A frame-by-frame analysis of the latest version of whether Han shot first

"Textured Soy Protein" (texturedsoyprotein) 11/12/2019 at 17:03 • Filed to: None

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The launch of Disney+ has led to a discovery that sometime in roughly 2011, George Lucas re-edited the Han vs. Greedo duel to now !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! . Welp, I’m not a Star Wars nerd, but I do know how slow a video down in gif form.

As we can see here, both Han’s and Greedo’s red blaster blast animations appear on screen in the exact same frame. Han feints slightly to his right as he pulls the trigger. Greedo’s shot misses Han, which it might’ve done even if Han didn’t feint to the right, and ricochets vertically, because that’s how blaster ricochets work, obviously.

In the original version, not only did Han shoot “first,” he was the only shot, because he shot Greedo before Greedo could get a shot off. Only in a later re-edit was Greedo’s shot added.

Now, George Lucas is notorious for messing with the Star Wars movies after the fact, and Star Wars nerds who care about this way more than me feel like adding in Greedo’s shot was part of Disney-fying the Star Wars movies, before they were, you know, bought by...Disney.

But I have a radical theory to propose: what if the fact that Han feints to the right means that the intention all along was for Han to dodge Greedo’s shot, but Greedo’s shot was removed in the original theatrical edit, and adding it back in was putting the movie back to how it was supposed to be all along?

lone_liberal > Textured Soy Protein 11/12/2019 at 17:10

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I’m not sure that Han feinting was in the original either, but of course it’s been so long since I’ve seen the original that I don’t know for sure. 

For Sweden > Textured Soy Protein 11/12/2019 at 17:10

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What if Han is Captain America before he returns all the Infinity Stones

ttyymmnn > Textured Soy Protein 11/12/2019 at 17:10

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Han shot first because Han is a badass. Period. George Lucas can go bite a bag of Bantha dicks.

Textured Soy Protein > lone_liberal 11/12/2019 at 17:22

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It’s hard to tell but I feel like maybe there’s a little CGI trickery shifting Han’s head and neck more to his right.

vondon302 > Textured Soy Protein 11/12/2019 at 17:31

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In the original Greedo pulls the gun on Han, he then lifts his right arm and scratches the wall diverting Greedos attention while Han draws his gun and shoots.

At least that's what I remember of the original. I was 8 when it came out and saw it 31 times in a theater .

davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com > Textured Soy Protein 11/12/2019 at 17:33

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Original:

davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com > vondon302 11/12/2019 at 17:34

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PS9 > Textured Soy Protein 11/12/2019 at 17:36

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Frame by frame analysis doesn’t matter if every frame can be edited.

vondon302 > davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com 11/12/2019 at 17:37

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Wow my memory is a mirror image!

davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com > Textured Soy Protein 11/12/2019 at 17:39

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Danimalk - Drives a Slow Car Fast > Textured Soy Protein 11/12/2019 at 17:39

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Han was ABSOLUTELY edited to to dodge to the right.

Chariotoflove > Textured Soy Protein 11/12/2019 at 17:54

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Han shot first. That was how the story was told, and it wasn’t an accident that they did it that way . I am not only okay with Han shooting first , I prefer it. This is our first introduction to a character who is supposed to be tricky, dangerous, and unencumbered by chivalry . This scene shows that very well . Why did they have to mess with this part, of all things?

gin-san - shitpost specialist > Textured Soy Protein 11/12/2019 at 17:55

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I’ve heard about this before, but I’ve never cared enough to ask why it matters.

I’m more upset that a cool bounty hunter dies by falling into a gigantic toothy anus in the desert.

HammerheadFistpunch > Textured Soy Protein 11/12/2019 at 18:04

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Ha ns feint is post production and it looks terrible and stupid.  

Highlander-Datsuns are Forever > ttyymmnn 11/12/2019 at 18:10

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I hear George Lucas like ridding Nerfs when he is not herding them.

