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    UPDATED: Want To See the Full List of Changes to the ‘Star Wars’ Films? [List]

    Maurice MitchellBy Updated:32 Comments33 Mins Read

    UPDATE: Several new changes have been noted in the 2011 Blu-Ray. Check the list for New to see entries. If you have a copy of Star Wars you can help build this list! Join in the conversation in the comments section!

    Here are all the known changes from the Star Wars releases from the movie.

    When I started designing the Star Wars changes infographic I originally intended it to be a chart of all the changes, and not just the major ones.

    Unfortunately, the list would have been too large for a chart.

    Many have asked for a full list. I can see why. Some comments have asked “what’s the point of a chart of changes without the whole list?” It is kind of a tease for some. So, if you really want it, here it is.

    I’d like to stress that this list has not been compiled by myself. It’s the work of thousands of die-hard Star Wars fans comparing notes and versions of the film. We owe them a great debt.

    Year Title Notes
    1977 Episode IV: A New Hope Theatrical release
    1977 Episode IV: A New Hope The line ‘Blast it, Biggs, where are you?’ from the original stereo version was changed to ‘Blast it, Wedge, where are you?’ for the mono sound releases. The mono mix is the only occurrence of this change.
    1977 Episode IV: A New Hope Beru Lars is voiced by a different actress (or possibly different takes by the same actress) in the mono version.
    1980 Episode IV: A New Hope Alternate takes of some of C-3PO’s dialogue are used in the mono sound version.
    1980 Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back Theatrical release
    1980 Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back After the probe droid lands and moves left, there is an optical wipe to the overhead shot of Luke on his Tauntaun.
    1980 Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back After Luke wanders through the snow and falls, there is an optical wipe to Han instead of a straight cut.
    1980 Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back The bacta tank scene starts on a close-up of Two-One-Bee and pans right to a close-up of Luke in the tank. It then cuts to FX-7 extending its arm to the tank. There is no cut to Leia, Han, and 3PO observing.
    1980 Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back In the Emperor scene, the hologram of the Emperor is already present in the first shot instead of ‘tuning in’ gradually.
    1980 Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back The Imperial Fleet establishing shot after the magic tree scene has a different TIE fighter sound effect.
    1980 Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back When Luke falls from Cloud City into the Millennium Falcon, the Falcon’s radar dish is missing from the shot.
    1980 Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back The telepathy between Luke and Vader during the ‘Hyperspace’ cue has straight cuts instead of quick dissolves.
    1980 Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back Lando’s line at the end, ‘Luke, we’re ready for takeoff,’ is a different take.
    1980 Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back In the final scene, there is no tracked music from ‘Yoda and the Force.’
    1981 Episode IV: A New Hope The lines ‘Episode IV: A NEW HOPE’ were added to the opening title crawl upon its 1981 re-release, one year after ‘Episode V: THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK’ was released with its full title.
    1981 Episode IV: A New Hope The new opening crawl also capitalized the word ‘Rebel’ in ‘rebel spies’, which was not capitalized in the original 1977 opening crawl.
    1981 Episode IV: A New Hope The altered formatting of the text to accommodate the two additional lines slightly changed the timing so the crawl no longer appears at the same music cue. (This last change had been present on EMPIRE’s initial release, and would remain on all four subsequent films as well.)
    1983 Episode VI: Return of the Jedi Theatrical release
    1984 Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back First release of The Empire Strikes Back on Laserdisc. The studio sped up the the film from it’s original 125 minute length to just under 120nminutes to cut production cost. No other changes were made
    1985 Episode IV: A New Hope Ben Burtt supervised remastering of the sound mix for the 1985 VHS/Laser disc release, which contains C-3PO’s tractor beam line. Aside from this line, better dynamic range, and a slightly wider stereo image, this version is almost the same as the 1977 stereo mix.
    1985 Episode IV: A New Hope The film is sped up from it’s original 121 minute length to just over 118 minutes to cut production costs.
    1993 Episode IV: A New Hope Another remix was produced for the 1993 Definitive Collection Laserdisc, which was also used for the 1995 ‘Faces’ VHS/Laserdisc release and the 2006 Limited Edition DVD release. This mix was a matrixed stereo version of the 1977 70mm 6-track mix, with brand-new sound effects added.
    1993 Episode IV: A New Hope Sound of glass shattering when Han and Luke shoot the cameras in the detention block. C-3PO’s tractor beam line is, again, not present in this mix.
    1993 Episode IV: A New Hope The color timing in the 1993 Definitive Collection Laserdisc version was altered slightly in the scene with R2-D2 in the canyon before he is captured by the Jawas. This same transfer was also used in 1995 for the ‘Faces’ set. The original version of the scene takes place in daylight, while the color in the 1993 version is adjusted to make it appear more like twilight. This was further changed in the 1997 Special Edition, when the image was darkened and the sky altered from blue to an orange sunset.
    1997 Episode IV: A New Hope The line ‘close the blast doors!’ was added to the mono release. This line was also included in the 1997 special edition and 2004 DVD version.
    1997 Episode IV: A New Hope C-3PO’s tractor beam line was added to the mono version. This line was also included in the 1997 special edition and 2004 DVD version.
    1997 Episode IV: A New Hope After Luke hands Leia his blaster in the chasm swing sequence, it sounds like Dirty Harry’s .44 Magnum when she fires it. This is present in the mono mix and the 1997 Special Edition, but was changed back to a standard blaster sound in the 2004 DVD.
    1997 Episode IV: A New Hope Additional Dewbacks and search teams are visible as the Stormtroopers look for the missing droids. An Imperial transport can be seen taking off in the background.
    1997 Episode IV: A New Hope There is a new shot of an evening Tatooine sky that pans down to show the opening of the scene in which R2-D2 is wandering through the hills before he is captured by Jawas.
