THE SCREEN PALY OF STAR WARS

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Star Wars (1977), (aka Star Wars, Episode IV: A New Hope) is one of the most popular, profitable, entertaining, and successful science fiction/action - adventure/fantasy films of all time. The film, shot mostly on location in Tunisia, Guatemala and Death Valley (California), advanced special-effects technology to a degree unseen before, with computerized and digitally-ti

With the sound of the Sand People approaching, they decide to find safety elsewhere. The damaged C-3PO (with a broken arm) and the other droid are put in the landspeeder with Luke and Ben to travel to Kenobi's small desert dwelling. While Luke repairs his droid, he speaks with Ben, denying that his father was ever a Jedi, an heroic warrior-guardian from ancient times who preserved order in the universe: "My father didn't fight in the wars. He was a navigator on a spice freighter." Then, he learns that his uncle told him a lie to keep it a secret from him because "he didn't hold with your father's ideals." Luke is told that Ben is the last living member of a planetary Round Table known as the Jedi Knights: "I was once a Jedi Knight. The same as your father." Luke learns that his father fought in the Clone Wars and was indeed a Jedi, the "best star pilot in the galaxy and a cunning warrior. I understand you've become quite a good pilot yourself. And he was a good friend."
Now that Luke is old enough, Ben goes to his chest and removes a small sword handle to give Luke something his father has passed down to him. According to Ben, Luke's uncle wouldn't allow it and feared that Luke "might follow old Obi-Wan on some damn-fool idealistic crusade like your father did." Kenobi explains the laserbeam light-saber/sword, the weapon of the Jedi Knight:
An elegant weapon, for a more civilized age. For over a thousand generations the Jedi Knights were the guardians of peace and justice in the old republic - before the dark times. Before the Empire.
Luke wants to know more and learns how his father died, finding a justifiable motive for avenging his father's death:
Luke: How did my father die?Ben: A young Jedi named Darth Vader, who was a pupil of mine until he turned to evil, helped the Empire hunt down and destroy the Jedi Knights. He betrayed and murdered your father. Now the Jedi are all but extinct. Vader was seduced by the dark side of the Force.Luke: The Force?Ben: Now, the Force is what gives a Jedi his power. It's an energy field created by all living things. It surrounds us, it penetrates us, it binds the galaxy together.
Ben activates R2-D2's message. Together, they see the holographic image of the beautiful girl and listen to the entire message from Princess Leia, telling about how the stored secret Death Star plans inside R2-D2 must be delivered to her father on Alderaan:
General Kenobi. Years ago, you served my father...Now he begs you to help him in his struggle against the Empire. I regret that I am unable to present my father's request to you in person. But my ship has fallen under attack and I'm afraid my mission to bring you to Alderaan has failed. I've placed information vital to the survival of the rebellion into the memory systems of this R2 unit. My father will know how to retrieve it. You must see this droid safely delivered to him on Alderaan. This is our most desperate hour. Help me Obi-Wan Kenobi. You're my only hope.
Ben tugs at his beard, turns to Luke and advises: "You must learn the ways of the Force if you're to come with me to Alderaan." Luke is uncertain about getting involved in the mission, insisting that he is already in trouble with his uncle who needs him at home to help with the harvest: "Alderaan? I'm not going to Alderaan." Ben needs new blood to continue the fight against the Empire: "I need your help Luke. She needs your help. I'm getting too old for this sort of thing." When Luke only offers excuses, Ben reminds Luke: "That's your uncle talking."
Ben encourages him: "Learn about the Force, Luke." Luke reluctantly decides to help only in a small way by transporting him to the local spaceport: "Look, I can take you as far as Anchorhead. You can get a transport there to Mos Eisley or wherever you're going." Ben accepts with a wily grin: "You must do what you feel is right, of course."
Seated around a large conference table on the fearsome Death Star battle station light years away, the evil Galactic Empire is led by the vicious tyrant, the skeletal Grand Moff Tarkin (Peter Cushing), Governor of the Imperial Outland Regions, whose power-mad goal to dominate every planet within his reach is nearing completion: "The Imperial Senate will no longer be of any concern to us. I have just received word that the Emperor has dissolved the Council permanently, the last remnants of the old Republic have been swept away." One of the officers is concerned about their vulnerability, possible danger to the Death Star and other challenges posed by the Rebels. The Grand Moff's right-hand second-in command, Darth Vader, assures everyone that the stolen plans for the Death Star will soon be back in their hands. Another officer is confident: "Any attack made by the Rebels against this station would be a useless gesture, no matter what technical data they've obtained. This station is now the ultimate power in the universe. I suggest we use it."
But Darth Vader warns of the awesome power of the Force:
Don't be too proud of this technological terror you've constructed. The ability to destroy a planet is insignificant next to the power of the Force.
The officer sneers back at Vader, mocking him: "Don't try to frighten us with your sorcerer's ways, Lord Vader. Your sad devotion to that ancient religion has not helped you conjure up the stolen data tapes, or given you clairvoyance enough to find the Rebel's hidden fortress..." Raising one black armored fist, Darth gives the skeptical officer a demonstration of the powers of the Force. He commands the mystical, evil power of the Force to telekinetically strangle the officer: "I find your lack of faith disturbing." Tarkin commands Vader to release the choking grip: "Enough of this! Vader, release him!" Vader complies and the officer collapses.
The Death Star threatens to rule the galaxy as the greatest and most developed weapon and threat. The Grand Moff assures everyone that Vader will succeed in obtaining the plans and destroying the Rebels: "Lord Vader will provide us with the location of the Rebel fortress by the time this station is operational. We will then crush the rebellion with one swift stroke."
On their return, Ben and Luke discover the blasted, grisly remains of an attack on the Jawa's sandcrawler transport, owned by: "the same Jawas that sold us Artoo and Threepio." On the ground are the bodies of the dead Jawas. Kenobi knows that the destruction was not caused by the Sand People: "These blast points - too accurate for Sand People. Only Imperial stormtroopers are so precise." Suddenly, it dawns on Luke that his relatives are in danger: "If they traced the robots here, they may have learned who they sold them to, and that would lead them back...home!" After Luke speeds home in his landspeeder, he sadly finds the two, incinerated charred skeletons of his aunt and uncle, and their farm has been burned to the ground. Darth Vader's Imperial Forces have already visited in a deadly search for the plans.
Meanwhile, in a dungeon cell within the Death Star, Vader is escorted by Imperial soldiers to enter imprisoned Princess Leia's cell, where he questions her about the location of the hidden Rebel base, threatening robotic torture with a cruel-looking, black, round floating device with sharp needles, containing truth serum. The Princess recoils in fear as they prepare her torture.
