10 More Star Wars Changes George Lucas Made That Were Completely Justified
3. All The Fixed Matte Lines
In terms of cosmetic changes which actually improve the movies, Lucas is more-or-less unimpeachable where the removal of matte lines is concerned.
Matte lines are visible throughout the original trilogy - black outlines of objects which have been composited into other shots, making it obvious to the keen-eyed viewer that separate elements have been combined during post-production.
Some examples of this include the speeders during the Battle of Hoth in The Empire Strikes Back, and the rancor and TIE fighters in Return of the Jedi (pictured).
But for the 2004 DVDs, matte lines across the trilogy were given a welcome clean-up, with Lucas removing most of them entirely or in the very least minimising them to the point that they're scarcely visible.
While few fans would outwardly object to the presence of the matte lines, this is an adjustment that nevertheless preserves and future-proofs the films in a non-intrusive way, as is all the more important where higher-resolution releases are concerned.