zombie84 said:
I'm not saying the saber was green, it was always blue, but in that first establishing shot it has a bit of a green cast to it. Go take a look at the GOUT. It was never a strong blue in that first establisher, and at least on the GOUT I can see some mild green hues coming out.
Sorry if I came across sounding like a smart-ass, zombie. I must've misread your post. Yeah, you're right, it's almost completely washed out in that establishing shot, (I haven't noticed any green hues though, I'll have to take a look) that's also why I don't think the GOUT saber in that shot is any good representation of it's true color as other earlier transfers have a quite colorful saber there, more like how it look in the close-ups in the GOUT. IMO that first wide-shot symbolize everything that's wrong with that transfer, all GOUT flaws in one single shot. ;)
zombie84 said:
So, on the 2004 version when they yanked up the saturation, played around with other colour levels, and shifted the cast greener still, as the entire shot has a more pronounced green shift, that green saber cast really came out and totally overrode any blue element that was originally weakly there.
That could be the case, but I have a hard time swallowing it, especially when the 2004 version have so many illogical color screw-ups throughout combined with the knowledge of a recomped saber.
zombie84 said:
However, and this ties in with what I had mentioned earlier, it's hard to say what of the original saber element is even valid in the SE anyway--the saber is a re-comp. The original one was a nubby saber that didn't quite extend to the top of the frame, and they redid the blade (probably for 1997?). So this may also further complicate how the colour deviated so much. I don't know if this shot was ever catalogued as a change/recomp, but it is.
Yes, at least both wide shots were recomposited for the '97 SE, as those two scenes where the most affected by the built in dirt due to having so many elements in it. Lightsaber, remote, remote-laser and chess pieces within the same shot. The change was officially catalogued but it's a little vague in its descriptions, you can see when they work on it in the SE documentaries but I'm not sure if all composites were actually redone. I can take a closer look at the whole sequence from various transfers and post a few comparisons so that we can see what really was recomped or not.
Anyway, how trivial these minor changes may be and how scary obsessive and geeky this thread must look for outsiders, ;) I think we're doing a very nice comprehensive list here, quite important IMO as it will be a great information source both for future fan restorations and for making awareness how much that really has been changed in these films.