Ruining Star Wars

(May 25, 2012) -- Star Wars. Whether consciously or not, simply the name of the film series sends waves of memories and reflections through millions of people's minds. With an immense cult following and colossal marketing strategies, it should come as no surprise that Star Wars will likely go down as one of the most popular science fiction franchises in modern history.

Despite the huge fanbase and unmistakable name, Star Wars' demise may very well be in the hands of the man who created the saga — George Lucas.

Apart from the original Star Wars trilogy, it appears as though Lucas has had trouble getting things right and pleasing the fans of his creations. With superfluous re-releases of the movies, silly additions to franchise videogames, and even a planned space opera live-action television series in Lucas' portfolio, it isn't difficult to comprehend why Star Wars fanatics are drifting away from their love of the franchise.

Let's just begin in order of the three most prominent blunders mentioned above. To date, there are 23 official releases of Star Wars. With the entire saga lasting only six episodes, I'm rather confounded as to why there are 23 releases. Amidst the VHS, DVD and Blu-Ray re-releases, surely, it must stop somewhere. But alas, five more releases of 3D versions are scheduled to have theater premieres in the coming years.

More baffling than the re-releases themselves, however, are the edits within them. According to MSNBC, Lucas stated that the original films were "25 to 30%" of his original vision. Minor, tolerable changes were to be expected in re-releases. Unexpected, however, was the interpretation in which Lucas took the minor edits.

Of the hundreds of edits done to the original films, the more outstanding and controversial one was of the famous scene where Han Solo and Greedo the Bounty Hunter hold an ominous conversation around the topic of Solo being in debt to a criminal empire. In the original release, Solo shoots Greedo in a quick draw before Greedo has the slightest incentive to react. In the following re-releases of Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope, Greedo is seen as firing at Solo first, triggering him to act defensively.

This particular scene modification has fans up in arms for the edit was to have the film remain untarnished and simply updated for graphical improvements. What this edit did was affect Han Solo as a character. The scene establishes Solo’s persona and instead of him being the fearless rebel who shot Greedo in an act of defiance, he is seen as a man who only fired because the enemy shot first.

Further, Lucas seems to have accomplished the art of Solo’s deterioration in the latest Star Wars video game, Star Wars: Kinect. At the end of various intergalactic battles for justice, the player is presented in a new arena where they participate in an intergalactic dance-off. Han Solo in particular participates in a cheesy cover of Jason Derulo’s “Ridin’ Solo” re-lyricized as “I’m Han Solo.” It was at that moment onward where I started viewing Han Solo as a failed boyband member as opposed to the rebel I initially thought him to be.

Above all, my largest criticism is Lucas’ altering motives. Originally, updating the six Star Wars films seemed respectable. Mediums of consuming media were changing from analog to digital, and the updates were welcome. The digital age, however, has already taken over, and the re-releases continue to pour in. Lucas’ motives have since then become thin and muddled. With other reasons ruled out, it seems as though greed has taken over Lucas’ mind.

Empty rehashes of movies which released in the ‘70s has greed written all over it. No longer is it about the story or of the atmosphere, but about the money.