I remember the date: September 21st 2004. The Trilogy arrived on DVD. As a 13 year old, I eargerly waited in line to get get my beautifuuly embossed silver widescreen box...fast forward to a few hours later. I felt like I had been gut punched. I didn't know that these were the SEs. I would have been happy with the 1997 SE-the versions I grew up on. We were all cheated into buying these travesties called the Star Wars Trilogy. I absolutely refuse to watch these, and I feel sorry for the guys at Lowry digital who did an amazing cleanup job. If only they could have been given the originals. Apart from Empire of Dreams, I have still been watching Star wars on pan and scan VHS (the agony!!) and whatever letterbox vhs I could get my hands on. Then we were stabbed in the back again with the GOUT dvds. We now had to buy the atrocious discs we were already tricked into buying in order to gain the originals ripped from a laserdisc! I for one refused. It took all of my effort to keep away, and this killed my interest in Star Wars for a long time.

The GOUT DVDs are the best way to see Star Wars-just throw out the first disc. I hope to find a good laserdisc player soon so that I can enjoy Star Wars the way I love it, whether it be original or 1997 SE.

2004's release is the one that should never have happened. It was a betrayal of cinematic art that turned what was once a masterpiece into a degraded schlock of bantha fodder.