Han Shot First!

I think I'm officially adding this one to our growing list of PopCultRefs, on account of it continuing to show up! I just saw a reference to it on Eddie Campbell's blog and it even poked its head up in the Lego Star Wars game Vicki and I were playing last night, after which I had to explain the reference to the lovely wife who doesn't track these things, hound-like, as I do. Both of those in the span of 24 hours warrants an entry here, I say! In case you're not in the know, and also to allow others to weigh in and correct any bits I get wrong, the story goes something like this:

In the original Star Wars cut that we all saw in the theatres in 1977 - some of you, dozens of times - there's a scene where Han is talking to the alien Greedo in the Cantina, something to do with Han owing Jabba money, I believe, and things turn ugly. As I remember it, Greedo makes some kind of threat, while pointing his weapon at the other, only to have Solo shoot him under the table, with the blaster he'd already had out and pointed at his companion. To some, I guess, this might've seemed a cowardly act.. shooting someone under the table, before they'd even completely committed to the gunfight. It never bothered me, even as a teenager, because I assumed those were just the rules of the Star Wars universe, where due process of law didn't seem to be in full swing as far as I could tell. However, George Lucas, he of the Ewoks and Jar Jar Binks, when he got his chance to tinker with the original three movies in preparation for re-releasing them along with the three prequels, decided to alter the scene so that the alien actually gets a shot off first, making Solo's reaction self-defense, I suppose you'd say. Purists - and you know who you are! - objected to this revisionist move on Lucas' part, this RetCon-in-re-release, and thus was born the Han Shot First! movement.

You can read the Wikipedia entry for it here, if you'd like. I typed the top part from memory before going to look for the official version, and the only things I changed were providing Greedo's name - I'm not that much of a Star Wars fan, sorry! - and confirming that Greedo did have his weapon out first.