Yesterday we told you that there was strong evidence that Lucas had replaced the puppet Yoda in The Phantom Menace with a CGI one, with the scene leaked out onto the net. And as of yesterday, Lucas had denied that any changes have been made and that the film was remastered only for visual purposes and not tweaked. But then other sources claimed that Lucas would be putting in some surprises.
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Well today it was confirmed that the Blu-Ray edition would include the CGI Yoda that is seen in the clip, as well as some other tweaks that had been noticed by the eagle eyes of Star Wars fans who have managed to get a pre-release copy of the set. This actually makes sense to me, because it will serve as better continuity within the prequel trilogy and not be such an abrupt change, but I still think that Muppet Yoda was more realistic. There is also some cosmetic changes to the Ewoks in which their eyes are more articulate. And if the latest rumor is to be believed, Obi-Wan’s call of a Krayyt Dragon designed to scare off the Sand People will now sound more like a walrus in heat than the original sound.
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But okay, we could forgive those. Perhaps the most heinous of the confirmed “surprises” that is sure to get every Star Wars fan up in arms in the one involving Vader. In Return of the Jedi, when Emperor Palpatine is killing Luke with his lightning hands, as Robot Chicken called them, Darth Vader watches silently. And at that moment, he seems like a bad ass because he is watching this torture with what we can perceive is sadistic glee. And then when he goes over and grabs the Emperor and throws him off the cliff, we are actually shocked a bit. But now, Lucas added in two lines. One is when he is watching the death of his son, he says “No!” and then screams “Nooooooooooooo!” as he pitches his former master like the Incredible Hulk. The problem here is that it ruins one of the most suspenseful moments in the film and makes Vader look like a crying baby rather than a Dark Lord. We expected whining from Luke, but not his father. Of course, he did scream when he found out Padme was dead, so he does have a history of it. But the whole thing winds up making him look less ominous and more pathetic.
We are sure more of these surprises will be popping up as fans find them, so stay tuned…
