Well the non cgi scenes and their color were fantastic in the print i saw in theaters. The movie underwent a major restoration wonder how the blu ray compares. Still it is kind of silly they cannot have both versions, though i don't like the walkie talkies and altered dialogue.

I do believe the color timing was different in the special edition. The color timing on the video releases was not identical to the theatrical for the original version anyway. So there have been many color choices for the film over the years much like the star wars trilogy.

After Spielberg's digital color tinkering of Raiders i am afraid the blu ray won't even be the true theatrical for E.T. colors but possibly a fourth color timing.