On 25 May 1977, a wild Sci-Fi movie with the gonzo title "Star Wars" started in not more than 32 American movie theaters. Mockingly considered a naive fairy tale for children by the critics, the movie became a world sensation. It made 798 million USD at the box office - that would be 2.7 billions USD inflation-adjusted in 2009. By way of comparison: "Titanic" made 1.8 billions (2.2 billions inflation-adjusted). That makes "Star Wars" one of the most successful movie in history, only "Gone With The Wind" was even more successful (47 billions inflation-adjusted). But the difference is: "Star Wars" is still up to date and still casts a spell over millions of fans. 5 sequels followed which made 4.4 billions USD at the box office, not to mention the innumerable releases for home entertainment and TV. Furthermore several TV series followed, and so did many many novels, comics, toys - it's a neverending story.

In movie history, "Star Wars" was a significant turning point. The special effects evolved and even the Academy of Motion Pictures and Science honored that development by nominating "Star Wars" for 12 categories at the Oscars. "Star Wars" won the Oscar in six different categories plus an additional Oscar, the so-called Special Achievement Award, for the godfather of SFX Ben Burtt (Explaination: "For sound effects - the creation of the alien, creature and robot voices").

But the saga changed over the years. Well, technically over the centuries. Lucas himself added new scenes, modified dialogs, reshot some scenes and corrected the colors. The following comparison is supposed to survey about the development of the first "Star Wars" movie - from the original idea about the Theatrical Version in 1977 to the first massive modification: the Special Edition from 1997...

"Every journey has a first step" - at least that's what the teaser poster to "Episode I" said in 1997. But we know as "Star Wars" wasn't meant to be at first. Years went by until Lucas had the oppurtunity to realize his saga, centuries until he could realize it the way he always had it in mind. Several ideas and concepts existed during that long period. The very first screenplay and the actual movies have nothing but the main concept in common.

In the following, I'd like to come up with details about the different versions of "Star Wars" and how the saga has changed as time went by. The corresponding screens and storyboards by Ralph McQuarrie from the pre-production do not relate to Lucas' old sketches.

II. a) The Star Wars
On the forth moon of Utapau, the cyborg Kane Starkiller lives together with his sons Deak and Annikin. He hides from the Sith order, who chases him for years. A warrior of the Sith can spot him and kills his son Deak. Kane decides to flee to the Aquilae System with his son Annikin. Having arrived, Kane meets his old friend and Jedi Master Luke Skywalker. They ask for help and Skywalker offers to form his son into a Jedi and give him in the King of Aquilae's custody. Kane agrees without knowing that a war of Aquilae is coming up. The Galactic Empire wants to incorporate Aquilae which could defend itself pretty well so far. To reach that goal, the Empire has developed a new weapon, the so-called Death Star. During the desperate attempt to defend the system from that new monster, the King of Aquilae gets killed. His daughter, Princess Leia, actual heir to the throne, gets deprived of her power by a by sneaky politican, who hands Aquilae over to the Empire.

Kane, Annikin, Leia, Clieg Whitsun, a rebel spy and the two robots C3PO and R2D2 escape to a solitary space station where Kane organized a space ship from his old buddy Han Solo to escape from the planet. To run the emperial blockade, the entire group needs to put in a coma. To find the energy for that, Kane offers up his life battery, which means he is going to die. First, the selfless death doesn't help at all because Darth Vader's and the Dark Knight's emperial fleet keeps on tracking them to the jungle planet Yavin, inhabited by the grey-haired Wokees. On Yavin, Leia gets taken captive by the Empire. Clieg Whitsun died in a space fight in the meantime. Annikin, General Skywalker and Han Solo decide to get Leia out of General Vader's captivity - they get help from Count Chewbacca, leader of the Wokees....

II. b) Adventures of the Starkiller - Episode I: The Star Wars
The dark lord of the Sith, Darth Vader, only has one goal: to take over the universe. After he killed Clieg, who was supposed to get the Kiber crystal from Utapau with his brother Deak, he's assured of his triumph because he caught Deak and believes his father was dead. Deak is the son of the suns - according to and old prophecy, he's the only one who could stop him. But Starkiller had a third son, his name: Luke. Luke lives with his uncle Lars, who taught him how to handle a lightsaber, and his cousin Leia on a stingy, desert-like planet. Luke becomes aware of his father's death, but he helps his unknown brother hesitantly. At an abandoned space station, he atempts to find a pilot who can bring him to Ogana Major, his father's residence. By meeting Han Solo, he found his pilot. His grumpy navigator Chewbacca is also on board.

