if you'd asked me two weeks ago if I would consider hacking the DVD release up and de SE'ing it, I'd have said you were mad but after browsing the forum for the last few days, I must admit to thinking it would be possible.
it's just a damn sight more work and would probably have to be done in premier (I hate that program) as my current SW trilogy DVD's were done using avisynth scripts, virtualdub and TMPGenc.
I have a feeling I might do a lot of the hacking up etc in virtualdub to make indvidual fixed scenes and reassemble it all in Premier, but my main question to you as you are a bit further along than me, (ie actually started) is how you are going to deal with the sound and keep it 5.1 while making changes?
are you going to seperate the 5.1EX out into seperate streams or what? I ask because there are going to be points in the movie where a simple cut/slice and removal of footage won't work.
example, mos eisley arrival. they are different lengths between SE and original
also, replacing the Xwing take off over jungle piece on Yavin IV.
if you keep the original scene, the sound is different and will therefore need splicing into the 5.1EX mix. how do you expect to achieve that? obviously this can be completely sidestepped by downmixing it to 2.0 stereo using besweet and then editing it as a stereo signal in soundforge. but obviously it would be nice to preserve 5.1 if possible.
i certainly fall into the 'would accept a few of the modern changes for changes sake, if in keeping with the original movie' school of thought.
cheers
Vincent Formosa 'tellan'