The only one you know

Something happened the other day. I was talking to this girl about Star Wars. She was young (18) and she said something that just blew my mind. She asked "If the second set of movies were made before the first set, how did they manage to get the guy's face in the last movie?". She was referring to the fact that in the (as I like to call it) "enhanced" version of The Return of the Jedi (only released on DVD) at the end there is the actor who played Vader (in episode II and III) standing along with Ben and Yoda.

It occurred to me that she hadn't seen the original version of Jedi and all she knew was that one. In the original version, there was a completely different actor playing Anakin at the end of the movie (for those who didn't know).

Now I don't know about you, but that is very interesting. It's history changed right in front of your eyes. There is a whole generation (and more to come) that will believe that the Star Wars saga as it is seen now is the only way it was. They do say that the history of a war is written by the winners and I can see an odd comparison to that in this case. I mean if that's all you know then that is your history.

If you go to the video store (or any place that sells DVDs) you may notice that the three Indiana Jones movies are all together. The first one has been renamed Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark. Now it's just a name, and this didn't get as much play as the whole Star Wars thing, but it's the same thing. The history is changed.

Makes more sense (now that one thinks about it) for remakes. People say "why remake something?", The answer is now pretty obvious. This current version may be the only one the audience knows.