are three special edition movies that were released following the conclusion of Gundam SEED.
Overview
These movies are a complete recap and alternate re-telling of all 50 episodes of the TV series and were first shown on television in Japan. The Special Edition episodes featured some new scenes and tweaks to previously animated scenes. The first special, The Empty Battlefield, which recapped episodes 1 to 21 of the series, was aired in two parts on Japanese TV in March 2004, followed by the next special, The Far-Away Dawn, which recapped episodes 22 to 40, in July 2004. The final special, The Rumbling Sky, which were episodes 41 to 50 aired in October 2004. While the story is overall unchanged, there are a few minor changes. In addition, several scenes were re-animated and re-dubbed.
All three movies were released on Universal Media Disc in mid-2005. Gundam SEED: Special Edition was licensed for North America by Bandai Entertainment and was released on DVDs in English, between July 11, 2005 and November 22, 2005. On October 11, 2014 at their 2014 New York Comic Con panel, Sunrise announced they will be releasing all of the Gundam franchise, including Gundam SEED: Special Edition in North America though distribution from Right Stuf Inc., beginning in Spring 2015.
In 2019, the first compilation film (The Empty Battlefield) is remastered and released for the GUNDAM “BEYOND the Cinema EXPERIENCE” TOUR, making the first of the Gundam SEED Special Edition movies to receive an HD Remaster treatment for the first time.
Changes
The transition from TV to movies allowed changes to the storyline of the show to be made for the movie versions.
Special Edition I - The Empty Battlefield
A brand new 55 second scene showing preparation for the assault on Heliopolis (shows more shots of Miguel and new shots of Rusty) Scenes of Kira and his friends before the going off were redone Newtype flash added when Mu senses Creuset for the first time Footage of GINN's battling with Moebius mobile armors outside the colony, has been removed. Debut of Cagalli is retold and a new scene of her conversation with Kira with new footage Athrun and Kira's first meeting during the firefight in episode 1 intercuts with scenes when they were kids instead of being shown slowly with negative colors. Scene of Flay emerging from the lifepod (ep 4) and hugging Kira is redone and retold. Also a new 30 second scene of Sai and Flay conversing has been added The scene with Rau and Athrun discussing the Strike's pilot is reduced to a 10-second flashback and is inserted into the scene where Athrun is lying and thinking about the loss of Rusty and Miguel The Archangels heading to Artemis and the Battle of Artemis footage had been removed. Athrun's shower scene (ep 8) is lengthened and intercut with scenes of his parents; and the scene following this (his discovery of Lacus' disappearance) is completely redone and moved to be ahead of hatch opening sequence of Lacus's life pod. Backstory from the first clip show is never told. New 25 second clip of Lacus trip to the cafeteria on board the Archangel The scene of Rau and Mu taking the opportunity to attack during the time that Kira is transferring Lacus to Athrun only for Lacus to order Rau to stand down and withdraw is removed. Scene of Kira having sex with Flay is shown cut between Strike's first battle in the desert with additional new footage. Cagalli's bath sequence is changed from a bath to a shower instead, probably for fanservice. The scenes of Dearka and Yzak assisting Andrew Waltfeld during his final attack on the Archangel have been removed.