I'm in Star Wars mode again (I'm sure my wife loves it!), so I'm reviving the thread. Minus all the talk about Lance's mom, etc.
So, I'm actually reading the novelization of A New Hope (picked up the one-book collection of the OT from my mom's used bookstore). I'm only about 50 pages into it, but it's already interesting to note some differences. Not in terms of missing scenes, etc., a la the PM novelization, but in terms of changes in characters' emotions, or sides of characters that weren't necessarily hinted at in the film. For instance, there are a few scenes of Luke with his Tatooine friends in which they call him "Wormie" and he's seriously as annoying as Jake Lloyd. In the first Death Star scene, it's Tarkin who's touting the supremacy of the battle station, not Tagge (the other guy's name in the book..not sure if that name carried over to the film). The Emperor's described almost like a dwindling recluse, his lieutenants and governors seeming to have obtained more power in running the Empire than he has, while his own power is fading. And Vader, again in that first Death Star scene, seems to dislike the Emperor (he says something like, "As the Emperor wills it, it shall be done" but is noted to say it sarcastically). I can understand Vader disliking the Emperor, given Episode III, but that doesn't really come out in the film of Episode IV at all.
Anyway, it's interesting reading the book... I get the impression that some of Lucas' world really was fully fleshed out from the start like he says, but some of it either came about later because of the films, or perhaps as the case might be with ANH, improved upon in making the films.
I'm blabbering with little point, so I'll stop.
Though I do want to note that the upcoming release of "The Force Unleased," combined with Lego Indiana Jones, is seriously making me consider getting a Wii....