WhatsMyName said:
yea, but by Episode IV, all they were doing it getting weapon systems online and testing them.
Read Death Star Novel: Talks about how there first test was on a planet they had been orbiting. blew away half the planet.

My main thinking behind this is that in my 'perfect' saga fan edit/ideas then there would be no Death Star in RotJ, therefore, the Death Star in A New Hope could be changed to something more along the lines of the one from RotJ without it resulting in a copy that appears in two films.

Also another dream would be for the saga to have continued to Episode 9 where the Emperor would finally be destroyed, and this could potentially reveal a finished Death Star. By showing the two versions in this order it allows an audience to be more concerned the second time round because it knows just how powerful the unfinished Death Star from Episode 4 was so when we see a finished one in Episode 9 everyone would know how serious the problem was. But like I said this is just dreaming because an additional 3 films goes far beyond the scope of a fan edit. However, I don't think that necessarily invalidates my reasoning behind the changing of the Death Star in Episode 4.