Oh well, I just innocently thought, what's the harm in giving an old film a little bit of help? Matte lines are hideous defects. They need to go away. That said, there's no harm in a completely untouched version as well. Just so nobody is denied the chance to see what films of the 70's actually look like. I'd be more than happy with such a version but I think there's plenty of room for a modernized version that doesn't also include questionable editorial changes or integration of new material. I'd just be interested to see how good the thing *could* look if the original elements were subjected to a modern post production workflow. This was the missed opportunity of the special editions. Too much time was spent changing things that didn't need changing - almost no time at all was spent on improving original footage. The dream I have is for there to someday be a seamlessly branched release with the original, an intermediate enhanced original and the SE all on one disc. The educational value of such a release would be considerable.
The only problem is - the purist crowd would be a very hard one to please and it would be almost impossible to convince tham that an untouched but restored original is indeed genuine in every respect. Afterall, how would you tell? You couldn't possibly be 100% certain about every single frame.