RUMOR:  Disney Working On Restoring The Original Theatrical Cuts Of The OT

Apparently this rumor has been swirling since July, but it only surfaced prominently a few days ago. Due to copyright, the original evidence has been taken down, but you can read a brief history of what happened on Reddit HERE. In that post, they write:

As some of you may be aware, a few months ago it was leaked that Disney were restoring the theatrical cuts of the OT. Basically, a malfunctioning automatic upload script resulted in clips of an official restoration of the theatrical OT being publicly uploaded to YouTube. To my knowledge, the clips were meant to be saved to an unlisted playlist as a fallback for their internal file sharing system, but an error in the script made it so the videos were posted to a publicly viewable playlist which meant anyone could view/download them.

If you click through to that Reddit post, there are links to screenshots of the videos. I have to say that the quality of the restoration does appear to be too good for any of the fan restorations as the OP points out. Based no that, I'm calling this rumor at least:


Regardless of the validity of the rumor, there is no doubt that the Special Editions have been divisive since their first introduction in 1997. Han shooting first has never been accepted by anyone who grew up with original cuts of the Original Trilogy. It resets the starting point of Han's moral journey from scoundrel to hero, which is annoying, but I'm personally more bothered by how badly it strains credulity. To change that narrative point, the audience has to accept that a professional bounty hunter misses a shot that is so close that it's virtually a contact shot. In short, it's impossible that Greedo could have missed hitting Han from that distance. So, I'm not opposed to correcting these issues, BUT...the Special Editions weren't all terrible.

I'm not an Original Original Trilogy purist. If true, I assume these restorations will still include the effect clean ups that were performed on the Special Editions. I'm not worried about that. We won't go back to compositing boxes around the TIE Fighters and transparent canopies on the Snowspeeders. But in this still hypothetical scenario, other changes from the Special Editions will be undone. I don't personally like that. I don't want to go back to a Mos Eisley that is a ghost town, which is one of the sample screenshots. I like the bustling space port that the SE portrays (even if I hate the design of the ASP-7 Droid). The Empire Strikes Back was the least changed of the three movies, and I like the changes that were made to Bespin. I prefer the large windows that reveal a bustling cityscape as our heroes walk to the "Betrayal on Bespin" over the windowless hallway that looked like it could have been a Caldor interior of the original theatrical release:


I guess I want a more surgical version. One that removes most narrative and musical changes, and restores the wolf/bat men to the Cantina. Specifically:

• Go back to Han shooting first
• Remove Vader screaming "noooooo"
• Remove Ketwol and Melas and restore Arleil Schous and Lak Sivrak
• Restore Lepti Nek and Yub Nub
• Get rid of the repurposed Jedi footage for Vader returning to his Star Destroyer in Empire

I don't even want the inserted Jabba scene in A New Hope to be removed. I just want it perfected, which is something that I feel Disney has the technology to do now. Ditto for the Ronto. Perhaps just update the effects so that it doesn't look like it was rendered on an Xbox 360.

I feel like fans have been clamoring for a cleaned-up, high definition restorations of the original theatrical releases ever since our homes when to 1080p (and beyond). So this rumor, if true, will be a wish granted for many. But as they say, be careful what you wish for. I recently watched the fan created Star Wars 77 high definition restoration of the original theatrical release of A New Hope, and while I enjoyed it for nostalgia reasons, the lack of the good improvements from the Special Edition is jarring. As is often the case, I feel we over-romanticize things from the past and demonize the new. If this rumor turns out to be true, I really wonder what the reaction in the community will be once they see it. And yes, despite my misgivings, I will still buy the inevitable and expensive 4K Blu-ray releases.

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