Bryan doesn't drive a 1M > HammerheadFistpunch 11/12/2019 at 18:24

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Looks like he might be one of these things:

ttyymmnn > davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com 11/12/2019 at 18:26

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Yer goddam right he shot first. 

ttyymmnn > Chariotoflove 11/12/2019 at 18:30

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Because Lucas didn’t want people to think that Han was a cold- blooded killer. Whatever. Lucas was a film student. Tell me he didn’t know about this scene.

Han Solo is Tuco. Tuco is Han Solo. “When you have to shoot, shoot. Don’t talk. ” Greedo was monologuing and got killed for it.

ttyymmnn > Danimalk - Drives a Slow Car Fast 11/12/2019 at 18:31

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I don’t care how much of a badass you are, you’re not dodging a laser bolt.

punkgoose17 > Textured Soy Protein 11/12/2019 at 18:32

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Han is the only one who pulled the trigger. Anything else is just the winners changing history for propaganda’s sake.

ttyymmnn > Textured Soy Protein 11/12/2019 at 18:40

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Angel Eyes shot first.

As I said to ChariotOfLove when I posted another, similar Sergio Leone clip, Lucas was a film student. The scene where Han and Luke fight off the TIE fighters was lifted straight from 12 O’Clock High, and the trench scene was lifted straight from The Bridges at Toko-Ri. You better believe that Lucas knew about the Leone clips, and would have copied them. After all, bad writers borrow, good writers steal.

Chariotoflove > ttyymmnn 11/12/2019 at 18:46

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Right. Solo needed to be smarmy and ruthless. He was supposed to be capable of cold blooded murder. That’s what made his later transformation seem meaningful. Lucas was retroactively sanitizing a character that was already wildly successful. But then his trademark always  was messing with a good thing.

My bird IS the word > Textured Soy Protein 11/12/2019 at 18:47

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Maybe han should have quit after episode VI

Jayvincent > Textured Soy Protein 11/12/2019 at 19:04

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Not to get all political here, but it’s clear Greedo offered a quid-pro-quo: “ give me the money you owe Jabba to forget I saw you...” Han counters with “over my dead body” and Greedo confirms that’s the plan. Therefore, Greedo makes the death threat first. Per the classic film parlance quoted by ttyymmnn, that’s the equivalent of yelling “Draw ” at the OK corral. It’s on and whoever fires first and hits their target gets to live another day. Han isn’t a cold-blooded killer, he’s responding to the challenge set forth by Greedo.

tl:dr, the edit sucks the original was in- character and storyline correct

davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com > ttyymmnn 11/13/2019 at 09:13

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I don’t understand why he felt the change was necessary. He was definitely going to get shot, so it’s still self-defense, even if he’s the only one that gets a shot off. So dumb.

ttyymmnn > davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com 11/13/2019 at 09:18

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Exactly. I’m not sure why Lucas chose to die on this hill. I read somewhere, though, that Lucas loves to edit, even though he’s really shitty at it. There are some changes in the SE that I can understand, that he wanted to do things back in 1977 that there was simply no tech for. He really would have liked to have womprats jumping around in that one scene so he went back and added them. Fine.  He thinks that adding all that stupid bullshit brings the films closer to his original vision. I would argue, though, that a lot has changed since 1977, and just doing something because you can is not always a good idea.

davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com > ttyymmnn 11/13/2019 at 09:25

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...and just because you can do it doesn’t mean you can do it well .

ttyymmnn > davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com 11/13/2019 at 09:55

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Dirty Harry said it best: “A man’s got to know his limitations.”

M.T. Blake > Textured Soy Protein 11/13/2019 at 10:54

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You’d make a great defense attorney. 

user314 > ttyymmnn 11/14/2019 at 12:59

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This.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ni3WtNcuZ4Q

Now, a “real” Jedi could possibly deflect a blaster bolt, depending on how they actually work. 

user314 > PS9 11/14/2019 at 13:01

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user314 > ttyymmnn 11/14/2019 at 13:11

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