Having arrived at Ogana Major, they have to face the fact that the plabet has been destroyed. Luke decides to free his brother Deak from the Empire on short notice. Deak was put in a cell on Alderaan and got tortured, Thanks to the Kiber crystal, he can be healed. After almost getting squashed in a garbage compactor and almost getting killed by Sith warriors, Luke receives a telepathic message from his father: he should join the rebels on the forth moon of Yavin. After the arrival, Luke meets his father for the first time - but they are in danger again. The Death Star, which has also destroyed Ogana Mojor, is already on its way...

II. c) The Star Wars - From the Adventures of the Starkiller
Close to Utapau, the space shuttle from Princess Leia gets attacked by emperial forces. Leia is in possession of secret plans of the Death Star, a new horrible weapon from the Empire. To achieve the goal, the rebellion, she gives the plans to R2D2, a tiny robot which crashed with the druid C3PO on Utapau in a rescue capsule. There farmer Lars finds them and tells him newphew to take of the druids. While cleaning them, he finds a message from Princess Leia for General Ben Kenobi, who lives on Utapau. Luke refuses at first, but R2D2 just acts and leaves secretly. On the quest for R2, they meet Ben Kenobi who takes the message reluctantly. The force in him wasn't very strong any more, he needed someone new who could be inducted in the force.

Luke agrees. All together, the group sets off to the space station Mos Eisley. There they hire the pilot Han Solo and his navigator Chewbacca to take them to Alderaan. Where Alderaan has been once, an asteroid field is located now - and a space staion, the Death Star, which keeps them captive in its tractor beam. Hidden in secret cargo compartments, they can avoid the attack forces. They can coincidentally find out that Princess Leia is there as well. They make up their minds to free her - after some dangerous escapades with a Dia Nogu Monster and a garbage compactor, they can finally escape from the Death Star, thanks to Ben Kenobi's help. Ben sacrified by stopping Darth Vader, the dark lord of the Sith, with a mysterious Kiber crystal. On the ship, Leia decides to go to the forth moon of Yavin, where a secret station of the rebels is being located. But the empire has already tracked them and the Death is already on its way to Yavin...

II. d) The Adventures of Luke Starkiller as taken from the Journal of the Whills
The last alternative script only differs minimally from the actual theatrical version. As in the previous script, the structure of the future movie is already well-marked.

However, there are still minor differences; mostly concerning dialogues and names of places and characters. Utapau, the desert planet from the previous script has now become Tatooine. But Luke Skywalker is still called Starkiller and the famous introductory text "A long time ago..." was still a little more elaborate: "A long, long time ago in a galaxy far, far away an incredible adventure took place..."

II. e) Short synopsis
The first script drafts and the actual movie only had a rough frame story in common. This frame story changed dramatically in the course of the years (the first script dates back to 1974). It is worth mentioning, however, some particular points had been there from the start. One always came across Han Solo in a remote spaceport – whether it was Tatooine or Utapau. And also the mysterious weapon of the Empire, the Death Star, had always been there; initially as a simple space station and only later as the actual deathly weapon. But only in the last two versions of the script, one entered the Death Star. Lucas probably acknowledged the complexity of his story and realized that it would be unneccessary to have the characters dashing through the universe if he could simply make the Death Star a setting as well, which would enable him to establish it easier.

Apart from countless more or less important plot elements, which had always been existing in one form or the other, it is interesting to see that many names which did not make it into the original trilogy were recycled in the prequels. Be it Senator Valorum of Aquilae who betrayed the king to the enemy and is replaced as Chancellor by Palpatine in Episode I, or Utapau which is one of many war theaters in Episode III. In his first story draft, Lucas' main protagonist was called Mace Windy, a so-called Jedi-Bendu Master. Samuel Jackson's character in the prequels bore the name Jedi Master Mace Windu.

