rockin said:
The Aluminum Falcon, I find what you say about the ROTJ SE interesting, especially about colour timing. I too thought the 2004 version was just horrible - way too saturated and the Vader vs Luke scenes too dark and muted. In the 1997 version I thought it looked improved over the original in places regarding colour timing.
On the subject of Return of the Jedi, I have no issue with the 1997 version's coloring which is a vast improvement over the GOUT's decidedly bland and washed-out colors. However, in my opinion, ROTJ suffers the worst from the 2004 color timing, from the awful lightsabers that went through each other to the sterile, unmajestic, and annoying feel of the too-blue color timing. Even before I found out about the whole color timing fiasco and the original unaltered trilogy, I couldn't bring myself to watch the DVD of ROTJ and would always turn to the 1997 SE VHS, my only other alternative at the time. On a seperate note, I've always disliked the SE of ROTJ. ROTJ was the first theatrical version I watched, and I've always thought that the SE changes ruined it. From the Sarlac to the unnecessary celebrations, I simply didn't like the Special Edition, so before Harmy's edition, I always watched the GOUT. When I eventually watched Harmy's magnificent reconstruction, I was overjoyed since his color timing made everything feel so right, majestic, and epic. ROTJ was now the movie I wanted it to be, with no trade offs of bland color, bad SE changes, or horrible color timing.
Puggo - Jar Jar's Yoda said:
When suggesting that the colors in the 97 version were improvements over the original, remember that you're comparing 1997 video against older video versions.
Puggo, I also agree with you about the '97 editions having fairly accurate color timing when in theaters. I actually think that the '97 SE color shown in the G'Kar, Reivax, and Flunk release is actually what was intended for Star Wars to look like. Star Wars always struck me as a colorful saga and definitely not the washed out, bland films that the GOUT makes them look like. Your Puggo Grande shows this with it's pretty vivid colors, which were probably more vivid when the print you were working from was first made. In fact, I'm surprised no one has tried a theatrical version reconstruction with the GOUT combined with the G'Kar, Reivax, and Flunk releases (with their awesome colors).