These were not the plot holes and goofy voices you were looking for. Here are
some Jedi mind tricks Star Wars played to alter fans' memories of the franchise, for the better.
Even after all these years, The Phantom Menace continues to rank as one of the
lesser entries in the Star Wars saga. Elements of the film are certainly strong,
with the visuals alone aging remarkably well in the two decades since its release,
but one noticeably weak aspect of the initial film is the puppet used to portray Yoda.
As had been the case in the original trilogy, Yoda was initially featured
on screen through the use of puppetry. Despite the movie's massive budget, though,
the puppet version of Yoda that appeared in the first version of The Phantom Menace was
somehow of far worse quality than the one previously used in Lucas' original trilogy.
Fortunately, Lucas patched this up when it came time for Attack of the Clones. Realizing
that Yoda would need to physically move around more in his lightsaber battle with Count Dooku,
Lucas reverted to a CGI iteration of the Jedi Master, one that would appear throughout the
final two films of the prequel trilogy. To smooth the continuity between the three films,
he also went back and removed the puppet version of Yoda from The Phantom Menace,
digitally replacing him with the CGI version of the character.
One of the most popular changes George Lucas made to The Empire Strikes Back
was the insertion of Ian McDiarmid's portrayal of Emperor Palpatine into
the re-released cut of the film. In the original release, the Emperor briefly
appears in holographic form to converse with Darth Vader. Voiced by New Zealand stage actor
Clive Revill and physically portrayed by Marjorie Eaton, this version of the
Emperor looked and sounded nothing like the Emperor fans later saw in Return of the Jedi.
"The Force is strong with him. The son of Skywalker must not become a Jedi."
In fact, the design of Palpatine here is often considered one of the rare flaws within the
original cut of The Empire Strikes Back. When it came time for Lucas' recut of the film decades
later, he removed this rudimentary version of Palpatine and replaced it with McDiarmid,
the actor who portrayed Palpatine across all three Star Wars trilogies.
It's one of the few changes Lucas made to the original trilogy that fans almost universally
support, improving the Emperor's appearance in The Empire Strikes Back tenfold. The new
version not only helps link the original and prequel trilogies together, but also
gives viewers another chance to see McDiarmid doing his thing — and that's never a bad thing.
One of the cleverer changes made to Star Wars is a viable explanation
behind the Imperial stormtroopers' almost impossibly poor aim. Though
Obi-Wan Kenobi describes the stormtroopers as highly accurate marksmen in A New Hope,
everyone knows that they are anything but. In fact, the stormtroopers' aim in the original
trilogy is so awful that "stormtrooper aim" has become more or less the go-to
description when it comes to villains who are unable to shoot their enemies in films or TV.
In more recent years, Disney has helped provide a feasible reason why stormtroopers' aims are so
inexplicably bad. In various shows and comics, it has been established that the Empire began
cutting costs after seizing control of the galaxy — including slashing military
funding. Unable to afford proper equipment for its troops, the Empire began outfitting
its soldiers with largely ineffective, poorly-constructed weapons and armor.
This retcon helps explain why stormtroopers' armor
is essentially useless when it comes to projectiles or blunt weapons,
as well as why stormtroopers are unable to hit targets in close range.
Another change made in the remastered version of The Empire Strikes Back is
the removal of Jason Wingreen's vocal performance as Boba Fett. While British
actor Jeremy Bulloch wore the armor of the famous bounty hunter on screen,
Wingreen dubbed Fett's lines with an almost guttural, Clint Eastwood-esque growl.
"What if he doesn't survive? He's worth a lot to me."
While certainly intimidating enough, Lucas chose to replace Wingreen's vocal performance with
Temuera Morrison, the actor who portrayed Jango Fett in the prequel trilogy. As Boba
himself is a literal clone of Jango, it makes sense that Lucas would have Morrison voice the
character in the remastered version of The Empire Strikes Back. Some fans might miss the original,
harshly-delivered snarl of Wingreen's character, but the switch certainly makes sense in terms
of continuity. Additionally, Lucas inserted Boba into the 1997 rerelease of A New Hope,
digitally placing him alongside Jabba the Hutt on Tatooine. It's a minor change, but one that helps
establish Fett's professional relationship with Jabba early in the original trilogy.
In spite of his incredibly limited screen time, Boba Fett became a fan-favorite
breakout character after his initial appearance in The Empire Strikes Back.
When it came time for his return in Return of the Jedi, however, the character infamously
met an unceremonious and downright goofy end, falling into the Sarlacc pit early in the film.
Despite seemingly meeting his death, Fett was hastily restored
to life thanks to a number of "Legends" comics that expanded on the character,
revealing that he survived his encounter with the Sarlacc. With Disney's acquisition
of Lucasfilm in 2012, though, all of these stories were rendered non-canon.
But it was only a matter of time before newer Star Wars media confirmed Fett's survival, leading to a
number of appearances in The Mandalorian and in his own spin-off series, The Book of Boba Fett.
Given her prominent role in The Clone Wars, it's easy to forget that aspiring Sith acolyte
Asajj Ventress actually made her debut in 2003's underrated Clone Wars animated series by Genndy
Tartakovsky — albeit in a massively reduced role. In Tartakovsky's series, Ventress appears
as a one-off Force-wielder recruited by Count Dooku to assassinate Anakin Skywalker. Dueling
the Jedi in the jungles of Yavin 4, Ventress tests Anakin's physical and emotional limits,
narrowly beating him before a rage-filled Anakin sends her hurtling to her death.
