There seems to be a lot of controversy surrounding the new Star Wars Blue Ray release. Is it right for George Lucas to change the movies to what he wanted them to be 40 years ago?  Or should the movies be kept how they were when they were released?  Lucas has shown he is going to pick the former and he has gone on record as saying the technology limited him to only 30% of what he wanted to do. So does that mean he will change the remaining 70%, should he change the remaining 70%? Luckily those creative Star Wars fans at Washington City Paper have created a helpful graphic to help fanboys get through these tough times:

The 5 Stages of Star Wars Revisionism Fan Grief

Whether or not you support Lucas’ revisionism if you are a true Star Wars fan you will enjoy the best documentary I’ve ever seen.  Not for sale on any DVD or Blue Ray release you should definitely check out the obsessively detailed, fan made, Star Wars Begins series by Jambe Davdar. More like a commentary than documentary, it goes behind the scenes in incredible detail showing deleted scenes, different angles, behind the scenes footage and fascinating details on how Lucas was forced to change the movies (sometimes for the better, sometimes for the worst) to deal with the obstacles in his path to finish the movie. In an interview with Jambe (real name Jamie Benning) he describes where he got the material for the movies:

Most of the material used has never been made commercially available, so Benning had to do his own digging. When he was younger, he taped everything that came on television related to Star Wars and living in England turned out to be a huge advantage. “Occasionally you hear people talk about their roles in Star Wars,” he said. Most of the films were shot in England and when the films were re-issued in 1997 for the original’s 20th anniversary, there were a lot of interviews out there, which supplied him with plenty of material…

George Lucas is always changing his stories about how the films were put together and he has “…forgotten the details” so those commentaries are rather “sanitized.” By using contemporary quotes from 1976 (the beginning of Star Wars’ shooting) to 1983 (the completion of Return of the Jedi), Benning is able to provide a better picture of what actually happened. The films “just evolved at the time…It shows what Lucas could do when he couldn’t get everything he wanted and we know what happens when he can.”

In his Empire Strikes Back documentary (Titled: Building Empire) there is a cool reconstruction of a scene involving the Wampas (those Yeti monsters) where George Lucas wanted to have this whole Wampa subplot but it was cut due to technical details. The scene would have added a humorous subplot joke when the Empire storms the base and it was a shame it got cut. Anyway if you’ve got time you should check out Jambe Davdar docs.  Davdar’s put all three online.  Watch them now before Lucas’ Star Wars Empire destroys them.

And of course here is a little gem I found detailing the voice actor behind “It’s a Trap!”

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