To do so, Lucas spent $10 million -- roughly the same
it cost to film the original "Star Wars" -- to clean,
restore, and digitally enhance the film.
Copies of the 20-year-old film were badly deteriorated, but
Lucas assembled a team from several groups to accomplish the
meticulous cleaning and restoration. And then, the
techno-wizards at Industrial Light and Magic -- created by
Lucas in 1975 to do the visual effects for the original "Star
Wars" -- set to work.
Digital technology -- much of it pioneered by ILM since the
late 1970s -- allowed Lucas to create the bustling spaceport
of Mos Eisley and doctor Skywalker's landspeeder so that it
truly floats as it arrives in the city.
"Twenty years ago ... I only had half a street to shoot on,
and no real special effects or matte paintings to work with,"
Lucas says. "Now we're able to travel through the town, see
how big it is." 
(186K/13 sec. AIFF or WAV sound)
Computer graphics have also allowed Lucas to reinsert a scene
filmed in 1976 but cut from the original because it just
didn't work, and he lacked the time and money to make it
work.
In that scene, Han Solo confronts space gangster Jabba the
Hutt, a big globular slug of an alien. Lucas filmed actor
Harrison Ford with a stand-in actor, intending to add a
digital Jabba later. He was dissatisfied with the results,
and cut the scene.
"I really wanted to put that back in there," Lucas says,
"because it's relevant to what happens to Han at the end of
the movie and in 'The Empire Strikes Back' and 'Return of the
Jedi.'"
There's more: 4 1/2 minutes of new film, including a new
creature ridden by the red-eyed Jawas and stormtroopers
chasing C-3PO and R2-D2, and a $3 million revamp of the audio
track.
And if that's not enough, Lucas has created Special Editions
of both 1980s "Empire" and 1983s "Jedi," the two sequels,
to the tune of about $2.5 million each. "Empire" is scheduled
to hit the screens on February 21 and "Jedi" on March 7.
In "Empire," Lucas cleaned up the opening battle sequence
and created a more fierce Wampa creature for an ice cave
scene. Scenes set in Cloud City, the home of Lando
Calrissian, have also been enhanced.
In "Return of the Jedi," ILM expanded a musical sequence at
Jabba the Hutt's palace with new music, musicians, singers
and dancers. Femi Taylor, who played the green-skinned
dancing girl in the original film, returned to film shoot new
footage for the scene.
A Sarlacc beast battling with Luke, Leia and Han Solo has
also been enhanced.
After 20 years, Lucas revisits the films that changed
filmmaking -- and prepares to try it again. He plans to
follow up the re-release of this trio by releasing a
trifecta of prequels.
The digital enhancements to the two-decade-old "Star Wars"
may be just a sneak preview of the wizardry to come.
