CT The original Star Wars movie is subtitled "A New Hope"

Isn't it a bit hypocritical to say that it's irritating for other people to refer to it as just "Star Wars" because they prefer it that way versus you leaving out "Episode IV" because that's the way you prefer it? Both involve leaving parts of the official title out. The primary difference being that, at one point, Star Wars by itself was the name, but Star Wars: A New Hope never was.

Star Wars II: The Wrath of Kenobi

 

"A New Hope" is a terribly bland title for such a sprawling space opera. Frankly, the only reason to use it is for clarity's sake. The name just never took off.

And check out the Drew Struzan posters for the 1997 SE's. ANH is simply labelled as "Star Wars" for a reason: for over 20 years, that was the name it was marketed under, and that was the name everyone knew it by.

 

I was thinking about that the other night; "A New Hope" lacks the sense of fun and excitement that the other titles have, and it doesn't scream "space fantasy adventure" the way they do. In comparison, it sounds flat, unexciting, boring.

I mean, look at these: Star Wars. The Empire Strikes Back. Return of the Jedi. The Phantom Menace. Attack of the Clones. Revenge of the Sith. The Force Awakens. Rogue One.

Now look at A New Hope in comparison to the above, especially as a replacement for "Star Wars."

 

I refer to this movie either by A New Hope, Episode IV or by using the term "the original Star Wars from 1977".

Regarding the added subtitle, I remember reading somewhere that George Lucas wanted to name this movie on its initial release Episode IV: A New Hope in the opening crawl just like the Flash Gordon series. But it was the executives in the 20th Century who asked George not add it since they didn't to provoke confusion within the audience. The subtitle was added later, after the release of The Empire Strikes Back (which already named Episode V in the opening crawl), in 1981, not in the Special Edition from 1997.

 

Heck. The original logo is better than the A New Hope change.

 

I get what you mean... I sometimes have the feeling that some people refer to ANH as "Star Wars" to show that they complain about the official change of title... I don't think I'm being very clear with what I'm saying but you'll excuse me, English is not my monther tongue and it's a difficult feeling to express ^^

 

Usually people who arent, heavily, into the Star Wars franchise call ANH Star Wars. Casual fans may not even think of Ep IV as a New Hope and become confused when it's called, solely, by that moniker.

Case in point when I saw TFA with a pal and his father in law I refered to Episode 4 just as ANH and my mates FIL had no idea which one I was talking about. My bro told him "he means Star Wars." Then he instantly knew which film I meant.

 

Interestingly, most people I know just refer to it as Episode IV. I personally prefer just to call it ANH, but you can call it whatever you want. My mom, who saw the film back in '77, often calls it "the first Star Wars"

Admittedly, I used to use this very fact as advocating for explicitly not referring to it as simply Star Wars, but recently I've come to understand there are several valid reasons to call it that

 

I have always thought of the first one as "Star Wars", though over the years as they released more and more movies I have grudgingly come to start calling it "A New Hope"...feels wrong though.
And among my friends, they about equally divided right now between calling the new movie "The Force Awakens", or just simply "Star Wars" Oh, the confusion lol.

 

Probably just an age thing, but as mentioned in previous posts they were originally marketed as "Star Wars", "The Empire Strikes Back" and "Return Of The Jedi". You could also argue that Empire and Jedi were also marketed as "Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back" and "Star Wars: Return Of The Jedi" due to the marketing logos they were given. Much like Star Wars: The Force Awakens now. So for many of us for years afterwards, regardless of the conversation you were having, if you heard the phrase Star Wars on it's own, you'd think of the original movie first and the saga as a whole second. Only as more context entered the conversation would it be clear which of those you were actually talking about.

Marketing the original as A New Hope only really started with the special editions and even then it acknowleged most people just thought of it as just plain Star Wars. For example on the covers of the 1997 Special Edition soundtracks albums, all three have a "Star Wars Trilogy" logo at the top. The 2nd two sets then just have the film subtitle underneath (ie The Empire Strikes Back and Return Of The Jedi), however the original states both Star Wars underneath the trilogy logo and then in smaller type under that it says A New Hope.

