Raiders of the Lost Ark Alterations?

I was wondering if about all the alterations made to the movie Raiders of the Lost Ark throughout the years... I know of a few.

Ones That I Know

1. For the DVD some goofs and special effects were cleaned up. The rigging was removed, matte lines were digitally erased, and the reflection when Indiana Jones is looking at the cobra is removed. They were just little clean-ups in general.
2. When broadcast on TV, they've added CGI when the Jeep falls off of the cliff. You can see the comparison here. Honestly, I don't know why on earth this was necessary. If anything, the CGI looks worse.

However, the other day, I was looking at my 1999 VHS copy of Raiders. On the back it states "The trendsetting movie that put adventure on the map now comes your way in a new, remastered version that enhances the final scenes with dazzling state-of-the-art special effects." When I saw "enhances," I became afraid that they added CGI and carried it on to the DVD release. Did this happen?

In any case, you can also feel free to tell your thoughts about the changes. In all honesty, I wish they didn't do any in the first place but it's not a dealbreaker for me.

I'm totally okay with any changes done to Raiders on the '03 release, because only two or three things were changed and there is only one that I notice. (snake reflection removal)

The jeep on the other hand I do not like. It's so obvious!

I have a feeling that's what were are going to see on the blu-ray. :-(

That statement on the back is saying that the awesome picture quality of VHS makes the ending look better than ever!

Soooo...no.

BTW, what else was "fixed" for the DVD release?

In the start sequence I saw Satipo’s face digitally wobble around for a split second so that’s a thing

Eh said:

In the start sequence I saw Satipo’s face digitally wobble around for a split second so that’s a thing

No you didn’t. What you saw was a registration error that’s been there from the beginning. It’s on the negative. It occurs as they’re entering the Chachapoyan temple.

ThrowMeTheWhip said:

Eh said:

In the start sequence I saw Satipo’s face digitally wobble around for a split second so that’s a thing

No you didn’t. What you saw was a registration error that’s been there from the beginning. It’s on the negative. It occurs as they’re entering the Chachapoyan temple.

Are you sure it was on the original negative? I doubt that. Especially because of the clearly tampered-with torch in the very next shot! (on the Blu-ray only)

https://youtu.be/TELq6StGK7Y

Granted, I suppose they could have “corrected” that in the 2003 DVD, and then reverted back for the Blu-ray, but I find that unlikely. Especially since it hasn’t been documented anywhere to my knowledge.

The Aluminum Falcon said:

However, the other day, I was looking at my 1999 VHS copy of Raiders. On the back it states “The trendsetting movie that put adventure on the map now comes your way in a new, remastered version that enhances the final scenes with dazzling state-of-the-art special effects.” When I saw “enhances,” I became afraid that they added CGI and carried it on to the DVD release. Did this happen?

This was because work was started on special editions of Raiders and E.T. soon after the 1997 special editions of Star Wars were so successful. The exact history is unclear, but the special edition of E.T. came out in 2002 (the one with a CGI ET and the controversial and silly change of guns to walkie talkies). At the time, they said “We’re doing Raiders next.” I don’t know how far work progressed, but it was ultimately cancelled after the uproar over E.T. and a scathing South Park episode that mocked the proposed Raiders special edition. If you haven’t seen that episode it’s called “Free Hat” and well worth watching.

I always wondered if it was the intention to release it on home video at some point, hence the description on the VHS box, but then the plan was changed. If work on the updated special effects was done as far back as 1999 and possibly in 2002, it would certainly be very interesting to see the results. I’m not opposed to special editions as long as the original is also available in the same quality. To date, only the one updated effects shot during the truck chase has surfaced and that was short lived and limited to a few HDTV broadcasts.