MY EXPERIENCES IN WESTWOOD, JANUARY 31, 1997

A short while ago, in a city only a ten minute walk from my dorm at UCLA, there came a phenomenon based on a vision by a guy named George. "The Star Wars," passed off as a "kids" movie back in 1977, opened at the Mann Village theatre in Westwood and went on to gross 35 million in its spectacular re-release weekend of January, 1997.

And I was there, a part of history.

Okay, okay, I was just seeing a movie, and a pretty old one at that. But this was Star Wars, mind you. The line which stretched over four Westwood blocks wasn't there to see "Wally Sparks." Everyone was excited to see all those characters back on the big screen. Darth Vader. Luke Skywalker. Han Solo. Princess Leia. Even the Wookiee. Sure, we had all seen the trilogy countless times on tape or laser-disc. We had played the LucasArts games and read the Timothy Zahn novels. But most of us had never experienced Star Wars the way it was intended - larger than life in a movie theatre.

But enough philosophizing...

"I've never seen such devotion..."

I walked into Westwood at around 2:00, sporting my jaunty Star Wars hat, LucasArts Tee shirt, rebel pin, and leather jacket. Clutching my 7:15 ticket, I walked to the front of the Village. I recognized several of my peers and colleagues who had arrived before I did, waiting for the 4:00 showing or insanely camping out for the 10:15. One camper was my roommate's roommate from last year. "I've been here since 5:00 last night," he said, "wouldn't miss this for anything." As he sat back on the cardboard box with the name "Star Wars" scrawled in marker that had been his bed the night before, I grinned and passed him by.

"There's.... too many of them!"

I quickly met up with a friend of mine in line about a block away from the theatre. He welcomed me, wearing his Star Wars necktie and funky beret-like hat. Over the next few hours, we killed time chatting, playing Tetris on gameboys, and welcoming other members of our group. I would occasionally get out of line to check out the length of the que... enormous! Hundreds and hundreds of people lined up and covered 4 blocks, curving into itself eventually near the back of a gas station. Some wore Star Wars tee-shirts, hats, and other apparal. Some were dressed as Luke, Han, and Leia. A couple people wore Vader and Boba Fett masks, but the most ominous presenses there were the security guards who tried to maintain order. Big, beefy guys with sunglasses and tees emblazened with "Special Events" on them, these guys kept order better than any stormtrooper platoon I could imagine.

"Death Star Approaching....Estimated time of arrival..."

And the time passed on. The line started to move around 3:30, when the 4:00 showing began letting people in. I moved up in line considerably, only to stop half a block away to my position where I would wait for the next three hours. Soon, news media began arriving, as well as helicopters covering the event from the air. At around 5:00, the line gained its 4.5 block length again, and by 6:00, the line smudged into a teeming mass of people, all eager to see the film. The emotion and tension in the air was vast. People starting shouting and cheering for no reason, releasing some excited energy. Around 6:30 our group discovered friends who had been waiting earlier than us up near the front of the line! Eagerly, we joined their party. Then the hours became minutes...

"Commence Primary Ignition..."

Then our 7:15 line began to move. A cheer rose up from the line and people began a mad rush for seats. Scrambling for the door, I showed my ticket to the disheveled ticket-taker and entered the Village. Oh, the magnificance and splendour of the theatre! I took in all in for about a second and dashed for the best seats I could find. Joy! 9th row center was saved by my friends! All 15 of us quickly filled them up while others dashed to the front in preparation of bowing to the THX gods. It took less than five minutes to fill the entire 1200 person theatre. Lights were shining, the Williams score was blaring...

Star Wars was about to begin!

"But I was going into Tosche Station to pick up some Power Converters!"

Bah, previews, previews. After the Los Angeles Times trailer, they showed the previews to Vegas Vacation, the Saint, Lost World, and the Empire Strikes Back/Return of the Jedi Special Editions. The Empire trailer was cool. Much cheering and applause. Then the THX trailer popped up. They still use that annoying little robot guy. I was hoping for a Star Wars themed one. Oh well. When the booming Subwoofers kicked in for the end of the trailer, my friends up front bowed in reverence and the house erupted in cheers! This theatre had kick-ass sound!

