In the early days of the Empire to be honest. When I originally thought of what could have happened before "A New Hope" after noticing it was labeled "Episode 4" I just thought the early days of the Empire was the story beforehand. Keep in mind when I was watching it as a kid I didn't notice that line about the clone wars at all. Since, almost every time I rewound the tape I was just to anxious to watch that I'de often start it in the middle of Leia's speech. Anyways, as a kid I just thought it would take place in the early days of the Empire. Plus, I expected more backstory for Alderaan. Hell, I thought the majority of it would be on Alderaan...
