What gets priority in lucas' mind.
Remember the little sorta commentary interview part of the SE boxed set? just before the movies start, lucas, burtt and some guy are jabbering on about some fascinating things like removing matte lines, cleaning up the old print, but OH! Wait! there's a preiview of a shot from Return of the jedi. It's the rancor fight. And they point out exactly what a matte line is with big bright arrows! They must have fixed that shot. I can't wait to see how it came out.
No they didn't. It's exactly the same, matte lines and all. Yet we get new jabba the hutts every other release and a scream or two for luke, right?
Of course they've fixed the shots now so the black matte (I hope that's what they're called ) lines are gone once and for all. However, Vader still gestures out of sync in ANH. Stormtrooper head-bonk, lightsaber off-sync (esb), Jumpy cuts between frames, ALL are still there, and I'm so happy to discover (thanks to darth editous) that they could have been fixed with a little digital manipulation. What's worserer is the damage done to the fx that didn't need any upgrade in quality (the pink-saber, and blades with no-core.)
And absolutely, Bungle. Hayden, (serously ask me and I'll tell you Jake Lloyd is the superior actor), Christensen's Annie Skywalker cameo can't be topped as the worst addition to the classic trilogy. Not only does this completely remove original elements, but also radically changes the story so it makes no sense. Anakin did not die as a remarkably dumb 20-something guy with only one hand and a silly papercut next to his right eye. He died a noble, wise, and mature old man who finally broke his pact with the devil for his son's love. Now the brief but powerful emotional connection we make to the old anakin inside the vader suit and the completely cleansed soul standing next to his former masters is Poof, gone, replaced by some sinister-looking fellow Luke has never seen before. Which brings up the idea that Anakin's age is perserved when he traveled from dark to light therefore trapping his good soul AWAY from all temporal effects, but still this 'goodself' was able to triumph over the bad self despite being COMPLETELY dormant for however many years it was. I don't understand how that could work.