Special effects are not about the wow factor. Especially in this case. Coloring the blaster flashes - if Ady were to do it - wouldn't be about impressing people, and it shouldn't.

I would disagree about the payoff, though. An effect like this is very simple, for relatively high visual payoff. And I wouldn't recommend removing the flashes from the troopers in the PT, either. It's consistent with other times in the films, where Lucas obviously intended the blasts to cast light on their surroundings (though inconsistently applied it throughout the films).

The very same "unrealistic" special effect that we're bashing the prequels for was precedented in 1977. Why is the light-casting so acceptable in the OT, yet, when we see it in the PT, it's some horrible abomination?

Ady and I disagree about the visual importance of an effect like this, and that's fine - it's his edit. But there are definitely reasons why it's a good idea, and it's hardly something to bash about the PT.