Star Wars fans who saw the original trilogy in theatres

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did the original versions of the empire strikes back have episode v in the opening crawl? or was it something different?

*same question for return of the jedi

I didn't see them in theatres, but based on everything I've read, Empire and Jedi had "Episode V" and "Episode VI" in the crawls from the beginning, but Hope didn't have "Episode IV" until a re-release around 1980 or so.

Star Wars was titled only that. No "Episode IV". No "A New Hope". Those were added for the re-release in 1981 after The Empire Strikes Back came out.

I was at the very first showing of TESB and remember being quite surprised when the subtitle "Episode V" came up (so much that I said so out loud), so that and Jedi had the subtitles in their original runs. Jedi was originally going to be titled "Revenge of the Jedi" until fans heard and objected as it went against Good Jedi philosophy. It's probably the last time that George Lucas listened to the fans and made a good change.

Wow, good question. I've seen them all since then multiple times on home video and DvD and saw the Special Editions in the theater and more than thirty years have passed - I can't recall a detail like that after all this time.

I know when Empire was getting huge buzz in the media pre-release, there was already talk about the fact that Lucas intended for the story to have multiple installments - I originally read there were supposed to be 9 episodes altogether, but he eventually scrapped the last 3. Probably thought he wouldn't live long enough to do that many, but with advancements in CGI, I think he could now.

Anyway, point is, when Empire was released I don't recall any specific impression of just where in the story arc it fell, other than after what is now known as A New Hope. If it had said EPISODE V at the top of the crawl, I'm pretty sure that would have made an impression I'd remember. It would have been new info and we were soaking up trivia wherever we could get it in those days. So I don't think the V was there at the time.

OTOH, by the time Jedi came out, we all knew it was the end of the second trilogy and the next three were to be prequels, so if the crawl said EPISODE VI at the top, it would not have been a big reveal, therefore less likely to be a memorable detail.

I honestly do not recall, but I'm pretty sure Empire did not have the V, Jedi might have had the VI, but I can't say for sure.

Okay, yes I can. I went and checked the DvDs that purport to be the 'original theatrical release' of each film.

The first one has no number, nor does it say 'New Hope' - just as it should be.

Empire does in fact say EPISODE V at the top of the crawl, and Jedi does say EPISODE VI (though neither has the episode title in the crawl). As far as I can see, all the other logos and nomenclature are just as I remember them, or just as I would expect they should be, so it appears that Lucasfilm has indeed released them as they were in their pristine original state. Oddly, of the three, only Jedi has had the '20th Century Fox Home Video' logo added to the front.

So, long story short - yes, they did.

Wow...that's going back to the 1970s.

As I recall, I don't think a chapter number was given in the original 3 movies.

No, there were subheadings in TESB and ROTJ. Lucas doesn't seem to like to talk about it any more, but when he made that first film, nobody in Hollywood thought sci-fi films had any future (if you'll pardon the expression). After all, the last one that had any kind of success had been 2001, back in 1968, almost ten years earlier. Since then, it had all been flops like Logan's Run and Silent Running. There was no certainty that there would ever be a second Star Wars film; in fact, had 20th Century Fox's expectations been met, it might well have ended Lucas' career. Much of the basis of his wealth came from the fact that 20th had so little faith in Star Wars, they let Lucas keep the merchandising right.

Once the first film became a resounding success, Lucas knew he'd be able to make at least two more, and he started giving them chapter numbers. Initially, this was so that they would feel more like the movie serials of Lucas' childhood, which had been what he'd been aiming for in the first place - you might drop in to the theater on a Saturday morning and find yourself facing Chapter 3 of the latest Flash Gordon serial, with only the title card to fill you in on the story so far.

Later, of course, Lucas filled this in with a grand story of the sweeping background concept he'd supposedly had in mind - he is a mythmaker, after all - but there was certainly no hint of that in any interviews he gave prior to the run-up to ROTJ...