"I was told that Lucas dragged his feet and hemmed and hawed that Star Wars needed restoration work before it could go on deposit, and then what was sent was the 1997 version."
This makes me furious, that "restoration work" ultimately became the SE, the sneaky bastard dragged his feet until he made that version and making the deal with Fox around '97 or '98 so that he now completely owned the rights to the first film.