The special editions were cool to me at first, because I was only 12 when they came out and more prone to be wowed by effects and stuff I guess; plus, seeing them in the theatres for the first time was truly awesome, even if they were different then they had been. I was overall okay with the changes until I saw the '04 dvd's--the further alterations, like Fett's horrible voice, were annoying, and I found the audio mix on ANH to be such a botch job that I became truly enraged. Having those audio tapes, the sound was the part of the films I was most attached to, and on the ANH dvd the sound is truly unrecognisable in many places, for having such an overkill level of bass thrown in. Thus I came to detest the continued meddling of Lucas and experience great nostalgia for the originals.
Watching the old versions again is like coming home after a long and torturous journey, to discover that I had not in fact been hallucinating and complaining about nothing for no reason (none of my non-obsessed family like the special editions either, but they can't hear any of the audio stuff I've tried to point out, which is frustrating). I appreciate everything about them so much more now because I can see how the alterations don't mesh and don't belong.
'85 stereo mix all the way, baby.