Soon, Luke returns to Ben and the droids at the site of the ravaged sandcrawler, where they are burning the bodies of the dead Jawas. Ben comforts Luke, reminding him that he also would have been killed if he had been at home, and that he would have been powerless against the Imperial stormtroopers. Luke has already changed his mind, deciding to accompany Ben to Alderaan, and angrily vowing vengeance for the deaths of his aunt and uncle: "I want to come with you to Alderaan...I want to learn the ways of the Force and become a Jedi like my father."
Luke joins Ben (and the robots) and travels with him in the landspeeder to Mos Eisely, Tatooine's spaceport in a distant province. On a high ridge overlooking the city, Ben warns them to be careful, describing it as a "wretched hive of scum and villainy." At the edge of the city, several white-armored Imperial Force stormtroopers detain them and demand their identification. Ben uses the Force's mind-controlling power to avoid questioning about their droids: "You don't need to see his identification." Trance-like, the trooper repeats his words: "We don't need to see his identification...These aren't the droids we're looking for...You can go about your business...Move along." Luke is incredulous and asks: "I can't understand how we got by those troops. I thought we were dead." "The Force can have a strong influence on the weak-minded," Ben casually explains.
They are searching for a space pilot for-hire who will take them to Alderaan. In one of the film's most humorous and memorable scenes, they enter a dark saloon/cantina populated by bizarre space creatures from all corners of the galaxy. An alien jazz band plays in the spacebar, and other cutthroat lifeforms and creatures sit at tables or at the bar, drinking. The droids are refused service and must remain outside: "We don't serve their kind here." At the bar, two brutal bar thugs (a bulb-eyed alien and a burn scarred-faced human) purposely taunt and threaten Luke: "You just watch yourself. We're wanted men. I have the death sentence on twelve systems." Ben appears at young Luke's side to defend him: "This little one's not worth the effort." But when forced to, Ben ignites his lightsaber and swiftly and fluidly slashes the arm off one of the villains. From then on, they are left alone by the remaining cantina customers. Outside the spacebar, the two droids watch a man from inside the bar come out and tell two Imperial troopers what he has just witnessed inside the cantina.
At one of the corner tables, Ben and Luke discuss their need to find passage to Alderaan with a Corellian smuggler named Han Solo (Harrison Ford). Solo, the pilot of a ship named the Millennium Falcon is joined by his first mate, co-pilot partner, a large, seven-foot furry Wookie/anthropoid named Chewbacca (Peter Mayhew) (similar in character to the Cowardly Lion in The Wizard of Oz). Han brags about the speed of his ship: "You've never heard of the Millennium Falcon?...She's fast enough for you, old man." Ben demands that "no questions (are) asked," to "avoid any Imperial entanglements." Han suggests being paid a mercenary price to be their pilot:
Han: Ten thousand, all in advance.Luke: Ten thousand! We can almost buy our own ship for that.Han: But who's going to fly it, kid? You?Luke: You bet I could. I'm not such a bad pilot myself...Ben: We can pay you two thousand now, plus fifteen when we reach Alderaan.Han: Seventeen, mmm. OK. You guys got yourselves a ship. We'll leave as soon as you're ready. Docking Bay Ninety-Four.
Solo is relieved that he will be paid handsomely - 17,000. Soldiers enter the bar and question the bartender about the lasersword fight. Ben and Luke quickly slip out, as Solo sends Chewbacca to the ship to quickly prepare for departure. Out on the street, Ben and Luke sell their landspeeder to provide their first payment installment for their journey to Alderaan.
Just as Solo leaves, he is stopped by a green-skinned, lizardy bounty hunter named Greedo who has finally found his valuable target and points his gun at Solo: "Going somewhere, Solo?" Solo is heavily in debt to Greedo's boss named Jabba and tries to explain: "Yes, Greedo. As a matter of fact, I was just going to see your boss. Tell Jabba that I've got his money." Greedo tells Solo that it's already too late - a high price has been placed on his head and "every bounty hunter in the galaxy" is looking for Solo. During their discussion at a cantina table, Han carefully releases his holstered weapon out of view under the table and then fires at the alien with an explosive flash of light. The green creature falls forward onto the table, dead. Strolling out of the bar, Solo gives the bartender some money to clean up: "Sorry about the mess."
Aboard the Death Star, Princess Leia's resistance to Darth Vader's mind probe is considerable, and he is delayed in extracting any information about the location of the Rebel Forces from her. The Death Star's commander Grand Moff Tarkin suggests: "an alternative form of persuasion...demonstrating the full power of this station." He orders his navigators: "Set your course for Alderaan."
Hurrying on their way to the docking bay, Luke, Ben and the droids are unaware that they are being followed, and that their location is being reported to Imperial soldiers. When they reach Docking Bay 94, Luke reacts to Solo's rattle-trap ship: "What a piece of junk!" Solo boasts of its speed: "She may not look like much, but she's got it where it counts, kid. I made a lot of special modifications myself. But we're a little rushed, so if you'll just get on board, we'll get out of here." As they prepare to take off, the tipped-off Imperial Force guards rush into the docking bay where a gunblaster battle is fought. Han holds the forces off while Chewbacca prepares for their launch. At the last moment, Han rushes on board, they buckle up, and then blast off into the blue sky from Mos Eisley.
In the cockpit, Han and the Wookie work on the controls as they are pursued by an Imperial Force cruiser and other ships. To evade them and escape capture, they angle the deflector shields as Solo makes calculations to jump into light speed (faster-than-light hyperspeed). Luke is still unimpressed and doubts the ship's capabilities as the ship is pounded by turbolaser fire from the pursuit of the Star Destroyers:
Luke: Why don't you outrun them? I thought you said this thing was fast.Han: Watch your mouth, kid, or you're going to find yourself floating home. We'll be safe enough once we make the jump to hyperspace. Besides, I know a few maneuvers. We'll lose them. Here's where the fun begins.Ben: How long before you make the jump to lightspeed?Han: It'll take a few moments to get the coordinates from the navicomputer.Luke: Are you kidding - at the rate they're gaining?Han: Traveling through hyperspace isn't like dusting crops, boy.
In a spectacular special effects sequence when they jump into the safety of hyperspace, the ship's acceleration roars as stars blur and splinter in their view into brilliant streaks of white light.
Moving into the Alderaan system with the Death Star, the Grand Moff Tarkin plans to test the power of the Death Star by destroying Leia's home of Alderaan, a small bluish-green planet in space. In the control room, he explains his revenge to the Princess, because she refuses to reveal the locations of other space rebels.
