Here’s a cool blast from the past: the original opening “crawl” to 1977’s Star Wars, which, if you’ll remember, has one significant difference from the one you’re used to.
A long time ago, no one really knew that Star Wars would be a hit, and Twentieth Century Fox didn’t want to confuse viewers by telling them that George Lucas’ film was only part of a much larger story that might never be told. So, when the film was released, the opening crawl did not include the “Episode IV: A New Hope” subtitle the film includes now. In fact, the first mention of “Episodes” in relation to Star Wars titles did not begin until The Empire Strikes Back opened in 1980, which carried the “Episode V” subtitle. When Star Wars was rereleased in 1981, the “Episode IV: A New Hope” was added for the first time.
Most home video releases of Star Wars have featured the “Episode IV: A New Hope” subtitle, except for a 2006 limited-edition DVD release of the film, which included the original theatrical version of the film (without the Special Edition additions) as a bonus feature. Lucasfilm considers the Special Edition of the Original Trilogy to be the official version of the film, but for those who have an affinity for the unaltered film that they saw in theaters in 1977, there are still options.
A group of Star Wars fans have undertaken “Project 4K77,” an effort to create a 4K transfer of the original, unaltered theatrical cut using an original 35mm technicolor print, as well as other sources. Lucasfilm has never revealed if they have a complete 4K transfer of the original film, so the fans did one themselves. The video below is the opening of the film taken from the “Project 4K77” transfer. There’s an unrestored 16mm transfer of the original theatrical cut of the film available to watch online for free at Archive.org (click here to see it).
Check out the original opening crawl from Star Wars here.
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