I think people who defend the 97 either do so out of nostalgia (if they were young when it came out or first saw the movies on a 97 VHS or something) or just because it’s older and has also been superseded by subsequent versions. Therefore it has some of that “I can’t have it, therefore it’s better” appeal due to its unavailability.
i am in the camp of those who first saw the 97 SE and that was all i saw for years. so yes, for me it is very much nostalgia as it was the only version i knew for a long time. if it was the first version you saw, i think you would feel much the same would you not?
You can’t fight nostalgia, or convince someone that they shouldn’t have it.
Oh don’t get me wrong, I agree. I’m not saying there’s anything wrong with it. If you like the 97 knock yourself out. It doesn’t hold any special appeal to me since I to this day have never actually seen them in their entirety; I started with the OOT on VHS and the first SE I saw was 04, so the 97 kind of seems like the worst of both worlds from my perspective. But I totally get why it wouldn’t to someone exposed to SW for the first time through the 97 SE. None of us would be here if we weren’t nostalgia nuts in one way or another.