the movie, the absolute original shown in theaters, always had "Episode IV" in the yellow scroll intro.
No it didn't! read and learn:
Q 001: Why does it say Episode IV in the scroll-text at the beginning of Star Wars, Episode V in The Empire Strikes Back and Episode VI in Return of the Jedi? Did the Episode IV sub-head appear in the original theatrical release or was it added at a later date?
Answer: The Star Wars saga as originally conceived by Lucas was much too large to be made into a single film or even a single trilogy so Lucas structured his ideas into three trilogies.
He decided to make the middle trilogy (Episodes IV, V and VI) first because he believed it had the greatest chance of being a theatrical success.
An interesting point is that the "Chapter IV: A New Hope" sub-title did not appear until the 1979 re-release of the movie. Randal Schwartz says the following about the '79 release:
That was the one with the extended trailer for ESB, which came out the following summer. So the order was:
summer of '77: SW [no IV]
summer of '78: re-release of SW (no IV)
(but Westgate was still playing it)
summer of '79: retitled SW IV, with ESB trailer
summer of '80: ESB
The reference to "Westgate" was that the Westgate theatre (just a few blocks from where I am typing this) was *still* playing it. They set the record worldwide for the longest continuous run for SW (sans IV), something like 79 weeks. So, naturally, it wasn't a "re-release" for summer of '78. (We web-footed Oregonians see a *lot* of movies.:-)
Empire Strikes Back (1980) was always sub-titled Chapter V and Return of the Jedi (1983) was always sub-titled Chapter VI. (Note: the name of the first FILM is Star Wars - the name of the CHAPTER is "A New Hope" In Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi the film name and chapter names just happen to be the same. All the films together are collectively referred to as the Star Wars saga.)
The reissue of "Star Wars" that ran for three weeks starting on
Wednesday, August 15, 1979, DID NOT contain the "Episode IV: A NEW
HOPE" subtitle. A trailer for "Empire" was shown, however, and a
Kenner toys discount booklet was given out (both of which are
announced on the poster for the reissue).
The first appearance of "Episode IV: A NEW HOPE" was on the new
prints struck for the two-week reissue of "Star Wars" on April 10,
1981, nearly one year after the premiere of "Empire."
By the way, when the subtitle was added, the roll-up itself was
changed. Lines of text were condensed differently so the length of the
roll-up remained the same despite the addition of two lines at the
top. The capitalized words DEATH STAR appear on one line in the first
version and are broken on the revised version.
For the record, "Empire" was reissued later that year, on July 31, 1981.
In 1982, "Star Wars" returned on April 10 and "Empire" on November 19.
Both of these reissues featured identical "Revenge of the Jedi"
trailers.
(the above copied from http://www.cedmagic.com/featured/star-wars-lost-fo otage.html)
Slashdot Mirror
the movie, the absolute original shown in theaters, always had "Episode IV" in the yellow scroll intro.
:-)
No it didn't! read and learn:
Q 001: Why does it say Episode IV in the scroll-text at the beginning of Star Wars, Episode V in The Empire Strikes Back and Episode VI in Return of the Jedi? Did the Episode IV sub-head appear in the original theatrical release or was it added at a later date?
Answer: The Star Wars saga as originally conceived by Lucas was much too large to be made into a single film or even a single trilogy so Lucas structured his ideas into three trilogies.
He decided to make the middle trilogy (Episodes IV, V and VI) first because he believed it had the greatest chance of being a theatrical success.
An interesting point is that the "Chapter IV: A New Hope" sub-title did not appear until the 1979 re-release of the movie. Randal Schwartz says the following about the '79 release:
That was the one with the extended trailer for ESB, which came out the following summer. So the order was:
summer of '77: SW [no IV]
summer of '78: re-release of SW (no IV)
(but Westgate was still playing it)
summer of '79: retitled SW IV, with ESB trailer
summer of '80: ESB
The reference to "Westgate" was that the Westgate theatre (just a few blocks from where I am typing this) was *still* playing it. They set the record worldwide for the longest continuous run for SW (sans IV), something like 79 weeks. So, naturally, it wasn't a "re-release" for summer of '78. (We web-footed Oregonians see a *lot* of movies.
Empire Strikes Back (1980) was always sub-titled Chapter V and Return of the Jedi (1983) was always sub-titled Chapter VI. (Note: the name of the first FILM is Star Wars - the name of the CHAPTER is "A New Hope" In Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi the film name and chapter names just happen to be the same. All the films together are collectively referred to as the Star Wars saga.)
from http://home.swipnet.se/~w-22083/base/faq.htm
From what I can find Episode IV was always there
o otage.html)
Nope!
Re-editing Star Wars:
From "Star Wars" to "A New Hope":
The reissue of "Star Wars" that ran for three weeks starting on
Wednesday, August 15, 1979, DID NOT contain the "Episode IV: A NEW
HOPE" subtitle. A trailer for "Empire" was shown, however, and a
Kenner toys discount booklet was given out (both of which are
announced on the poster for the reissue).
The first appearance of "Episode IV: A NEW HOPE" was on the new
prints struck for the two-week reissue of "Star Wars" on April 10,
1981, nearly one year after the premiere of "Empire."
By the way, when the subtitle was added, the roll-up itself was
changed. Lines of text were condensed differently so the length of the
roll-up remained the same despite the addition of two lines at the
top. The capitalized words DEATH STAR appear on one line in the first
version and are broken on the revised version.
For the record, "Empire" was reissued later that year, on July 31, 1981.
In 1982, "Star Wars" returned on April 10 and "Empire" on November 19.
Both of these reissues featured identical "Revenge of the Jedi"
trailers.
(the above copied from http://www.cedmagic.com/featured/star-wars-lost-f
If God really existed, and he appeared in front of me right now, I'd spit in his eye.
Nice paraphrase of Henry Miller (intentional or not). Doesn't he say something like this on the first page or so of Tropic of Cancer?
> If we dont succeed we run the risk of failure
This is a quote from Dan Quayle, actually. *Not* Al Gore. Makes more sense once you know who said it.