TServo2049 said:
Yeah, it was a dark time for color film stock. When I saw Star Trek II in 70mm in L.A. last year, the host warned that it was a print from Metrocolor, and that prints from that lab were notoriously fade-prone. This print was faded enough that they put a blue filter on the projector to "correct" it.
Last year, I also saw Ghostbusters at the American Cinematheque. Also 70mm, also printed at Metrocolor, except it was on LPP. No fading. The age difference between the two prints was only two years, but the difference in the color was like night and day.
Back to the subject at hand, other effects-heavy films from the same time period as SW, which used the same kinds of negative stock, have been restored and presented in their original form. Close Encounters had similar issues with its O-neg, and was also full of optical composite shots on CRI, yet the restoration that's on Blu-ray looks darn good (and it has three different cuts of the film.) Superman had similar issues, and it also looks very good (though there was some digital color correction and recompositing done on that film). Both of them have a couple color flaws and noticeable grain (though I'm sure a lot of that was due to the cinematography), but they look very very good nonetheless.
The point is, I believe that the same *can* be done for the OOT, and that the fact that it hasn't been done is due to unwillingness, not inability.
Also, remember that all the hubbub about the restoration centered around the first film; I'm willing to bet that the original elements of ESB and ROTJ are in better condition.
Yes.
Superman and Close Encounters are good comparisons.
Interestingly a section of Superman's O-neg was lost/destroyed many years ago.
To compensate for this lost/destroyed section a new dupe negative was created using the separation masters(also made many years ago) .
But the difference in quality is apparent:
There was a big chunk that was a dupe negative section, when
Lex Luthor pulls the Kryptonite out of the case all the way until he pushes
Superman into the pool. The original cut negative had been damaged by some lab, and somewhere someone combined YCM separations to make the dupe section. The colors were slightly out of registration. We never did find the negative for that. There was a dupe section for all of that and then there was
damage in other places, torn frames, stuff like that which had been backed by
mylar They would put clear mylar on the back of the negative so that the tear
wouldn't pull any farther and it would hold the film together. "
http://movies.groups.yahoo.com/group/mohenryfanclub/message/298?l=1
The discrepancy in quality during this section of the film was not apparent in the VHS/Standard def DVD video transfers.
But if you watch the blu ray you can see an increase in grain and contrast as well as a slightly altered color gamut just after Supes opens the lead container with the kryptonite----and it lasts all the way until Luthor throws Supes into the pool.
And this is at 2K resolution----a 4K transfer would be even more brutal in exposing these differences.