Hello all. I know I signed the petition a while ago, but I just found the message boards. I haven't been all that active in a real Star Wars community, so I may be a bit rusty. In a nutshell, Star Wars is something I've followed for as long as I remember in my 21 years. Due to my personal experiences and preferences, after the re-release of Return of the Jedi in '97, the euphoria of seeing these films on the big screen wore off, and I realized just what Lucas had done. I'm probably the biggest OT advocate in my area since then. I still love SW greatly and have gotten over the existence of the SE and have toned down some past grivences and such, but the omission of the the OTs is intolerable. If people think the SEs were an improvement, thats' their business. From my point of view, they destroyed some of the things I loved about the trilogy. This has all been said before I'm sure, and I need to check myself before getting carried away. At least some of my views are laid bare. I'm also quite tired at the moment, so I can't express myself fully right now.

Now for this DVD release. The digital bits says the Anakin pic is real. I, personally, hope it isn't. Replacing Sabastian Shaw is just silly, since I don't see them swapping Ewan McGregor for Alec Guiness of making a younger looking Yoda. Its bad enough Lucas robbed David Prowse of the role, now twenty one years later, he seems to want to do the same to Shaw. As for the replacement of the hologram in Empire, at least that sounds resonable. Part of the reason I hated the specials was because he fixed things that didn't need fixing while leaving things that did. The inaccurate Death Star plans, the matte line on the Rancor, the tractor beam line in english, none of which compare with the new changing windows in Cloud City. Pay attention and you'll notice that they revert to their original appearence when the angle changes. Hopefully, he'll fix these. Since I'm solidly in the OT camp, Lucas could do the whole thing from scratch if he felt he must. I doubt I'll be buying this set. Hopefully, my retail store will let me rent the extra disc when the time comes. If the UE or whatever its called comes out in 07, then this one has no value anyway. I don't rebuy films pointlessly. I'd rather spend it on something newrather than rebuilding the whole thing from scratch. As for the OT on DVD, if it occurs, even though I'm not enchanted by the format, I'll buy it, if only to show Lucas that it shouldn't be erased. For now, if I can get a widescreen video boxset, I think I'd be happy. George, people like the special, so you give them to them. People also like the OTs, don't abandon them. Star Wars belongs to all, we deserve the versions we love as much as you deserve yours.