Princess: Governor Tarkin, I should've expected to find you holding Vader's leash. I recognized your foul stench when I was brought on board.Grand Moff Tarkin: Charming to the last. You don't know how hard I found it signing the order to terminate your life.Princess: I'm surprised to find you had the courage to take the responsibility yourself. Grand Moff Tarkin: Princess Leia. Before your execution, I would like you to be my guest at a ceremony that will make this battle station operational. No star system will dare oppose the emperor now. Princess: The more you tighten your grip, Tarkin, the more star systems will slip through your fingers. Grand Moff Tarkin: Not after we demonstrate the power of this station. In a way, you have determined the choice of the planet that is to be destroyed first. Since you are reluctant to provide us with the location of the Rebel base, I have chosen to test this station's destructive power on your home planet of Alderaan. Princess: No! Alderaan is peaceful. We have no weapons. You can't possibly...Grand Moff Tarkin: You would prefer another target, a military target? Then, name the system! I grow tired of asking this so it will be the last time. Where is the Rebel base?
The Princess agonizes and then divulges the location of the Rebel base - it is on Dantooine in a different planetary system. Thinking that she has told the truth, the ruthless, untrustworthy Grand Moff Tarkin double-crosses her and orders the operation against Alderaan to proceed anyway, since he still needs to test the Death Star. "You're far too trusting," he tells the Princess. In her horrified and pained view, the blue planet Alderaan is blown to pieces by a powerful superlaser. The Rebel base at Dantooine is the next target to be destroyed.
On board the Millenium Falcon, Luke practices with his Jedi lightsaber, guarding himself against a hovering remote. Mystically connected with the Force, Ben's body weakens at the moment of Alderaan's destruction: "I felt a great disturbance in the Force, as if millions of voices suddenly cried out in terror and suddenly silenced. I fear something terrible has happened."
While Luke continues his exercises, the Wookie plays a game of chess (with miniature, holographic, animated chess pieces / fantastic creatures) against opponent R2-D2. Han Solo warns that Wookies are sore-losers:
Han: Let him have it. It's not wise to upset a wookie.C-3PO: But sir. Nobody worries about upsetting a droid.Han: That's cause a droid don't pull people's arms out of their sockets when they lose. Wookies are known to do that.C-3PO: I see your point, sir. I suggest a new strategy, R2. Let the Wookie win.
Luke practices with the lightsaber, deflecting pulses from the small, remote moving sphere, but missing. Ben mentors Luke, reminding him during his exercises to rely on the instinctual responsiveness of the Force rather than his conscious self:
Ben: Remember a Jedi can feel the Force flowing through him.Luke: You mean it controls your actions?Ben: Partially, but it also obeys your commands. Han (after laughing): Hokey religions and ancient weapons are no match for a good blaster at your side, kid.Luke (to Han): You don't believe in the Force, do you?Han: Kid, I've flown from one side of this galaxy to the other. I've seen a lot of strange stuff, but I've never seen anything to make me believe there's one all-powerful Force controlling everything. There's no mystical energy field controls my destiny! It's all a lot of simple tricks and nonsense. Ben: I suggest you try it again Luke. This time, let go your conscious self and act on instinct.
Ben places a helmet on Luke's head with the blast-shield down to blind him, telling him: "Your eyes can deceive you. Don't trust them. Stretch out with your feelings." Luke calmly evades and deflects three pulses from the remote, successfully using the Force. Skeptically, Han calls it luck. Ben believes otherwise: "In my experience, there's no such thing as luck." But Han disagrees: "Look. Good against remotes is one thing. Good against the living...that's something else." Ben congratulates Luke: "You've taken your first step into a larger world." Solo announces that they are approaching Alderaan.
med special effects. It ultimately helped to resurrect the financial viability of the science-fiction genre, a category of films that was considered frivolous and unprofitable, and brought the phrase "May the Force be with you" into common usage.
Pre-Star Wars director, USC graduate, and writer George Lucas had begun his career as director of the science-fiction film THX 1138 (1971), an expanded version of a prize-winning feature film he made while studying film at USC. It was produced by American Zoetrope and executive-produced by Francis Ford Coppola. He went on to direct and co-write the immensely popular American Graffiti (1973), a nostalgic story about California teenagers in the early 60s. It took four years for Lucas to develop his next film - this astounding cult film about "A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away..." from 20th Century Fox.
The modestly-budgeted production (of about $11 million) from the TCF/LucasFilm production company, made in Britain, was based upon Lucas' recollections of Saturday afternoon matinees, serials, and comic strips, usually with cliff-hanging endings.
The archetypal plot was influenced by a varied anthology of sources and eclectic references:
legendary Buck Rogers and Flash Gordon comic-book heroes and films [Lucas had originally wanted to remake the 1930's Flash Gordon movie serials, but the rights to the comic book character were snapped up first by Dino Di Laurentiis]; the works of cartoonist Alex Raymond included Flash Gordon and Jungle Jim; Lucas cited the classic movie serial Flash Gordon Conquers the Universe (1940) as the direct inspiration for his own space opera
previous science fiction films (such as Forbidden Planet (1956) and Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968))
the saloon setting of westerns (as a model for the inter-galactic watering hole)
the James Bond films
Joseph Campbell's book The Hero with a Thousand Faces
Carlos Castaneda's Tales of Power
medieval knights (King Arthur and Camelot) [Camelot's story also told of a young Prince, who with the help of a sorcerer/Merlin, a Sword and 'the Force' saves a Queen and defeats the Black Knight with the help of his Roundtable aides.]
sorcerers' tales and stories about magic (Tolkien's Lord of the Rings and Carlos Castaneda tales)
warrior legends, myths, fairy tales
Western good-guy vs. bad-guy stories
elements of other classic films or tales (e.g., The Wizard of Oz (1939), John Ford's The Searchers (1956), TV's Star Trek, Fritz Lang's Metropolis (1926), Riefenstahl's Triumph of the Will (1936), and Kurosawa's The Hidden Fortress (1958) and Yojimbo (1961))
Errol Flynn swashbucklers
dogfight-filled WWII war films, such as 633 Squadron (1964)
similar to the Greek tradition of beginning an epic in the middle ("in medias res"), this film (the first in a trilogy) was the fourth film in the entire series
The mythological tale of space-age heroism (fighting Evil for the sake of Good) featured memorable characters - a benevolent ex-Jedi Knight (Guinness), an imprisoned Princess Leia (Fisher) of the peace-loving Rebel Alliance, two comical robotic droids (R2D2, named after a piece of film editor's jargon - Reel 2 Dialog 2, and C3PO), a smuggler/mercenary space-pilot (Ford), a beastly creature named Chewbacca (a Wookie), and an idealistic young boy (Hamill) who becomes trained in the righteous ways of the Force in order to rescue the captured Princess from the evil Empire's Death Star and the dark forces of the Empire, led by evil Darth Vader (voice of James Earl Jones/David Prowse).
Lucas wisely combined three basically-unknown young American actors in the lead roles (Hamill, Fisher, and Ford acting like a screwball comedy threesome) with the acting talents of the great British actor Alec Guinness, and then added a pair of cute robotic droids and a Sesame Street-style creature (Chewbacca) to the mix. [Note that the film's hero, Luke Skywalker or Luke S. (pronounced "Luc-as"), was a way for director Lucas to get his name mentioned, subliminally.]
