10 Highly Questionable Actions Committed By George Lucas
3. Greedo Shooting First
Han Solo is one of THE most famous movie characters of all time. While Luke Skywalker is the more pure character that we follow, Han Solo is more of the rebel anti-hero type. He is a bit of a criminal and walks his own path (hence, the name) and this unpredictable nature of his personality is what makes him such an intriguing person. This is established in a scene where Greedo (working for Jabba the Hutt) meets Han Solo in order to take him back to Jabba regarding some money than Han owes to him. As they talk, Greedo raises his blaster at Han, getting ready to kill him when, suddenly, Han shoots him first. This is how the scene plays in the initial theatrical release of Star Wars Episode IV.
What fans saw in the later home video releases of the original Star Wars movie was entirely different. George Lucas went back and digitally edited the scene to show Greedo shooting at Han Solo first and completely missing, with Han shooting back in self-defense. This presents Hans character in a different light and takes away from the the mystery of his personality, making him more like Luke than his own person. In defense, George made the claim that he intended Greedo to shoot first all along and that the theatrical version of the scene was edited in a confusing way that made audiences THINK Han shot first. If you watch the original scene though, it seems pretty clear.
It was a questionable act on Georges part because the scene was perfectly fine as it was. Even if George truly wanted Greedo to shoot first (which no one is buying), the erroneous editing presented a scene that played much better than George originally intended. Why undo all of that?