In my mind, TPM'77 would have been more like a Star Trek/Twilight Zone short story type film. This is basing that the political mechanations would be the draw of the film and the story would be a parable for the recently ended Nixon era. The film wouldn't need Star Wars'77's special effects as the film would be more dialog driven. The behind the scenes and in the halls of the Senate and a few planets/locations showing the effect of the Senate's choices on 'the people'. Maybe play up a human world verse an alien one and how one dominates the other through political means. All this relies on what 1999 George was interested in, not what 1977 George was into. For that you can read the early SW scripts.