Star Wars: The Special Edition (1997) Rated PG Starring: Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford, and Alec Guinness Rating: out of

When George Lucas announced he'd be adding new special effects and footage to the original 1977 movie, many fans were worried that he'd muck the film up. Why tamper with a classic at all? Lucas argued that the film was not quite as it was meant to be. He simply wanted to fix a few things.

Well, believe it or not, the four and a half minutes of new sequences and the insertion of once-deleted footage does bring more to the film than simply just making it longer. The film has been tweaked to make a few vague points more understandable. The attack on the Death Star has been made a lot more exciting with new effects and a revamped sequence of camera shots. And, of course, there's the very-hyped addition of a digitally created Jabba the Hutt and his confrontation with Han Solo in Docking Bay 94, which gives Jabba's importance to the trilogy a big boost.

The plot, if you really don't know, centers around a Galactic Empire, who, through the use of fear and power, have obtained control of most of the star systems in the universe. The Empire is about to unveil their ultimate weapon, the Death Star, which is capable of destroying planets with a laser blast. The technical plans for the Death Star have been obtained by the Rebellion, who hope to analyze them for a weakness that will enable them to destroy it. Princess Leia Organa (Carrie Fisher), one of the highest ranking members of the Rebellion, is captured by Darth Vader (David Prowse), the right hand man of the Emporer himself, before she can deliver the plans to the Rebellion. She hides the plans in a robot named R2-D2 (Kenny Baker) and hopes that the droid can somehow find his way to Obi-Wan Kenobi (Alec Guinness), an old Jedi Knight. The fate of the Rebellion and any planets within range of the Death Star's cannon hang in the balance.

R2D2, along with C3PO (Anthony Daniels), ends up in the possession of Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill), a young farm-boy who longs for adventure and information about his father, who was a Jedi Knight like Obi-Wan. After R2D2 leads Luke to him, Obi-Wan begins to teach Luke the ways of The Force, which he claims guides and directs the Jedi Knight, but which can also be used for evil. Darth Vader, he says, was once a Jedi Knight but was turned to the Dark Side of The Force and now serves only evil.

To get the plans to Alderaan, the home base of the Imperial Senate, which was overthrown by the Empire, Luke and Obi-Wan hire Han Solo (Harrison Ford) and Chewbacca (Peter Meyhew), a pair of smugglers who pilot the Millennium Falcon, a starship that can make the Kessel Run in 12 parsecs (ie. it's fast). Solo, lured by a rather generous offer from Obi-Wan, agrees to take the passengers to Alderaan and to help them evade Imperial entanglements. Once that's all set up, the movie is off and running.

Even with enhanced special effects and computer technology, the special edition retains the occasional blooper (an Imperial stormtrooper hits his head on a door that's not up all the way, for example) and the somewhat predictable storyline. However, the magic isn't in the story itself, but they way it's told. This movie is an epic, plain and simple.

It'd be easy to say that the movie is not worth spending money to see because it's on TV in its original form quite regularly, but this is a movie meant to be seen in a theater. If you haven't seen the movie in a theater, or haven't seen it at all, go and see it. As clichéd as it sounds, Star Wars really is worth the money to experience the way it was meant to be experienced.

Trivia: When Luke Skywalker and Han Solo attempt to enter the detention area to rescue Princess Leia, Luke says that Chewbacca is a prisoner transfer from "cell block 1138." This is a reference to George Lucas' first movie, THX-1138. (Source: The Internet Movie Database)