Quoting VibroCount:

Quote:
Yet when we discuss the first three Star Wars films made, we become polar opposites, disliking both the changes in plot details (Han shot first!) and finding little joy in the CGI enhancements. We want what was orginally shown in the theaters, not the rehashed versions.

I think the new versions of the original 3 Star Wars films are a different beast altogether though. The only big thing that Lucas truly "extended" was adding that atrocious Jabba the Hut scene (albeit with a CGI replacement Jabba). If there ever was a Deleted Scene that lived up to the name, it's that scene. For one thing, it plays like a comedy scene and makes Jabba look like an emotional wimp. It just doesn't fit any way you look at the scene.

I can easily stand some of the CG replacements, like the Cloud City enhancements in Empire, but most of the Hologram replacements and the Voice alterations (Bob Fett) don't make the films play any better, they make them gel better with the later 3 prequels...at least as far as Lucas is concerned.

The major difference for me in this case is that with LOTR the books came first and the extended editions are closer to the books (or at least incorporates more of them).

Also, with LOTR (and Blade Runner) we have a choice. Not so with SW where Lucas pretends that the old versions no longer exist and refuses to give them the same treatment as his preferred versions.

So it's not so much the attitudes that are inconsistent, it's the approach made by the film makers that differs. One wants us to forget about the past, the others want to preserve it as well as give us a real choice.

And of course time is also a factor. The LOTR EEs were known to come out already when the originals were still playing in theaters. They were created as a bonus for the fans and do not represent Peter Jackson's "director's cuts", they are simply alternate versions.