Originally posted by: Darth_Evil
Now I have a question for all of YOU who grew up with the OOT. What was it like seeing the special editions for the first time after growing up with the OOT? Were you excited to see them, only to be slapped in the face by the changes? What was it like?

Like others, I thought they were in fact "special" editions that would exist alongside but apart from the regular editions. And I was very excited about them. I downloaded a 20MB trailer for the first one over dialup -- during the day, with my mom wanting to use the phone -- and I got this little matchbox-sized thing made up mainly of original footage. But I watched it again and again just to see a brief clip of Jabba.

And Jabba wasn't the only exciting thing, no! One of the early shots of the new effects footage showed a Sentinel-class landing craft, and rumors quickly spread about a YT-2400 in Mos Eisley. They were incorporating EU material into the Trilogy, which was really promising for the prequels -- maybe we'd see Victory-class Star Destroyers, Z-95 Headhunters, Dreadnaughts, etc. I'm kind of a sci-fi tech geek, and I was a gamer, and the idea that I could see fully-rendered versions of EU ships was really exciting. Besides, this would be my first time seeing them on the big screen. I had only even seen them in widescreen once, I think.

The changes ... most of them I didn't mind. In ANH, I hated Greedo Shooting First from the beginning. I hated Boba Fett mugging for the camera. Mos Eisley got kind of goofy, but I thought that was okay. Except for that awful model of the speeder at the beginning of the extended shot. The rest ranged from okay to good -- I liked the new Sandcrawler shot, and the Battle of Yavin (even though I felt the new and old footage didn't mesh at all). In fact, every disagreeable change was balanced out by good changes or the sheer weight of the unaltered footage. Besides, it was a "special" edition -- extraordinary, irregular -- and the "real" edition was still on the shelves.

Around this time some really funny "rumors" and "news stories" starting circulating on Usenet. Search rec.arts.starwars.misc from '97 if you feel like reading any. People more clueful than I picked up on Lucas's intentions and posted stories about dozens of worms writhing about in the asteroid field, and something about bagels, and good times were had.

ESB:SE was mostly just ESB on the big screen. I liked it quite a bit. But ... "Alert my Star Destroyer to prepare for my arrival." Gah. What a ghastly line. And how odd to see Moff Jerjerrod so early.

Return of the Jedi ended my delusion that the films and the EU would be stitched together nicely. We've got Boba Fett flirting with dancers in Jabba's Palace, we've got Imperial citizens in the most unlikely places celebrating the death of their leader -- meh. See Tales from Jabba's Palace for a much more compelling Boba Fett and just about anything from that era for much more realistic looks at Imperial society. As for the other changes, I hated Jedi Rocks, and thought they changed the Sarlacc from an anus to a fierce, nipping glans penis. The sarlacc change, in particular, I thought was unnecessary -- they've already explained the thousand years of pain, and it's already got tentacles, and there's already people with guns running around and shooting -- does the mouth really add that much more jeopardy?

Was it all a slap in the face? Not at all; it was my first chance to see them in the theaters -- an opportunity I took advantage of many times -- and it showed some neat new special effects and unseen footage. It was indeed "special." The slap came when Lucas took away the "special," I guess.