RachelZ3 said:

Needless to say, I am trying to get the same version I saw in the theater when it came out. How can I tell what I have here, and is it early enough to escape the "improvements" I don't want?

Many thanks for any help.

First off, welcome to the site Rachel. The CGI Special Edition edits didn't start until 1997, so if you have any version prior to that, it will be the original.

If you're interested, you might also want to look into some of the Preservations on this site. Harmy's "Star Wars Despecialized Edition" takes the Blu-ray of Star Wars and removes all of the CGI and other changes. Team Blu's "Star Wars OT" worked from the Laserdisc editions and did a truly phenomenal job of remastering them in high definition. Both projects are really fantastic. (You can find more info under "Star Wars Preservations and Other Fan Projects.")

Anyway, I hope this helps. :)