I have yet to play this scene on my computer (which has a great magnifying option), or TV for that matter, but has anyone seen the legendary "flying sneaker" sequence from "Return of the Jedi"- it's during a truly massive shot of the death star in the background and the falcon is racing towards the screen as hundreds of tie fighters and other space ships fly in different directions. Supposedly somewhere on screen a whimsical ILM produced miniture shoe can be seen, now with DVD I'm sure this little tongue in cheek effect can now be discovered more readliy, right, or did Lucas eliminate this sight gag?

If I recall correctly, this was removed for the '97 SE release.

merde!

Granted, I haven't followed this issue since about the mid-90s (when the Definitive Collection was released on laserdisc)... but my understanding was that this was IMPOSSIBLE to see. That is, they put a sneaker in a scene, but no one knew exactly where... and no one was able to confirm any of the sightings. I think it was so small, that you can't tell, even if you knew where it was.

I know that there were dozens of people still-framing through every space battle, with an occasional "I'VE FOUND IT" posting to alt.video.laserdisc... all of which were debunked.

oh it's there, at an ILM symposium held at the Smithsonian a few years ago, they confirmed that the shot existed and actually pointed it out in a step-still frame presentation of the effect.

did they remove the big potato in ESB asteroid scene?

I always thought that was Empire. Wasn't it? I just remember reading that even Dennis Muren can't remember where now.

The sneaker is in Jedi. The potato is in Empire. The dildo is in A New Hope.

I thought the dildo was in the Phantom Menace...

Nah, it was in Princess Leia, remember?