<P> The Death Star assault scene was modeled after the World War II film The Dam Busters (1955), in which Royal Air Force Lancaster bombers fly along heavily defended reservoirs and aim bouncing bombs at dams, in order to cripple the heavy industry of Germany's Ruhr region . Some of the dialogue in The Dam Busters is repeated in the Star Wars climax; Gilbert Taylor also filmed the special effects sequences in The Dam Busters . In addition, the sequence was partially inspired by the climax of the film 633 Squadron (1964), directed by Walter Grauman, in which RAF de Havilland Mosquitos attack a German heavy water plant by flying down a narrow fjord to drop special bombs at a precise point, while avoiding anti-aircraft guns and German fighters . Clips from both films were included in Lucas's temporary dogfight footage version of the sequence . </P> <P> The opening shot of Star Wars, in which a detailed spaceship fills the screen overhead, is a reference to the scene introducing the interplanetary spacecraft Discovery One in Stanley Kubrick's seminal 1968 film 2001: A Space Odyssey . The earlier big - budget science fiction film influenced the look of Star Wars in many other ways, including the use of EVA pods and hexagonal corridors . The Death Star has a docking bay reminiscent of the one on the orbiting space station in 2001 . Although golden and male, C - 3PO was inspired by the silver female robot Maria, the Maschinenmensch from Fritz Lang's 1927 film Metropolis . </P> <P> The film was originally released in 1977 with the title "Star Wars". The subtitles Episode IV and A New Hope were only added to the opening crawl in subsequent re-releases . Accounts differ as to when this designation was first added; some date the change at the theatrical re-release of April 10, 1981, while others place it much earlier at the re-release in July 1978 . The retroactive addition of these subtitles was intended to bring the film into line with the introduction to its sequel, The Empire Strikes Back, which was released in 1980 bearing the designation "Episode V". It is uncertain if the introduction of an episodic naming convention was an indicator of Lucas's original intent, or if this was simply a later redraft of the narrative . According to some accounts, Lucas has claimed that he was discouraged by Twentieth Century Fox from using an episode number on a new film because it would confuse audiences . Gary Kurtz has stated that he and Lucas had originally considered using an episode number for Star Wars to emulate the chapter numbering used in the 1936 Flash Gordon installments, but they were uncertain whether they should designate it Episode III, IV or V. However, some of Lucas's early script drafts bear titles such as "The Adventures of the Starkiller (Episode One): The Star Wars" (1975) or "The Adventures of Luke Starkiller as Taken from the Journal of the Whills: Saga One: Star Wars" (1976). The Revised Fourth Draft of the script dated January 1975 acquired the subtitle "Episode IV--A New Hope--from the Journal of the Whills" when published in the 1979 book The Art of Star Wars . </P> <P> While the film was in production, a logo was commissioned from Dan Perri, a title sequence designer who had worked on the titles for films such as The Exorcist (1973), Taxi Driver (1976). Perri devised a foreshortened STAR WARS logotype consisting of block - capital letters filled with stars and skewed towards a vanishing point . This logo design was originally conceived to follow the same perspective as the film's opening crawl . In the end, Perri's logo was not used for the film's opening title sequence, although it was used widely on pre-release print advertising and on cinema marquees . </P>

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