Originally posted by: zombie84

Because he genuinely loves the SE and hates the OT.

I don't think so. Not necessarily. How could he prefer the shoddy workmanship on some of the additions in the SE? Fact is, he doesn't. Hence why they were further changed in the DVD release.

Personally, I would imagine that it was a combination of things that led to this. Such as, all artists tend to think about how they would improve some past work. Like John Williams said, a work of art is never finished, only abandoned. Up until the time of his death, John Lennon had been toying with the idea of re-recording the entire Beatles catalog to do those songs 'right', whatever that may mean.

All artists do this, some more than others depending on the artist and the work in question, but often this alone is not enough to move them into action, especially if the work is successful enough as is. Only an idiot fools around with success. You risk ruining it. But something pushes. For less sucessful films, alternate versions billed as "directors cuts" can give some artists a chance to toy with the film a bit in the hopes of finding greater success.

I Lucas's case, it seems like his ex-wife is a deciding factor. Not the only factor, mind you, but a deciding one. I would imagine a special edition with restored scenes was planned since Willow tanked, perhaps for a 20th or 30th anniversary thing. Something like that. But stuff like making the originals unavailable and things of that nature, these things do not make sense unless lucas is crazy. Which, if the whole marcia thing is true, may be the cause of that.