Disappointing German voice acting in Special Edition (DVD)

Rating: 7/10 (22 February 2008)

One of my favorites of the original Star Wars Trilogy, and I know every line by heart in German and English.
George Lucas, of course, couldn't keep his fingers entirely still, and when I talk about it now I mean the latest DVD version of the Special Edition. But compared to its sequels, it is the one that has gained the most from CGI.
German fans, unfortunately, have to put up with the rather destructive efforts of re-dubbing Darth Vaders voice in two little scenes with seven dialog lines: his conversation with the emperor and another scene at the end of the movie. The original German voice, Heinz Petruo, had unfortunately died in 2001. But even so, all that needed to be added was one sentence:
Vader: "How is that possible?"
The studio didn't use its sophisticated mix-mastering equipment to rework the original tapes, move the other six sentences around a little and get a guy that, with a few audio filters, sounded roughly like the original voice to speak those four words. They did a completely new dub. It proves the engineer knew how to apply filters, but the voice acting is best described as talentless, and the manager who hired him should only do commercials.
Now, Mr. Lucas, which number was I supposed to call if I'm not satisfied with sound quality?
On the other hand, I think he deserves more praise than he got (at least from me) for his efforts to preserve the magic of the trilogy. I recently had the rare opportunity to watch a "genuine" Laserdisk edition of the original movie. It's closer to the real cinema experience because there is no PAL speedup, which produces a slightly slower pacing and darker voices (something NTSC viewers are not aware of). But even with the lower image resolution, it had noticeably aged. The stop motion animation looks jerky, the spaceships too static, color mismatch and compositing lines jump into view, things we never noticed - because they could not be done better at the time. All these things were fixed in the Special Edition.
So without the remarkable devotion of mastermind George Lucas, the first three Star Wars films in their original form would be slightly dusty "classics" today, like Flash Gordon or the Frankenstein films, with special effects that look occasionally funny.
George Lucas kept the trilogy alive for a new generation. Still, the originals preserve movie history. They breathe the flavor of the 70s and 80s in their sound effects and interior designs, and their inferior technical quality serves to draw attention to atmosphere, acting and story - at least for me, it was never mere fascination with special effects. They only serve as make-believes.
Without history, there is nothing to look back to.