Aweful matt painting? Shoddy? Could the Stardestroyers not be flying in formation so as to avoid colliding with one another? Perhaps the thrusters are full on to give backup the destroyers which have slowed down in the distance (hence the none glowing thrusters) to engage with rebel ships? Okay, i admit, im making excuses, they are scaled clones of one another. They worked at the time. Just 30 years ago photoshop never existed. So we accepted what we were seeing. And as beautiful as McQuarrie concept art is (for cloud city), we now live in an age where some can see exactly how they made a shot (though, before the SE treatment, that shot of the x-wing arriving at cloud city did have the red tint in the skyline to make it fit in better with the other skyline scenes in cloud city. I may have a stab at a completely new backdrop on that one). Though, its another one of those things where the films are starting to show their age unfortunatly after 30 years (besides the hair cuts).

But guys, just give a little scence of some respect to the work at that time. Your words are a little to harsh there. The effect shots have lasted a lot longer than any other movie from that era.