You know, the more I think about it, the more pissed I get. This helps explain the SE. Lucas was treating them as effects movies, and nothing more. If the Star Wars movies were just eye candy popcorn flicks, then updating the effects would be a good move. Over time, the effects would look dated, so they would need updating to keep them fresh. And if effects was the only reason to watch the movies, then minor changes to the story wouldn't matter because the story was crap anyway, so any change is likely to be for the better.

Unfortunately, Star Wars is much more than a special effects flick and Lucas simply fails to recognize this.