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Yes (well, atleast there was when this was originally submitted). The following information was posted to the newsgroups by Vince Mora on March 23rd, 1997 and was reposted from the Buckaroo Banzai mailing list. This information was superseeded by the release of the Buckaroo Banzai DVD.

"I just caught the recent HBO run of BB, and I don't know if anyone noticed, but this is a *totally* different film-to-video transfer from the 1984 Vestron and 1990 Video Treasures home video releases. Evidence of this includes:

The opening credits are letterboxed, instead of stretched to full-frame. (I wish they just could've left the rest of it in lbx ... :) but America loves its pan&scan ...)

The pan&scanning is performed differently! In the original video, when Buckaroo, prepping to launch the Jet Car, takes out the Oscillation Overthruster and reaches behind him to lock it in its housing, the p&s is very abrupt and choppy. In this version, it's a more smooth, natural pan.

In Artie's Artery, Buckaroo stops the music and asks the crowd, "Is anyone not having a good time?" In the original you can see Pinky Carruthers react and raise his hand (a great joke). In this version, Pinky is totally cut out of the frame and we miss his reaction.

Also, as others have pointed out, the colors are brighter, the picture is much sharper, and the sound is gorgeous. After 13 years of watching this movie on nothing but the original VHS and LD releases, I'm seeing and hearing details I've never noticed before. Definite evidence of a new & improved film-to-video transfer."

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