Originally Posted by CDSmith

From the time that Episode IV first came out it was said that it was 4 of 9 episodes. I'm sure it's all over the place on star wars sites and fan sites and such. YOU do the search. I am 100% sure that it was originally a 9 episode series.

I was in the theater back in the 70's when it first came out... the very first one. Everyone noticed in the opening text dialogue that it said "Episode 4", and everyone was asking about why it was episode 4 and not episode 1... and it was learned at that time that it was actually 4 of 9.

I thought it was common knowledge, but I guess not. :D