That's a very interesting question skeg. Let's think about this for a moment. If I show these kids the SE's, I could say, "this is Star Wars circa 1997." If I show them the official DVD's, I could say, "this is Lucas' definitive version of Star Wars." If I show them a bootleg transfer, I could say, "this is Star Wars circa 1993 and though it is the closest thing to the original theatrical version there are so many minute changes to both the video and the audio that you can't really call them the originals. By the way, I'm sorry I'm denying you kids a chance to witness film history because these movies have been changed every single time they've been released. I made these DVD's by transfering them from laserdisc, and back then I decided to fix a few frames of- Hey, are you kids listening? Hey! Wake up!"

Honestly, a kid viewing Star Wars for the first time isn't going to give a crap about film history. And if they are, then they should be able to understand why there are so many versions of Star Wars.

Zion:

Your augment is mute. You are asking Lucas to release his work unaltered....This, Zion, is more-or-less what you are doing with the star wars trilogy. You're expecting Lucas to do something you will not do.

Get your facts straight. I haven't asked Lucas to do anything. I haven't signed the petition. As a matter of fact, I'm not even going to "release" my version of the films. Sure, they are going to make their way to people's DVD players via torrent sites and the inevitability of them ending up on Ebay. But it's not like I'm going to be selling them out of the back of my car, or "marketing" them as George Lucas' originals. In fact, I will be noting any changes I have made on the dvd itself. I'm even going to add a subtitle track that describes the differences between the original and my version.

Again, I'm sorry if smoothing out a couple of lightsaber shots offends you, but you really have no business at all telling me what to do with my own work. A few years from now, my dvd's will be just one of many transfers done by many different people. Hell, an official realease may even be out by then. But don't assume for a second that I'm going to make people believe that my transfer of ANH is unaltered.