Yesterday we told you the George Lucas was making some tweaks to the Star Wars movies for Blu-Rays.
Today we’ve got details on one of those tweaks.
Lucas has removed the physical puppet Yoda used for The Phantom Menace and replaced it with a digital version. The digital version was used in the next two installments and fans got a taste of what could be on an extra for Revenge of the Sith.
It’s a good bet that the new digital Yoda version will be used when Phantom Menace is released in 3-D next year.
Below we’ve got comparison of the original and the new footage.
Yes! Next stop, The Empire Strikes Back! WOOO HOOOO!
(hate me, purists. you know you do.)
this is where I would counter your enthusiasm with a picture post of that south park image of Lucas & a stormtrooper but hey, this is a family place 🙂
Wonder what Frank Oz thinks of this …
Frank Oz is more of a voice for Yoda than anything.
I’ve got no problem with trying to make something LOOK even better than the original. I am a tried and true TOS fan that loved it when they upgraded that series with new digital images for the ships and the planets, so I certainly have no problem with Lucas tweaking SW to improve its look as well. He did it in a lot of scenes for IV thru VI and I didn’t complain there. What I didn’t like was changing the mood of one particular scene when he made it look like Greedo fired first instead of Han doing it like was in the original. That was not a matter of improving the look but more of Lucas bowing to some kind of morality pressure from a certain quarter of the viewing audience. He lost my artistic respect when he did that.
@Sam. At least when it comes to classic Trek, there are DVD sets with both effects available for sale and the Blu-Rays let you toggle between new and old. If Lucas would release a cleaned up version of the original prints and his new vision, I’d be happy. I just get annoyed that he doesn’t give us the choice of which one we want to watch….
@Michael. The choice is out there but it will cost a mint to have them all. What? George fiscally naive? Not likely.
Phantom Menace stunk! Lucas can change it all he wants. It’s his “tweaks” of the original 3 that bother me.
He’s just trying to make more money. I don’t have a problem with that. I agree with J. The Phantom Menace stunk, who cares what Lucas does to it.
I do wonder when Lucas will decide. “You know, Mark Hamill was good in his day, but he’s over 60 now. We’re going to replace him with a digital Justin Bieber as Luke. I just want to keep Star Wars fresh for a new generation.”
If not Lucas, eventually someone else will find a way to do something like this.