I had lots of trouble playing this (nothing to do with the file itself just my equipment falling to bits) so it was a bit frustrating and probably not the most optimal viewing experience.

However. Wow!

It felt very familiar and yet fresh.
At no point did I feel that any of the changes were things the technical wizards of the day wouldn’t have done if they had the time and the kit.

Yoda felt as much an actor performance as Sir Alec in the first one. There is a moment when he looks at Luke which is utterly sublime.

Those scout walkers are characters in their own right. Moving like stop motion but able to convey worry, nervousness etc in all the ways the battle droids of the prequels did not.

I will need to see this again many times to register some of the changes which took months (maybe years) to plan build and film. The hanger matte replacement, my biggest gripe about the original version was that hanger matte, made worse by the contrast and tinting of future versions, was over in seconds but looked much better. The Han in Carbonite and Wampa changes are almost subliminal at times and yet give the film increased tangibility.

It’s an astonishing achievement to make these sorts of improvements to an already classic and timeless movie.

I can’t wait to see what you do with the increasingly less classic third sequel and prequels as they are the films that really need rescuing.