Originally posted by: Darth_EvilI'd heard the unaltered trilogy was coming to DVD, and I looked into it, and began to wonder what all the fuss was about. I thought my 2004 editions were great, but I read all about the unaltered versions and decided to check it out. I scoured eBay and found a set of DVD's that were the laserdisc transfers. I bought them and watched them.
They were so much better without all that crap added in in the special editions! I was instantly transformed into an original fan. I doubt if I'll ever watch the special editions again. ANH was so much better without crappy CGI Jabba, Greedo shooting first, and other various changes. ROTJ was so much better with the original Ewok song in the end, and no CGI dancers at Jabba's hut. The Saarlac finally made sense to me without a mouth....
So I looked into getting the September DVD releases, thinking it would be cool to have a better transfer and an anamporphic version. (I don't know if my bootlegs are anamorphic or not) Then I saw the news. No remastering. No anamorphic.
I'll stick with my bootlegs, thank you.
I think anyone who sees the original versinos on DVD will like them better than the special editions. Why does George Lucas remain so adament against them? It's just silly! I don't get it.....
Anyway, in short, I just joined this site, and wanted to show that I too am now an orginal fan...
That's great to hear!

The only thing I disagree with you about is your not buying the new DVDs. BUY THEM! Yes, it will be more $$$ in Darth Lucas' pocket- but the quality will be better than your bootleg DVDs, and you'll enjoy them more that way (even if they're non-anamorphic).
In 1977 or 1978 a friend of mine said "wanna watch Star Wars?" I said "OK" not really knowing much about it. His Father had a VCR which was pretty rare back then, and also (apparently) had a bootleg video of Star Wars. I remember watching the first part of Artoo and Threepio in the corridor, and about that time my Mom came in and said it was time to go home.

My love for Star Wars would have to wait.... I also had the opportunity to see Empire in a drive-in movie theater in 1980. My sister asked me to go with her but since I wasn't a Star Wars fan yet I said no (stupid!)
Then, I finally saw Star Wars and Empire in the theater in 1982- it was a pre-Jedi re-release for both of them. I was hooked.
When Star Wars first aired on TV (on HBO) in February 1983(?) I took a tape recorder and hung the microphone over my TV's speaker and recorded the audio for the whole film on 2 or 3 tapes (LOL- that's what we did before we had VCRs, people!). Back then, when HBO had the rights to a movie, they would show it at least 2 or 3 times a day. I'm not exaggerating when I say I think I watched nearly EVERY HBO airing of Star Wars that month. I would even sneak downstairs in the middle of the night if it was on. My Mom wanted to kill me.

You cannot imagine how exciting is was, waiting for ROTJ to come out. The anticipation was unbearable. I saw Mark Hamill in an interview shortly before the release, and he said something like "when you see what happens in the film, you'll understand why it has to be the last one." I was convinced that meant Luke was going to die. I remember seeing the movie trailers in the theater, teasing us with little bits and pieces. I vividly recall seeing one trailer with the shot of Luke with his hands on the bars of the Rancor pit, straining to get out (I don't think I've seen that trailer since...) My Mom let me skip school on May 25th 1983, and took me to see Jedi. The audience was completely full. I thought it was a fantastic movie and I can't tell you how happy I was that Luke didn't die. LOL!
Originally posted by: Darth_EvilNow I have a question for all of YOU who grew up with the OOT. What was it like seeing the special editions for the first time after growing up with the OOT? Were you excited to see them, only to be slapped in the face by the changes? What was it like?