Most likely the menu got made before the dvd color timing was completely done.

It used to (and sometimes stil does) happen a lot with videogames. They'd have to send out the art for the boxes before the game was completely finished, so they'd use beta pictures. This is how mario 3 ended up with a slightly different map on the box, and "recently" zelda twilight princess had a magic bar on the back, the game has no magic bar.

That would seem to imply that those who made the menus thought that their menu version would be at least close to the final version, or that the movie actually looked, at some time during the recoloring, like they were portraying it.

It's not as if they just pulled the 97 special edition coloring, as that is much more orange. It seems strange to me to use a coloring which is very different from practically every release and then release something that is again wildly different than that.

It probably was a last minute kneejerk reaction. Possibly they decided to modernize the palette very late in the scanning process.

Also look at the scene selection menus, they also have much better colours than the movie itself. Also one of the menus (not sure which it was) had Luke training on the Millenium Falcon with a BLUE lightsaber.

TV's Frink said:

I fail to see what is wrong with the DVD menus.

That's my point, the problem is that they're much better than the movie. I was just wondering why.

I was searching where to find this information elsewhere on the forums before I posted this thread, but afterwards I found the info buried in the cinematography thread. So apparently this has been discussed, but it sure would be nice to have these things more easily searchable to limit repeat information. However, my question wasn't really answered in that thread either.

TV's Frink said:

Also, in your first post you said you hate the menus.  That's what I was responding to.

Oh I see. Well, now that you ask, I actually almost dislike the menus more than the poor handling of the movie. Almost. Menus for me are supposed to guide someone quickly to the option that they want in a DVD, and do so without using spoilerish video and still images from the movie. I understand that most people have seen the movie, but that does not excuse the fact that the menus pull from most of the movie for their images and video. Add to that that when trying to get from one group of chapters to another there is an unnecessary change in location or poorly rendered bit of CGI, and you have an irritating and in-your-face interface.

Whew. I think I'm done.

Nope, just remembered the point of the topic. The fact that there are better colors in the menus than on the DVD rubs salt in the wound.

There. Now I'm done. :)