    1997 Episode IV: A New Hope The Jawa sandcrawler has been revised. The sunset progression has been enhanced, with the sky darkened and stars added at the end of the sequence. The scene where R2-D2 is captured has been tinted red to resemble a sunset.
    1997 Episode IV: A New Hope A new digital matte painting of the sandcrawler and extended sky was added when the Jawas are setting up shop in front of the Lars farm. Artificial zooming in is also present. More vaporators have been added, but they disappear in subsequent shots.
    1997 Episode IV: A New Hope There is a new establishing shot of Ben Kenobi’s hut.
    1997 Episode IV: A New Hope Mos Eisley is bigger and busier. Family members of ILM employees wore costumes and walked around a bluescreen mat. Their images were composited into the new scenes.
    1997 Episode IV: A New Hope Dash Rendar’s ship, the Outrider, can be seen taking off in the background when Luke’s landspeeder enters the city.
    1997 Episode IV: A New Hope The blur under the landspeeder caused by poor image quality from repeated optical compositing to obscure the wheels of the landspeeder with a hand-animated haze was removed and replaced with a new, more accurately shaped shadow.
    1997 Episode IV: A New Hope A short pause of the camera features a Jawa being bucked from its Ronto mount.
    1997 Episode IV: A New Hope New aliens are seen in the Cantina.
    1997 Episode IV: A New Hope In Han Solo’s last line to Greedo, ‘Yes, I’ll bet you have’, the word ‘yes’ is excised from the audio track, though Han’s mouth is still seen forming the word.
    1997 Episode IV: A New Hope In the cantina, Greedo now fires first as Han dodges the shot then returns fire on Greedo. This is one of the more famous and controversial changes to the film.
    1997 Episode IV: A New Hope A CGI version of Jabba the Hutt confronts Han in the Millennium Falcon’s launch bay with new dialogue recorded in the Huttese language. The live action footage in the scene was from the original 1976 shoot.
    1997 Episode IV: A New Hope There is a new scene in the Mos Eisley docks of the Falcon taking off.
    1997 Episode IV: A New Hope The explosion when Alderaan is destroyed by the Death Star has been completely redone.
    1997 Episode IV: A New Hope The Death Star docking bay is revised to be more consistent with the one seen in Return of the Jedi, most notably in the overhead shot when the Millennium Falcon has landed.
    1997 Episode IV: A New Hope C-3PO’s line describing the tractor beam’s power systems has been put back in after being deleted in the previous stereo sound versions.
    1997 Episode IV: A New Hope The flashes of blaster impacts on some of the Imperial officers were censored.
    1997 Episode IV: A New Hope When Han Solo is chasing a squad of Stormtroopers on the Death Star, instead of running to a dead end, he ends up at a hangar bay with seemingly hundreds of Stormtroopers and officers.
    1997 Episode IV: A New Hope Close the blast doors! is put back into the scene where Han and Chewbacca, pursued by Stormtroopers, jump through the doors as they close.
    1997 Episode IV: A New Hope A scene between Luke Skywalker and Biggs Darklighter just before the Battle of Yavin has been inserted.
    1997 Episode IV: A New Hope There are new digital shots of the X-wings and Y-wings taking off from Yavin (in the original version, they just appeared as white flashes) and approaching the Death Star.
    1997 Episode IV: A New Hope There are new and revised dog fighting and attack run scenes during the battle at the Death Star.
    1997 Episode IV: A New Hope After Red Leader’s unsuccessful trench run, the line ‘He’s on your tail!’ was added to the film.
    1997 Episode IV: A New Hope The shot of the Rebel fighters flying away from the Death Star has been revised.
    1997 Episode IV: A New Hope The Praxis effect shockwave (so named for a similar effect seen in Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country) was added to the destruction of the Death Star. (It was also added to the previous scene where Alderaan is destroyed.)
    1997 Episode IV: A New Hope Matte paintings (or cardboard cutouts) of the members of the assembly on the left and right sides of the Throne Room at the end of the film when Luke, Han, and Chewie approach the throne have been digitally replaced with real humans.
    1997 Episode IV: A New Hope James Earl Jones is now credited.
    1997 Episode IV: A New Hope Luke’s Theme is partially repeated in the ending credits music to make room for the Special Edition release credits.
    1997 Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back The opening battle sequence was cleaned up, including fixing some instances where the blue screen process allowed the cockpit window frames of the snow speeders to be partially transparent.
    1997 Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back There are new scenes on Hoth with a redesigned wampa ice creature, including showing the full-body wampa eating a carcass and later screeching in agony following the loss of its limb. Two close-up shots of the original wampa mask are still noticeable.
    1997 Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back When Luke Skywalker heads to the exit of the wampa’s cave, his lightsaber’s deactivation sound is heard, even though the blade does not retract.
    1997 Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back Errors were corrected from the original version wherein the blue rank indicators on Imperial uniforms turned black, likely because of the blue screen process that was meant to create a view of space outside a window.
    1997 Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back The scene where the Slave I follows the Falcon out of the Star Destroyer’s floating garbage includes a newly created CG shot of it pursuing the Falcon.
    1997 Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back At the opening shot of Cloud City, the Cloud Car was replaced by a Tibanna refinery, though it is almost panned and scanned out of the 2004 full screen DVD version. The right side of the refinery can be seen briefly in the 2004 full screen DVD version if played on a PC or LCD television monitor.
    1997 Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back There are new and additional shots of Cloud City.
    1997 Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back Several wall panels have been digitally replaced with windows to show more of Cloud City.
    1997 Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back Luke’s line, ‘You’re lucky you don’t taste very good,’ after R2-D2 is spat out by a Dagobah dragonsnake is changed back to the original ‘You were lucky to get out of there.’
