself jerk who does what he does for his own life and money to someone who actually gives a damn about something.

Sorry, Lucas. I don’t care what you say, we all know Han shot first, and you do too. Changing that in later “revisions” and you claim Han never shot first only shows that you’ve become even more of a hypocrite, who stated once, “People who alter or destroy works of art and our cultural heritage for profit or as an exercise of power are barbarians, and if the laws of the United States continue to condone this behavior, history will surely classify us as a barbaric society.”
Richard

It make very little sense for the bounty hunter to shoot Han, he is planning on taking him to Jabba, and I expect he’d be worth more dead than alive. This is exactly the argument that Boba had with Darth, but he was reassured that he could thaw out Han, so let Darth freeze Han to test the machine.

George is possibly going a little senile? I don’t think he’s a liar or stupid.

http://www.facebook.com/david.schmitt#!/ David R. Schmitt

“he is planning on taking him to Jabba, and I expect he’d be worth more dead than alive.” So that’s why Han thought Greedo would shoot him. What is your argument?

Richard

Typo, I meant to write “he’d be worth more alive than dead”. Greedo would have been trying to take him in alive, but Han would have done anything to avoid capture.

MarvelX42

I am so sick of people saying that Han Shot first. Han didn’t shoot first. Han shot. The end. There was no other shot. One shot, one dead Greedo.
TheJohnP

Gotta agree with AverageJoe and MarvelX42.
anon

http://images.wikia.com/starwars/images/7/79/Kelly_and_George.jpg

incontrivertable proofs
Greysparrowmax

I think you should have included a, “batshit insane”, button as an option.

I just don’t get why he is so deliberate about robbing entire generations of the things they loved, that influenced them and was really an excellent story device and a moral, coming from a man that seems to high and mighty about good moral stories:

Even scoundrels can be redeemed.
http://www.facebook.com/people/Al-Pa/100001996399447 Al Pa

id say either hes possessed.. .which is faintly possible… maybe he started doing a exercist movie and the props got out of hand… perhaps some new level of prop technology that never got shared caus it went on a bender and took control of everyone… you know what… thier proly isnt a second option that explains it better.. but maybe thier is…

anywyas i would say it was possession or hes having his arm pulled behind him by some faction or another trying to edit the past, or just to make the world gun free, in fact this happened during 98/99 during didnt it? or was it sooner planed etc?
http://www.facebook.com/coffeechemist Shawna Dron-Gentert

I never thought Han shooting first made him a cold blooded killer. Even at the tender age of 8 when I saw this I could see that Han’s life was in imminent danger. It was kill or be killed. It was clear Greedo intended to kill him.
Rand

The only reason Han was a hero was cause he shot first! Don’t screw a simple and good Hero by adding moral justification rubbish in. Next thing He’ll probably throw digital glitter on Luke and the rest of the Jedi and say their Gorram
vampires!
http://www.facebook.com/people/Sergio-Perez/100002167135299 Sergio Perez

How can can we vote that he’s a stupid liar?
Spiderweather

This movie was on tv almost every day when I was a kid. I’ve seen it more times then I can remember. Han was the only on in that seen who shoot. That is the way I’ve always remembered it.
Capobrian

I’d say so stupid that he thinks this is the right think to do.
Beastmc

George Lucas…Stop raping my childhood!
Drew Luke

Is it that you are saying, Lucas shot Greedo, blamed it on Han, then recanted and said Greedo started tt? Sounds like Lucas has Greedo’s blood on his hands and should be arrested for complicity. Write to your local police station and get them to take action.
http://www.facebook.com/isaac.golberg Isaac Golberg

a stupid liar
Gantiz

Lucas hasn’t made a good movie since Return of the Jedi…. the only reason why Indiana Jones was good was Speilberg. I mean, does anyone remember the Ewok movies? Lucas lost it a long time ago.
Jbphotoman

Born in ’81 I really wish I knew this earlier before! I always thought Greedo shot first I have seen this movie many times and Greedo shoots first …WHYYYYYYYY!!!! Im in an alternate reality all of a sudden!
cat

Actually, I think dementia may be involved.
LucasSux

He did SW 1, 2, & 3 the answer is obviously STUPID!
http://akuro888.wordpress.com/ Akuro

I honestly think it’s both. He’s a freaking moron that has apparently run out of anything resembling creativity.

Giant Freakin Robot