The blockbuster film left itself open for sequels (and prequels). Lucas announced plans for a second trilogy (and hinted at three more films) ten years after Star Wars' release - in mid 1987. In total, there were really only six films. Two prequels in a second trilogy were released in 1999 and 2002, with a third in mid-2005. The prequels focused on how the father of Luke Skywalker (Anakin Skywalker) succumbed to the dark side of the Force and became the evil Darth Vader:
Star Wars Film Titles (chronological order)
Director
Facts
Star Wars, Episode IV: A New Hope (1977)
Original Theatrical Version: 121 minutes
George Lucas
Grossed $1.5 million in its opening weekend, and overall grossed $780 million; nominated for 10 Academy Awards, winning six (in technical categories); and winner of a Special Achievement award; Star Wars: Special Edition (1997) earned almost $36 million in its opening weekend, and soon topped E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial (1982) as the all-time domestic box-office champ
Star Wars, Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back (1980)
Original Theatrical Version: 124 minutes
Irvin Kershner, George Lucas (exec-producer)
Grossed $6.4 million in its opening weekend and overall grossed $290 million; nominated for 3 Academy Awards, winning one (Best Sound); winner of Special Achievement award; famous for Darth Vader's line: "I am your father" and the severing of Luke's hand; set 4 years after the events in the 1977 film and considered by many to be a superior sequel to Episode IV
Star Wars, Episode VI: Return of the Jedi (1983)(originally titled Revenge of the Jedi)
Original Theatrical Version: 134 minutes
Richard Marquand
Nominated for 4 Academy Awards, winning none; winner of Special Achievement Oscar; grossed $309 million; set single and opening-day box office records; the most under-rated of the segments of the Star Wars saga; the best scene = the speeder bike chase
Prequels
Star Wars, Episode I: The Phantom Menace (1999)
133 minutes
George Lucas (22 years after his original directorial effort)
Grossed $28.5 million in its first day of showings, and reached the $100 million level in a record five days; nominated for 3 Academy Awards, winning none; set 32 years before the original Star Wars films; introduced the young Darth Vader as a 9 year old boy named Anakin Skywalker (Jake Lloyd), and his future love interest - slightly older Queen Padme Amidala (Natalie Portman); also introduced CGI sidekick Jar Jar Binks; best scenes = the epic lightsaber duel, and the pod race through the Tatooine desert
Star Wars, Episode II: Attack of the Clones (2002)
142 minutes
George Lucas
Grossed $80 million in its first weekend (May, 2002); opened six months later in about 60 IMAX theatres; nominated for 1 Academy Award, without a win; shot on Digital Video using a new 24-frame, High-Definition, Progressive scan camera; the title Attack of the Clones is a misnomer - the clones don't attack, but come to the defense of the Jedi; set 10 years after Episode 1, with Anakin Skywalker (Hayden Christensen) now a 19 year old Padawan (apprentice Jedi) to Obi Wan Kenobi (Ewan McGregor); the best scenes = the breathtaking aerial chase through the asteroid field, and the light-saber duel between the good Yoda and the evil Count Dooku (Christopher Lee)
Star Wars, Episode III: Revenge of the Sith (2005)
140 minutes
George Lucas
Released in May 2005, the 28th anniversary of the release of Star Wars, and the first of the films to receive a PG-13 rating; showed how Luke Skywalker's father, Anakin (Christensen), went from a sweet-natured slave boy to the galaxy-crushing villain Darth Vader. The Sith was the evil sect that corrupted Anakin by drawing him into the dark side of the Force - the cosmic power and living energy field that balances the universe; the best scene = the opening space battle
Conversions
All six Star Wars episodes will be converted to 3-D
Expected releases are one per year, starting in 2007
Other
The Star Wars Holiday Special (1978)
Steve Binder, David Acomba (uncredited)
A notoriously bad, two-hour variety TV special for Thanksgiving season that aired on CBS-TV on November 17, 1978 - it featured the original cast members (Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher, C-3PO - Anthony Daniels, Chewbacca - Peter Mayhew) and guest stars including Bea Arthur, Art Carney, Harvey Korman, Diahann Carroll, and the rock group Jefferson Starship. The incomprehensible plot involved Han Solo with his Millennium Falcon getting Chewbacca home to his family for celebration of the Wookiee holiday - called "Life Day." The first 15 minutes of the special were entirely in Wookieese without subtitles! The rest of the film involved long musical numbers and variety performances, including an animated cartoon that introduced bounty hunter Boba Fett of The Empire Strikes Back, and the end song - Fisher hideously singing the "Life Day" song. Lucas reportedly ordered no further airings and destruction of the master videos (so there would be no video/DVD release), while the bootlegged, poorly-dubbed video was circulated among fans for years
Family Guy: Blue Harvest (2007)
Seth MacFarlane
This was the (6th) season premiere show of the TV show Family Guy which first aired on September 23, 2007; it was an hour-long spoof authorized by Lucas (to celebrate Star Wars' 30th anniversary), using rotoscoped images of the show's characters appearing in Star Wars roles, and use of the musical score from the film
The impact of the first film in the series was enormous - tremendous profits helped to generate funding for Lucas' state-of-the-art special effects factory known as Industrial Light and Magic (built in Marin County north of San Francisco), and merchandising associated with the film encouraged an entire marketing industry of Star Wars-related items (i.e., toys, video games, novelty items at fast food restaurants, etc.). In a revolutionary approach to Hollywood film-making and merchandising, Lucas had wisely accepted only $175,000 as his writer's/director's fee in return for the much more lucrative forty percent of merchandising rights for his Star Wars Corporation. Since then, the first five "Star Wars" films grossed over $3.4 billion worldwide at the box office, compared to $9 billion from merchandise sales.
The 20th Century Fox film set box-office records and was a critical success. However, this appealing film was criticized for encouraging a boom in spectacular (but sometimes drab) special-effects laden blockbusters (with thin plot lines) for decades after. It soon became the most commercially-successful film ever made (and held the record for many years). Prophetically, a few years later, the Soviet Union became the 'Evil Empire' during the Presidency of Ronald Reagan, and Reagan proposed a strategic space-defense program (or SDI - Strategic Defense Initiative), dubbed "Star Wars" in November 1985 by the media. Although Lucas went to court to protect his title, he lost the case.
It was nominated for ten Academy Awards, and won in six (mostly technical) categories: Best Art Direction/Set Decoration, Best Sound, Best Original Score (John Williams), Best Film Editing, Best Costume Design, and Best Visual Effects. Its other four nominations were for Best Picture, Best Supporting Actor (Alec Guinness), Best Director, and Best Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen. The film was also awarded with a Special Achievement Award for Sound Effects for the creation of the alien, creature, and robot voices (Benjamin Burtt, Jr.). It was the first feature film to be screened in Dolby Stereo.