    1997 Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back The sound of the voice that says ‘Who are you?!’ to C-3PO on Cloud City right before he gets blasted has been changed.
    1997 Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back Lando Calrissian says ‘Attention’ twice (instead of once) when he speaks on the Cloud City public address system.
    1997 Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back Shots of people listening to Lando on the PA ordering the evacuation of the city have been added.
    1997 Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back Luke screams as he jumps off the platform in Cloud City (the scream is actually lifted from the Emperor’s death scream from Return of the Jedi). The 1997 special edition is the only version to feature the scream as it has been removed from the 2004 release. Lucas’ reasoning for removing the scream was that since Luke purposely fell, he would not scream.
    1997 Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back Darth Vader’s tense-but-forceful line, ‘Bring my shuttle,’ has been changed to the more benignly-toned ‘Alert my Star Destroyer to prepare for my arrival,’ a line originally recorded for A New Hope
    1997 Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back A wide-angle CGI visual has been added showing Vader boarding his shuttle. This short added scene is spliced directly into the action surrounding Leia, Lando, and Chewie’s attempt to rescue Luke as he dangles from an antenna below Cloud City.
    1997 Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back The music track that has become known as ‘Rescue from Cloud City / Hyperspace’ – a track that, in the film’s original version, begins from the moment Vader cuts off Luke’s hand and continues until Vader storms off the bridge of the Executor after the Millennium Falcon escapes into hyperspace – is also now spliced in a manner corresponding to the insertion of the short added scene. Specifically, for approximately 5 to 10 seconds, music originally played at the moment Vader informs Luke of his parentage (itself an earlier part of the ‘Rescue from Cloud City / Hyperspace’ track) is incongruously inserted.
    1997 Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back There is a new shot of Darth Vader’s shuttle heading toward his star destroyer.
    1997 Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back A digital hatch has been added to replace the white light that appears when Lando opens the outer hatch to rescue Luke.
    1997 Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back A new scene with Darth Vader landing in the docking bay of his Star Destroyer is included, taken from an outtake from Return of the Jedi. Like the footage of Vader boarding his shuttle, this short scene is similarly spliced directly into the action surrounding the Millennium Falcon’s escape from Bespin.
    1997 Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back the music accompanying the added footage (both a few short seconds of music taken from the very beginning of ‘Rescue from Cloud City / Hyperspace’ and then a few seconds of the same music that was used during the shuttle-boarding footage insertion) likewise cuts incongruously into ‘Rescue from Cloud City / Hyperspace.’
    1997 Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back The Imperial March is partially repeated in the ending credits music to make room for the Special Edition release credits.
    1997 Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back Like Episode IV, matte lines have been removed thanks to digitally compositing.
    1997 Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back R2-D2’s panels have been colorized blue replacing the original black. Note: The black version was used in bluescreen shots in Episodes IV, V, and VI.
    1997 Episode VI: Return of the Jedi A new Jabba’s Palace Band musical number, ‘Jedi Rocks’ replaces ‘Lapti Nek’ with additional footage from the extended music number of ‘Lapti Nek.’ The puppet of female alien singer Sy Snootles is replaced with a new CGI version.
    1997 Episode VI: Return of the Jedi Nine new characters were added to the Max Rebo Band: Joh Yowza, Umpass-stay, Ak-rev, Barquin D’an (Figrin D’an’s brother), Doda Bodonawieedo, Greeata Jendowanian, Lyn Me, Rappertunie, and Rystáll.
    1997 Episode VI: Return of the Jedi There is an additional scene of Oola in the Rancor pit. In the newly shot scene, Oola is played by Femi Taylor reprising her role 14 years after the original film. Taylor was cast in the new scenes after her brother spoke to a friend who was working on the special edition who mentioned that they were working on the dance scene in Jabba’s palace. Taylor’s brother said she was in the original and was in even better shape than 15 years previously. She was recast in the role, and a number of shots of her new dance moves were edited into the original footage with no noticeable difference in her body in the 15 years between the two shots.
    1997 Episode VI: Return of the Jedi Boba Fett is briefly shown flirting with the Max Rebo band dancers Rystall and Lyn Me at Jabba’s palace.
    1997 Episode VI: Return of the Jedi There are additional scenes on Tatooine of a herd of wild Banthas (actually live action elements digitally replicated)before scenes at the Pit of Carkoon.
    1997 Episode VI: Return of the Jedi The Sarlacc now has extra CG tentacles and CG beak at its center.
    1997 Episode VI: Return of the Jedi During Han’s attempt to rescue Lando from the Sarlacc, the skiff rocks more dynamically when it is shot rather than simply tipping forward as before.
    1997 Episode VI: Return of the Jedi When shooting the sarlacc tentacle, Han says ‘It’s all right, I can see a lot better now’ rather than the original ‘It’s all right, trust me.’
    1997 Episode VI: Return of the Jedi CGI rope has been added around Han’s ankles as he dangles from the skiff above the Sarlacc.
    1997 Episode VI: Return of the Jedi In the original version, a flight of four TIE fighters appear from behind the camera flying toward the Death Star and disappear a second before the scene changes to the Emperor’s arrival. This is corrected and the fighters continue heading toward the Death Star.
    1997 Episode VI: Return of the Jedi As with the destruction of the first Death Star, the second Death Star has a more pronounced explosion employing the Praxis effect.
    1997 Episode VI: Return of the Jedi At the end of the trilogy after the Empire is defeated, scenes of celebration on Bespin, Tatooine, and Coruscant are shown in addition to the original and new celebration scenes on Endor.
    1997 Episode VI: Return of the Jedi The musical theme ‘Ewok Celebration’ during this sequence has been replaced with an entirely new John Williams composition, ‘Victory Celebration.’
