A Criterion or 'historical cinema' type release would signal to the fans that there may very well be disagreement within Lucasfilm and Disney that the original trilogy is either three films with agreed upon and locked-in versions (the Disney 201x 4K restoration) or multiple versions of three films in terms of restoration method and choice of visual, audio and supplementary elements (Reliance 4K restoration, Criterion restoration, Mverta restoration and so on).

It's another reason why I don't have a great amount of faith in Disney ensuring the theatrical releases appear on blu-ray as possibly close as they were on the opening nights more than thirty years ago. I think they'll get them to maybe 85% which is not bad at all for any release but they know how many versions of each of these three movies are not just publicly available on analogue and digital formats but now in the hands of fans at a level of resolution and clarity unseen before. So it's my belief that they'll strip back past the pre-1997 Special Edition but tinker with composites, scrub major visual and audio goofs and try to provide a less 'this is how it was back then' version and a more 'workmanlike' version which will look undoubtedly beautiful as a scan but ultimately another revision, another version, rather than a chance to let both fans and cinema historians see exactly what this meant and was in 1977, 80 and 83 in terms of intent and capability.

It's why I feel we're approaching the beginning of the end in a good way when it comes to fan restoration of the theatrical releases. We've now got scans and we have the ability to take publicly released material and utilise it in such a way that we can build beautiful restorations that are so exact at a frame by frame level that even the next official release won't get near them when it comes to accuracy of colour, audio and overall presentation.