Doctor M, your hypothesis about "thinned" lines not being some kind of digital artifact is interesting.

I can't find the site/forum, but I remember someone complaining that there was DVNR artifacting in the Vista Series DVD of Roger Rabbit. The lines indeed look thin and wispy, but the Blu-ray and the French HDTV broadcast seem to have the same line characteristics.

I'm betting that RR had hair-thin inking to begin with, so the characters would better blend into the live action - the cels I've seen seem to bear that out.

Also, does anybody else think the "Mystery in the Mist" transfer of The Great Mouse Detective looks a tad TOO warm? I won't argue that it's a better transfer than the old DVD, but there's an original 35mm print from 1986 on eBay, and the blues actually look blue. (Or is that just due to the white balance on the digital camera capturing the projection?)