The memorable, adventure film saga begins with an opening title card, setting the film's time frame in the distant past:
A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away...
Then, an inventive scrolling of text crawls (or "rolls up") into the black background of space to describe the war, in a "far away" galaxy, between good and evil archetypal forces:
Episode IV, A NEW HOPE It is a period of civil war. Rebel spaceships, striking from a hidden base, have won their first victory against the evil Galactic Empire. During the battle, Rebel spies managed to steal secret plans to the Empire's ultimate weapon, the DEATH STAR, an armored space station with enough power to destroy an entire planet. Pursued by the Empire's sinister agents, Princess Leia races home aboard her starship, custodian of the stolen plans that can save her people and restore freedom to the galaxy....
The Rebel Alliance has attacked the tyrannical evil Galactic Empire, daringly stealing secret plans to the Empire's new battle station, the Death Star. In the opening view, the small Rebel ship belonging to Princess Leia, who possesses the secret plans, is chased across the screen by a large, wedge-shaped Imperial Star Destroyer cruiser of the evil Galactic Empire. Turbolasers strike the Rebel ship's shields and cause its passengers to be buffeted around in a corridor, including two robot droids, a tiny, round barrel-shaped, whistling and bleeping computer robot named R2-D2 (Artoo) (Kenny Baker), and its robotic pal, the constantly talking, tall gold-plated C-3PO (See Threepio) (Anthony Daniels). [C-3PO is clearly modeled after the female robot in Lang's Metropolis (1927).] Armed soldiers run down the hallway. Nervous as explosions rock the ship, C-3PO is pessimistic about their escape from the Imperialistic Forces, because their main reactor has been shut down: "We're doomed. There'll be no escape for the Princess this time." R2-D2 whistles a response. Their ship is sucked into the underbelly of the huge, armored space vehicle by a tractor beam.
Rebel soldiers take their positions at the end of the corridor, preparing to defend the door from an assault. The crippled transport Rebel ship is boarded by an advance guard of white, ceramic-like, space-armored stormtroopers, the Emperor's elite soldiers. A fierce laser-gun battle is fought in the hallway, quickly lost by the Rebel defenders as more and more Imperials charge into the smoking corridor. When control is secured, the leader of the cruel and villainous forces appears - black-garbed, helmeted and faceless Dark Lord of the Sith, Darth Vader (David Prowse, with a deep, breathy voice supplied by James Earl Jones). The two robots escape the crossfire by running across the hallway.
Fighting back against the Evil Empire is slim, white-robed Princess Leia Organa (Carrie Fisher), the leader of galactic Rebel Alliance forces. C-3PO hides from the invading troopers and loses sight of R2-D2. Turning a corner, the golden droid notices a young woman dressed in white - Princess Leia - transmitting the blueprints or plans for the Death Star battleship along with an S.O.S. plea, into the data system face plate of her computer robot R2-D2. When R2-D2 is located, C-3PO worries that they will be sent to "the spice mines of Kessel or smashed into who-knows-what!"
After a valiant and brave fight, the Rebel ship is brought under Imperial control. On the bridge of the captured ship, Darth Vader confronts the Rebel officers, searching for the intercepted transmissions of the Death Star's plans, but he fails to find them in the transport ship's main computer system. He ruthlessly holds one of the unresponsive Rebel officers by the throat and lifts him with one hand, crushing his throat and tossing him to the side. Vader orders his troops to find the plans and bring him the passengers: "I want them alive." Soon after, the Princess is confronted and refuses to surrender. She fires her blaster at the stormtroopers, but is apprehended and taken captive prisoner by Vader's forces.
R2-D2 insists that the two robots enter a restricted area and escape in a lifepod from the ship, bleeping about a "secret mission" and "plans." Threepio refuses to join his droid pal in the cramped spaceship pod, worrying about deactivation for disobedience until an explosion changes his mind. Regretting his decision to follow R2-D2 into the escape module, the two are permitted to jettison away from the stricken Imperial cruiser by Imperial navigators because no "life-forms" are scanned aboard. The two robots escape without harm.
Darth Vader, the Dark Lord, confronts the Princess and demands the plans. The Princess denies knowledge of the blueprints (transmissions beamed by Rebel spies to her ship) and refuses to cooperate, insisting that they have attacked a diplomatic consular ship:
Princess: I'm a member of the Imperial Senate on a diplomatic mission to Alderaan.Darth Vader: You are part of the Rebel Alliance and a traitor. Take her away!Vader's Assistant: Holding her is dangerous. If word of this gets out, it could generate sympathy for the rebellion in the Senate.Vader: I have traced the Rebel spies to her. Now she is my only link to finding their secret base. Assistant: She'll die before she'll tell you anything.Vader: Leave that to me.
Lord Vader orders one of his troops to generate a fake distress signal from the Rebel ship, and then broadcast to the Senate that all the Rebels aboard were killed. Vader is informed that the stolen battle station plans are not aboard the Rebel ship, and that no transmissions were made from the ship. Vader deduces that the plans were hidden somehow by the Princess aboard the jettisoned pod during the battle. He sends a detachment to retrieve the escaped pod and recover the plans: "There'll be no one to stop us this time!"
The two robots crash land their lifepod on Tatooine, a backwater, arid, desert-like planet. There, they wander away from the space pod, lost on the planet's rolling sand dune surface. With a comical "Laurel-and-Hardy" type friendship, C-3PO tells his pal, "We seem to be made to suffer. It's our lot in life." Then he mutters: "What a desolate place this is." C-3PO stubbornly decides to split off from his partner after admonishing his pal's beeps: "Don't get technical with me." They go off in different directions, R2-D2 toward a low lying range of rocky mountains in the distance, and C-3PO across miles of hot desert toward the horizon in the opposite direction.
C-3PO blames his misfortune and being lost on his partner: "That malfunctioning little twerp. He tricked me into going this way, but he'll do no better." He spies a reflective piece of metal, a transport, and he summons it, believing it will save him. Meanwhile, traversing through the desolate, hilly terrain, R2-D2 is spied upon by pairs of eyes from the inner darkness of a cave. When a minor rock slide is noticed, R2-D2 whimpers with a child-like sound. Then, the robot is stunned by the blue magnetic rays of a gun, fired by some "Jawas," small, short, yellow-eyed, brown-cloaked, gremlin-like scavengers and scrap/junk collectors of the planet. With a groan, R2-D2 topples over onto the ground, short-circuited by the electrical bolt.