    1997 Episode VI: Return of the Jedi During the end celebration, a brief shot of Luke hugging Wedge Antilles was inserted.
    1997 Episode VI: Return of the Jedi Parade of the Ewoks is partially repeated in the ending credits music to make room for the new Special Edition release credits.
    1997 Episode VI: Return of the Jedi Matte lines and bluescreen elements have been removed and sometimes shots have been recomposited.
    1997 Episode VI: Return of the Jedi Unlike Empire Strikes Back and A New Hope, fewer wipes have been optically redone.
    1999 Episode I: The Phantom Menace Theatrical release
    2000 Episode I: The Phantom Menace Sebulba’s subtitles during his enraged talk with Anakin originally read, ‘You won’t walk away from this one, Skywalker… you slave scum!’ For the DVD, ‘Skywalker’ was removed from the subtitle, since Sebulba does not actually say Anakin’s last name in the scene.
    2000 Episode I: The Phantom Menace Watto’s celebratory cry of ‘Sebulba!’ is removed.
    2000 Episode I: The Phantom Menace The podracing sequence is extended. Such enhancements include a scene with Anakin facing off with Gasgano, Anakin losing one of his engines, only to recover it, and more.
    2000 Episode I: The Phantom Menace The air taxi sequence is reincorporated.
    2000 Episode I: The Phantom Menace Orn Free Taa’s human aides are replaced by Twi’leks.
    2002 Episode II: Attack of the Clones Theatrical release
    2002 Episode II: Attack of the Clones Several speeders were removed from a shot during the Bounty Hunter pursuit scene.
    2002 Episode II: Attack of the Clones New dialogue was added to the scene where Anakin confesses to the Tusken slaughter.
    2002 Episode II: Attack of the Clones After Padmé falls out of the gunship on Geonosis, a clone trooper asks if she is all right. Her alert response of ‘Yes’ has been changed to a more realistically groggy ‘Uh-huh.’
    2002 Episode II: Attack of the Clones Anakin’s mechanical hand now holds Padmé’s hand during the closing wedding sequence (this was originally included in the DLP theatrical release of the film, but not in the 35 mm film version).
    2002 Episode II: Attack of the Clones During their duel on Kamino, a shot of Jango Fett headbutting Obi-Wan is removed from the UK version of the DVD.
    2002 Episode II: Attack of the Clones Jedi Coleman Trebor confronts Count Dooku on the lookout balcony during the battle of Geonosis. Trebor is instantly shot dead by Jango Fett. The following shot shows Jango twirling his blaster pistol before slotting it back into his holster. In the theatrical release, this was a solo shot of Jango, but the widescreen version of the DVD has Count Dooku in the foreground, smiling as Jango twirls his pistol.
    2002 Episode II: Attack of the Clones Moments before Mace Windu decapitates Jango Fett, sparks and a slight puff of smoke from Jango’s jetpack can be seen, signifying that his jetpack malfunctioned.
    2004 Episode IV: A New Hope Before R2-D2 and C-3PO enter the escape pod near the beginning of the movie, a beeping sound is added when R2 pushes the switches to open the door to the escape pod.
    2004 Episode IV: A New Hope When the Jawa Sandcrawler stops outside the Lars Homestead, C-3PO says ‘We’ve stopped’ before telling R2-D2 to wake up.
    2004 Episode IV: A New Hope The long shot of Luke’s Landspeeder in the canyon with the two Tusken Raiders taking aim has changed. Now, instead of being merely a moving white blob, the landspeeder is seen in detail.
    2004 Episode IV: A New Hope Obi-Wan Kenobi’s scream to scare off the Sand People has been changed to a higher-pitched wail. The old version of Obi-Wan’s scream in the original and 1997 versions sounded similar to a dewback. The new version of Obi-Wan’s scream in the 2004 version sounds similar to a krayt dragon.
    2004 Episode IV: A New Hope A brief shot of Luke’s landspeeder as it enters Mos Eisley carrying Luke, Ben Kenobi, and the droids has been redone. The pink tint is removed from the Mos Eisley entrance scene.
    2004 Episode IV: A New Hope The Han vs. Greedo scene is redone again; this time Greedo and Han shoot at almost exactly the same moment, but Greedo is still fractionally ahead. Han also dodges Greedo’s shot more convincingly. Additionally, Han’s original line of, ‘Yes, I’ll bet you have’ has been restored (the 1997 Special Edition removed the word ‘yes’) but the shot is slightly shorter.
    2004 Episode IV: A New Hope A CGI version of Jabba the Hutt based on his appearance in The Phantom Menace now confronts Han Solo in the scene added to the 1997 re-release. When Han steps on Jabba’s body to get to the Falcon, Jabba winds up as if to punch him; in the 1997 Special Edition, he yelped in pain. Also, to make Jabba look more convincing, shadows of Han Solo can be seen on his body.
    2004 Episode IV: A New Hope When the two stormtroopers exit the Millennium Falcon, one of them now says ‘There’s no one here.’
    2004 Episode IV: A New Hope When the docking bay controller tries to contact TK-421, slightly audible static can be heard over the communicator.
    2004 Episode IV: A New Hope The Matte painting in the detention block has been extended, making the corridor seem longer. The painting’s perspective has been edited to make it appear more realistic.
    2004 Episode IV: A New Hope The Dianoga has been redone so it now blinks.
    2004 Episode IV: A New Hope In the shot where Luke has been pulled under by the Dianoga, Leia’s cry of ‘Luke’ has been retimed so its now heard when she mouths it. The original and Special Editions had it heard about a second after she said it. This is only noticeable in the widescreen versions. Leia is pan and scanned out of the full screen edition.
    2004 Episode IV: A New Hope The writing on the Death Star tractor beam control panel originally read ‘POWER – TRACTOR BEAM 12 (SEC. N6)’ and ‘INOPERATIVE’. It has been changed from the Latin alphabet to the standard Star Wars Aurebesh alphabet. The word ‘INOPERATIVE’ is panned and scanned out of the full screen DVD version.
    2004 Episode IV: A New Hope The lights in the tractor beam control room are now green.
    2004 Episode IV: A New Hope An audible bump has been added to the infamous moment where a screen-right stormtrooper bumps his head on the door-frame as the stormtrooper squadron breaks into the control room. This mistake was hinted at in Episode II, when Jango Fett – escaping from Obi-Wan on Kamino – bangs his helmet on the closing door of the Slave I.
    2004 Episode IV: A New Hope Luke and Leia’s echo when they are trapped in the Death Star chasm is now more convincing.
    2004 Episode IV: A New Hope Despite the revised lightsaber blades, Luke’s still appears out of thin air when activated instead of extending out of the hilt. In his training on the Millennium Falcon, the lightsaber blade is pale green in one shot instead of blue and it later appears to be plain white as in previous versions.
