The 19th can't get here fast enough

Thanks HardHarry. I'm glad someone enjoyed the movie as much as I did.

It's ironic, one of my early memories is seeing Empire Strikes Back at a drive-in. I'm told that Star Wars was my second or third movie (first was Pinochioo), but I don't remember seeing that the first time. I do remember seeing Star Wars before The Empire Strikes Back in the theatres though. I watched Return of the Jedi this morning and the new ending fit like a glove to me.

It was touching to see fireworks go off in Naboo and Coruscant as well as Tattooine and Endor. It would have been nice to see a Kashyyk shot there as well. I'm sure Lucas isn't finished meddling, the SE special effects in the original trilogy are already aging compared to the PT. The final shot with Anakin (Hayden Christiansen) in place of the original father (yes I know his name but damn, I can't geek out that much lol) when they were all ghosts looks a lot better after seeing Episode III as well.

Some quick thoughts on the impact that the first three episodes had on the original trilogy:

Obi Wan is amazing. The transition from the actors is nearly seemless, and he's never seemed so wise.

Yoda still is a lot different in Empire than any other movie, but his death in Return was tragic after knowing his character for so long. His death never bothered me THAT much as a child, but after seeing the first three episodes, it was very sad to see him fade away.

The Emperor was amazing too. With the first three movies, it becomes the story of the Emperor. When he says "Everything is proceeding as I have forseen" in Return, you know just how long he has waited for this moment. As he prods him to turn just like his father, you see the whole parallels. The Emperor dangles Luke's friends as carrots just as he dangled Padme for Anakin. Luke, however, had much better training than Anakin for the moment. From Empire when he doubted his friends and rushed to help them, in Return he trusts them to make the best decisions. Anakin never trusted Padme (something said twice in Ep III), and thus tried to help her himself, in turn killing her. Once the Emperor knew he failed, he tried to destroy Luke blah blah blah we all know how that ended. Needless to say, the lines take some extra significance knowing the whole story.

That's the point I was ultimately left with at the end. That even though there was no way Lucas could give us something as treasured as the OT that we loved as kids, he did the next best thing. Ultimately, Ep I and II and to a lesser extent III are all flawed flims. If anything though, they enhance the lines and mythology that we memorized as kids.