Immobilized, R2-D2 is deactivated and deposited at a tank-sized vehicle called a sandcrawler, a gigantic rolling factory. A restraining bolt is attached to his outer shell to keep him from escaping. An enormous suction device swallows him up, magnetically lifts him up and dumps him in the holding area in the interior of the sandcrawler. There, as he recovers from the paralyzing effects of the beam, he is reunited with C-3PO in the large junkpile. Stormtroopers quickly track the lifepod and find tracks going off in different directions. They discover a fragment of metal plating in the sand: "Look sir, droids."
The traveling, hooded auctioneers stop at a lonely homestead in the desert. They line up the most suitable robots at their sale - a motley collection of droids. A local moisture farmer Owen Lars (Phil Brown) and his young nephew Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill) survey the droids and barter with the Jawas. Owen asks C-3PO if he understands the binary language of moisture evaporators:
Owen: Can you speak Bocce?C-3PO: Of course I can, sir..It's like a second language to me. I'm as fluent in...
Having heard enough, Owen shouts: "All right, shut up!" and he agrees to buy C-3PO. A whining R2-D2 is abandoned when Uncle Owen chooses a different, smaller red droid along with C-3PO. To R2's delight, the droid short-circuits as it is led away, a faulty unit with a "bad motivator." C-3PO recommends the "prime condition" of the blue R2 unit, a "real bargain." And so, the two droids are bought together. Humorously, C-3PO tells his pal: "Now, don't you forget this! Why I should stick my neck out for you is quite beyond my capacity."
In his uncle's garage, Luke cleans up his two new droids by giving them a decontamination bath, although he dreams and longs to be in other distant worlds: "It just isn't fair...I'm never gonna get out of here!" C-3PO asks if he may offer assistance to his new owner. Luke replies: "Not unless you can alter time, speed up the harvest, or teleport me off this rock!" The young boy describes how far they are from the center of everything: "Well, if there's a bright center to the universe, you're on the planet that it's farthest from." While cleaning R2-D2, Luke notices the droid's carbon scoring: "It looks like you boys have seen a lot of action." C-3PO agrees: "With all we've been through, sometimes I'm amazed we're in as good condition as we are, what with the Rebellion and all."
Luke is intrigued by the droid's knowledge and experiences in the Rebellion: "You know of the Rebellion against the Empire?" While Luke is cleaning, polishing and repairing R2-D2, he accidentally trips one of his switches, and the mechanical robot projects a three-dimensional hologram into the middle of the room - a miniature image of a beautiful girl, the Princess. In a recording that plays over and over, Princess Leia pleads for help from wise and noble Jedi warrior/mentor Ben "Obi-Wan" Kenobi (Sir Alec Guinness):
Help me, Obi-Wan Kenobi. You're my only hope.
R2-D2 bleeps and squeaks, trying to mislead Luke into thinking the image is nothing but a malfunction and a display of old data. Luke wonders about the miniature lady and her message: "Who is she? She's beautiful." C-3PO translates the beeps and blips of R2-D2 for Luke when the droids decide that they can trust their new master: "He says that he's the property of Obi-Wan Kenobi, a resident of these parts. And it's a private message for him." Luke has actually heard of a strange hermit with a similar name, Old Ben Kenobi who lives out beyond the Dune Sea. Luke considers listening to the entire message: "It sounds like she's in trouble. I'd better play back the whole thing." But the message cannot be played in its entirety, as C-3PO interprets: "...the restraining bolt has short-circuited his recording system. He suggests that if you remove the bolt, he might be able to play back the entire recording."
Deciding that the droid is too small to run away, the restraining bolt placed on R2-D2 by the Jawas is removed. Instantly, the message and the lady disappear. R2-D2 stubbornly refuses to play it again - the message will only be played for Obi-Wan Kenobi. Luke is interrupted, called to dinner by his aunt. C-3PO scolds his companion: "Just you reconsider playing that message for him." During the dinner conversation, Luke tells his uncle: "I think that R2 unit we bought might have been stolen...I stumbled across a recording while I was cleaning it. He says he belongs to someone called Obi-Wan Kenobi. I thought he might have meant Old Ben." Both of Luke's relatives turn silent. Luke's uncle, believing "that wizard's just a crazy old man," instructs Luke to erase the memory of the robot the next day because the droid now belongs to them. Luke worries that Obi-Wan may come looking for his robot, but his father answers: "He won't. I don't think he exists anymore. He died about the same time as your father." [Luke is an orphan, cared for by his aunt and uncle.] Luke excitedly asks: "He knew my father?" Owen refuses to answer and wishes the subject dropped: "I told you to forget it."
Luke wisely changes the subject, mentioning his intention to transmit his application to the Academy in the present year if the droids work out satisfactorily. Owen objects, wishing him to apply the next year after another harvest season: "Harvest is when I need you the most. It's only one season more." After Luke stalks out frustrated, his Aunt Beru (Shelagh Fraser) shows some understanding of the boy: "Luke's just not a farmer, Owen. He has too much of his father in him." Owen agrees: "That's what I'm afraid of."
Outside, white-robed Luke stands on a small rise, watching Tatooine's twin suns setting near the horizon. [Tatooine has a binary star system - therefore, he can watch two sunsets every night.] He believes he may never fulfill his dream of piloting a starship to distant worlds, never escaping from the dry arid desert of Tatooine. Returning to the robots in the garage, Luke finds C-3PO hiding and scared: "It wasn't my fault, sir! Please don't de-activate me!" According to C-3PO, R2-D2 is "faulty, malfunctioning. He kept babbling on about his mission" and then wandered off into the desert night. Luke scans the horizon with a pair of electro-binoculars equipped with night-vision, but R2-D2 is nowhere to be seen. Luke decides they must wait until morning to search for him: "It's too dangerous with all the Sand People around...That little droid's gonna cause me a lot of trouble." C-3PO concurs: "Oh, he excels at that, sir."
The next morning, without telling his uncle, Luke and C-3PO give chase into the desert after runaway R2-D2 in a jet-propelled landspeeder, a vehicle which skims a foot off the ground. They are watched from high on a ridge by two dangerous, nomadic warriors called Tusken Raiders (Sand People), riding on shaggy, elephant-like creatures. The landspeeder quickly catches up to R2-D2, who immediately senses and urgently warns them that there are "several creatures approaching from the southeast." Luke guesses Sand People are attacking. He grabs his laser rifle and binoculars and runs to a nearby hill to look for them. As he scans the land, one of the Sand People rises up in front of him with a battle-axe. Luke blocks some of the blows, but is knocked to the ground as the Raider shrieks and raises his axe. Luke faints and is dragged down to the landspeeder where a group of Sand People plan to ransack his vehicle. R2-D2 hides in a small crevice in the rocks.