    2004 Episode IV: A New Hope During the lightsaber duel between Obi-Wan and Vader, Obi-Wan’s lightsaber blade does not look like it is flickering out towards the end of the fight like it does in previous versions, though it does show a noticeable shimmer of blue light.
    2004 Episode IV: A New Hope Following the lightsaber duel between Obi-Wan and Vader, as Vader approaches the closing blast doors towards the hangar in which the Millennium Falcon is docked (and Luke is firing at the Stormtroopers), his lightsaber blade is colored red and glowing. In all previous editions of the film, there was no glowing red animation on Vader’s lightsaber blade. Instead, he was seen toting a tapered white tube with a rounded-off tip.
    2004 Episode IV: A New Hope John Williams’ score has been flipped in the left and right rear channels and has been quieted or eliminated from some portions of the Battle of Yavin sequence.
    2004 Episode IV: A New Hope The ‘He’s on your tail!’ line that was added for the 1997 Special Edition has been removed.
    2004 Episode IV: A New Hope The code cylinders on Grand Moff Tarkin’s uniform no longer move up and down between shots.
    2004 Episode IV: A New Hope The shot of the Y-Wings descending to make the first attack run has been fixed. Originally, the two lead Y-Wings disappeared when their leading edges touched the bottom of the screen while the third one smoothly moved out of frame like it should. Now all three move smoothly out of frame.
    2004 Episode IV: A New Hope The colors depicting the destruction of the planet Alderaan and the Death Star have been changed.
    2004 Episode IV: A New Hope When the X-Wings are seen lifting off from the Rebel base before the Death Star battle, the red planet of Yavin is now visible in the upper right of the shot.
    2004 Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back More TIE-fighters were added to the lead-up to the scene where the Empire discovers that the Rebels are currently on Hoth, when the Executor and the Imperial Fleet are sitting in space. (This is now the first instance in which a TIE-Bomber is seen, rather than the scene when the Empire is trying to flush the Millennium Falcon out of the asteroid field.)
    2004 Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back In the scene where Darth Vader speaks to the Emperor via hologram, the Emperor is now portrayed by Ian McDiarmid; in the original film and the Special Edition, the Emperor was portrayed by an uncredited actress wearing a specially made mask with chimpanzee eyes superimposed over her own, with the voice dubbed in by Clive Revill.[3] A few lines of new dialogue have been added to this scene as well, in which Palpatine informs Vader that their new enemy is the ‘offspring’ of Anakin Skywalker. McDiarmid actually filmed this scene during principal photography of Revenge of the Sith.
    2004 Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back The lines spoken by Boba Fett are now in the voice of Temuera Morrison, the actor who played Jango Fett and the Clone Troopers in Attack of the Clones. The voice was originally provided by Jason Wingreen.
    2004 Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back The lines ‘The first transport is away!’ and later ‘Imperial troops have entered the base!’ over the Echo Base public address system are no longer voiced by Mark Hamill.
    2004 Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back Enhancements were made to the shots featuring Cloud City, with additional shots of the following day’s landing at the city.
    2004 Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back The pink tint is removed from the initial shot of Cloud City.
    2004 Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back In both the original and 1997 versions, a shadow across Han’s chest during the scene in which Han is lowered into the carbon-freezing chamber was erroneously thought to be a wardrobe blooper with him wearing his blue vest. In this release, the dark lighting has been digitally erased.
    2004 Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back When Luke confronts Vader in the carbon-freezing chamber and ignites his lightsaber, the sound from the original release is overlapped in this scene by the sound produced by Luke’s new lightsaber in Return of the Jedi.
    2004 Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back During the film’s lightsaber duel, when Vader jumps off the staircase his lightsaber blade looks more orange than red due to miscoloration from the film’s restoration team.
    2004 Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back The tracked scream of Luke Skywalker introduced in the 1997 re-release, which is heard during Luke’s voluntary fall from the Cloud City platform after his duel with Vader, was removed. The track was actually the Emperor’s death scream from Return of the Jedi.
    2004 Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back In the original and 1997 versions, when Darth Vader asks if the Falcon’s hyperdrive is deactivated, Admiral Piett’s rank plaque and code cylinders are on the wrong side of his uniform (the plaque is supposed to be on the left side of his tunic, but it was on his right side). This is corrected and Piett has the correct rank placement on his uniform.
    2004 Episode VI: Return of the Jedi The matte lines on the rancor have been further altered and the effect is now more realistic.
    2004 Episode VI: Return of the Jedi The dialogue spoken by Jabba the Hutt in the scene where he is discussing the price for Chewbacca was subtitled in the 1997 Special Edition. In this version the subtitles have been removed, making C-3PO’s verbal translations in the scene relevant again.
    2004 Episode VI: Return of the Jedi In Anakin Skywalker’s final scene, when he is not wearing his helmet, the eyebrows of actor Sebastian Shaw have been digitally removed, corresponding to what happened to Anakin’s eyebrows when he got burned on Mustafar in Revenge of the Sith. His eyes have also been changed to blue and minor cosmetic alterations have been made to his face to more closely resemble the Anakin portrayed by Hayden Christensen in the prequel trilogy.
    2004 Episode VI: Return of the Jedi When Vader throws his lightsaber on the bridge during the film’s lightsaber duel, his blade looks more pink than red, once again due to miscoloration from the film’s restoration team.
    2004 Episode VI: Return of the Jedi Original scene with Sebastian Shaw as Anakin Skywalker (above), retouched version with Hayden Christensen as Anakin Skywalker (below)When Anakin, Yoda, and Obi-Wan appear together in spirit form at the end of the movie, Sebastian Shaw is replaced by Hayden Christensen, showing a young Anakin, when he was still a Jedi, with an old Yoda and Obi-Wan.
