Not sure how they did it or how long it will be up, but if you have Roku, get the free Cinema Box app and you can watch a pre ESB release of Star Wars. Not A New Hope, but good old fashioned Star Wars.
Unaltered Star Wars on Roku
- Thread starter jcoffman99
- Start date
George has been alerted and is on his way over to Roku headquarters with a hammer…
Paul Andrew
Master Member
how does it look?
Looks good. Has the right amount of fuzzy.
IMO the title change is much ado about nothing.
Both Lucas and Gary Kurtz have said a different times that they always intended to put an episode title on the movie. They chickened out at the last minute in 1977 because the studio thought it would confuse viewers.
Say what you want about Lucas's reliability. But Kurtz told the same story and it sounds plausible to me.
I mean, the movie opens in mid-chase and there is clearly a backstory. The opening crawl is done exactly like old episodic serials. And we're not talking about some 1990s CGI change. Lucas added the episode title as soon as it was clear the movie was a hit. That title predates Yoda. It arguably predates Vader being Luke's father.
Both Lucas and Gary Kurtz have said a different times that they always intended to put an episode title on the movie. They chickened out at the last minute in 1977 because the studio thought it would confuse viewers.
Say what you want about Lucas's reliability. But Kurtz told the same story and it sounds plausible to me.
I mean, the movie opens in mid-chase and there is clearly a backstory. The opening crawl is done exactly like old episodic serials. And we're not talking about some 1990s CGI change. Lucas added the episode title as soon as it was clear the movie was a hit. That title predates Yoda. It arguably predates Vader being Luke's father.
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No, the ANH title was added in April 1981.
Prop Collector
Sr Member
Lucas is/was entitled to change HIS movies, but I'm also entitled to pursue my preferred version of his vision through whatever means required.
Was it that late? I thought it was for the 1978 summer.
Okay, that undermines my argument a bit.
But I still don't mind the ANH title.
It really was. But Lucas has always been changing the Star Wars films. Different sound mixes with the original 1977 film. Heck even for Empire Lucas talked to ILM and got people back to work, adding new establishing shots of the Rebel fleet and adjusted existing footage to better convey the spatial relationships between characters... within the first few weeks of the theatrical run. Pretty insane.
"A movie is never finished, only abandoned."
Having been born after all this, it was always Episode IV / A New Hope or the original Swedish title for the film "Stjärnornas Krig" (The Star's War/War of the Stars) to me.
I worked with the guy who made the change! Or claimed he did anyway.
Was in a meeting with him and said he worked for Lucas during the OT… I’m like “work on anything cool? Models?”
“I was the one who added the “A New Hope” title change on Star Wars….”
If true, pretty cool claim to fame
“….he would womanize, he would drink, he would make outrageous claims like he added “A New Hope” to the Star Wars opening crawl…
Sometimes he would accuse chestnuts of being lazy, the sort of general malaise that only the genius possess and the insane lament…”
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Paul Andrew
Master Member
That would be wild, but I can't imagine...
I can't imagine someone would risk broadcasting that.
Gone…
“Update: As of Tuesday, March 4, the Roku TV app Cinema Box has vanished. This means that the original, theatrical version of Star Wars that was streaming on Roku over the weekend is gone, too. This is not the first time Cinema Box has appeared on Roku and then been taken down. The same thing happened late in 2024…”
“Update: As of Tuesday, March 4, the Roku TV app Cinema Box has vanished. This means that the original, theatrical version of Star Wars that was streaming on Roku over the weekend is gone, too. This is not the first time Cinema Box has appeared on Roku and then been taken down. The same thing happened late in 2024…”
Bloop
Sr Member
I'd guess this was a Roku channel made by some random individual who didn't have the rights to stream Star Wars (or anything else) legitimately. Anyone can make a Roku channel, like anyone can have a YouTube page - I know people that have done it to promote their work as entertainers. You can earn money off of it too, but Roku takes a 20% to 30% cut.
www.uscreen.tv
How to Create a Roku Channel (No-code Option Included)
Want to create your own Roku channel but don't know where to start? This guide has everything you need to get your content to a wider audience.
www.uscreen.tv
