‘Whose Film Is It, Anyway? Canonicity and Authority in Star Wars Fandom’:-
‘Journal of the American Academy of Religion’, Volume 80, Issue 3, September 2012, Pages 775–786, https://doi.org/10.1093/jaarel/lfs037 - published in 2012
https://academic.oup.com/jaar/article/80/3/775/710872
a snippet…
"Fans are not passive receptacles of the messages of manufacturers to the extent that they interact with the products and interpret them in personal ways that have significance for them.
Again, it may seem like a stretch to view such parodies as “religiously” motivated, but it is clear that the fans are very attached to the narratives, and do want to appropriate them in certain ways rather than others. This has been seen in the battles between Star Wars fans and George Lucas regarding the “original” trilogy of films. In 1999, George Lucas released a “special edition” of the original three films (Episodes IV, V, VI) that included scenes shot in the 1970s and 1980s but deleted from the original theatrical releases, as well as digital alterations and additions to the films.
Many fans took issue with the changes, as these altered the “canon” with which they were familiar.3 One change in particular that elicited a great deal of controversy involved the encounter between Han Solo and the bounty hunter Greedo in the bar in Mos Eisley. In the original, Han shoots Greedo under the table before Greedo can fire; in the 1997 version, a digitally enhanced scene shows Greedo shoot first, with Han shooting second, although the result is the same (namely, Han kills Greedo).
Fans insisted that this preemptive action shows Han’s willingness to do whatever it takes to survive, and that the change “dilutes and compromises Han’s rebellious and ruthless nature” (“Han Shot First” 2012). In addition, it was regarded as ludicrous that a bounty hunter could miss someone from three feet away. On the other hand, Lucas defended the change as recently as February 2012, in fact claiming that it had always been the case that Greedo shot first, and Han was simply responding to defend himself:
“Well, it’s not a religious event. I hate to tell people that. It’s a movie, just a movie. The controversy over who shot first, Greedo or Han Solo, in Episode IV, what I did was try to clean up the confusion, but obviously it upset people because they wanted Solo [who seemed to be the one who shot first in the original] to be a cold-blooded killer, but he actually isn’t. It had been done in all close-ups and it was confusing about who did what to whom. I put a little wider shot in there that made it clear that Greedo is the one who shot first, but everyone wanted to think that Han shot first, because they wanted to think that he actually just gunned him down.” - source: IndieWire article
(Vin Edit: the above claim by George Lucas was debunked by doubleofive, in his article here - https://twitter.com/StarWarsVisComp/status/1168554173136166913)
"What is interesting is not only that Lucas defends the change—he denies that there was any change, as what “really” happened was not fully visible in the original film. For someone who claims that “it’s just a movie,” this seems an oddly realistic defense of the alteration, as if to claim that there is some reality “out there” to which the film refers. His dismissive comment (“it’s a movie, just a movie”) also appears ironic in light of the fact that he has made a great deal of money from people who obviously regard it as much more than just a movie; otherwise, they would not care as much, nor would they have created the popular success of the films from which Lucas benefits. Also worth noting is his comment, “it’s not a religious event.” In fact, from the fan point of view, this alteration in the “canon” may well be a religious event, and a heretical one at that.
The attempts of fans to defend the original version of the original films are also found in the battle to have a decent print of these films available. As late as 2004, Lucas insisted that his revisions to the original (which continued, as he tinkered with successive DVD releases) were his prerogative as the filmmaker. In fact, he claimed that the originals were “unfinished” works, and now with more time, money, and technology, he was able to “finish the film the way it was meant to be when I was originally doing it” (Lucas 2004). In essence, the rereleases were the originals, in his view, as they better expressed the original intent of the auteur.
Fans, however, believed that the text as received by them in their original theatrical experience was the original film, as it was seen by them at that time. In their view, the film belonged not to Lucas, but to the viewers. Lucas refused to release the original version of the films in 2004, but a fan outcry resulted in the 2006 release on DVD of these. However, it then turned out that this version was made from a vastly inferior source, so that the visual quality was poor; specifically, the remastering was done from a 1993 Laserdisc rather than a thirty-five millimeter original.
The web site savestarwars.com claims that:
“Lucas deliberately wanted the original versions to be presented in an inferior format so that they would not have to compete with the Special Editions. First, while bootlegs were sourced from Laserdiscs, to outcompete them all one would have to do is make an official transfer from the Laserdisc master—the result would be just a bit better than the bootlegs, which would be enough to put them out of commission. In other words, the least amount of quality possible to still have this as the “best available version.” A high quality new transfer is unwanted because it also makes the Special Edition not look as good, so all you have to do is pull that 1993 master tape out of a dust bin in the Lucasfilm archives and you’ve accomplished your mission of not letting people really enjoy watching the originals; they look rough, crude, the way Lucas wants us to think they look.” - _source: SaveStarWars.com ‘Get Gout’ article
and…
“It is also worth noting that even while Lucas defends the films as his own products and hence implies his right to revise them as he sees fit, he has not attempted to squash the right of the fans to create their own films. He even seems to applaud their bravado at times, as when he was seen wearing a “Han Shot First” T-shirt (Hollis 2012) (Figure 2). Fan videos, meanwhile, have multiplied, many of them critical of Lucas and the changes he has made, but in this way still expressing an appreciation for the work of the “original” Lucas who created the films they grew to love.”