I know I am reviving this thread after 18 years, but is there any other evidence of him liking the special edition.
He didn’t really consider the changes to be “changes” in the first place, if that makes sense.
Someone at the press conference for the dvd all the way back in 2004 (which included Mark Hamill, Irvin Kershner, Lucasfilm president Jim Ward and the Lowry guys) asked Kersh what he thought about the Special Edition and also his thoughts on ESB being the one with the least changes made to it.
The moderator kinda jokingly relays it to Kersh and kinda slowly says “he’s talking about … this idea (some laughs from the audience) that there’ve been changes made to the movie over the years.”
His response?
“Frankly I don’t know what he’s talking about. The sound was enhanced, the picture was enhanced, we added the snow monster. It’s the movie I made.”
Maybe he also mentioned Cloud City, I can’t remember now. Only reason I remember what I do now after more than 17 years is because I listened to the audio of it multiple times back in the day.
Kersh had this observation about making ESB that still sticks with me. He said he felt like he was working in the old Soviet system because it was like he was making two films: one for the censor, and one for the audience who would understand what he was trying to say.