danny_boy said:
It is relevant because in the period that it was not available Wise(and Paramount) were never castigated in the same manner that Lucas has been.

1) People WERE pissed about only having the DCs on DVD. But at least all the scenes that were changed WERE on the DVD as deleted scenes bonus features. A fan editor could have used those and reassembled the original cut if they wanted to. (I don't think anyone did, though.)

2) People ARE pissed about the current inverse situation, where we can't get the DCs on Blu-ray

3) But the majority of people don't give a damn about Star Trek: The Motion Picture. It was a lousy to mediocre movie depending what cut you watch. Many, many more people love Star Wars, thus a disproportionate outcry.

But you know this already.