Also characters like C-3PO and R2-D2 had always been part of the saga – even though they were represented in a whole different way. In the first drafts and treatments, they were imperial bureaucrats who were constantly in strife with each other and always represented the comic element of the movie.

Darth Vader, however, was initially only a general, before he morphed into the dark Lord of the Sith. He constantly moved up the ladder until he was not only the Emperor's right hand but also (especially in the prequels) THE central character of the trilogy, as Lucas does not cease to point out. However, most Star Wars fans probably know that Vader was not even meant to be Luke's father in the actual movie. The connection of Anakin Skywalker and Darth Vader was only made after an idea of Lawrence Kasdan, who worked on the script of "The Empire Strikes Back". The development of Darth Vader from the evil henchman (First Draft, 1974) to an evil secondary antagonist ("Star Wars", 1977), right hand of the Emperor ("The Empire Strikes Back", 1980) and finally central character of the saga (prequels, 1999-2005) is unique in the whole evolution of the movies.

Furthermore, it is striking that Lucas had clear ideas of the individual planets very early; however, he could not always actualize them immediately. The description of the individual planets may be superficial, but detailed enough to recognize them. For instance, Alderaan in the second script much resembled Bespin, Lando Calrissians free city from "The Empire Strikes Back". Early concept drafts of Ralph McQuarrie suggest this, too, since it was planned to show Alderaan in the movie. Due to the austerity budget, however, this idea was scrapped and the original conception of Alderaan was used for Bespin.

This leads us to the last point of the original visual conception of "Star Wars".

II. f) Concept drawings

As you have probably noticed, I have added countless concept drawings of Ralph McQuarrie to the old script drafts. These pictures are not directly connected to the old drafts, but they give us insight into the original visual conception of "Star Wars". This is because all these concept drawings are based upon Lucas' fourth script, which, as mentioned before, almost completely conforms with the theatrical version, except for some minor changes. Have a little overview of the most interesting concept drawings:

Today there are various official cuts of "Star Wars", the majority of which only exhibit minor changes. The most important cuts are the original theatrical version, the Special Edition and the DVD release of 2004. By the way, the DVD release of the original trilogy of 2006 is based on the THX edition of 1995 and will not be listed here.

III. a) Jympson-Cut (1976) Runtime: ? minutes Rating: - This (unpresented) cut was the first rough version of "Star Wars". Not all the special effect shots and the film score had been added yet. Still, this cut is extremely interesting, since it is not by George Lucas but by cutter John Jympson. Thus, it contains 30 to 40 percent alternative footage. Lucas had not been content with the cut and re-cut the whole movie. As mentioned before, this cut contains countless alternative shots, but also many of the later deleted scenes. Parts of the Lost Cut were published on the "Behind the Magic" CD-ROM in 1998 or had already been used in 1979 for the infamous "Star Wars Holiday Special".

III. b) Theatrical Version (1977) Runtime: 116 minutes Rating: PG The official theatrical version was released in the United States on May 25th, 1977. Nowadays it is seen by the fans as the original cut of the film. Every single cut that followed this version was therefore just an update. The theatrical version differs only slighty from all the upcomings releases on different media. In the US-american videorelease the subtitle "Episode IV: A new hope" was added. Some minor audio changes were done too.

III. c) Super 8 (1980) Runtime: ? minutes Rating: not rated In 1980, before the breakthrough of the video recorder, home theater in the Super-8-format represented the only possibility to watch classic movies (except for the rare re-runs in cinemas). Thus, several Hollywood movies were released on Super 8. The fly in the ointment: a Super 8 film spool only contained about 110 to 120 meters of footage, which adds up to a runtime of 15 minutes. This made it necessary for many movies to be re-cut. These cuts are interesting rarities, since – although quite unkown – they are official versions of the movies, even if "Star Wars" was only a few minutes long then. Complete plot lines were deleted. In the first release by Marketing-Film (1980) even the battle of the Death Star was cut out; the movie had its happy ending with the rescue of Princess Leia.

