My cousin told me that Hutt's skin changes rapidly until a certain age. Still, for something that took them a year to do(according to period interviews) it was rather awful. The coloration was wrong, his arms were wrong, and he looked completely phoney. Also, the scene is completely superfluous to the story. Jabba just repeats what Greedo says. It's so similar, I got the feeling Greedo was added to make up for Jabba being cut. It also make little sense that Jabba would see Han himself. Usually, he'd send a man named Heater(I think, I know Hearter wored for him, it's been awhile) to stand in for him, sense the guy was so ugly, and most people had never seen a Hutt.(That kind of got thrown out the window in TPM). So, given the bad effects, it might have been better just to redub Solo so he doesn't say "Jabba" anymore.(if I remember, it was Heater that met him in the radio dramas). It shouldn't be hard sense they removed the "Yes" from "Yes, I bet you have".

As for the "excellent" ships, part of the reason I hated the SE is because the SFX are below ILM's efforts. They're just too half-assed. The changing windows in ESB, the cartoonish CGI characters, and the reused models in the Yavin battle. Look at the X-wings in that battle. When they're coming up to the Death Star, look them over. You'll notice that they all have the same number of stripes on the wing, the same astromech droid, and rust in the same places Would it have been that hard to scan more than one or two models. That's how it's normally done. Every X-wing was a different model in the original. All ILM did in 97 was change the stripe on a few. They also forgot to fix that fact that Luke gets into a X-wing with a solid stripe, yet flys one with a broken stipe in battle. Sure, they had little more then a year to do it, but all the materials were premade. Lucas saved everything. I could understand if it were from scatch but it wasn't. Two monthes before the SE came out, Star Trek: First Contact had beautiful SFX by ILM. Did Lucas only put part of his team to work on the SE's? They look more like the group that represents ILM recently, where groups like Weta and Digital Domain have been exceeding them. Not the top quality we're used to from ILM. Why would Lucas leave something that's supposed to "fix" his movies up to such a shoddy performence. I just don't get it. If its suppose to improve, why are there new errors? An incorrect Jabba, unfinished changes, X-wings taking off next to an outpost that's supposed to be far away. A new battle establisment shot that makes it look like the Death Star is right in front of Yavin 4's moon. Not to mention all the errors that were left, like the lightsabers, the incorrect Death Star Plans, and the Rancor's matt line. It just didn't look like the work of ILM, nor like something that was supposed to "improve" something once and for all. They looked even more unfinished.

Of course, some interviews suggested that the SE was simply an excuse to test out new techniques for the PT, or just to pique interest in the re-release. The latter isn't really founded, but the former was stated as a reason. ILM is the fore-runner of special effects. Only James Cameron's Digital Domain and Peter Jackson's Weta Workshop and Weta Digital even come close to them in quality. Given the amount of work they get, I doubt they needed the OT to flex their muscles. I don't know about you, but I don't think I like the idea that the OT was merely a testbed for special effects. It really gives the impression that it's all about special effects in the end. Silly me, I though it was about story and character.

Sorry for the tirade. Sometimes these things get in my head and I have trouble writing them down. Just my opinions on somethings. Lucas can do what he wants as long as he gives what some of the fans want. It wouldn't hurt if he put more effort into things as well.