May the Force be with you?

So, I just finished watching the new Star Wars DVD's last night. The films anyway, I haven't got around to the epic documentary yet. This is approximately the 50th time I've watched them during my lifetime, but only the second time have seen the Special Editions. While I must admit I would have preferred to have the theatrical versions, or at least a choice (perhaps via seamless branching that was used on the Aliens and Terminator 2 DVD's), it certainly didn't bother me enough to boycott the set altogether.

The only change that really doesn't work is the added Jabba scene in A New Hope. This is because most of the lines during the conversation were said seconds before during Han's showdown with Greedo. Also, the line where Han refers to Jabba as a human being is a jarring giveaway that the scene isn't supposed to be there.

While I bought the set regardless of all the changes (both old ones and even more new ones), many people I know aren't getting the DVD's precisely because of them. I think LucasFilm will lose more than a few sales a result, but it's not likely to cause George Lucas to lose any sleep, as he must be rolling in Galactic credits anyway.

As for myself, I'm going to continue to enjoy the films (all five of them so far) regardless of what other people think. A lot of people have got it in for the prequels, but I really didn't think they were that bad. Granted, the acting and the script were pretty poor compared to the snappy dialogue between Han, Leia and the others, but there's still a lot to enjoy. I didn't even mind Jar Jar Binks that much (and I don't care if you have a problem with that). Personally, I'm not one to stop liking something just because it's currently the fashionable thing to do (if I did that, I wouldn't own a Gamecube, or even play games at all). I look forward to the day that the gap between my copies of Episode II and episode IV is finally filled.