There has been evidence of this new remastered original trilogy slowly building online over recent months. This is due to the restoration company posting short clips to a quiet unknown YouTube account.
Check out this video on an explanation on what has been happening and a comparison between the new remaster and the current 4K discs.
TLDW: The new remaster looks way better than the current discs.
Then check out this 17 minute compilation of remastered original trilogy clips that have appeared online so far.
What were the stupid digital additions? Now I’m curious
Wikipedia has a list of them (most of them, at least. I can’t speak for its completeness): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Changes_in_Star_Wars_re-releases
I think it was the 25th anniversary release where he changed and added stuff. First off, he fixed a lot of the special effects that hadn’t aged well. That was fine, I concede that was an improvement. But then he went through and added silly stuff. He added a blaster shot from Greedo’s gun in the cantina scene because he felt, for some reason, that Han shouldn’t have shot first. Then he added seriously obnoxious stuff like restoring a cut scene of Han and Jabba the Hut at the space port. Jabba was a bad CGI job placed over the scene’s original actor. At one point Han walks over him and Jabba makes this stupid face that I can’t even describe.
Don’t forget about all the busy stuff going on in Mos Eisley surroundings as they travel to the catina. The wider shots of the landspeeder were great, but all the shit that kept forcing its way into the screen ruined the moment.
Rick McCallum: “It’s so dense. Every single image has so many things going on.”
Plinkett: “Fuck you, Rick Berman. You ruined this too? Stop ruining - hey wait, that ain’t Rick Berman. What is it with Ricks?”
The cleaning up of the special effects, that’s a no brainer must have. I didn’t realize they weren’t as good as I remembered in the theater as a 9 year old. Including the Falcon escaping - I thought for sure that was original until I happened across a scene, and it was almost a shock it wasn’t nearly as great.
Yeah the dynamic range on all the CGI additions is really off and ruins the dusty atmosphere that the original film had.
We didn’t need all those huge animals in a place where they have to collect moisture to survive either. It was better sparse.
Also rhe original Jabba the Hut was a himan in a furry jacket, not a giant slug monster. Since Han walks around human Jabba in the scene on flat ground they added the stepping over slug Jabba’s tail with CGI which is why the way Han walks in the clip looks janky as hell.
Didn’t they update that scene twice? The first Special Edition release and then updated the Jabba CGI a second time for another release. (The Blu-ray’s? I’m not sure)
It’s all a bit moot anyway as everything in the “new” Jabba scene is almost a repeat of what was said in the Greedo encounter a few scenes earlier.
And they forced in Boba Fett which was cool at the time but just seems out of place now.
That scene was cut in the original film, Jab a officially didn’t make an appearance until Return.