I saw ESB on TV back in the mid to late 80s, and I didn't care much about it back then - I remember thinking "this movie has no ending!". I was only able to watch the whole trilogy when it was released in VHS back in 95, I also did not care about it so much.

I only became a TRUE SW fan when the 1997 version was released and I watched in in the theaters, mostly because back then I thought the special editions were for that theatrical release only, and would not replace the old ones. I became an angry fan later, when I realised the truth.