A terrifying howling is heard from up in the canyon as a mysterious stranger in a brown-hooded cloak approaches. The Sand People immediately scatter and flee in fear. The figure removes the hood from his face to reveal an older man with white hair, a gray beard and kindly face. He greets R2-D2 who peers out of his hiding place: "Hello there. Come here my little friend. Don't be afraid." Luke slowly regains consciousness and recognizes the old hermit: "Ben? Ben Kenobi? Boy, am I glad to see you." Ben is told that the droid was searching for his former master, the property of Obi-Wan Kenobi. Luke asks Ben: "Is he a relative of yours?" This news brings back memories for him, because Ben's alias is Obi-Wan:
Ben: Obi-Wan Kenobi. Obi-Wan. Now that's a name I've not heard in a long time. A long time.Luke: I think my uncle knows him. He said he was dead.Ben (smiling): Oh, he's not dead. Not yet.Luke: You know him?Ben: Well, of course I know him. He's me. I haven't gone by the name of Obi-Wan since, oh, before you were born. Luke: Well then, the droid does belong to you.Ben: I don't seem to remember ever owning a droid. Very interesting.
Meanwhile, on the Death Star, the Grand Moff Tarkin is told that Princess Leia lied about the location of the Rebel forces' base. Vader suspected that the Princess would be deceitful: "I told you she would never consciously betray the Rebellion." Surprised and angered, Tarkin orders: "Terminate her immediately!"
To de-accelerate and resume normal speed when approaching Alderaan's location, the Millennium Falcon comes out of hyperspace. The ship enters into an unchartered meteor shower or asteroid collision: "It's not on any of the charts." Han is startled that Alderaan no longer exists while they dodge asteroids: "Our position's correct except no Alderaan...It ain't there. It's been totally blown away." Ben knows the cause of Alderaan's fate, realizing that the meteor shower is all that is left of Alderaan: "Destroyed...by the Empire." When a short-range Imperial fighter roars past and away from them toward a distant planet/moon, the Falcon pursues after it. As both ships near the planetoid, Ben gasps at the sight of the "moon": "That's no moon...It's a space station." Han disagrees: "It's too big to be a space station."
When Luke views it for the first time, he is dismayed: "I have a very bad feeling about this." The "moon" is a space station - the giant Death Star battle station, the size of a small planet. Although Han attempts to turn them around with auxiliary power, they are drawn, pulled, and helplessly sucked into the huge Death Star by its tractor beam, as Han persists: "They're not going to get me without a fight." Wise Ben suggests another way: "Can't win, but there are alternatives to fighting."
Tarkin is notified that the markings of the freighter match the ship that had escaped from Mos Eisley toward the remains of the Alderaan system. Vader guesses what their motives were: "They must be trying to return the stolen plans to the Princess. She may yet be of some use to us." Imperial troopers who have boarded the Millennium Falcon cannot locate any crew on board. (Han recorded in the log that they had jettisoned in escape pods shortly after takeoff from Mos Eisely.) Vader orders a scan to check the entire ship. He is suspicious when he perceives the presence of his old master and the Force, thinking to himself: "I sense something, a presence I've not felt since..." Darth Vader turns and walks away.
Inside the ship, Han has cleverly avoided detection by hiding everyone in the secret smuggling holds. The door of the hold is lifted up and out pops Han: "I never thought I'd be smuggling myself in them. This is ridiculous. Even if I could take off, I'd never get past the tractor beam." Ben promises that he has a plan to disengage the beam: "Leave that to me." Two stormtrooper guards and a scanning crew who enter the ship with scanning equipment are ambushed and overpowered (off-screen). Han and Luke disguise themselves by wearing the uniforms of the Imperial troopers. In the command station's control room, an Imperial security officer receives no answer when he summons the soldiers guarding the spaceship. While looking down from the control room's window toward the craft, he sees one of the white-armored Imperial guards (Han in disguise) exiting down the craft's ramp, complaining about a malfunctioning helmet. The officer opens the door of the command area to investigate what he believes is one stormtrooper's bad transmitter and is knocked cold by Chewbacca's fist.
After taking charge of the command station control room, R2-D2 plugs into the Death Star's computer terminal to gain access to the entire Imperial network. When the schematics of the main controls to the power beam that holds their ship are located, Ben knows that he must deactivate them: "I don't think you boys can help. I must go alone." Although Luke wants to join him, Ben wants to seek out his former protege, now arch-enemy Darth Vader, leaving Luke to look after the safe delivery of the droids who have the Death Star design plans, instructing: "Your destiny lies along a different path from mine. The Force will be with you, always."
Still plugged into the Death Star's main computer system, R2-D2 locates the precise area of the Princess' detention block. Luke uses a monetary incentive to encourage the mercenary Solo to join him in rescuing the Princess from termination: "She's rich...rich, powerful. Listen, if you were to rescue her, the reward would be...more than you can imagine." Han smirks: "I don't know. I can imagine quite a bit." Although Chewbacca objects, Luke has a plan: they will pretend to be stormtroopers who are taking Chewbacca as a bound prisoner on a prisoner transfer through the halls of the Death Star to the incarceration levels. The droids are left behind in the control room.
The two, dressed in Imperial white-armor with Chewbacca in between as their prisoner, walk down a number of hallways, along the way confronting a small, rodent-like robot on the floor. Chewbacca roars gently, causing it to scurry away. When they reach the cell block detention center by elevator, the Imperial jailer insults their captive: "Where are you taking this thing?" When one of the other guards approaches, an angry and insulted Chewbacca snaps the binders on his wrists and grabs a laser rifle, and they all blast the jailers in a fierce gun battle at the detention block entrance. The monitors and controls of the guard desk are also blown away.
After gaining entrance to the cells, Luke rushes down a corridor to the Princess' cell. Han fails to deceive other security offers over the intercom system, frustratingly blowing apart the entire system. When Princess Leia sees Luke in her cell disguised as an imperial stormtrooper, she asks: "Aren't you a little short for a storm trooper?" He removes his helmet to identify and introduce himself: "I'm Luke Skywalker. I'm here to rescue you." She believes his story when he tells her he has come with her R2 unit and Obi-Wan Kenobi.
In the Death Star's command center, Darth Vader, with his superior powers of ESP, now senses and understands the sensation he had felt earlier - the presence of Kenobi: "He (Obi-Wan Kenobi) is here...A tremor in the Force. The last time I felt it was in the presence of my old master...Don't underestimate the Force..." Vader and Tarkin are informed of the cell block disturbance involving the Princess's escape. Tarkin orders his officers to: "Put all sections on alert!" Vader's sensations are confirmed: "Obi-Wan is here. The Force is with him." When Tarkin assures him that Kenobi will never be able to escape, Vader replies: "Escape is not his plan. I must face him. Alone."
