According to Lucas, the original negatives of the O-OT were permanantley altered when he created the SE version, and all the prints they have left of the O-OT are in poor quality.

Actually what they did give us is substantially better than a laserdisc rip. I am sure you know they went to the laserdisc master for their O-OT transfer.

I do agree it would be better if it had been anamorphic but at least Lucas did release it on DVD.

Personally I think this is the best the O-OT has looked on home video so far, not counting the 2004 SE version.

I did see one of the Phantom Edits, but I didn't think it was all that good. It was the one that didn't alter Jar-Jar's dialogue. For some reason they cut out some of the more important scenes, and left in some of the more annoying bits with Jar-Jar.

Personally I loved Jar-Jar, but I figured the first priority for making a fan edit like this was to get rid of as much Jar-Jar stuff as possible.

I don't think that was the Magnoliafan edit though.