Erikstormtrooper said:

So these are based on the broadcast versions (gkar, flunk, reviax, etc), right?

And more importantly, HOW TO GET?

what he said. I got the widescreen 97 vhs tapes for a dollar each at a small video store closing sale. I would really like to get a better version of those.

And again, I think it might be possible to drop some of the unchanged 1997 footage into the worst shots (particularly the ones with DVNR smearing since that can't be easily removed like scratches) and create the best possible original version. The 1997 is close enough in color timing to mix with the gout and it's not super filtered or overly sharp like the 2004 versions are so there wouldn't be such a disparity.

Has someone tried that already? Mixing the gout with certain parts of the best 1997 version?