"I'VE MADE A LOT OF SPECIAL MODIFICATIONS"

Of all the changes that the 1997 Special Editions brought to the classic Star Wars saga, none is more frowned upon than the added suggestion that Greedo shot first.

Back in the original 1977 cut of Star Wars (Episode IV), Han Solo was a rogue, a mercenary, the kind of guy who lived by his wits. The kind of guy who, in short, shoots firsts and asks questions later. And we all loved him for it. The laconic smirk, a blast from his laser pistol, and a brief acknowledgement to the bar tender - "Sorry about the mess!" - as the smouldering corpse of bounty hunter Greedo collapses to the cantina table. That is what Han Solo was all about.

And then came the 1997 re-release, with a few new tweaks on old favourite scenes, and suddenly Greedo gets a quick shot in before Han's blast fries him, removing Han from the category of cold-blooded killer, something which apparently never sat right with creator George Lucas.

The trouble is, for many Star Wars fans, the original scene defined the character of Han Solo. With a pull on his trigger and a muttered apology to the bar tender, Han Solo laid all his credentials out before the audience.

The rejigged Greedo scene has become infamous, forming the source of much heated debate in Star Wars circles and almost universally despised as an unnecessary and detrimental change to a perfect scene.

Somewhere in the bowels of Industrial Light and Magic, Lucasfilm's mighty special effects department, some poor putz is sitting there reading all these movie reviews and fan letters and message boards that say, without exception, what a terrible thing this new Greedo sequence is, and that employee is thinking to himself "I did that!" With a brush of his lightpen and some coding of the texture engine, this poor guy poured his heart and soul into making it look like Greedo shot first. Maybe he paid special attention to the lighting of the scene, the way the effects originally looked, how people reacted, all to make sure Greedo's extra laser blast - HIS extra laser blast, really - looked like it belonged. And when he finished that scene he probably patted himself on the back, smiled at the finished scene and thought, "Man, I just contributed something really special to the Star Wars saga."

And then he saw the reaction to his scene. Poor guy. He's turning straight to the Dark Side.