Just thought I'd commemorate the 20-year anniversary of the Star Wars: Special Edition—which opened on January 31, 1997—with these screenshots from the revamped version of George Lucas' classic film. I was a junior in high school when the original Star Wars trilogy returned to theaters that year, and it was so cool to see Luke, Han, Leia and Darth Vader finally on the big screen. (Up until this period, I would watch the original films on VHS tapes almost every weekend since I became a Star Wars fan in early 1995...after Lucas announced that he was gonna make the prequel trilogy.) Such a memorable time... I remember running into my cute classmate Liz, who was in my homeroom at school, just as she was about to exit the theater where I was gonna watch A New Hope on opening night (though I'm sure Star Wars wasn't the film that Liz saw that evening). And I remember when Howard Stern fumed that Return of the Jedi beat his movie Private Parts at the box office on opening weekend! Totally hilarious.
It's amazing that 10 years later, I'd be lookin' forward to a brand-new Star Wars film, The Last Jedi, which gets released this December. Five new Star Wars movies have been released since the Return of the Jedi: Special Edition opened in theaters on March 14, 1997. Revenge of the Sith ended up being the only installment that I liked among the prequels, The Force Awakens ended up being the highest-grossing domestic film in U.S. history (at $937 million), and Rogue One ended up being a satisfying tale about how the plans for the first Death Star were obtained by the Rebel Alliance. Thanks for continuing the magic (a.k.a. the Force), Disney! And also no thanks. I'd elaborate on that last part, but that's a blog entry for another day. Live long and prosper!
That was intentional.
