This is how old I am: I will NEVER call the first Star Wars film "A New Hope," get your bullshit retcon away from me, it is and always shall be Star Wars, forever and ever amen

[david_chisnall@infosec.exchange]

@jzb @billiglarper @scalzi

I read his novelisations of the Star Trek animated series and didn't realise they were based on those, so had weird deja vu when I eventually saw the series!

I really enjoyed a bunch of his humanx novels and some other random ones. Most of the things of his I've read were novelisations, and most before seeing the thing they were adapted from. And, of those, the source material almost always proved disappointing when I did see it.

[juandesant@mathstodon.xyz]

@scalzi I’m afraid I’m old enough to have seen Star Wars when it debuted… and the fact that it was labelled as Episode IV was always in my mind… so it was Star Wars (A New Hope) for me.

(Of course, it was not Star Wars here; it was “La Guerra de las Galaxias”, which is even more powerful )

[trimtab@mastodon.social]

@scalzi
With all due respect I'm as old as many here and clearly remember: from day one in the 70's our brains boggled that it was episode 4. We immediately craved prequels from the start, for decades (which we got even if a bit disappointing). And the first thing you read right after the horns sing the intro fanfare is the title of the chapter. A new hope.

These are not the controversies you are looking for.

[ccooke@mastodon.ie]

@scalzi you sound like a “Voiceover Bladerunner” kinda guy 🧐

[tvaziri@mastodon.social]

@scalzi correct

[martyfouts@mastodon.online]

@scalzi Sure Grandpa, and I suppose Han shot first.

[chesi@mastodon.social]

@scalzi my grandad says the same. He never watched episode 4 a new hope.

Just star wars

[scalzi@mastodon.social]

@TrimTab No. "A New Hope" was added to the crawl in the 1981 reissue. Also, memory is a funny thing.

Star Wars (film) - Wikipedia

(en.wikipedia.org)

[camethedawnxp@mastodon.social]

. @scalzi same.

[dr_bombay@mstdn.social]

@scalzi PREACH IT

[tribactam@social.vivaldi.net]

@scalzi absolutely

[theowashere@mastodon.social]

@scalzi k gramps

[lufberydrew@tenforward.social]

@scalzi AMEN! My lame claim to fame is that I have seen every Star Wars film in the theater.

[scentedmeat@norcal.social]

@scalzi same

[earthtopus@mspsocial.net]

@scalzi I like how "old enough" works both for as a description of just how far back in time the retitling was, and also serves as a warning signal for a reactionary opinion about name changes (which one also sees about, say, Pluto)

[highlandlawyer@mastodon.social]

@johnhattan @scalzi
For all practical purposes it was only released in UK cinemas in 1978...

[mossman@social.vivaldi.net]

@david_chisnall @scalzi I had an A4-sized soft cover "Star Wars storybook" (should still be in a box somewhere) which must have been created while the film was in final edit or something. It's based on production stills with accompanying text and I'm sure there were images/events in there which I never saw on the screen - or maybe it's just because Lucas kept cutting things around for TV edits and whatnot. E.g. there's a page of Luke and Biggs doing stuff on Tatooine before the droids even show up which I don't remember being in the final cut.

[faduda@mastodon.ie]

@scalzi Remember the happy era when it was a story of how any farm boy could grow up to destroy the evil empire, and not the story of the chosen son of Evil Jesus?

[culturaiconica@mastodon.social]

@scalzi Haha, same, but most around my age also does that... guess it's a "kids these days" kinda thing.

[penguintoot@twit.social]

@scalzi @jsnell Stood in line 3 hours 3x to see “Star Wars” in 1977, when the spaceship flew over our heads at the beginning we knew it was going to be very special. And it always was