Sometimes a change creates a difference which is better for some and not for others (there were a few changes in Blade Runner : The Final Cut that some people love and I can't stand).

I have no objection to alternate cuts in principle (cuts which are neither clearly better or worse but just different) it adds variety to the viewing experience but they still have to make sense, I'm not sure that dropping the droids onto the planet and picking up their story in the Sandcrawler does make sense.

Seeing the Jawas at work makes sense of a situation for major characters and losing that to make room for a group of minor characters doing their thing seems to be cutting Peter's nose off to spite Paul.

I very sceptical if the footage could be restored to even VHS quality so it seems a mute point anyway but I'd love to be proved wrong.