I remember the shot where the X-wings take off--I had always loved the SE revision of the exterior shot of them taking off from Yavin because the original version was so poor. But then I got it. Somehow, that low-tech shot of animated white streaks racing to the sky worked
It's funny you should say that. That's pretty much the shot that convinced me too. Not Han/Greedo, not the Jabba thing, not Episode III-era ghostly Anakin. That quick shot of the ships taking off is just PERFECT in it's imperfection. I too preferred the '97 version for a while but when I watched the original the other night, the shot was just *functional*. It didn't have obnoxious ships claustrophobically crowding the camera and slowly crossing the frame, as if to say "look! We've made it BETTER! See all the detail? See the pilot in the cockpit scratching his... knee? So much BETTER!" The original shot, while simplistic, carried the pace and urgency of the Death Star attack quite nicely without a lot of obnoxious CG bullshit to distract from everything.
Obviously, not every single revision Lucas made sucks (I'd never say that) but the originals just seem better to me now than the '04 versions.
I am asking for them to dig up those interpositives or WHATEVER their best film elements are of the OOT and transfer them to video
I'm no expert on this stuff but I'd bet that the laserdisc masters from the GOUT could've been spiffed up a little bit and released in anamorphic format without too much trouble. A remastering job would be even better but at a minimum I'd accept anamorphic DVD's from those masters.