I agree that so long as the original verision is available, then DCs or SEs are fine. James Cameron understood the difference between a DC and a SE and he was adamant about the right term being applied to his releases. He always took responsibility for his theatrical releases as his own edit, despite how much studio pressure was on him to make the edits. It's why the Alien Director's Cut is a misnomer, while the Aliens Special Edition is properly termed. Ridley Scott got his preferred cut into the the theater, and then 25 years later created a SE out of bonus footage and better skill as an editor. The Alien Directors Cut is really the Alien Special Edition and should be called such. The Blade Runner Director's Cut is a true director's cut, because he never wanted the voiceover (which I like) nor the happy ending (which I hate). Too bad Blade Runner's theatrical cut isn't officially released onto DVD.

Side note/Gripe: What really pisses me off about DVD marketing is when all of these so-called "special editions" are released that are in no way different from the theatrical release. Having a bunch of great bonus features does not make it a "special edition." That just makes it a good DVD. Put in one different shot and its a special edition.

I think that some grey area exists with respect to the mattes around FX shots. Cleaning up the mattes was more an issue of computer-based color correction and matching, rather than changing a shot. After all, the mattes didn't show up on the silver screen, only on the TV screen. Lightsaber corrections, as much as they were needed in ANH, are still changes, though, and probably deserve the SE designation. I'm on the fence here.

Adding in deleted scenes, swapping shots, and screwing with existing ones make a SE.

Lucas should be labelling the Star Wars DVD as the 2004 Special Edition. He should have make a friggin' seamless branching disc that had all three editions available. If T2 could do it five years ago, Lucas could have and should have done it now. Arrogant revisionism, plain and simple.