The most controversial and reviled change to the Star Wars canon can be summed up in three words: Greedo shot first. The phrase referred to a significant change Lucas made to the original Star Wars in the 1997 Special Edition that he has continued to tinker with ever since. In the original film, Han Solo is confronted by the bounty hunter Greedo in the Mos Eisley Cantina. Though Greedo has him cornered, Han shoots and kills him from underneath the table. It brilliantly established Han's rogue character, especially in contrast to Luke's more goody-goody personality. But audiences sitting in the theater watching the 1997 Special Edition saw something very different: Greedo fires at Han first, misses, and then Han fires back. According to Lucas, he felt that the original scene depicted Han as a "cold-blooded killer." The logic behind that is clearly flawed. In the original, Han clearly shot Greedo in self-defense because the bounty hunter was pointing a gun right at him and threatening him. Second, the movie still depicts Han as preparing his blaster to shoot Greedo from under the table anyway, which still indicates that he is willing to shoot him first. Most of all, the fact that Greedo, a bounty hunter, missed from about three feet away is completely ridiculous. The 2004 DVD edition further changed the scene to make Han awkwardly "dodge" the shot via computer effects, but have someone shoot you from three free away and try to dodge the bullet and see how well that works (actually, please don't). Even with the change the scene is still ridiculous. Probably just to rile up fanboys, photos circulated of Lucas wearing a shirt that said Han Shot First on the set of Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. Astoundingly, Lucas claimed in a 2012 interview with The Hollywood Reporter that Greedo had always shot first, but we just couldn't see it in the original movie because of "it was confusing." As you can probably guess, fans didn't take that explanation very well and Greedo firing first remains the most controversial Star Wars retcon. But what do you think is dumbest Star Wars retcon? Tell us what personally drives you crazy in the comments below.
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.
