I'd have no problem with Lucas butchering his own film if he only gave us, the buyers, the choice to see the versions that we want. At least when Speilberg chopped up E.T., he pushed Universal to release the DVD in a two disc set. One disc has his re-release. The other had the original version. I'd be happy if Lucas gave me that. But he's not, and he's an ass. Most of his other film attempts outside of Star Wars and Indiana Jones failed miserably. I guess he's just wanting to run the money horse into the ground.
Oh, as far as Episodes 7-9, Lucas has completly denied ever having planned them. Even though I can remember reading old interviews when the original trilogy came out that had everyone talking about them. I even read one with Mark Hamil around the time of the Special Editions and the gearing up for Ep.1 where he mentioned the original idea of 9 movies made three years apart. Ah, revisionist Lucas history.
