George Lucas Now Claims Han Never Shot First [VIDEOS]

"Han Shot First" has been a common phrase among Star Wars fans since the special edition of "Star Wars: A New Hope" hit theaters in the late 90s.  It has also been a constant battle between George Lucas and his loyal fans, to which Lucas now claims his fans have always been wrong. 

The scene is iconic.  Han Solo is held at gunpoint by the bounty hunter Greedo, being told that Jabba the Hutt has put a price on Solo's head so big that no bounty hunter will be able to resist.  Sitting in a booth at the Mos Eisley cantina, Solo misdirects Greedo's attention so he can pull his blaster from his holster.  After it is clear that he can't talk his way our of it, Han shoots Greedo from under the table and casually walks out of the bar.  In the Special Edition re-release, the end of the scene was changed to Greedo shooting first, Han doing a CGI assisted head dodge, and then firing at Greedo.  After fan outrage of the altered scene, Lucas changed the scene again for the DVD release, making Han and Greedo shoot almost at the same time, but Greedo still shooting first. 

Now, 35 years after the release of the original "Star Wars", and the week of the 3D re-release of "Star Wars Episode 1: The Phantom Menace", Lucas is defending his changes yet again.  During an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Lucas claims that Han actually never shot first,

"Well, it’s not a religious event. I hate to tell people that. It’s a movie, just a movie. The controversy over who shot first, Greedo or Han Solo, in Episode IV, what I did was try to clean up the confusion, but obviously it upset people because they wanted Solo [who seemed to be the one who shot first in the original] to be a cold-blooded killer, but he actually isn’t. It had been done in all close-ups and it was confusing about who did what to whom. I put a little wider shot in there that made it clear that Greedo is the one who shot first, but everyone wanted to think that Han shot first, because they wanted to think that he actually just gunned him down."

Ok... I'm calling serious bullsh*t on this one for several reasons!  This man is just sick and tired of the constant criticism about his changes.  What he doesn't seem to understand is when films like "Blade Runner" (a movie he references in the interview as a movie with constant changes) is released with changes, the original cut is still included on the release.  Lucas is doing everything in his power to keep the original theatrical cuts out of public circulation, and that's where his fans have the biggest problem.  By saying Han never shot first, Lucas is just trying to tell the audience that they are wrong, and that he's right.  Second, in the original cut of the film, we never hear Greedo's blaster going off.  If Greedo shot first, we should have heard it.  Also, Han shooting first isn't cold-blooded.  If any of us were sitting at a table with someone who is pointing a gun at us, if we could, we'd shoot them before they could get a shot off.  Its not cold-blooded, that self-defense.  And last, if Han doesn't shoot first, how does he explain "The Empire Strikes Back".  Lando tells Han that he's just made a deal that will keep the Empire out of Cloud City for a long time, the door opens to reveal Darth Vader, and what does Han do?  He pulls his blaster and starts shooting!

Ok... time for a comparison.  The original cut vs the Special Edition.  What do you think?  Is Lucas telling the truth, or just full of crap?