Shit, this is thunk provoking. Watch a great movie yet support the Mouse, or miss what might be one of the last times to watch ROTJ in theaters? I've never seen any of the OT in theaters. IIRC Disney doesn't let theaters screen their old movies since Disney+ is a thing, especially not Star Wars. I haven't watched a SW movie in theaters since TLJ but I admit getting to watch any of the OT would be the only thing to change my mind.
I think anyone's decision to go out and see the theatrical re-release of
Return of the Jedi boils down to a much simpler likelihood:
This re-release will almost
certainly be the Special Edition revision of the film, more specifically its most recent 2019 revision that was done for the 4K Release, and
not the original '83 version of the movie, as that's never been restored officially (and given that only exists in 35mm film stock, with most if not all theaters these days consisting solely of digital projectors, it would be impossible to distribute it in its grainy, washed out form anyway).
So that will likely determine anyone's willingness to watch this film, as I know that the whole "Special Editions" thing is a major point of contention with fans.
@Polyboros2
Star by Star: was a SLOG. The majority of the intervening period was very slowly making it through this story. I thought I remembered liking it, but I went back to the old forum post from my youth before I finished the serious and was surprised that I didn't care for it back then either. I do remember thinking Denning was very Mid-tier, and part of my distain for continuing on post NJO, despite my Talifan distain for Travis, was that I thought Denning was the best of the team, and that was a bad sign. That was before my greater appreciation for Allston as an adult.
I enjoy the highlights of
Star By Star, but holy FUCK is that book too long for its own good. 600 pages, and for no good reason...I don't know why the editors at Del Rey thought that page length was at all acceptable. Once the book gets to the doomed Mission at Myrkrr, I think it has some of the best imagery and combat scenes of the entire series. But
getting there is such a trudge through needless padding, you almost wonder if the author's trying to convince you to bail out of finishing the book early. It's still not the weakest of Denning's work (that still goes to
Dark Nest, and even that's really just "mid" at worst), but it definitely seemed to be his cumbersome stepping stone to becoming a better author later with his LOTF and FOTJ entries.
I've highlighted this in the past, but his dialogue for prose for character interactions, and really anything outside of combat, really seemed simplistic and undercooked compared to his fellow authors. I think by
Fate of the Jedi, he got better, but I honestly think the likes of Karen Traviss and Christie Golden were better in that department. It's funny, actually--for all of the flak she gets, I think Traviss got into the character's heads and extolled their internal struggles better than either of her peers.
I'm going to be reading
Republic Commando some time this year, so I'll be seeing if that aspect of her writing is present there as well (and if
Imperial Commando is as unreadable as everyone says).
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