I've been following this thread with great interest.
I remember the 'Z' version of TPM. There was a 'Z' version of The Matrix as well, in those heady early days of big movie digital downloads...back in 1999. I was working in a place that gave me access to a VERY big internet pipe for the time, and I certainly utilized it to the fullest! I remember the excitement of downloading first the TPM trailers, and then finally (some time after attending the opening night) the movie itself. Nothing could hold me back...I had to be able to view parts of the film at any given moment, and I watched it over and over again. I think I was numb from excitement.
And then I remember looking for better versions after that. Spending time in IRC channels, trolling the underbelly of the net, looking specifically for any improvement on my copy of this film. I remember hearing about the AB version, which sounded like it was better, but I never was able to get hold of it. Finally, I hit the jackpot: a TELECINE copy of the movie, hosted on an FTP site somewhere. It was in two parts, and you could tell it was actual film because at one point during the podrace you could see where the film had been broken and spliced. It may have had Asian subtitles. But it was amazing, and definitely trumped anything else I'd seen out there. Unfortunately, I was only able to get the first half and a small section of the second half before the source disappeared, and I never found it again.
I am fairly sure I have both of these still. I had an archive directory for the theatrical version of TPM, and in it were the 'Z' copy (which I kept because it was complete), and the partial telecine. Unfortunately, they're both locked on a hard drive that I need recovered...but I have high hopes for its recovery (I believe only the drive motor is bad). I *may* have one of them on a CD-ROM somewhere.
Years later I spent some time trying to find the rest of that telecine copy, but I found that nobody cared about it once the VHS & DVD had come out, and most people had discarded their copies. Turns out it could be one of the best sources ever for a true theatrical copy of the film.
--SKot