As far as I can tell, Lucas never said they were crap and even if he did, fans don't have to consider them crap. We all know Lucas considers mostly the original film in its theatrical form as a "work print." Now, obviously he would never say that in the press during the time of its release, but that doesn't change the fact that he may have had serious problems with the film during its intial run and that's bugged him for very long time and I tend to agree. I'm not saying the theatrical version of Episode IV doesn't work because it obviously does. It's my favorite Star Wars film. But, I'm not naive or bias to not see that they were some serious cosmetic flaws that could be corrected using new technology.
Now, the argument goes, "well, those cosmetic flaws won Academy Awards." And I would say, they sure did mainly because nobody had seen anything quite like the work that was done in Star Wars, during that time in cinema. They had better reward that film properly. But, and like Lucas, I felt that some of those things could be corrected to suit what Lucas was originally going for.
CO, you can't tell me The Battle of Yavin doesn't look 20 times better in its Special Edition for than the theatrical version?
As for that 2006 release, I'll even admit that Lucasfilm screwed the pooch on that one...eventhough I think it was right to call the theatrical films in that 2 disc set as "bonus material" mainly because to Lucas, the Special Editions are the films. And to him, he's already spent the money on remaster and restoring the films....the films he deems Original Trilogy. But, as I've stated, it would've essentially closed the gap between creator and fanbase had he remastered the theatrical versions.
I see the argument both ways.
But, Lucas didn't deployed Stormtroopers across the country, making the fanbase buy these DVD releases either. That's purely choice. You knew exactly what was in the set from day one....