Some of the changes don't bother me in the slightest, such as blinking Ewoks, the Millennium Falcon changing angle in flight as it leaves Tatooine, and the lightsabers retaining their intended colour and shape. Those kinds of small and tasteful changes can certainly be an improvement. They don't twist and distort the structure of the film.
On the other hand, things like scenes being stretched, extended, and inserted for no good reason to accommodate things like CGI monsters, questionable character changes, and needless furnishings... that's quite something else. That goes beyond restoration, it strides headlong into changing the pacing and the economy of the original films.
The present OT becomes more and more a bloated set of films in comparison to their original forms, and I'm frankly glad Lucas was stymied on his original vision if this is what he indeed wanted. Great art is created by acceptance of limitations, not in rejecting them and holding that the original intentions of the artist trump every and all consideration. The original trilogy was troubled and limited, yet it was wonderful. The new trilogy was safe and sterile, neat and tidy, and ultimately it was stiff and lifeless. Lucas has made his conception more important than the quality of the end movie. He vehemently hated how he was constrained and limited making the OT, yet he fails to see how those circumstances contributed to making such lean and evocative experiences. Arrogance is a severe charge, but it sticks. He's an artist who can't separate himself from his work, to let it stand on its own two legs and in the time and circumstances that shaped it. It's his art, and he embodies both a controlling artist and an insecure one, almost revolting at the thought of others appreciating it in a way he doesn't approve of.
So regardless of what George Lucas' opinion of what Star Wars ought to be, he owes an immense debt to time, circumstance, and limitation that he refuses to acknowledge. This obstinacy perfectly underlines a simple observation: the man doesn't understand what made Star Wars so great. He thought he did, and went on to make three films that will be forgotten long before the three he quietly regards as having failed him.
