CT 1997 Special Edition nostalgia

The '97 SE was my intro to Star Wars too. I saw them all on the big screen as an 11-year-old in some dinky cinemas in Delhi, where power cuts and random people coming into the theater late and making a scene didn't dampen my amazement and enjoyment of these incredible films. My mum took me and my sister to see ANH:SE after school, and I said 'Star Wars? But that's so old!' - but from the moment it started, my biggest lifelong obsession began.

I own the 2006 DVDs with the original theatrical cuts, and I mostly prefer those, but Victory Celebration in ROTJ:SE is more emotive for me than Yub Nub.

 

I love the covers of the 95 THX Edition and the 97 Special Edition. I own the VHS Tapes of those editions multiple times and loved them. In Germany the 97 SE Edition VHS came as Widescreen in a golden box only, in the US the Widescreen Edition was silver, the Full Screen Set was golden.

Now I came around and found some compies of the Laserdiscs of those editions in very good shaope. So I naturally had to get them. The Covers are so lovely and big in those editions. I am especially fond of the 95er THX Edtions covers, the look so magical and whimsical. I adore them.

Here are some pictures of both sets:














The pics are not mine because I cant get them uploaded here
Proud collector here. I own the OT like 20 times now

 

I had those 1995 THX editions (in VHS), but to be honest I was never a big fan of those John Alvin covers.

 

I like them! They look like classic Legends book covers, which brings me back to that good old 90s Star Wars feel.
Drew Struzan is better at giving me the epic movie vibe, though. His complete trilogy poster for the SE is a thing of beauty.

 

I’ll always have a soft spot for the new CGI dewbacks. I just love those things.

 

Dewbacks have no drawbacks

 

For me the best thing about the special editions is that I was able to watch all three original movies in a theatre. That's an experience, I'll never forget. Especially EMPIRE. But I don't like the CGI enhancements, the different soundtrack and such.

 

I have a distinct memory of seeing TESB in theaters, and I was excited because I loved Star Wars, but confused because I loved Star Wars, which meant I had already seen it and the theater was for new movies. My parents didn’t really have a clear way of explaining the concept of a “special edition” to me. I was inspired by this thread to look up the exact release date, and realized it was a month or 2 prior to my 3rd birthday. When I say I can’t remember when i became a Star Wars fan, or what life was like before it, this is what I mean.

 

I hope Disney re-releases it for the 50th anniversary.

 

It really bugs me that he used the Empire duel on the Jedi art.

 

The photo references are all over the place, especially on the ESB one .

1. Ian Mcdiarmid wasn't in the '97 version
2.Vader's TIE isn't in it
3. I'm pretty sure that Vader is from ROTJ

 

It's not Leia from ANH on the left either, is it?
But when you see it all as one piece of trilogy art (and the trilogy itself as one story), it makes sense in a way.

 

That's a reference to the red Revenge of the Jedi poster, which uses that image of the ESB duel because George wasn't ready to reveal any images from ROTJ yet.

 

Struzan used different head shots during his tenure producing covers for the Bantamn era. Here it was the same way. He didn't replicate Leia's appearance in ANH for the covers. He only did Han from ANH only once. Most of the time he used Chewbacca from ROTJ instead of ANH and TESB. He never used TESB Palpatine for SOTE. In fact, no one used Eaton.

As to the duel, that was an iconic shot that it's been used to sum up the duels between the Skywalker men. None of the shots from ROTJ were used formerchandise. Especially during the 90's.

 

I was assistant manager at a cinema near London England when the first special edition came out. Me and the projectionist and a few staff had a private midnight showing.... just to check the print of course! Was a dream come true. Sadly I was made redundant just before May 99 so missed showing phantom menace but the poster came with me before the cinema was shut down for redevelopment

 

Hope we get a new film too

 

The only Special Edition entry I saw in theaters was A New Hope; I was 16 at the time. I'd grown up on all three original films on VHS since I was 5, but the changes made to the introductory installment truly blew my mind. The grander entrance to Mos Eisley, the funny scene with Han crushing Jabba's tail, the more epic shots with the X-Wings during the Battle of Yavin, and then finally the nuclear-bomb energy ring effect added to the Death Star's explosion...all of it was great. Like most people, I was irritated by Greedo trying to shoot Han first, but it wasn't a deal breaker for me.

 

Drew Struzan was a legend in the movie poster business; I was so sad when I learned he had retired. Some of my favorite designs from him include the Back to the Future trilogy, The Shawshank Redemption, The Muppet Christmas Carol, Hook, and the first Harry Potter film. As for his Star Wars work, the Special Edition triptych is great, but I have two criticisms. First, there's far too much red in the design for A New Hope; all the actors' faces look like they've suffered major sunburns. Secondly, the depiction of Luke and Vader in the Return of the Jedi poster does not depict the scene from that film. Mr. Struzan painted Luke with his Cloud City blaster on his leg, and both lightsabers are far too pale. You'd think an attentive artist with such familiarity for the movies would've noticed the latter error, at the very least.