    2004 Episode VI: Return of the Jedi Another scene of celebration, this time on Naboo, is shown after the Empire is defeated. A Gungan, whom many fans assumed to be Jar Jar Binks, can be heard saying ‘Weesa free!’ Nevertheless, Jar Jar is not listed in the Star Wars databank as appearing in Episode VI. The rumor of Jar Jar appearing in the film was officially debunked in an episode of The Force-Cast in which it was revealed that the unnamed Gungan was voiced by assistant sound designer Matthew Wood, who also voiced General Grievous in Revenge of the Sith.
    2004 Episode VI: Return of the Jedi In the Coruscant celebration scene, the Galactic Senate and Jedi Temple have been added to the background. This indicates that the Jedi Temple was not destroyed during the Great Jedi Purge, thus carrying continuity with media released since Episode III, such as Star Wars: The Force Unleashed, which depicts a post-purge Jedi Temple.
    2005 Episode III: Revenge of the Sith Theatrical release
    2005 Episode III: Revenge of the Sith In the scene where a shot transitions to Anakin crawling up the lava bank, the original theatrical release used a wipe effect from the shot of Obi-Wan and C-3PO in the cockpit of Padmé’s ship leaving Mustafar to Anakin’s mechanical hand grasping at the volcanic soil, whereas the DVD instead uses a straight cut from the Padmé’s ship shot to Anakin.
    2011 Episode I: The Phantom Menace The Yoda puppet is replaced with a CGI model.
    2011 Episode VI: Return of the Jedi Darth Vader now shouts ‘Nooooooo!’ when he saves Luke from the Emperor’s Force lightning attack in Return of the Jedi.
    2011 Episode IV: A New Hope Obi-Wan’s Krayt Dragon call in ‘A New Hope’ altered to sound more realistic
    2011 Episode IV: A New Hope Luke’s lightsaber in the Millennium Falcon being blue and white as it was in the original and 20th anniversary versions as opposed to the pale green it was in the DVD version
    2011 Episode VI: Return of the Jedi A Dug alien, Sebulba’s race, has been added into the scene inside of Jabba’s Palace along with sleeping partygoers.
    2011 Episode VI: Return of the Jedi A static long shot of R2-D2 and C-3PO approaching the door to Jabba’s palace has been replaced with an extreme long shot revealing more of the door as the camera zooms in on the droids
    2011 Episode VI: Return of the Jedi Digital CGI effects added to allow all of the Ewoks to blink
    2011 Episode II: Attack of the Clones New In the scene where Anakin has a nightmare of his mother, the voice of Shmi Skywalker Lars (Pernilla August) can be heard pleading in the background.
    2011 Episode I: The Phantom Menace New In the senate scene when Queen Amidala calls for a “vote of no confidence,” the chanting “Vote Now!” from the theatrical, VHS, and DVD editions is gone, replaced by just cheering.
    2011 Episode I: The Phantom Menace New A new blurring effect is used when Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan use Force Speed to escape the Droidekas.
    2011 Episode I: The Phantom Menace New The medium shot of Nute Gunray and Rune Haako observing Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan escaping the Droidekas has been replaced with a long shot.
    2011 Episode I: The Phantom Menace New After Queen Amidala calls for a vote of no confidence in Chancellor Vallorum the chant “Vote now!” can no longer be heard in the Senate chamber.
    2011 Episode I: The Phantom Menace New In a scene with Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan discussing Anakin’s fate on Coruscant the sun has brightened from orange to white.
    2011 Episode II: Attack of the Clones New During the night chase on Coruscant the dialogue and speeder scene are slightly rearranged when Anakin and Obi-Wan pass through the power couplings.
    2011 Episode II: Attack of the Clones New The UK version restores Jango Fett headbutting Obi-Wan on Kamino.
    2011 Episode II: Attack of the Clones New After Yoda saves Obi-Wan and Anakin from Dooku’s falling pillar the reaction shots of Yoda and then Anakin and Obi-Wan are moved up before the shots of Dooku escaping on his ship and Padme and the clonetroopers arriving and firing at him.
    2011 Episode III: Revenge of the Sith New There is now moss on the roof that Yoda is situated under on Kashyyyk. It is shown near the end of the Order 66 scene.
    2011 Episode III: Revenge of the Sith New The scene transition from Padme’s ship to Anakin on Mustafar has been changed from a straight cut back to a wipe restoring the original theatrical release.
    2011 Episode IV: A New Hope New After Aunt Beru calls Luke to remind him about the translator droid she says “Tell your uncle if he gets a translator be sure it speaks Bocce.” In prior releases this line began with “Tell Uncle.
    2011 Episode IV: A New Hope New In the scene where Obi-Wan discovers R2 hiding in an alcove rocks have been digitally inserted into the frame to hide the droid though no explanation for him getting behind them or out from behind them is added (in fact they disappear altogether.).
    2011 Episode IV: A New Hope The shot of Han and Greedo firing at each other has been shortened by several frames from the 2004 DVD version so they shoot at nearly the same time.
    2011 Episode IV: A New Hope New Luke’s green lightsaber blade during the training scene aboard the Millennium Falcon from the 2004 DVD has been corrected though the blade still appears more white than blue for the rest of the scene.
    2011 Episode IV: A New Hope New The audio errors during the Battle of Yavin in the 2004 DVD have been corrected.
    2011 Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back New In the shot when the Wampa mauls Luke’s Tauntaun, the puppeteer pole can no longer be seen.
    2011 Episode V: The Empire Strikes New In an exterior shot of Cloud City featuring Leia waiting for Han in her apartment a reflection can now be seen in Leia’s window.
    2011 Episode VI: Return of the Jedi New A static long shot of R2-D2 and C-3PO approaching the door to Jabba’s palace has been replaced with an extreme long shot revealing more of the door as the camera zooms in on the droids.
    2011 Episode VI: Return of the Jedi New There are now brighter flashes of light when Han is released from the Carbonite.
    2011 Episode VI: Return of the Jedi New A new closeup shot of Han striking Boba Fett’s jetpack has been added.
    2011 Episode VI: Return of the Jedi New When R2-D2 is shot by a stormtrooper additional CG gadgets fly out of his body as he malfunctions.
    2011 Episode VI: Return of the Jedi New Some of the lightsaber errors from the 2004 DVD have been partially corrected and Luke and Darth Vader’s lightsabers now have white cores. The saber cross in front of the Emperor is now completely fixed from the 2004 release.

