I saw the Despecialised Editions a while back, but that was prior to the blu-ray release. I'm quite tempted to check out the newer version.

I'm partial to Adywan's fan edits myself. If you're going to fuck around with the originals, at least do changes that make the movies better, not worse.

But ya, I'd love to see the original theatrical edits in a blu-ray format at some point, since I literally have no memory of them at this point, my only exposure being the VHS release when I was like 5.

You know what the word "most" means, right?  Cool, thanks. 

Modern works can fall into public domain if there's no one who can make a legitimate claim to them - due to neglect or lack of heirs, or sometimes even just a screwup.   For example, for bizarre arcane legal reasons some episodes of the Dick Van Dyke Show are public domain but most aren't.  Night of the Living Dead is public domain because they didn't put a copyright notice in the credits (the law at the time, but not any more).   It's a Wonderful Life is sorta half-public-domain (but not entirely because the story it's based on is still under copyright.)

On the other hand, Disney (and most conglomerates) not only carefully maintains their copyrights but as said above, have won legal battles to extend copyright on their valuable properties far past their original expiration dates.

btw, I just filed the copyright papers for Return of Pink Five Volume Three yesterday - so it's my death +70 years before any of youse can get your meathooks on it.  Ha HA.