Yeah...if you can't trust Phil Tippett, who can you trust? He was more directly impacted by the SE's than any of us. Let us not forget, when asked about them he said:
Tippett: ...you know it was about re-releasing something to get more money to feed the beast and all that kind of stuff. So...
Interviewer: So you don't like it?
Tippett: No, it sucks. No, I mean the whole thing with the whole uh, what was the name of the town, Mos Eisley...I mean the way that he shot it like Sergio Leone was just great and a breath of fresh air and so true to the material. And then when he went back in, put in all that stupid stuff.