    Some text has been taken from the following resources:

    What do you think of the changes to Star Wars over the years? Is there any one that surprises you?

    [Image source: Spotlightreport.net]

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    <span class="dsq-postid" data-dsqidentifier="41676 ">32 Comments

    1. AlexJCavanaugh on

      "Darth Vader now shouts 'Nooooooo!' when he saves Luke from the Emperor's Force lightning attack in Return of the Jedi." – that one change alone ruins the whole movie for me…

    2. Maurice Mitchell on

      The 'Nooooo!' was pretty stupid the first time. I can't imagine why they'd do it again. It would have been better if he'd yelled, 'Me not want!' like the Japanese translation.
      – Sent from my Android

      —–Original message—–

    3. JTStarkiller on

      That wipe-turned-cut that's mentioned at the end of Revenge of the Sith (when Anakin is crawling up the lava bank) has actually turned back to a wipe on the Blu-ray.

    4. Rob on

      Have they fixed the scene in Jedi where the Rebel fleet pulls up on the Death Star and runs into the imperial fleet, the TIE fighter just appear out of the black? I think that is more of a blemish in the film then the Ewoks blinking 

    5. Brady1138 on

      Episode I Blu-Ray change: in the senate scene when Queen Amidala calls for a "vote of no confidence," the chanting "Vote Now!" from the theatrical, VHS, and DVD editions is gone, replaced by just cheering.

      Episode II 2011 change: When Anakin is having the bad dream, the voice of Shmi Skywalker can be heard pleading with Anakin in the background.  This (so far as I know) is the first time that can be heard.

    6. Maurice Mitchell on

      Brady that's great. I can confirm that the senate scene had the chants of "vote now" in the DVD version. There's no voice-over of Shmi in Anakin's dream on the DVD either. Since I don't have the Blu-Ray can anyone else confirm this change? I'll add it to the 2011 list.