For me I usually refer it to as the original, especially when talking to people who are not necessarily fans. I may sometimes go the Episode IV route but that just confuses non-fans because then you need to clarify you're talking about the original rather than the fourth film released. Just easier to refer to the rest by their sub-titles and keep the 1st as either "Star Wars" or "the original".

 

This thread leads to a rather interesting question (that is tied to a debate in wikipedia): what exactly IS the title of a movie? Is it the title that was used in the advertisments? Is it the title that appears in the actual movie?

I mean this because, there's no question that Star Wars has changed its name after its release. But there is a question of "what is the original title of the Star Wars sequels?" In other words, is it The Empire Strikes Back because it was advertised as that, or is it "Star Wars, Episode V, The Empire Strikes Back" as it appears in the movie?

Lucas has said that, but there is not evidence at all that it was true. Nowhever in the original screenplays is said that the movie was meant to be "episode IV".

 

This

The 1995 vhs had Star Wars in big letters, while A New Hope was small letters(opposite with ESB and ROTJ, Star Wars was small while Empire Strikes Back an Return of the Jedi was big.

Also called Star Wars on the 1997 Special Edition poster and vhs (like you said).

Episode numbers wasn't really stressed until Episode I in 1999, and the wasn't until the OT was released on DVD in 2004, when they shared the same title format as the Episode 1 and 2 DVD's(large Star Wars letters, large Episode # behind it, and the smaller subtitle underneath.








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Yup, people can call it what they want, they are entitled to their opinions.

For my part, the first time I ever went to a movie theater, my dad took me to see Star Wars, NOT "A New Hope". Star Wars it is for me.

 

The name makes sense considering its place in the saga. I think the year it was changed to A New Hope was in 81 so its been known as that name for a long time.

JJ Abrams calls it Episode 4 and A New Hope whenever he talks about it too.

 

Lucasfilm VHS releases may be partially responsible for that:

 

Weird, I always called it "Space Battles."

 

Somehow I'm already used to calling the first movie of the original trilogy as "A New Hope"... Even if I've watched it back in the 90s (shown on TV) when it was still called "Star Wars"!


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Come to think of it, what also bothers me is that TPM was marketed as "Star Wars: Episode I" back in the day rather than "Star Wars: The Phantom Menace". Besides ANH, I think TPM is the only Star Wars movie to be marketed by it's episode number rather than subtitle, which I think is stupid.(I can't remember what AOTC and ROTS were marketed as)

 

meh, you can call it whatever you like.

for my part i enjoy referring to it as "Planet of the Apes Nineteen Sixty-Eight."

 

I always called it Star Wars until the PT films started being released and I started to notice confusion in certain conversations about which film was being referred to, unless clarified with Episode IV or A New Hope. I use all 3 interchangeably now and have no preference, actually.

For clarity, I always use ANH in my posts here on the boards.

Cool photos CaptainHamYoyo
I own 2 different OT vhs sets, and sure enough, it says Star Wars on the cover and not ANH.

 

If you saw it in 1977 like me, it was called Star Wars. I saw the 1981 reissue where it was called ANH, but I'll always think of it as Star Wars. If you weren't alive in '77 and didn't see the first movie until the 1990s or 2000s, you probably call it ANH, since that's what it's always been called in your lifetime.
Also, if I'm discussing it with people who aren't Star Wars fanatics, I generally call the first film Star Wars.

Of course on this board, I presume everyone thinks of the first movie as ANH.

 

Actually it was called Star Wars (Even by George Lucas and Lucasfilm) all the way until Episode 1 came out. Just check any sleeve of a VHS release (even the SE in 1997) and the boxes read: Star Wars, The Empire Strikes Back, Return of the Jedi.

 

Space Battles and the Hunt for Power Converters