III. d) VHS (1981 - 1997) Runtime: 116 minutes Rating: PG Between 1981 and 1997, different editions of "Star Wars" were released on the German home theater market. All these versions are nearly identical and only differ slightly from each other. They are all based on the theatrical version and had only been changed in the course of the expansion of the saga. For instance, in 1995, the titles "Episode IV – Eine neue Hoffnung" ("Episode IV – A New Hope") was added to the opening crawl, which had already been seen like this in all US video releases since 1981. The THX edition – the last release of the theatrical version – represents the greatest change. Here the original footage was completely revised and cleaned. By the standards of the time, the movies shone in new splendor. The DVD version of 2006, which was widely promoted as the original theatrical version, is based on the THX editions of 1995, which actually contained minor changes. However, these are – except for the German opening crawl and subtitles – limited to the soundtrack of the English language version. Over the years, it was mainly worked on the audio of the different video releases. In the case of Germany, this only means that later releases contained Dolby stereo sound instead of mono. For English releases, those differences were a little more significant. Three minor examples: • in the mono versions, one can hear alternative records of C-3PO's dialogues. • the role of Beru Lars was spoken by another acress in the mono version. • the sentence "Blast it, Biggs, where are you?" was changed to "Blast it, Wedge, where are you?"

III.e) Special Edition (1997) Runtime: 119 minutes Rating: PG In 1997, George Lucas re-released the (then) complete "Star Wars" saga. All three movies of the original trilogy were not only reissued on video, but were also released in theaters worldwide, due to the 20th anniversary of the first movie. These versions contain the most drastic changes the saga has seen yet. Particularly in the case of the first movie, complete scenes received new animations, new scenes were added or were enhanced by numerous new characters. It was shown in cinemas, released on video twice and broadcast on TV countless times. Even though this version was supposed to bridge the gap between the old and the new trilogy by updating many special effects, it was generally poorly received by older fans who had seen the original trilogy in movie theaters. Particulary the scene in which Han Solo shoots Greedo was revised by Lucas. Now Greedo shoots first, thus making Han act in self-defense. After much protest by fans, this scene was changed again for the DVD release in 2004. Now they both shoot (nearly!) simultaneously. The following censorship report deals with this version.

III. f) DVD (2004) Runtime: 119 minutes Rating: PG In 2004, the "Star Wars" trilogy was finally released on DVD. Again changes were made, which, contrary to the Special Edition, keep within limits. The greatest difference is the image which had been digitally remastered and modified in terms of color. Apart from that, the viewer can marvel at a new CGI Jabba.

III.g) future releases (as of December 2009) Runtime: - minutes Rating: - Additional releases of the "Star Wars" saga have already been announced. A Blu-ray release will happen after the format has established itself on the market (similar to the policy of the DVD release) and in 2006, a 3D release of the movie was announced. Even though it was actually planned for the 30th anniversary, this new version will be released in theaters worldwide. Whether the movies are going to be changed again is still written in the stars.

Of course, "Star Wars" also has (in)famous deleted scenes, which keep themselves within reasonable limits, though. The final shooting-script is almost identical to the finished movie. After several years of work, Lucas had a pretty exact imagination of his film, most slashes he had to make in the lush scenery and the length resp. quality of the action-packed effect-shots (e.g. during the fight for Yavin). Content-wise, Lucas was able to translate his vision, so that the number of the deleted scenes is rather clear.

IV. a) Starry sky
This scene was originally intercut between the opening of the consular ship Tantive IV and Darth Vader's arrival on that. So it also serves as introduction of the character of Luke Skywalker. You see him talking to a working droid and notice some laser beams at the starry sky. He looks through his binoculars and discovers it must be a space battle. He then excitedly leaves the scenery to report this to his friends in Anchorhead.

The reason for cutting this scene out should be clear. The scene seems rather annoying and slows the film down and destroys the build-up – neccessary for Darth Vader's first appearance. Furthermore, the audience knows nothing about Tatooine and who this young man is supposed to be. The introduction of Luke's character would have failed like this. Only when the droids escape to Tatooine by escape capsule, the planet and its surroundings are nicely introduced to the story.

IV. b) Anchorhead
This, of course, means, that all the following scenes also had to be cut, because they built up on Luke's observation. After having watched the fight at the heavens, he drives to the meeting point of his friends, known as Anchorhead. There, he excitedly tells his buddy Biggs Darklighter of the event and hands him his binoculars, so he could watch the fight himself.

