To provide an overview of the project, here's the great man himself, George Lucas, to explain his reasoning behind the Special Editions:
	"The original inspiration for bringing the film out again was that the twentieth anniversary of the original release of Star Wars was approaching. Several years ago, we all began to wonder what we were going to do for the twentieth anniversary. And I suggested that we try to release all the films as a trilogy, one right after the other, so that people could experience them like the Saturday matinee serials they were originally meant to be. I said that would be a very appropriate way of celebrating the twentieth anniversary.
	"At the same time, I had an ulterior motive which had been on my mind ever since the films were finished. There were various things, especially in the original film, that I wasn't satisfied with: special effects shots that were never really finished, and scenes I was unable to include due to lack of money and time. A famous film-maker said 'Films are never completed, they're only abandoned.' And, rather than living with my abandoned movie, I really wanted to go back and complete it. Working on the first film was such a good experience that I said, 'Well, we should go back and finish the other two films, as well.
"The film was deteriorating, so we've gone back to the original negative, cleaned it up considerably, redid a lot of the optical effects and improved the quality of the film. I wanted to preserve the Trilogy so that it would continue to be a viable piece of entertainment into the twenty-first century. You'll be seeing a brand new print that's actually better than the original release in terms of just the technical quality of the film. It's less grainy, it's less dirty, and it's just a better print.
"I've added a few scenes and, at the same time, I've taken a lot of the special effects shots that weren't really as good as I'd hoped they would be, and I have been able to improve them. A lot of work has gone into enhancing the entry into Mos Eisley, which, twenty years ago, I couldn't make into the bustling spaceport it was supposed to be - in the original release it looked like a little town because I only had half a street to shoot on, and no real special effects or matte paintings to work with. Now we're able to travel through the town, see how big it is, see that it's a spaceport, and make it a more interesting experience. And I've added the Jabba the Hutt scene with Han Solo which had been cut due to time and money constraints; I really wanted to put that back in there because it was relevant to what happens to Han at the end of the [second] movie. And I really wanted to be able to connect the first film with the third film, the way it was meant to be.
"For the audio and the soundtrack we've gone back to some of the original tracks, and obtained the cleanest copy, and now we're remastering it digitally, so this will be the first time the film has been released in digital sound. Twenty years ago, the 70 millimeter prints had magnetic tracks which enabled the sound to be heard in its full glory. But at that time, most theaters exhibited the film with optical tracks which just didn't have the sound quality o the 70mm prints. Now, with the new digital release, we're able to deliver even better sound than 70mm magnetic; the Special Edition will have a range of sound that's been impossible to achieve...until now."