Star Wars vs. A New Hope - Which do you say and why? — Page 9

Avatar: Episode 4: The Lay of the Land (ba-dum-bum)

Depends on the context. I usually say “Star Wars episode 4 - A new hope”, but if I’m talking to someone of an older generation, like my dad who saw the OT in theatres when they first came out, I say “Star Wars”.

And, then with some people, I say “Star Wars, you know, the first movie, the original one from 1977”. Because sometimes that’s the only way to make people understand which movie you mean.

On a forum like this where everyone else is also a Star Wars nerd, I say A New Hope, because that is the clearest possible way to refer to this movie. When talking to normal people, I just say “the original Star Wars” or “Star Wars 1977” or something like that.

“Stars Wars”, “Empire” and “Jedi” just can’t be beaten as the names for the films. Rolls of the tongue nicely, short and sweet.

Of course we live in a world where there are prequels and name changes. So I have to admit that those are not the names I always use in practice, especially when talking to my (casually interested) girlfriend about them. When speaking of the first movie, I usually refer to it like “The oldest Star Wars, that one with Luke”. “The First” would probably get her confused with the Phantom Menace, while “Star Wars” would be too general of a name nowadays.

Any files or documents that I keep for myself I refer to it as “Star Wars”. If I am talking to others about the movie I call it “A New Hope” or “Episode 4” or “the original movie” just to avoid any confusion.

I grew up calling it A New Hope. And for me it is probably the best way to address the film, because after all it is part of a 6-movie (to hell with the Sequels) saga with movies that have different, individual titles.

I don’t mind saying “Star Wars Episode 4” or “Star Wars A New Hope” (actually ANH sounds more unnatural to me than ep4 for some reason) because just saying “Star Wars” will lead to ambiguity and confusion in many settings. Some people may not even know that the movie debuted with just the name Star Wars. Purist interests should not trump clarity of communication IMO. I’d feel a bit ‘nose in the air’ if I just called things by my own opinion of what they should be referred to while not caring about how it was actually perceived by the other person.

Well, I was born during the original trilogy but I still refer to it as Episode 4 now as it makes more sense to anyone younger…and wont date myself LOL
Internally though, my brain still thinks of New Hope as Star wars only

I’m hoping next year it is released as Star Wars. Though I’m not against a video release having the 1981 crawl as an option in the bonus material. For decades the film was only known as Star Wars even with the redone crawl. The A New Hope was added to the box art late. I’m thinking they squeezed it on the box in 1995 in very small lettering but the front of the box said Star Wars. And only a new hope was prominently on there in 2000 when Lucas dropped the special edition label on the VCD, VHS and laserdisc. So people couldn’t tell the films were altered, because to Lucas it was the film.

Like the later DVD you had to put the film on and realize something was not right. Like the avalanche of one star reviews for the 2011 blu for being the third version of the special edition.

I say Star Wars 1977 or The Original Star Wars. Rarely do I say A New Hope, a title I never cared for honestly

It was always Star Wars to me. It just was.

I’ve more in tune with Star Wars from the Adventures of Luke Skywalker than A New Hope.

But it has been called that since 1979 and Carol Titelman’s book. The so called public draft of the screenplay of the shooting script for Star Wars, that does not have the corrections or retyped pages. Nor does it have the main lead as Luke Starkiller until the change is made to Skywalker. But it does say Star Wars Episode IV A New Hope.

Fine Lucas changed it in 1981. I’m glad however he never changed Raiders of the Lost Ark, to Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark on the title card. They can change it on the box art all they want, that isn’t the film’s title.

Its rather minor revisionism of all the ones Lucas has done. But for me I’m even galled by the change of title card and cgi sunset in American Graffiti.

I say Star Wars ‘77 or SW77 when referring to the theatrical cut and ANH when talking about the SE or fan edits.

ANH for the Special Editions, and SW77 for the theatrical versions. If I am talking to someone younger then I may use ANH for Star Wars to not confuse them.