How/when did Lucas come to believe that Kershner ruined Empire? I ask because (1) a lot of people (me included) believe it's the best one, and (2) even after that, he still had someone else direct Jedi. (Thanks for taking questions, by the way. Very interesting chat!)
Dale Pollock: Glad you're enjoying this chat. Kershner said he would never work with Lucas again after his EMPIRE experience, and I think Lucas felt the same way. He felt Kershner went too emotional in EMPIRE, and put too much emphasis on Vader's struggle, and not enough on Luke's. It just wasn't the movie he would have made (I think many of us are glad he didn't make it!)
And now GL is saying that the SAGA is Anakin's story?
If I could ask GL another question, it would be this:
If you hated Kershner's approach to EMPIRE, why is it the least edited of all the special editions?