A Geek's Compendium: Who Shot First?

There are times when I find certain phrases stick out more than others. In the science fiction genre this usually means they were repeated and/or of incredible importance. Examples are "So Say We All." (Battlestar Galactica) or "No power in the 'verse can stop me." (Firefly) The one I found myself debating over with a friend recently was: "Han shot first."

The phrase stems from an arguement over the character Han Solo in Star Wars' first installment, "A New Hope." George Lucus is known for going back to his original triology and editing scenes here and there. Every time he does this, the fans of the series burst in a large amount of outcries, calling for the original to stay the way it was made.

While a majority were upset over the editing of changing David Prowse as Darth Vader's spirit to Haden Christensen's younger image of Anakin, the one that seems to be debated almost as much as "Did Luke and Leia have a thing?" is "Who shot first? Han or Greedo?"

To those who watch "A New Hope" many times, it is almost undeniable that Han Solo shot Greedo first. As Greedo explains how he is going to collect Solo as bounty, Solo, unbeknowest to Greedo, removes his blaster from its holster and holds it hidden behind his left leg, propped on his right. Before Greedo can argue, he fires under the table. No one in Mos Eisley Cantina objects, simply because Solo pays the bartender the fee for clearing the corpse, and walks out the door.

Lucas argued that Greedo shot first, and that Solo "had no choice" but to fire. To back up this claim, in the remastered 1997 release of "A New Hope" it shows Greedo firing before Solo. He siad he wanted to make it clear to children that Solo would not have fired unless attacked. However, fans questioned Greedo missing at such a close range, and argue that by changing the shot, it in turn destroys Solo's morally ambigous character, as well as his transition from anti-her to hero.

Although Solo still makes a drastic change into being a hero, whether or not he was morally ambigous, I feel, is the center of the issue at hand. In the world of Tatooine, and Star Wars 'verse at the time after the fall of the Republic, it was more or less a killed or be killed universe. Solo's lifestyle, before Luke and Leia, was not one that ever allowed for moral actions. He was a smuggler, "reckless mercenary" and debeter to Jabba the Hut. Had he not killed Greedo, he would have surely found himself mounted on Jabba's wall way before the end of "The Empire Strikes Back."

True, changing or tweaking the scene so Han leans left and they fire at the same time changes the character of Solo. however, in the long run it does not change it drastically. Solo is still ambiguous as to where he stands until the end of "A New Hope" and continues developing his cahracter until he is full encased in carbonite. Not to mention the Han Solo Triology written after the films to further delve in his backstory and smuggling days with Chewbecca.

Since returning the scene to its original form in the 2004 release, the phrase "Han shot first" has now become as common as "Frakin' toasters." Even appearing on T-shirts such as this one: