The most infamous and controversial change made to the original Special Edition of A New Hope infamously alters the scene, having Greedo fire a blaster bolt at Han and miss at point-blank range before Han returns fire.

The change generated a notable outcry from viewers, who criticized the change for various reasons, from Greedo’s questionable aim to Han’s unnecessary head-dodge – complete with unconvincing computer-generated imagery. A New Hope has had three re-releases since 1997 and each has further revised the scene, often speeding up the blaster bolt exchange to make it appear as though Han and Greedo fire simultaneously, yet some viewers still insist that “Han Shot First” and therefore the original version of the confrontation should be restored. There is, however, one overlooked detail that makes every altered version of the scene make no sense.

Lucas' Special Editions Make The Blaster Bolt Seem Utterly Weird

In the original version of Han and Greedo’s confrontation, Han’s blaster is on a higher-than-usual power setting, allowing the bolt to blast through his table, kill Greedo, and leave his remains audibly sizzling as Han leaves Chalmun’s Cantina. As Greedo falls, there is a gaping hole in Han’s table that was not there before, showing that his blaster bolt went through it to kill Greedo. The hole is still visible in every version of the scene, which creates an amusing problem in every re-release of A New Hope.

In each special edition of A New Hope, Han Solo fires two bolts at Greedo instead of one, and both bolts visibly strike Greedo without hitting Han’s table. When Han fires the blaster bolts at Greedo, there is no hole in the table, yet when Greedo falls, the hole is visible. While arguably a trivial error, this inconsistency does highlight how unnecessary it was to change Han and Greedo’s confrontation in the first place.

Han Solo canonically stated “I happen to like to shoot first, Rekkon. As opposed to shooting second” in Brian Daly’s novel Han Solo at Star’s End. The book was released in 1979, preceding the Special Edition by almost 20 years.

Why George Lucas Changed "Han Shot First"

George Lucas explained his initial change to Han and Greedo’s shootout as an attempt to lighten Solo’s character, with the smuggler coming across as too dark of a character initially. Lucas’s reasoning is, unsurprisingly, also the subject of debate among Star Wars viewers, and a case could be argued that Han Solo’s characterization in A New Hope was better left unaltered from the film’s theatrical release. In any case, every new release of A New Hope leaves the now-nonsensical hole in Han’s table, despite the increasing alterations to the scene.