In the 2008 Clone Wars computer-animated film, a different version of Ventress appears in a
more expanded role, as an antagonist to the Jedi and a commander of the Separatist
Army. While initially similar in nature to the original version of the character,
Ventress would become more fully fleshed out as The Clone Wars went on, receiving
her own backstory and eventual redemption arc after she is betrayed by her former master,
Dooku. Before long, Ventress became one of the key players in the latter-day Clone Wars series,
with many fans seeing her as one of the show's best characters.
One of the earliest and most glaringly obvious plot holes in 1977's Star Wars was how the
Empire overlooked such a crucial flaw in the Death Star plans as its critical exhaust port.
"The target area is only two meters wide. It's a
small thermal exhaust port, right below the main port."
As seen in the movie, all the Rebels need to do is launch one proton torpedo
into the port in order to destroy the entire battle station. It's an
oversight on the Empire's part that leads directly to the Death Star's destruction,
leaving many wondering how they could possibly miss such a devastating weakness.
With the release of Rogue One nearly four decades later, however, it's established that the exhaust
port was actually put there on purpose by Galen Erso. Forced to build the Death Star by Orson
Krennic and knowing the devastating effect it will have on the galaxy, Erso designed
the Death Star with one crucial weakness that the Empire's enemies will be able to exploit.
Showing Erso's efforts to sabotage the station through the exhaust port was an effortless way
of clearing up confusion around one of the original trilogy's most questionable plot
points. It also makes the ending of A New Hope that much more satisfying,
knowing the crucial part that Erso — and his daughter — played in the Death Star's destruction.
A chief complaint fans had regarding The Phantom Menace was the sudden and
surprising death of Darth Maul. Possessing few lines and a very limited screen presence,
Maul was nevertheless seen as a villain with enough visual appeal and menace to
rival Darth Vader. As such, many believed he might fill a role similar to Vader's in the
prequel trilogy. When he met his abrupt end in the climactic duel with Obi-Wan,
however, some audience members saw his early demise as a wasted opportunity.
Knowing fans' love for the Sith warrior, Lucas made the decision to revive Maul in The Clone
Wars. In the show, it's explained that Maul miraculously survived his maiming at Obi-Wan's
hands, although he was left physically and mentally broken by the ordeal. When his brother,
Savage Opress, rescues him from a junk planet he'd been stranded on for a decade,
he helps restore Maul's mind. Fully restored, Maul leads his brother in
forging a new criminal empire in the galaxy, becoming a perpetual thorn in the Jedi's side.
The decision to reverse Maul's death was a welcome one in the eyes of longtime Star
Wars fans. Maul's expanded role in The Clone Wars and Rebels has been praised
as one of the highlights of both shows, helping expand the character and take
advantage of his unique chemistry with the show's other characters.
"Execute Order 66."
One of the hardest things George Lucas and Dave Filoni had to explain in The
Clone Wars was how the clone troopers could so easily turn on their Jedi commanders. As
shown in the series, the clones are usually close friends and confidantes to the Jedi,
bonding with them throughout the war. This makes their dramatic
shift in personality during Order 66 that much more difficult to believe.
Nevertheless, Lucas and Filoni came up with an ingenious idea that provided a
feasible explanation behind the clones' sudden betrayal. In the prequel trilogy,
the clones' nonchalant massacre of the Jedi is done of their own volition. The clones
seem to genuinely believe Palpatine's lie that the Jedi are taking over,
choosing to remain loyal to the Chancellor and the Republic over the Jedi conspirators.
However, this would later be retconned in the final few seasons of The Clone Wars, with the
show revealing that nearly every clone trooper is implanted with a behavioral modification biochip
that effectively controls their thoughts and emotions. When activated, they essentially become
sleeper agents, instilling them with dramatically high aggression against their Jedi comrades.
Arguably one of the best retcons made in The Clone Wars, the biochips explain the sudden
shift in personality among the clones, and helps portray them in a new, tragic light.
One of the biggest changes made to the Star Wars universe was the introduction
of Ahsoka Tano in The Clone Wars. Although she doesn't appear in any of the prequel movies,
Lucas and Filoni did a wonderful job interweaving the character's narrative
into the overall universe of the prequels. Over time, Ahsoka would become one of the
most beloved characters in the entire Star Wars canon, her popularity directly leading
to appearances in other shows, including her own spin-off series on Disney+.
Aside from her frequent appearances following The Clone Wars, Ahsoka also allowed a more layered
exploration of Anakin's character. Gradually learning to become a more mature master to Ahsoka,
Anakin was finally able to realize the burden of having a pupil study under him. The Jedi Order's
poor treatment of Ahsoka also provided an additional reason for his frustrations
with the Jedi in Revenge of the Sith, helping shed more light on his turn to the Dark Side.
It's up for debate whether George Lucas had a complete vision for the original
trilogy in his mind while working on Star Wars in the mid-1970s. There are certainly
some issues with the canon that support the idea that Lucas was still planning
out the story as he developed the second installment of the original trilogy. The
most obvious among these issues would be the reveal that Leia and Luke are siblings,
and the revelation that Darth Vader is the father of the two long-lost twins.
In early drafts of The Empire Strikes Back, Vader appears as a separate character from
Anakin Skywalker, who appears as a Force ghost to Luke on Dagobah. In that scene, Anakin's ghost
reveals to Luke that he has a sister, although he refuses to share any further information
for fear of Darth Vader finding out about her. The fact that Anakin and Vader are two separate
characters falls in line with Obi-Wan telling Luke in A New Hope that Vader killed Anakin.
"He betrayed and murdered your father."
In this rough draft of the script, Luke's sister is called Nellith,
and it seems that she is meant to be a separate character from Leia. Luckily,
Lucas would decide to tweak both of these decisions, turning Leia into Luke's sister
and making Vader their father — resulting in one of the greatest plot twists in cinematic history.