ray_afraid said:
Yeah, it's been known as EPISODE IV for as long as it's been known as A NEW HOPE.
There was nothing in 1977 to suggest that STAR WARS was a sequel to anything, but that changed in 1980...
In 1981-1998, it did say Episode IV in the crawl, but nobody thought "I missed I-III. Back to the video store to look for I."