It wasn’t in the original release of the film. It was added in the late ā€˜90s by George Lucas in the ā€œSpecial Editionsā€, which were objectively and unequivocally worse than the original trilogy.

Specifically, this scene was shot before Jabba was visually designed, so Harrison Ford didn’t even know what he was looking at or talking to. It re-tells a story that was already well established by the encounter with Greedo just moments before, so it’s pointless to the plotline. The CGI was clumsy, but even good ā€˜90s CGI mixed with ā€˜70s practical effects makes the scene disjointed.

I highly recommend Harmy’s Despecialized Editions of the original trilogy. They are a remarkable effort of film preservation since Lucasfilm has no interest in preserving the theatrical versions of the films. And that is a shame because the Special Editions (including any official release of the films post-90s) are utter garbage.

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AWow, I didn’t realize *any* of that!! Well, perhaps I noticed that that particular plot point felt a little redundant. Thank you nostr:npub17ranr5vpp20etheaz78u6e72pvyc0xk3r6rgnetfvtxc88acat2q4nhenz for links šŸ™

When you watch Despecialized, note that the opening crawl of text says ā€œStar Warsā€, but does NOT say ā€œEpisode IV: A New Hopeā€. That was added years later after they re-released the film in anticipation of ā€œEpisode V: The Empire Strikes Backā€.

The film is called Star Wars. Full stop.

Love this. Looking forward to it. Thanks!!