danny_boy said:
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.
TMP is not the most beloved film by Trek fans. It was also well known the film was rushed to meet the release date. Prints were actually shipped "wet". The "special longer version" that aired on ABC was the version most widely available on video in the 80's and 90's.
Blade Runner was not considered a success in the summer of E.T. The cult following was small, and only grew a bit more after the '92 revival caused people to reassess the movie. I don't think the changes were as well known in exhausting detail as with the OT.
In both cases, we have all the versions now in reasonable quality. With the exception that Paramount screwed up by not paying to have the DE effects rendered in HD. There was no level of intentional P.R. blue smoke and mirrors equal to that we've gotten from Lucasfilm since 1997.