“Star Wars Special Edition” for me will always be an event first and foremost. They’ve long since stopped calling it that so for me the ongoing alterations are almost a separate matter that just happened to start here. It wasn’t until a few years later when a box set with all the alterations simply going by “Star Wars” did I realize they were trying to make this a permanent thing.
But when I hear “Star Wars Special Edition” I remember not only finally being to see the movies on the big screen, it brought the entire magic of big enthusiastic crowds and pop culture saturation along with it.