There was a telecine (I think) made in 1977 from a theatrical print that was recorded onto VHS as a street bootleg. I saw it on Demonoid years ago. There was a widescreen and a fullscreen version, I'm not sure if they are two different recordings or not. I think it was made in the projection room. The color and exposure is all wonky because it has been duped on VHS a million times. But it might give indication if the actual release version was close to the photo--and what is shown in the Making of book as well--or if the Japanes or the GOUT (read: more vibrant color) is how the scene looked, if there is any color left on the VHS for that shot.

I would say that the SE from 1997 might make for a good comparison since it was color-timed to match the 1977 technicolor print, but certain scenes were tweaked to look a bit different, so it's impossible to say if that wasn't another instance. The R2 canyon scene, for example, is colored differently in the SE, and may have been a development based on tweaking from 1993, if in fact it was tweaked in 1993.