    7. Maurice Mitchell on

      Jtstarkiller thats pretty significant. That means Episode III may be the original theatrical version on the Blu-Ray. The only one of the six films to remain the same. Can anyone else confirm this?

    8. JTStarkiller on

      The Episode II addition of Shmi screaming in Anakin's dream is definitely true. It actually works really well.  It's always felt a little awkward without it.  Haven't verified the VOTE NOW line yet.

    9. JTStarkiller on

      One more change from Jedi: when R2 gets electrocuted at the bunker door, his flaps open once in previous editions. On the Blu-ray, they open and close many times. Someone else can confirm.  http://i53.tinypic.com/2mwdr7m.jpg

    10. Maurice Mitchell on

      Now that you mention it, watching the scene again does feel a little quiet. Added to the list! Thanks for confirming.
      —–Original message—–

    13. Anonymous on

      As far as I can tell the door to Jabbas palace is not actually larger (at least not significantly), the shot just features the door digitally redone and the camera pans in from the left. Where the left side of the door begins can be briefly seen as the pan begins.

      Also, other than the Ewok babies (which were animatronics and, I thought, always blinked), I have yet to see another Ewok blink besides Wicket – whose eyes have been digitally redone and allowed to move. And the whites of his eyes can now be seen.

      All in all, I think the money spent on these (in my opinion) insignificant changes, could have been spent elsewhere to help to continue to update the dated special effects that don't hold up to today's standards. i.e. blaster laser effects, stop-motion taun tauns, speeder bike chase, "cartoony" explosions in ROTJ space battle, etc. Not to mention that the only notable removal of "boxes" is in the TIE attack on the Falcon in ANH and the the asteroid chase in ESB. Why change a few things that seemingly don't matter and leave the rest? I mean, either go all out and fix everything, or clean up the original theatrical releases and release them.

    15. JediDan on

      I can confirm this change as well unless it's part of the full 6.1 audio as I only have three front channel.

    16. Unknown on

      A change you missed for Empire (unless I simply missed it in the list). It was originally released in 70mm and a new shot was created for the 35mm release near the end of the film with the rebel fleet to better establish how the Millennium Falcon hooked up to the Rebel Cruiser. They actually talk about it in the Empire Strikes Back section of the Blu Ray special features.

    18. Maurice Mitchell on

      That makes sense he was kind of puny in the prequels. Anyone else confirm it?
      —–Original message—–

    19. Marc Morrell on

      This is the change I really don't understand: Luke's line, 'You're lucky you don't taste very good,' after R2-D2 is spat out by a Dagobah dragonsnake is changed back to the original 'You were lucky to get out of there.'
      I liked "…you don't taste very good." I was upset it was replaced.

    20. Maurice Mitchell on

      Marc, that does seem like a pointless change. The original line was funny. The new line is dry.
      —–Original message—–

    21. For_mandalore on

      Yoda now waits until almost attacked before force-pushing the Imperial Guards in Palpatine's office in RotS.

    22. Maurice Mitchell on

      Interesting change. Makes him less aggressive. Anyone else confirm?

      —–Original message—–

    23. Joeylaporte on

      I noticed in Jedi, when Vader died Luke is now crying, in the original Luke wasn't crying. Also, why hasn't Lucas removed all the boxes around the Tie Fighters,Death Star, and other space ships,etc in the OT?

    24. for_mandalore on

      My mistake, Yoda's push is the same as the DVD version.

      Question: I recall Mass Ameda had a brief scene where he reveals a snake-like tongue whilst calling for order in the senate. I can't remember what movie that was in but it doesn't seem to be present in Blu Ray format. Any ideas?

    25. Ben_kinetic on

      The Phantom Menace:
      Attack of the Clones:
      Yoda: Begun, THIS Clone War has.
      Revenge of the Sith:
      A New Hope:
      Green Vid Screen showing Troopers on Dathomir
      R2 using his antenna before R5's motivator Blows
      3PO's line changed to OMIT the word Princess In the begining:
      There'll be no escape for the Princess this time;
      There'll be no escape this time
      The Empire Strikes Back:
      Return of the Jedi:
      2000 edition of Jedi: Coruscant Celebration: Some Skyscrapers from the 1997 edition removed to include shots of the distant Senate and Jedi Temple buildings

    26. Ross on

      Nice work. That must have taken hours to compile.

      I'm also a twin. Whether or not I'm also a geek I'll leave to others to determine.

    27. America47000 on

      The R2 rocks do not "disappear." R2 is shown partially hidden by a rock, Obi-Wan tells him everything is OK and then tends to Luke. The next we see of R2 he has already left the rocks and has moved closer to Luke. The rock he was hiding behind is in the background. The only question is how he could have fit in there, but there's enough wiggle room, so to speak

    28. America47000 on

      It looks like in the wide shot of Mos Eisley when Ben and Luke are looking down on it from the cliff, there are now little specs of light flying in and out of it (representing spaceships going in and out). When was this added? I don't remember seeing it before

    30. Mjskywalker on

      I just wanted to add in a couple observations.  In the blu ray version Episode II.  They re-rendered Anakin riding all the animals that he rode on.  All the scenes look much better.  I would also argue that some Yoda shots were re-made to look "more" like him especially during the whole render when they save the Jedi.  Also I would say they re-rendered all the droids and stormtroopers they all move better.  I watched that scene countless times on DVD and it seems different to me.  Also I think they added more Jedi.  I think one of them was Anakin's apprentice that they cut in Episode III.