I have kinda accepted the official blu-ray for what it is and can somewhat enjoy watching the film in this form, even with the Wax Wars faces and ugly color changes (even subtle color changes can disturb the original atmosphere of the film’s wonderful locations and the uniformity of the film’s original visual style. Tatooine for example is like a whole different place in the Theatrical version and I like its original colors much better).
However, the moment those super blurry extended scenes/shots start presenting themselves in all their ugliness, I have to stop watching or skip an enitre sequence. Some of the most painful ones include the introductions of the podracers or sth like the shot of Anakin saying: “I will, mum. I promise.” as Shmi comes to see him just before the podrace begins.
These totally take me out of the viewing experience and ruin it for me. Their inclusion is even more obvious in the 4K UHD versions be it those on Disney+ or the official physical media. How, in his right mind, did George Lucas ever think that including such visual garbage in a high-definition release of his film was a good idea? The same GL who strives for perfection in his visuals and for a good while kept replacing what he had considered weak special effects with new ones?
Did he not notice how bad and ugly these shots look sticking out like sore thumbs? The one I mentioned above in particular feels like it’s from a compeltely different movie. But there’s a lot more of those in that sequence.
Unlike all the great guys here who are trying hard to preserve the theatrical version of the film in its original length and colors, GL had all the necessary material and resources to provide us with a wonderful, visually uniform high-def release of his favourite SW film back in 2011, something worthy of the new format. But no. A visionary, a man who always pushed the envelope of filmmaking technology and was always ahead of his time during his active career could not give us a decent release of his precious film in the format that he believes in so much and in a way helped to develop as well.
Baffling.