Fox paid for the 1990s restoration and cgi redo that was R&D for the prequels unless I’m mistaken. Between 10 and 20 million dollars was spent. Lucas got the rights to the first film back from FOX. FOX got the rights to distribute the prequels. A lucrative thing worth over a billion dollars. Other studios were interested of course, but Lucas brought it to FOX because they were the release studio of the original trilogy.

The Special Edition and Prequel was about money for Lucasfilm and FOX. Changing the films and calling it a special edition made it more marketable than just reissuing the films, no one ever talks about that.

I even remember the trailers and posters. The way the film was meant to be experienced, you’ve only seen it this way on home video, you’ve never seen it at all. They made a big deal about the new cgi. The enhanced visual effects and THX and digital sound.

I think everyone forgot the 1995 one last time campaign, nobody believed that it was only going to be on VHS and Laserdisc for a limited time and never offered again. But that was the plan. Except 2006 bonus DVD, the promise was kept to keep the originals from the fans.

The Special Edition label was dropped in 2000. The VHS, VCD and Laserdisc sets had no such mention of any changes and even reflected the original theatrical release dates and not the 1997 reissues. To Lucas it was the film. He had physically had the negative spliced to the 1997 edit. The Special Edition conformed negative, in the 1990s that was done.

I remember the 2004 DVD set well and the complaints of false advertising calling it the original trilogy and not claiming it was the Special Edition, or the 2.0 version of SE as it were. That Hayden Christensen was in a film he could not have possibly been in, in 1983 when he was 2 years old.