I don’t mean to get all ubergeek on y’all but I am SO happy I bought the VHS copies of the Star Wars trilogy back in 1996. They said it’d be a long time before they’d be released again, but little did I know that it’d be the LAST time they’d be released! The DVD versions are coming out in a few days, but they are the altered special edition versions. In fact, according to this article at USA Today, these versions are changed even more than the 1997 theatrical re-releases! Along with other tweaks, apparently Hayden Christensen has been digitally added to Return of the Jedi… Blasphemy I say!! Oh well… I’ve got my MOSTLY unaltered copies on VHS and I guess I’ll just have to be happy with them in all their degrading glory.
Absolute power corrupts absolutely.
The Lord of the Rings Hobbit prequal and trilogy re-release in 2021 will be the same.
Lucas comments on releasing the "special" editions only on DVD in this article.