Then the lights dimmed to their fullest...

"A Long Time Ago in a Galaxy Far, Far Away..."

The Twentieth Century Fox logo descended upon all of us, and screams erupted from the audience. When those blue words on the black background popped up, I knew the wait was over. Finally, after 3 years of waiting, I would see Star Wars on the big screen! The crowd became silent, waiting for the welcome yellow logo appear.

Then, it emerged. "Star Wars" it said. The audience went nuts, and the decibel level rose to ungodly levels. The energy level was unbelievable! People quieted down a little bit to read the lines they had read numerous times before, but never as 12 foot tall letters! Then the lines faded and the Star Destroyer came into view. Big. Really Big. Did I mention it's size?

The movie proceeded. Cheers sounded when the stormtroopers blasted their way into the Corvette. Thunderous applause for that guy in the black mask and cloak. Laughter when the droids walk through laser fire. Yelling and noise when Vader chokes the rebel. And then, the movie proceeded pretty normally.

"I'm Not Going That Way... It's Much Too Rocky..."

Then the Tatooine sequence began. It was great. People were laughing at the droids' lines as if they had never seen the movie before. It was when Artoo splits up from Threepio and heads for the Jawa Canyon that I noticed the first new change in this, the Special Edition. The canyon was now colored a gorgeous dark orange, giving people the impression that a good deal of time had passed. When Artoo falls following the Jawa shot, everyone in the audience erupted in laughter.

Of course, the CG Dewbacks looked nice. They bray and whine a lot as their CG stormtroopers bounce around unrealistically on them.

"Luke!!! Luuuu-ke!!!"

A general smattering of applause accompanied Luke Skywalker's presence. He got the most response from his whiney "Tosche Station" and "Bad Motivator" lines. His travels in the speeder didn't look very different. I do remember that when he later reaches the Attacked Sandcrawler and Ben announces the precision of Stormtrooper firing, people laughed considerably.

"You Will Never Find a More Wretched Hive of Scum and Villany..."

Ahhh, Mos Eisley Spaceport. I got the first glimpse of the new changes as Ben and Luke look over the ridge. Little ships were now flitting over the landscape. As they apporach the city in CG, numerous Womp Rats scurry away in a scene reminding me of the dinosaurs leaping over the people in Jurassic Park. The city looks great! Neat aerial scenes, planes flying everywhere, CG Dewbacks, Rontos, etc. Much "OOhs and AAhs" from the audience.

The Cantina change wasn't drastic... The Wolfman is gone, replaced by a different alien sipping a drink. During the scene when the two goons harrass Luke warning him "You'll be Dead!" the crowd applauded in approval. Luke's tumble into the table is now more dramatic and painful looking.

Okay, the Greedo scene (gulp), one of the only changes I didn't care for. Now it looks like Greedo fires first, *Missing* Han's head ,which he CG tilts slightly before firing back. Looked really weird... I try not to think about it too much.

The CG Jabba scene is great! He looks... liquidy, sluglike. I like how Jabba refers to the fried Greedo: "Crispa Greedo" It was very funny when Han compliments Jabba on being a "Wonderful Human Being!" Much laughter.

The Millenium Falcon blastoff from Mos Eisley looks great in CG! You've gotta see it to believe it.

"Since You Are Reluctant to Tell us the Location of Your Hidden Base..."

The destruction of Alderaan looks better now... the planet explodes with a ring of fire eminating from within. No more delay as the animation catches up with the explosion, like before. The Death Star later explodes in a similar fashion.

"That's No Moon..."

I can't say too much about the Death Star scenes... The most effective new change I noticed was when Han chases the stormtroopers down the hallway, only to turn around when they figure out it's just him. Now, Han stops when he reaches the end of the hallway, revealing *hundreds* of stormtroopers! Nice touch!

