darklordoftech said:
SilverWook said:
The crux of the argument is this: Does the Empire fall in a day after ROTJ, or does it take some time? The Special Edition would have you believe in instant collapse. The original version mostly leaves it up to the mind of the viewer.
There's several sources from 1983 that suggest that the intent was always instant collapse. Making of ROTJ is full of references to the Empire dying with Palpatine and the ROTJ novelization ends with the words, "The Empire is dead."
Only what shows up on screen matters. Authorial intent, supplimentary material, and various behind-the-scenes comments don't matter.