The deleted scenes are hard to judge given they're non-anamorphic NTSC. I don't have time to check all my sources at the moment, but from memory they have their own timing, different from the DE.
I agree, I'd kill to have all those character scenes in HD, as I'm not looking forward to upscaling NTSC.
Does anyone have professional experience in color grading? Using Davinci Resolve or some similar software?