My one gripe: During the scene when Leia and Luke swing across the chasm... when Leia fires Luke's blaster, it sounded like a shotgun! Weird... The rest of the scene sounded good, with the echo being heard throughout the theatre.

"Red 5 Standing By..."

All that remained were the CG scenes involving Yavin and the Death Star Attack. The Millenium Falcon's approach to Yavin were nicely done. They even cleaned up the rebel compound, making it look very jungle-like. Lucas, in his infinite wisdom, inserted the Biggs scene in the rebel hanger! It was a nice touch, and the audience liked seeing the mysterious Biggs Luke likes to refer to.

The new fighter scenes look awesome! The X-wings actually had to worry about the TIES on their tail for once! When Wedge saves Luke by blowing up the TIE and flying through its debris, the audience roared in applause.

All the explosions looked great. Even the little bits of the Death Star twinkled more brightly!

"Dum...dah dah dum.."

The final scene was good too. They replaced the cardboard cutouts of the rebels with CG cloned extras!

And thus the film ended. James Earl Jones was finally given credit in the closing credits, which were lengthened to accomidate all the crew who worked on the Special Edition.

After waiting through all the credits, the house lights went back on and everyone cheered. I walked back into UCLA, eager to return in three weeks for the Empire Strikes Back Special Edition!

- Josh Horowitz                        2/5/97

DOWNLOAD THE TRAILER TO THE STAR WARS: SPECIAL EDITION!
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The following information regarding the Special Editions of "A New Hope," "Empire Strikes Back," and "Return of the Jedi" was written by Ayaz Asif from his John Williams Page, and is thus more musically oriented. Please visit his home page for more related works.

"A New Hope," the first film made under the "Star Wars" title, is getting a complete face-lift along with its companion features. Scenes to be scored or re-scored are the extended desert sequence, Jabba the Hutt's appearance, the Death Star run, and, though unconfirmed, the Mos Eisley scenes may also be undertaken. The new scenes involve the appearance of a Bronto and scenes which invlove shots of Mos Eisley Spaceport. We see people walking and all new ships flying. This special edition of A New Hope is due out Jan 31, 1997.

"The Empire Strikes Back," due out four to six weeks following "A New Hope." There is a minute of added footage. Since this was the best out of the trilogy (in my and many other people's opinion) The new footage will be some fly by shots of Bespin, a city we see very little of in the movie. The Wampa attack sequence will be changed back to the way they originally were, before they were edited out before the original release. These scenes included the Rebel forces detecting the Wampa Ice Creature threat threat as well as the Wampas subsequent attack on the arriving Imperial Forces. Also what will be included is Dash Rendar's spaceship fleeing Hoth, for those of you haven't read (which I highly Reccommend reading) Shadows of the Empire He is a character from that story, which takes place in between Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi This film will be released 4-6 weeks after the Star Wars: Special Edition. I would say like mid-late March '97.

"Return of the Jedi" is the "Star Wars" film that will have the most work done by Williams. "Lapti Nek" is being heavily revised, possibly dropped; and "Ewok Celebration" will be entirely gone (though to some disappointment, no Ewoks will be cut) to accommodate the new ending. The new ending is very nice, I have seen some previews of it, for those of you who remember after the funeral pyre, the camera pans upwards to show the fireworks, but what wasn't shown was the celebration on the other planets and systems. In Return of the Jedi, the end of the Empire was shown, so it is a time of rejoice for the entire galaxy. The extra music will be heard as the camera pans back down to see rejoice on Coruscant, Bespin, Yavin, etc.. all cgi rendered fly by of the cities, it is mind blowing awesome, all you SW fans won't be disappointed. Rumor has it that the opening to "ROTJ" is different. Due out four to six weeks after "Empire."

Ewan McGregor be Obi Wan, Liam Neison his Jedi Master, Ian McDiarmond will return as Senator Palpatine (who becomes the emperor) and Samuel L. Jackson gets funky as a Jedi called Mace Windu!

Click on the link below for more info.

Prequel Rumors and Information

Here's a BUNCH of information about the Star Wars Prequels! Click HERE to view it.
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