I remember seeing in 1997 a comparison between how the original negatives were, and how good they looked after the restoration. It was scary to watch. We are lucky the movie wasn't completly lost or something, studios only began to properly keep their movies in the early 80s.

But DanielB didn't they restore the original negatives? Don't they now have at least a copy of that original film fully restored? I mean, I know GL dosen't want it to be released at all, but he NEEDS to have the film properly preserved! If he decides to change the Jabba scene again, he'll need to work on the original scene, he can't just superimpose a new Jabba there, he'll need visual information of the background. For him, it's like a canvas he can add his CG insanity, he needs it. I say it's restored and fully preserved, locked somewhere.