Also, this color stuff? C'mon now. Every laserdisc capture, save for Zion's, Gonzo's and apparently Jedi's, from what I can see of his screencaps, has been washed out and desaturated. Chewie's too BROWN on the new DVD's? You're kidding me, right? I've seen the Chewie suit (in museum lighting with dark surroundings and spot lights), so does that make me an expert on color too? I dunno, but I'm pretty sure if I look at that comparison pic again, it's probably pretty certain that Chewie isn't SUPPOSED to look like a color-drained graymeat cancer patient in that shot. If I have to choose between "HE can't possibly be that brown" and "Leia's face has red on it" or a LOWRY restoration? I think I'm taking Lowry. Not like they're trusted by some of the most visual minds in Hollywood or anything.
I mean, we can rant and rave about Lowry oversaturating the color, but you gotta remember, the point of reference you seem to be using are old, out of date, washed out, overbright home video transfers. I mean, this is an industry that thought widescreen transfers were completely nutty up until the late 80's. If they were perfectly fine with cutting anywhere from 15-40 percent of the picture off, why would you think they were completely faithful to the contrast and brightness levels? They were chopping the sides off these films to fit the TV's, and they were artificially brightening them so that your typical consumer could safely enjoy watching the flick in their light-flooded living room on their TV, complete with picture settings factory-set on Torch Mode.
And you're saying that's how Star Wars is SUPPOSED to look? It's supposed to look desaturated and washed out? You're telling me "colors that couldn't exist in the real world" is a BAD thing in a movie consisting of EXPLOSIONS IN SPACE, LASER SWORDS and walking, talking ROBOTS?
Maybe the color isn't oversaturated..maybe you're simply too used to a washed out, desaturated picture to recognize brilliant color fidelity when you see it?
That seems a lot more plausible.