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As suspected, that Yoda change wasn’t all—after a few days of panicked rumor-swapping in the dweebier corners of the internet, Lucasfilm finally admitted to the New York Times that, in the upcoming Blu-ray version of Return of the Jedi‘s climactic scene, the formerly silent Darth Vader now cries “NOOOOOOOOOOO!” in much the same goofy-ass, repeatedly mocked way that he did in Revenge of the Sith. Which is… well, stupid, ’cause Vader’s silence in that moment was one of the highlights of the original movies, while the “NOOOOOOOOOOO!” from Sith is one of the lowlights of the prequels.

On Wednesday, a press representative for Lucasfilm confirmed that this change will be included in the Blu-ray release, writing in an email: “Yes—Darth says NO.”

Though it may sound like a minor detail among the millions in the Star Wars movies, this alteration has not sat well with many admirers of the film franchise.

On one hand, this is basically the least surprising news ever—Lucas will never stop (poorly) tweaking these movies, and fans will never stop getting outraged. On the other hand, though, it is kinda surprising, simply because the change is something you don’t often hear associated with Lucas: It’s bad business. With physical media whimpering its way through its prolonged death throes, these Blu-ray releases are basically Lucasfilm’s last chance to make a good chunk off change off selling hard copies of these things, but now—out of anger, bitterness, and stubbornness—a whole lot of formerly reliable, money-spendin’ nerds aren’t gonna buy these. Asking ’em to buy the special editions was already a hard sell; asking ’em to buy some special special editions—while continuing to deny them access to the originals they want? That’s just about impossible.

But who cares what I think—WHAT DO FAMOUS NERDS HAVE TO SAY? As the Times noted, Simon Pegg—star of Shaun of the Dead, Spaced, and Hot Fuzz— weighed in:

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Which is a pretty good point, and—

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Whoa. Okay. Still, fair, and I’d add tha—

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A bit earlier, Rian Johnson—the director of Brick, The Brothers Bloom, and the upcoming Looper, not to mention a Han Solo ice cube enthusiast—offered up a pretty good point:

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Taking off my Star Wars nerd hat for a moment and putting on my film nerd one, I’d say that’s actually the chief concern here: Star Wars might be thought of as a joke to a lot of people now, but these movies are still an important part of film history, and if archival versions of the originals exist somewhere, safe from Lucas’ clutches, and can theoretically one day be released? It makes these continual dumb changes a lot less important. Johnson then linked to this, which implies that yes, at least one might be out there. But where?! It’s like the dorkiest mystery case ever!

Also, sort of related: Apparently, ewoks blink now.

Nice try, George. No matter how many CG blinks you give him, Warwick Davis has always been, and will always be, a soulless little monster.

With honor and distinction, Erik Henriksen served as the executive editor of the Portland Mercury from 2004 to 2020. He can now be found at henriksenactual.com.

13 replies on “Nerdlebrities Weigh in on the Star Wars Blu-rays”

  3. The whole forest “scenes”, the whole forest part is one of my favs of the “first” 3 movies. I kind of like the e-wook blinking, even if it looks really weird, and all the changes made with CGI`S in later movies too. It would be interesting if they keep adding CGI`s for ever to the whole saga. But again, It`s a pain in the ass now finding the original, unmanipulated versions of all of them (Even the ones with no color correction), and am certainly not gonna pay that kind of cash just for a few CGI`S applied in re-re-re editions.

  6. Note: the forest scenes were stupid – it looked like they were on Planet Woodsy Virginia.

    98% of Jedi is stupid, so Lucas can take a(nother) dump on it for all I care.

  7. George Lucas is an asshole. All I want to do is see the movies I saw when I was a kid. You can get the Special Edition DVDs which have as a “special feature” the original films, but he letterboxes them so as to minimize your enjoyment and force you to watch his CGI’d bullshit remakes.

    I’ve never known an artist so insecure of his creation. Hey George: you made three classic films that generations know and love. Yeah, some of the effects sucked. That’s part of their charm. It was 1980. How about being proud of what you originally made, which was a revolutionary work of science fiction?

  9. If you really want to understand why Star Wars now sucks, and what could possibly motivate George Lucas to butcher these films in retrospect, read this piece about his ex-wife and former film editor Marcia Lucas. Marcia was the other half of Lucasfilm until she divorced George shortly after Jedi was completed, and is considered by many to be the “heart” of the original Star Wars movies.

    As the editor of Star Wars, she was known as being one of the only people that would stand up to him and tell him honestly when something didn’t work. Many felt she was the only person he would listen to when it came to criticism. A lot of the key scenes that made the movies work are probably because of her. After this woman wised up and left him, he had no one to tell him the truth about his complete lack of taste and sociopathic behavior. He now has only sycophants around him that reinforce his unwise choices.

    By many accounts George Lucas actually HATED the Star Wars movies. It seems to me like his changes are a pathetic attempt to get revenge on the woman that cut out his heart and the films that “ruined” his life.

    http://secrethistoryofstarwars.com/marcial…

  10. So why exactly can’t Palpatine levitate? Is he just too tired or something not to fall to his death? I mean, powerful Jedi and Sith can shift boulders and stuff with the Force, right? You’d think they could fly, then, or at least hop really high. And you’d think they could resist shouting “NOOOOOOOOOO!!!”

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