Gaffer Tape said:
But I don't see the real need for changes at all
Most of them were added to fix things Lucas couldn't achieve back then when he wanted to.
Some of them are useless indeed, I'm not arguing about the silliness of the rock covering R2 or some extra creatures on background that weren't needed........but all in all a good 75% of the changes just make the movies look better, more coherent to the saga, and less ..."cheap".
You have to understand it can be very very very frustrating for a creative author (like G.Lucas was, and is still now in some ways) not to be able to get his work the way he wanted. It's a struggle many director have to face, but for Lucas in '76 that was a true nightmare: i think many of you know the facts and the making of A New Hope, he was truly the only one on that set who actually believed in what he was doing. Everyone else, actors included, thought they were working on a poor bad b-movie and put not as much efforts as he did.
I'm a fan since 90's but I can't share all this absolute rejection and criticism towards Lucas works. As a matter of fact every thing he did after 1983 (new movies, changes to the old ones...) was never judged clearly and impartially.
Anyway I want to believe there can be a compromise, and maybe one day we will see new 4K transfers of these 3 movies in blu-ray, with both version of them in every disc.