This scene missing is a shame, because it introduces the character of Biggs Darklighter, who would also later fly along in the battle for the death star and there even sacrifices himself for Luke!
Now, his character is a fix part of the SW-universe and also is the main act in several comics and novels.

IV. c)Two partings for the republic
After Biggs has taken a look on the events, he talks to look and convinces him not to waste his life on Tatooine, but to join the rebellion.

The scene deepens the friendship and the mutual trust between Luke and Biggs and reinforces Luke's later wish to join the fleet academy. Of course, this scene had to be cut due to the previous reasons, too. Looking at Biggs' sacrifice for Luke during the fight for the death star, also a real shame.

IV. d) Looking for R2
In another short scene, we see C-3PO's and Luke's search for R2-D2. Parts of this scene were also used for a montage in the theatrical version.

Also cut for pacing reasons, because the scene does not offer any new information.

IV. e) Grand Moff Tarkin's plan
In a rather unknown scene, Darth Vader talks to Commander Bast about Grand Moff Tarkin's plan to keep the princess and, if neccessary, squeeze out the plans from her.

A scene, which was also cut to improve pacing. It does not contribute anything content-wise and would have only raised questions about Vader's position of powerm who here – at least in the internal structure of the empire – stands below Grand Moff Tarkin, even though he would be de facto the second man in the state, being Emperor Palpatine's Sith-pupil.

IV. f) Jabba, the Hut
Originally, Han Solo met Jabba, the Hut, already in "Star Wars". He is being chased by him, because Han had to abandon Jabba's cargo during an earlier operation – but gives him one last chance to clear is debts. This scene was reimplemented for the Special Edition. The following report will deal with this. Jabba was originally played by a human, though, by Irish actor Declan Mulholland. This was not near Lucas' original wish (by his own admission, he thought of a fat, slimy worm with eyes on its antennas), but the budget wasn't enough for anything else, so Mulholland was used.

For the special edition, the design of "Return of the Jedi" was used and Jabba was implemented digitally into the footage.

This scene was also produced for the offical movie-comic book by Marvel – but there was a completely different imagination of Jabba here...

IV. g) More scenes and alternative shots.
Of course, there are also several short shots, scenes and dialogues which had to be cut in "Star Wars". Han Solo was originally allowed to hit on a neat lady in Mos Eisley as audacious spacehero and womanizer, while a small version of Flash Gordon would start a fight with a huge alien ( thelatter scene was thought of as a comedic hommage to the 50s serial "Flash Gordon").

In one scene on the Death Star, Han, Luke, Chewi and Leia try to act normally to not be noticed by the personell. It seems to work...

The most interesting alternative shots originate usually from the first internal cut, the so-called Jympson-cut, which consited of almost 40% alternate footage and is unreleased to this day. Even from a film-historic point of view, it would be truly interesting to see this version once, because it doesn't originate from Lucas himself, but from mentioned cutter John Jympson. Some of the scene shine in a completely different light, because many of the shots you know from childhood and the staging, that has burned into our minds, now seem completely different...

Some of these scenes and shots were released on the 1998 CD-ROM "Behind the Magic".

V. a) Comparison of the images
The image has been completely modified for the Special Edition. Contrast and colors are adjusted and different. Furthermore the original copies have been scanned for the modification. That means the old SFX look different now so that the CG shots are considered new or renewed.



Here a tiny comparison between the old Theatrical Version (on the left) and the Special Edition (on the right).

The modified images aren't going to be mentioned any more.

V. b) Cuts
The actual comparison. Here all new, modified or extended scenes are being listed.

V. c) Modifications
Old SFX have been modified for the Special Edition, but replaced by CG shots. That goes escpecially for the rims of the space ships and the old Bluescreen footage.

Those differences don't find further consideration in the comparison.

For the Special Edition, the footage itself got new CG backgrounds and characters, some scenes are even entirely new. Those differences are massive, but the content of the scenes often remains unchanged. That's why the running time is equal, too.

Find three examples for a better understanding:

V. d) Audio difference
Here and there some new dialogs have been insert for the Special Edition from 1997, other dialogs are slightly different. The running time of these scenes remains unchanged.