It was Originally Going to Be Called Star War

Scott Hardie | April 27, 2002
I used to think that all Star Wars fans knew the hidden mythology of the series, how the movies came to be made and so on, and I used to think that they all agreed on it, because after all, it's fact. But not only do my three hardcore Star Wars fan friends (Kevin, Matt, and Bill) disagree with what I've read in my own limited research on the series, but they disagree with each other.

For instance, whether or not the words "Episode IV" appeared at the top of the title crawl when that movie premiered back in 1977. Lucas is praised for his decision to start the series with episode four and for shocking audiences with this revolutionary idea back then, but I've read that the words "Episode IV" did not get added to the film until later, after the sequels came out. I can speculate on a number of reasons, but that's what I've heard.

Also, how many episodes there were supposed to be. Most people agree there were supposed to be nine. Bill claims there were supposed to be twelve. Matt thinks there were supposed to be nine, but heard Mark Hamill say there were going to be eight. Regardless, most people now know that Lucas will be done at six, but Bill seems convinced there will still be more afterwards.

I don't like Star Wars, but I do find this interesting.

Kevin Fiore | April 30, 2002
George Lucas originally wrote one screenplay. It was to long to make into a movie, so he seperated them into nine seperate parts. He wanted to begin the Movies in the middle, like illiad and the odyssey (I think that is how they are spelled). This provided a history for the characters in the sense of where they come from and where they are going. Just like any character you create for Roleplaying. He didn't know if he would be able to create all of them so he didn't include the tittle episode IV in the original release.