I was discussing this with my girlfriend yesterday and she raised the notion that they may have at first intended to do real scans for the whole thing, but that Lucas then cheaped out and opted for the quick and easy path. Maybe he didn't see a benefit to doing a new transfer without a full restoration (he implied this when talking about the Bluray), maybe he just wanted it out and done with to try to shut up the 'whiners' like us, maybe he deliberately wanted a low quality version that would look worse compared to the SE, who knows. It's possible they'd already started scanning the film and then had to stop, but that somebody dedicated enough managed to convince him to include it to represent the theatrical release. Or it could be that they only ever scanned that one shot and there was no intention of doing more.

Regardless, it's clear it's a separate transfer than the Empire of Dreams footage, and that whatever they used was in decent shape. Enough to make a watchable Bluray? Almost certainly, though who knows if the rest of the movie (let alone the other two) is in as good a condition.