Sure, it's an old project, but you raise some interesting points. Ideally I'd like to split the audio discussion off to the technical forum, but I can't, so I'll continue here...
...pitch-shifting is actually never applied as it's degrading sonic quality, even the best algos do, with only a few exceptions like for instance the "Lord of the Rings" PAL discs.
Actually, there were complaints about the audio quality of the Lord of the Rings PAL discs too. I've been told about a Pro Tools plugin called Pitch 'n Time which is supposedly one of the best algorithms. This was not included in the only listening test I'm aware of; this one from 2004.
Since the source in this case is a laserdisc you can be sure that in 1997 they didn't use time-strechting/pitch-shifting back then, they use either resampling or much more likely some analog conversion.
1. Dr M used the NTSC laserdiscs as the audio source, so it was the correct pitch.
2. The 1995 PAL VHS releases did have pitch preservation applied. So digital pitch shifting did exist back then, although probably in hardware. For example: the Vinyl Touch Pitch Lock DJ tool.
But yes, I agree that slowing down by resampling is the best way to go when you want to use a higher pitched PAL source in NTSC land. This is how the mono mix restoration was handled (the mono mix was sourced from a PAL TV broadcast and did have the PAL speed up present).