Originally posted by: auximenies
Okay. So in Nov. '78 only "Ep4" became a reality but not the specific ANH title? Am I reading you right?
Originally posted by: zombie84
The earliest pinpoint we can give is that "Episode IV" was put in place as early as November of 1978, when the fourth draft of ESB was written; the second draft was Chapter II but then Lucas merged Father Skywalker and Darth Vader and created the prequel trilogy, reflected in the next drafts where the episode listing was bumped ahead by three films and the nine-episode plan established.
The earliest pinpoint we can give is that "Episode IV" was put in place as early as November of 1978, when the fourth draft of ESB was written; the second draft was Chapter II but then Lucas merged Father Skywalker and Darth Vader and created the prequel trilogy, reflected in the next drafts where the episode listing was bumped ahead by three films and the nine-episode plan established.
Okay. So in Nov. '78 only "Ep4" became a reality but not the specific ANH title? Am I reading you right?
Yes, as far as we can tell, though we can't know for sure. But based on the fact that ESB was suddenly moved from Episode II to Episode V, obviously that raises Star Wars from Episode I to Episode IV as well; Lucas may or may not have had "A New Hope" in mind at that time. All we can say is that he had figured out that specific title by late 1979, when it appeared in the script in The Art of Star Wars. Two years after that title was integrated into the film itself, in 1981.