Back when the special edition dvd's first came out I seem to remember Cameron mentioning in the commentary track that even he felt the film was pushing the limits of a theatrical run time. Of course the studio wanted the shorter cut... especially in '86. It was a big no no back then to offer a film like this in anything over 2 hours. A lot has changed since but that's the way it was back then. Whatever the case, the theatrical version is lean and mean and wastes no time getting to the point. It's a combat film. I'd take a color-corrected version of either one though. That would be awesome and I don't care which. As far as Escape From New York goes, I have to say that the U.S. BD trumps the HDNet broadcast and the Special Edition DVD as far as image quality. Yes, it's a bit darker but that is correctable in this case by adjusting your display because the information is there in the frame. The blacks are solid and the colors vibrant, whether that is the intended vision of the film by its creators or not... to my eyes it's the best version visually.