The fact that Greedo missed shooting Han in the face at point blank range is not only pathetic, and kind of makes you pity him, which is not something you should be establishing if he's threatening to kill Han and tells him that he's been looking forward to so doing for a long time. Do we really need to see Greedo try and fail and pity him? Better yet, why not just leave it alone? In the original version of the film it established the ambiguous nature of Han Solo. While Han was merely defending himself, he was also not above killing someone in a crowded bar. It's a classic western motif of a gunslinger outdrawing his opponent in the saloon. I mean for God's sake, the man's last name is SOLO. He's only out for himself. But by the end of the film he's changed by meeting Luke and Leia and realizes that there is more to the universe than just himself and his ship. It's a satisfying character arc.
Another example of why the changes effect the film would be from Empire. Towards the end of the film Vader tells his officers to bring his shuttle. This ONE line saves a lot of time and the next shot we see of Vader, he's on the bridge of the Star Destroyer. The pace of the film is crucial here. Luke has just been rescued by his friends, but the Falcon is still on the run from Vader's forces and we still don't know if the hyperdrive even works, thus enabling our heroes to escape. In the Special Edition, Vader's line is changed unnecessarily to "Alert my Star Destroyer to prepare for my arrival." Then we have FOUR NEW SHOTS depicting Vader boarding the shuttle from Cloud City, the shuttle leaving the planet, the shuttle landing on the Star Destroyer, and Vader exiting the craft (which was an alternate angle from the opening sequence of Return of the Jedi for those of you who are paying close attention.)
Meanwhile the main focus of the story is neglected and breaks the tension of the film by having those distracting scenes added, robbing our heroes escape of it's imminent danger. Do we really need to see Vader do all of those things in order to understand that he left Cloud City and is now on his flag ship? Because that's all we really need to know and it was established just fine in the original cut of the film. The whole movie, Vader has been in hot pursuit of the rebels, and with Luke's defeat we get the sense that they might not escape the clutches of the Empire. The new cut slows down the pace and distracts us from the main storyline. I mean if they're going to add those new scenes, why didn't they add the additional shots they had of when they served dinner on the shuttle? Or show Vader watching the in flight movie, which by the way was originally supposed to be Man on Fire until Vader heard the title and had it switched to Raiders.
The other problem with the changes have to do with tone and it's best seen in the Special Edition of Return of the Jedi. Jabba's palace is a dark, eerie place, with strange creatures and dank corners. It's dangerous. In fact it's so dangerous that Jabba (a stylized cross between a mythical dragon and an evil gangster) has one of our heroes hanging on his wall as a decoration. Talk about evil! In mythic terms, Jabba is the dragon in his dark cave, holding the treasure that the hero seeks. There is even a monster far worse than the giant slug himself that lives in the caverns below the throne room. With the push of a button Jabba can send anyone he wants down a trap door to feed the beast for his own entertainment. It's the perfect setting for a rescue.
Jabba, like other evil gangsters, has his own house band led by Sy Snootles and Max Rebo. In the original cut of the film they serve the purpose that Salacious Crumb, and Jabba's dancers do. To entertain his every whim. Crumb is his court jester, and the dancers are supposed to be enticing, though I'd hate to imagine any further than that. The original band song was short and alien sounding, much like the Cantina band song from the original Star Wars. In the Special Edition the lights are turned up and out of nowhere the band is brightly colored, flamboyant and loud, which is an instant contrast from the dim mood lighting of the cavern and overall eerie silence. Not to mention that their instruments completely block out Solo in Carbonite suspended on the wall behind their absurdly large drum, and whose life hangs precariously in the balance. The continuity is broken as well in that none of the characters or instruments are seen in the background in any other shots before or after their dance number and the size of that drum alone would warrant that it be seen. Their song is loud and brassy, sounding just like a gaudy Vegas house band. It's downright terrible, and for some reason more additional character's are added, including three new backup singers, several drummers, a horn player, and a second alien singer.
Then what makes it even worse is that Sy Snootles looks DIRECTLY into the camera, instantly breaking the fourth wall as if to wink at the audience. Then her co singer does the same thing, only opens his mouth so wide that you can literally see down his throat. It's downright obnoxious. (Boba Fett is guilty of this too in the SE of A New Hope when he looks directly into the camera as if to say, hey, did you notice I was shoehorned into this scene too?) The dark, dangerous atmosphere of the palace suddenly turns into a lighthearted, silly dance number. While there is humor inherent in the Star Wars series, it shouldn't be when we need to understand the danger of a scene. This is intercut with the scene of Oola struggling with Jabba, a shot that implies her resisting his sexual advances, and ultimately ends with her being fed to the Rancor below for refusing to give in to him. Then Sy Snootles says, uh oh, in a cartoonish fashion as Oola is dropped to her death. How are we as an audience supposed to reconcile those two completely contrasting ideas? It doesn't make logical sense. Either the palace is lighthearted and goofy, or it's dark and dangerous. It can't be both. Besides, what danger is there for our heroes if the place was goofy? With no tension, there is no story. It's as simple as that.
I don't think people need to hate George Lucas. In fact, I hope they don't. As I said earlier, none of us know him and from nearly every interview I've seen, he seems like he's actually a really great guy. But as audience members, as fans, we have every right to either love or hate his choices as an artist. I think THAT needs to be the distinction going forward.