@socketwench - I do know the effects work was done differently because ILM had full control.

TMP was done by Doug Trumbull and John Dykstra's Future General and Apogee. They controlled that look and went with the pearlescent paint job on the E. To film it, it had to be dark to avoid blue screen splash over.

TWOK used TMP footage, so ILM wasn't able to completely remove the pearlescent paint job for new shots, so, again, filmed pretty dark.

TSFS is all new footage, so ILM, which hated the pearlescent look, were able to refinish the model, removing the pearlescent paint job and film brightly. Too brightly if you ask me. The ships look flat because of that.

The rest of the bright look is all up to Nimoy's directing I'm guessing.