Star Wars: 20 Worst Franchise Moments (So Far)
14. Greedo Shoots First
Film: Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope - Special Edition
Since the release of the Original Trilogy, George Lucas has done several re-issues and re-releases that have various alterations, added special effects and so forth. Why did he bother to do this? Nobody knows. Understandably, these special editions have been derided by fans over the decades.
The worst and most infamous change is, of course, to Han and Greedo's showdown. In the original film, Han shoots Greedo first and Lucas has altered this twice as he felt it made Han Solo look like too much of a cold-blooded killer. In the second version, Greedo shoots first while in the third version they shoot simultaneously.
This change is misguided for several reasons. Firstly, it's entirely pointless. Secondly, it's completely preposterous that Greedo missed Han when sitting so close to him. Finally, it does actually undermine Han Solo as a character. His transition from morally ambiguous antihero to hero is part of what made the character so great and it showed Lucas misunderstanding why people love Han Solo.
George Lucas did a fantastic job with A New Hope and there's no point in messing around with something people loved as it was.