Remember when you first watched Star Wars on the big screen back in 1977? The movie blew you away because the special effects were way beyond anything else movies had at the time. Then the years went by and George Lucas kept fiddling with the original, bringing us Special Edition after Special Edition with his improvements. Fans hated the changes, like making the puppet Jabba into a CGI Jabba and having Han shoot Greedo only in self-defense. Eventually, Hayden Christensen became a Force ghost even though he wasn't even born until 1981. Meanwhile, George Lucas refused to allow the original print to be shown.
Until now. A group of movie critics and avid Star Wars fans were invited to see the 1977 print screened by the British Film Institute as part of their Film on Film Festival. That's when fans learned that a lot more has changed besides Jabba and Greedo. The 1977 special effects that were so groundbreaking at the time now look laughably amateur. The sets appear cheap. The sound effects are tinny. The audience realized that Lucas had changed so much more than just the scenes they recalled, and that's why watching A New Hope on TV looks almost as good as watching Rogue One. Read how the 1977 version of Star Wars went over at The Hollywood Reporter. -via Fark
I have NOT heard of anybody objecting to digitally remastering the film, (without Lucas' "special" edition changes) while I DO know of whole communities that came together around trying to get a good quality transfer off of the unadulterated LaserDisc versions.