Tyrphanax said:

While I certainly like Empire most of all, I would also love to see an alternate version of the universe where Vader is just Vader. And I totally agree about the shrinking universe thing... I would never have made Luke and Leia siblings; Vader being Luke's father was crazy and gut-wrenching and added whole new levels and elements and purpose to Luke's story, but Leia being Luke's sister is just kinda... meh. Seen it. And it definitely shrinks the galaxy way too much.

At the same time, though, I've come to love Star Wars so much for what it is that it's hard to think of such a major plot point not existing.

I think it would be cool to see an alternate universe as well. The idea of the original cast in Splinter of the Mind's Eye really fascinates me. Star Wars would really feel like a serial then. Luke and Leia were pretty affectionate. Vader was nothing but evil--no redeeming qualities. It's an interesting story because its writing predates many of the ideas we've come to know about Star Wars (Vader as Luke's old man, Vader's anatomy [he loses an arm, but is relatively unfazed--is he just a robot???], Leia as Luke's sis, Luke's novice Force abilities, the magical nature of the Force in the Kaiburr crystal [vs. ESB where it's more spiritual and TPM where it's more biological], Han settling down). It's an interesting story that doesn't mesh too well with our present universe, yet was the original sequel if Star Wars was a flop. I'd love to see that early fork in the road that has since been sort of retconned to line up with the rest.