auraloffalwaffle said:
I think the Luca$hcow was in full flow by the time the SE/PT build-up started, though... the merchandising overload in the late 90s made it seem like there was more excitement in the general public but I reckon it was actually less than during the early 80s... not being a total idiot, in business terms, Luca$h probably realised he'd have to push much harder to get TPM to a similar level of success as the OT...

I think there's some truth in that. The marketing was huge in the 90s, even though the 80s marketing was huge for its time. But I don't remember the general public in the 90s being interested in Star Wars to the same degree as they were back in the early 80s. In the early 80s Star Wars was The Shit. In the 90s it was just this thing Star Wars fans were into, and I don't remember the special editions being that huge when they came out. When I saw the Star Wars films back in the early 80s there were queues around the block. Nothing like that in 97.