Were the lightsabers “fixed” in Star Wars for the 1997 SE or for the 2004 DVD?
Everything, including the lightsabers, was recomposited for the 1997 SE, and then prints were struck from this for the theatrical re-release. In 2004 they went back to the original negative, so the recompositing had to be done again, this time digitally.
At least, this is my understanding of what occurred since it appears that the lightsaber elements (which were shot on low-quality film) have degraded more severely than the underlying footage with each iteration.