What was stopping him from leaving the original versions exactly as they were and not changing a thing? What was stopping him from preserving the film history he so wanted to see preserved for his children? While he was at it, maybe he also could've made the prequels to fit the originals and not changed the originals to fit the prequels.

By all accounts, the visual effects of the original Star Wars Trilogy were astounding when they were seen on the big screen from 1977 to 1983, where even the slightest "error" has to hold up to the highest scrutiny. By my own account, they were astounding even on pan n' scan vhs in the early 90's. They look even better in their original aspect ratio, and they would look many, many times better if a new master of the original versions could be sourced from actual film elements and transferred to video at the highest quality dvd can offer.