Excellent 1977 film - not so excellent 1997 tinkering

Rating: Null/10 (1 November 2002)

"Star Wars" is a brilliant film. It was awesome in 1977. It's still awesome now. It's a simple story. It's a lively mix of film genres. The actors work well together and the action sequences are thrilling. So why is it not available on pukka DVD? You can get it on video and (defunct) laser disc, but not DVD. This is a glaring mistake.
So Mr Lucas is tied up with producing Episodes I to III and will look at Episode IV, but on the evidence of Episode I: The Phantom Menace (yeah, right!) and from what I hear, Episode II (I was so disgusted with Episode I, I didn't even bother with Episode II), I don't know why he's bothering.
Episode IV is a complete package. It has a beginning, a middle and a proper ending. Although Episode V developed the characters and Episode VI rounded them off, they just can't compare with the 'original' film.
And then there was the tinkering in 1997. Okay, so the film stock was on the verge of disintegrating and there's no denying that bringing the film up to THX standards and adding some sympathetic digital effects has produced a film that is even better than the original production, but WHY OH WHY include the 'Solo meets Jabba' scene. It adds nothing to the film; it looks clumsy (the digital Jabba looks digital) and it should've remained on the cutting room floor. When Mr Lucas finally comes around to overseeing the release of Episode IV on DVD, perhaps he can delete this scene.
Star Wars (1977) - 9/10 Star Wars (1997) - 7/10