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Reissues and Renovations
Why do reissues and renovations of your work?
I am a product of the 70s and 80s. I saw Star Wars (sorry, to me it’s not Episode IV — A New Hope, it’s just Star Wars) in 1977 when I was almost 5. That made a lasting impression on me — and inspired me to become a sci-fi and fantasy writer.
It thrilled me to see this film — and the subsequent movies, books, cartoons, and other material — take on such a life. I loved everything about it — even the relatively lame prequel films.
But George Lucas got this idea in his head that it could be improved. That he could perform renovations on his classics and, to his way of thinking, make them better.
Thus, the fight around the Death Star in Star Wars is cleaner now. The scene where Han confronts Jabba was added. And we get a hint of the relationship between Luke and Biggs before they take on the Death Star.
Unfortunately, you also get Greedo firing on Han, rather than Han simply shooting him under the table.
Taking a page from Mr. Lucas, Steven Spielberg made a few changes to E.T. The Extraterrestrial. I admit I have not watched it since this was done — but apparently, the agents confronting the kids had the guns they were holding removed and replaced with walkie-talkies?
