Sumguy21 said:
There are very few things that make me cringe in Revisited and this change is one of them:

I've never understood the purpose of this change for a couple of reasons:

1. There wasn't really anything wrong with the original that broke the suspension of disbelief or hurt the drama of the scene. Seeing a small vehicle in the horizon of which we can't make out the details brings a sense of wonder and imagination. This is one of the shots I most remember from the OT and one of my favorites as a kid.

2. I'm not sure what Ady used as the source for the new sand crawler. I know he said the only CG he used was of the TIEs, but this shot looks like CG. It's not convincing at all.

3. A first time watcher is not supposed to clearly make out what sort of transport C3PO is signaling. We are supposed to wonder how C3PO and R2 are going to reunite. We can already clearly see R2 being picked up in a Sand Crawler and if we know C3PO is signaling a center ship, we can deduce C3PO and R2 are both on the same Sand Crawler, which hurts the drama.

Reply to your second reason: He used the shot from the Original Unaltered ANH of the sand crawler coming over the sand dunes, then combined it with the present shot to give the dune more scale. That shot from the 1977 ANH occurred after the original scene with the storm troopers searching around the crashed escape pod for droids. The 1997 special edition replaced original sand crawler shot with a closer and more dynamic shot.

Reply to your thrid reason: Most us fans are not first time watchers, but...I actually agree with you completely, Sumguy21. Not being able to see clearly what 3PO is seeing on the horizon contributes to the element of surprise in the scene.