Great article! The tidbit about "Matt" having worked on an early telecine that may have been the "HBO version" is interesting, since there's a fan preservation project of that ongoing around here.
It's sad to see their copy of Empire is that faded. I would have expected Star Wars to be the problematic one.
Lucasfilm's continued negative attitude towards screenings of the original version, even in an purely academic/historical context, is enough to make my head implode.