Written by James Fohl
April 29th, 2005

If you know anything about the original Star Wars trilogy, then you probably know that George Lucas (the creator the Star Wars universe re-released the films in theaters with added special effects in late 1996, early 1997.

But were you aware that for the recently released DVD edition of the original Star Wars Trilogy Mr Lucas decided that he was going to modify the movies even further? Not only did his team manage to make the movies more crisp and sound ten times better, but the team responsible for bringing the original Star Wars trilogy also threw in a lot of extra special effects.


All Kinds Of Special Effects Have Been Added To The Classic Trilogy

While most of the added special effects were added just to make this wonderful trilogy of movies look even more bolder, some of the added effects have specific reasoning for their inclusion. The major case and point is because Episodes I, II, and soon III have been released, and no matter how you look at it these movies affect the original trilogy.

These changes occur primarily in Return of the Jedi, and The Empire Strikes Back. If you remember The Empire Strikes Back, you will no doubt remember the Emperor that Darth Vader is speaking to in the hologram looks nothing like the Emperor from Return of the Jedi. Thankfully with the new DVD release, George Lucas and his team were able to successfully place everyone’s favorite Emperor’s image over the old one.

Not only that, but in Return of The Jedi, the Anakin we all know and love from Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith has his image pasted over the old Anakin Skywalker during the Force ghost scene.

Not Only Are There Visual Changes, But Also Audio Changes As Well

These are just a couple of the many visual changes George Lucas and his team have performed on the DVD transition of the Star Wars trilogy. But just as many visual changes were produced, a lot of audio changes were also implemented into the DVDs.

The most noticeable is the fact that Boba Fett’s voice was re-recorded, so that his voice would be the same as his father, Jango Fett. After all, if Boba is a clone of Jango, then should they not both have the same voice? That’s George Lucas theory, and exactly why the audio was re-recorded by Jango Fett’s actor, Temuera Morrison.

Whoever Said It Was Right; You Can’t Please Everyone

With all of the changes and additions that George Lucas brought to the original Star Wars trilogy with the release of this DVD box set, you would think almost every fan in the world would be happy. Unfortunately a great number of Star Wars fans found the new additions to be ‘appalling’ and wanted Lucas to release the trilogy on DVD unedited. Just take a look at all the reviews of the DVD set on Amazon, and you’ll see all the bickering that it taking place.

If you are a die hard Star Wars fan, you too will probably get a little ticked off at all the changes George Lucas and his team did to these movies. If, however you just like the Star Wars movies than you will be in for quite a surprise as Lucas was able to take an old set of movies and make them seem a little more modern.