I wonder about those starfields if they were on any original versions. Msycamore, you of course know all about this from our discussion in the SE changes thread--I'm thinking of the ESB holograms, which apparently had multiple versions of the FX done in different "original" prints, with later prints and transfers (i.e. the DE/Faces and 1985 IP) somehow being less complete than earlier prints and transfers, and then when the original versions are restored for the SE people think its a change because they were used to the home video transfers based on less complete versions.

What this brings me to is I wonder if the starfields were on original 1979 material and the Alien print they used for the 1999 Saga transfer simply didn't have the fully complete version of these shots, and then when they went back to the negatives/original sources for the DC the shots are now complete as they were in the original "final version". I would be very curious to see various LD transfers of the films and see if there is a difference. But I guess this sort of thing is impossible to know for sure unless there is.

The only reason I bring this up, aside from the surprising finds in the SE-comparison thread that reminds me of this, is that it seems unusual to have done new VFX work for the DC, especially for something so unnecessary and insignificant as this, because as far as I know there was absolutely no work done to enhance or re-do any of the special effects work, they just re-timed the colour which they had to do since they were using the negatives.