While it isnt uncommon for a creator of a fictional universe to change something that was already distinctly established known as retroactive continuity, or "retcon" Star Wars might be the most retconned fictional universe. George Lucas began tinkering with the Star Wars movies as early as the 1981 re-release of the original Star Wars when "Episode IV - A New Hope" was added to the opening crawl. What makes Star Wars different is that not only has Lucas contradicted his previous work, but in many cases he has actually revised his original films in order to adhere to the new concepts and insisted the original concepts - which fans have loved for decades - were "mistakes." These changes wouldnt be so bad if they were simply cosmetic. But with the release of the Prequel Trilogy, starting with 1999s Phantom Menace, Lucas contradicted a number of aspects of the Original Trilogy. Some of these he has tried to fix by further tinkering with the Original Trilogy, but others stand out as obvious mistakes that are not consistent between the two trilogies without convoluted explanations. In addition, there are other ill-conceived changes, and many of the millions of people who love Star Wars pull their hair out over Lucas' efforts to "fix" things that weren't broken in the first place. Take a look at this madness-inducing list of 10 of the dumbest retcons made to the Star Wars movies...
Chris McKittrick is a published author of fiction and non-fiction and has spoken about film and comic books at conferences across the United States. In addition to his work at WhatCulture!, he is a regular contributor to CreativeScreenwriting.com, MovieBuzzers.com, and DailyActor.com, a website focused on acting in all media. For more information, visit his website at http://www.chrismckit.com.
