I think you were supposed to be able to see the Ewoks. It's called hiding in plain sight.

It's been so long since I've watched a pan and scanned film in it's entirety, it's hard to recall a specific shot that looks better that way. Many scope films from the 80's onward were composed with a "safe area" to make them more home video/HBO friendly. Actors standing closer together with a lot of empty space on either side of the frame is usually a dead giveaway.

I suspect that had the effect of making the pan and scan version of such a film to look more "tight" in it's shot composition.

I do like some movies open matte. Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid looks more like the film noir mysteries it's gently spoofing in 1.33.1.

Weird Al's UHF looks overcropped to me on DVD for some reason, so I tend to prefer the Laserdisc better. The LD actually has the tv sequences shot on video from video as opposed to film. (The "full frame" version on the DVD is cropped on all four sides to allow a sight gag with the commentary track to work.) Haven't seen the Blu Ray yet.

I suspect when I saw it in a theater back in '89, the aperture plate in the projector wasn't in place. This particular theater screwed up fairly often at the time. ;)