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Originally posted by: Obi-wonton
if you refer to my lost footage thread here You'll see links to what I mean with the "lost cut" which has 30-40% different material and was the original cut it was titled "The Star Wars". GL changed it hacked it up and made "Star Wars" and it was a stand alone movie. 3 weeks after its release He added "A new hope" to it as the subtitle and in the scrawl, only after this change it was "episode IV". He also changed a few scenes and lines. The original release theatrically which is a memory and impossible to find (though Magnoliafan is working on that with editing) is referred to as the Pre-New Hope Star Wars. So in the 1977, there were in fact 3 different cuts of "star wars" alone...premonitions of things to come and massive changes to be made a la Special editions, 2004 trilogy and the 2007 Archival.
I just wanted to be sure I knew what you were saying before I responded.
Yes, I know all about the lost cut. It was never, nor was ever meant to be, released theatrically. I'm not sure if you think it was. It was simply an early rough cut. Nothing more.
"A New Hope" was not added 3 weeks after the release. It was in fact added for the April 10, 1981 re-release. And no scenes were changed. However, there are many subtle differences in sound that stem from the fact that 3 different sound mixes were used for the original release.