evan1975 said:

And in a literal sense-----the supression(of the 35mm prints) of the "original film" of Star Wars can go right back to 1981 when "Episode IV" was tacked onto the begginning-----because the theatrical re-releases in 1981.82' 83'and 85'(in 83' and 85'---Star Wars was part of a triple bill with ESB and ROTJ) all featured these new "altered" prints------ but no-one complained back then!
Why didn't VHS and laserdisc fans complain in 1982 when the "altered" version of star wars was released for the first time on home video?----- why did'nt they complain that they could not hear the mono mix on that 82' video tape/laserdisc?

The majority of the people probably never noticed the change. And most of those that did didn't care. It was a minor, minor thing.

George made MAJOR changes in the 1997 Special Editions, many of them minor ones nobody noticed or cared about, but many of them mere major detriments that changed the films drastically for the worse. You know what those changes are, and you know all this already. You're just being pedantic.

And I expect a "gotcha" response from you, likely with some weird fixation on The Godfather.

You are correct----but I am trying to accentuate the excessive reaction to Lucas's alterations which are getting out of hand.

Robert Wise made major changes to Star Trek: The Motion Picture for that film's release on DVD in 2001/01 whilst the theatrical version was withheld from DVD home video------ until it was released on bluray in 2009----- but Wise did not get rebuked as much as Lucas in that time period.

Only the 1992 director's cut of Blade Runner was released on DVD in 1997/98(and a poor quality transfer at that)-----the theatrical version would not surface on high definition home video (and standard def DVD?) until 2007 -----but did Ridley Scott get as much abuse as Lucas has done in those years----- I don't think so.