Just finished watching Despec (Off-Topic)

by Korny , Dalton, Ga. US. Earth, Sol System, Saturday, December 19, 2015, 13:23 (3265 days ago) @ MrPadraig08

There are only a few times where the special editions helped the movies out IMO:

-added some more speed to the New Hope dogfights (they stick out way more now than I remember)

Yeah, the space battles are some of the few things that I enjoyed growing up, and the despecialized editions do suffer somewhat from prolonged cheap effects.

-removed yub nub from the final scene in Jedi and added the current beautiful score that is played now

Sammy enjoyed the original ending, I've yet to tell her about Hayden Christensen's cameo, though. Perhaps I never shall.

I had to look up the changes to empire, because I didn't notice their absence.

That one has the second least/least noticeable number of changes, and a number of them were actually left in the Despecialized edition, interestingly enough... Good film, but not as good as I had remembered...

If the despecialized version does any one thing right, it's give you an unfettered appreciation for how great of a sequel Empire is. Jedi used to be top of my list, but after this recent reviewing, I think the nerd sages of old have convinced me.

For me, it actually bumped up A New Hope above Empire in my enjoyment scale (with Return of the Jedi being just as bad and as dragged out as I remember). As influential as the arc, storytelling, and structure were, Empire is largely forgettable, because of how little actually happens. But the good scenes are good, and Sammy loved it.

Final takeaways:

Sammy loved C-3PO and R2 the most. It's funny to think that C-3PO was considered the Jar Jar of the time by some. He has a lot of charm in the first two films.

I've been spoiled by Tartakovsky and Blur's takes on lightsaber battles. The duels in the films are much slower and simple. One of the few things that Return of the Jedi did better than the other films, though. I loved Luke's Lightsaber battle with Vader at the end there. The prequels had terrible super-choreographed fights that tended to drag on lifelessly (and don't get me started on Revenge of the Sith's stupid half-hour battle).

Sammy's first comment when the credits rolled on RotJ: "All of the old people died!" *cries*

We're ready for The Force Awakens.

PS. Sammy was able to finally appreciate this: