TServo2049 said:

Looking at the clips of the time-compressed CED on YouTube, I can see that it has the correct Fox logo - I'm assuming that the first compressed LD was exactly the same. Thus, it would have been only the original VHS and Betamax (which weren't compressed, right?) that had the replaced Fox logo and fanfare (later P&S releases, at least on VHS, would have the logo replaced, but with the original fanfare intact). Can someone check the Starkiller Rental Library preservation?

Yes, I checked and the original Fox logo is on the '82 LD. The tapes should definitely not be time-compressed, I regret that I got rid of my old betamax copy, is Starkiller's preservation still available somewhere?

TServo2049 said:

I understand that this is getting off the subject of the Orange Errors, let me bring it back by saying that all the video releases prior to the Technidisc SWE obviously came from newer IPs which were made from a source that did not have the errors. This means that the errors were not on the original negative - as I said before, they must have been introduced on the original IP (since the Technidisc SWE and PAL THX LDs have them, and they came from a generation before the addition of the alien subtitles - see below).

From what I've gathered, the '85 IP was used on the '85 P&S releases and the JSC/"shrinking ratio" SWE. In '93, they went back to an IP from '77, according to that Widescreen Review article - this was what would have been used on the Technidisc SWE and the '93 transfer. Though here's what confuses me - they said they didn't have IPs without the subtitles, but the IPs used for home video obviously lacked them. I'd assume that those IPs were either too faded or too worn to be used again (and by 1993, the negative had reached the poor condition that they'd find it in when they exhumed it to prepare the SE).

Your theory sounds good, I'm not sure if the PAL THX transfers are from the same source as the NTSC THX transfers but you're probably right. So if we try to break it down with a little guessing:

New IP made for home video:

'82 CED/LD
'82 Betamax/VHS
'85 LD
'86 JSC, '89/'92 SWE
'92 LD

"Original" IP:

'93 Technidisc SWE
'93 Definitive Collection, '95 Faces
'95 PAL THX transfers
'06 GOUT

This dirty, grainy and battered IP wasn't made to produce release prints as it was blank without subs, according to the Widescreen Review article they wanted to avoid those IP's due to having subtitles in place and being an additional generation away from the source. What I don't get is, if those marks/tears aren't on the negative and were introduced on the original IP, why did they have to alter that corridor sequence when they went back to the negative for producing the '97SE if it wasn't for those tears?

And why the hell was this so called "original" IP so damn grainy, it's one thing if it was only dirty due to wear an tear and bad storage. We also have to remember that this IP cannot originate from '77, it had the '81 opening in place, the original '77 opening was just spliced in when it was time for the DVD in '06.