If George had just stuck to adding a few things to just the original movie and then made both versions of it available, I would have been fine with that. He wants to do a director’s cut, whatever. Let him do it. Watching that movie, it does look a little rough around the edges in some parts. So I can see why he would want to go back and mess around with it. But then he got carried away with the changes, adding things that didn’t need to be there and adding things to movies he didn’t direct, especially since Richard Marquand was dead by that point and couldn’t consent to it.
What he should have done is taken a cue from Ridley Scott with Blade Runner where he was very careful to make sure the new stuff integrated with the older footage, and only made necessary changes, like fixing up actual mistakes, not making new ones. Instead of making a cut that felt consistent with the original versions, it felt like you were jumping forward and backward in time. And the fact he couldn’t stop tinkering with it makes it even more frustrating. I refused to buy the 2011 Blu-ray set when I found out they added Vader saying “No” in Return of the Jedi. What a joke.
Obviously the worst part of these changes is we can’t even watch the original versions unless you have it on an outdated format or through fan restorations that are a bit difficult to find and not well known to some fans. And I’m not even saying this because of nostalgia either. The first versions I saw of these movies were the 2004 DVDs. I remember being really disappointed when I found out that I didn’t grow up with the theatrical versions. People watched those movies for 20 years before the re-edits. Whether Lucas liked it or not, people loved those versions and they’re the movies that made him rich and famous. It seems weird to just suppress it like it’s a bad memory.
It’s just common sense, people should be allowed to watch the version they want. Again, Blade Runner you can buy all versions of the movie on Blu-ray, even the workprint of it. Hell, Manos: The Hands of Fate and Plan 9 from Outer Space are available on Blu-ray, I don’t see why the theatrical cuts of Star Wars shouldn’t be.