Tsar said:
Excellent point. The original sequence was fine the way it was, even with its flaws.
I'd go further and say that not all such scenes are really "flaws," even if one can tell they're effects. People are so conditioned these days to effects that
do look perfect that they're no longer willing to tolerate anything that doesn't, and unfortunately it means they no longer give any credit to some really good effects work that just doesn't quite look absolutely undistinguishable from the real thing.
The jeep going over the cliff in the original version of
Raiders of the Lost Ark is not only a great effect for its time, but one I think holds up well, even if it's easier to see now that it is an effect. I personally don't need it changed...
... but OTOH, I do know many people now, particularly younger viewers who've seen CGI and digital composites their whole lives, have a real problem buying older effects with miniatures, matte paintings, photochemical / optical composites, etc. It sucks, but there you go. Given that reality, I don't know that I can fault Lucas for tweaking his movies in ways that (hopefully) make them more palatable to contemporary audiences while still retaining their essence.
Raiders and other movies exist first and foremost not to document their own creation and history, but to present a narrative fantasy to the viewer, and anything that detracts from that is potentially a liability, a shortcoming. I'm pretty torn over this instance of revision, though, since as noted the shot worked fine for me.
I haven't yet seen this new version of the shot yet, but I imagine I will when I watch the new DVDs (yes, I'm going to get them). I won't know until I see it just how I feel about this particular tweak.
I'm surprised, though, that I hadn't heard anything about it before now...