Sure, they might make Episode VII SOME DAY, but for now, the movies are finished. People, I would think, are starting to move on. When the dvd hit in '04, ROTS hadn't even been released yet!!! Now, with this blu-ray, I would think that what they'd do is release the movies individually in really nice editions. Because, after all, there isn't another movie on the way. The saga is finished, the '04 set was just a giant advertisement for Episode III. We're just going to have to agree to disagree on whether or not the Special Jedi Rocks Edition in 1080p will be enough to get people to buy it again.
Ok, what I'm really trying to say here is that Lucas doesn't have that much of a reason to not go back on everything he's been saying these years. Heck, he's already done that by releasing the OOT on dvd when he said it would never happen!
You say that most people regard the SE as the definitive Star Wars. There's a world of a difference between the OOT and the SE.
So, let me ask you guys, how would you put together an ultimate Star Wars blu-ray and/or dvd set (remember that we're debating content, not quality)
Just to keep things simple, let's just take Star Wars from 1977.
You have,
the '77 35mm and 70mm versions, with at least three different soundtracks between them
the '81 re-release with ANH at the front (are there any other differences in the actual picture in this particular release?)
the '97 SE
and that's pretty much it as far as theatrical releases go, unless I'm forgetting something. I'm not counting the 2004 version, since that hasn't been released theatrically yet (and when it does, it will probably have even more alterations than what we saw in 2004, heh).
So, I don't think they'd bother to include the 70mm version as it is PRETTY MUCH the same as the 35mm once you get past the laundry list of minor differences, most of which are soundtrack differences that they could include on an alternate track anyway. I think most of us would settle for a 2.35:1 1080p transfer of the 35mm version so far as the picture is concerned, though. You could seamlessly branch the '77 and '81 cuts together on one disc, but you would have to put the '97 version on another disc and the final version on yet another disc. So, I think that's why they probably wouldn't bother including the '97 version. It's a historical curiosity, and it would be nice if they did include it for that sake, but it's nowhere near a necessity when compared to OO Star Wars.