Squads of Imperial stormtrooper forces pursue Luke, Leia, Han, and Chewie down a smoke-filled corridor filled with laser fire. The Princess isn't impressed by her saviors, disgusted that they didn't have a clear escape plan or route: "This is some rescue!...You came in here. Do you have a plan for getting out?" During their escape, Han snaps back: "These are the breaks, sweetheart!" Princess Leia blasts a hole with Luke's blaster in the ventilation shaft and suggests an escape route: "Into the garbage chute, flyboy!" After holding off the troops as long as possible, they all dive into the hole, landing in a locked room filled with garbage and slimy water. A laser blast directed at the door dangerously richocets off all the walls, nearly killing them.
Suddenly, a loud, low roar is heard under the water beneath them. Fearing that something is alive in there, they see a snake-like creature swimming through the water. It pops its single eye out of the water like a periscope. Luke finds a thick tentacle wrapping itself around his legs before he is pulled under the muck, and then threatened by the jaws of an all-consuming monster. Luke splashes to the surface, narrowly avoiding drowning and then is pulled under a second time. After being released, Luke surfaces again just as the compressing walls of the garbage crusher move threateningly closer. Han paraphrases Luke's earlier words: "I got a bad feeling about this." They prop metal pipes and beams between the walls to prevent them from moving toward them, but they snap and fail. Han light-heartedly jokes: "One thing's for sure. We're all going to be a lot thinner."
Communicating remotely with C-3PO and R2-D2 through a communications device, Luke is able to command R2-D2 to plug into the main computer through a socket located on the landing near the Millenium. Luke commands them to shut down all the garbage smashers on the detention level. Hearing shouts and shrieks of joy when the garbage compactors are turned off, C-3PO mistakenly thinks they have been crushed to death: "Listen to them! They're dying R2. Curse my metal body. I wasn't fast enough. It's all my fault. My poor master." Then, when told they are safe, the garbage maintenance hatchs on their level are opened to release them.
Calmly moving through the corridors of the Death Star, Ben silently reaches the tractor beam controls, situated over a deep trench. He sabotages the controls by shutting down the power beam and deactivating the tractor beam which holds their ship. Luke and Han remove their stormtrooper disguises. A chauvinistic Han is unhappy with the Princess's assertion of control and advice:
Han: If we just avoid any more female advice, we ought to be able to get out of here.Princess: ...I don't know who you are or where you came from, but from now on, you do as I tell you. OK?Han: Look! Your Worshipfulness! Let's get one thing straight. I take orders from just one person. Me.Princess: It's a wonder you're still alive. Will somebody get this big walking carpet (Chewbacca) out of my way?Han: No reward is worth this.
When the Princess first views the Falcon spaceship, she marvels at the contraption: "You came in that thing? You're braver than I thought." When they turn a corner, they confront another squad of stormtroopers. Han charges into them with Chewbacca behind him, blasting away with their laser guns. Luke and the Princess go in a different direction, fleeing down another hallway where Luke nearly falls off the dead-end ledge of the floor down into a deep shaft, exclaiming: "I think we took a wrong turn." They are trapped at the dead end, pursued from behind by troopers. Luke blasts the door's controls so that the door is stuck in a shut position. With a grappling hook and a cable from his belt, he secures the line on a metal beam high above. As she wraps her arms around his waist and kisses him "for luck" on the cheek, they both successfully swing across the void.
In one of the Death Star's abandoned hallways, Vader steps from the dark shadows to confront Obi-Wan, his former master. The two mortal enemies face each other with laser lightsabers/swords after Vader has greeted his foe. During a fantastic dueling scene with Kenobi's blue and Vader's red laser beams humming and hissing as they strike, the opponents taunt each other:
Vader: I've been waiting for you, Obi-Wan. We meet again at last. The circle is now complete. When I left you, I was but the learner. Now I am the master.Obi-Wan: Only a master of evil, Darth. Vader: Your powers are weak, old man.Obi-Wan: You can't win, Darth. If you strike me down, I shall become more powerful than you can possibly imagine...Vader: You should not have come back.
During their confrontational laser duel to the death, Luke, Leia, Han, Chewie, and the droids all reach the Millennium Falcon. Luke notices Ben locked in a dueling combat and cries out: "Ben." A smile crosses the wise old Jedi's face, he lowers his sword, holds it straight up as if in prayer, while Vader is allowed to strike him in half. His brown robe crumples onto the floor as his body vanishes from inside. Luke cries out in anguish when the death blow is struck. Sacrificing himself for his escaping comrades, Ben diverts attention from the rest of the Falcon group and everyone (except Luke) successfully reaches the safety of the ship. Ben's death also releases the Force from his body and it travels to his companions. Moments later, Luke hears Ben's voice, telling him to leave the fight and join his comrades on the ship: "Run Luke, run."
Solo pilots their ship, starts the engines, and makes their escape from the Death Star in his beat-up space ship, unlocked from the tractor beam. Luke is deeply saddened and grieved by Ben's death: "Can't believe he's gone." The droids and Princess Leia comfort him: "There wasn't anything you could have done." But they have no time to mourn - they must defend themselves, engaging in a vicious dogfight with pursuing Imperial spacefighters. Han alerts everyone: "We're not out of this yet." Han and Luke take the freighter's turret guns to prepare to fight. During the vicious battle scene, R2-D2 extinguishes a fire which has started on board. Solo congratulates but cautions Luke after he successfully shoots down the first Imperial fighter: "Great kid. Don't get cocky." Han then hits a second fighter, and finally, they evade and shoot down two other fighters, causing them to burst into balls of white flames.
As Tarkin and Vader watch the Millennium Falcon escape into hyperspace, they divulge their plan. Tarkin asks Vader: "You're sure the homing beacon is secure aboard their ship? I'm taking an awful risk, Vader. This had better work." Han boasts about their escape by congratulating himself. Princess Leia senses their escape was easy because they were deliberately let go. She thinks they are being tracked, but Han doesn't believe her. Princess Leia hopes that R2's technical readouts of the Death Star battle station will provide them with key information about its flaws. The mercenary-minded Han announces to the Princess that his job is finished. Jokingly, Han asks Luke if there is any chance that the Princess would fall for someone like him:
Han: Not a bad bit of rescuing, huh? You know, sometimes I amaze even myself.Leia: That doesn't sound too hard. They let us go. It's the only explanation for the ease of our escape.Han: Easy, you call that easy?! Leia: They're tracking us.Han: Not this ship, sister.Leia: At least the information in R2 is still intact.Han: What's so important? What's he carrying?Leia: The technical read-outs of that battle station. I only hope that when the data's analyzed, a weakness can be found. It's not over yet.Han: It is (over) for me, sister. Look, I ain't in this for your revolution and I'm not in it for you, Princess. I expect to be well paid. I'm in it for the money.Princess: You needn't worry about your reward. If money is all that you love, then that's what you'll receive. (To Luke) Your friend is quite a mercenary. I wonder if he really cares about anything - or anybody. (She turns and leaves.)Luke: I care. (To Han, as he slips in the seat next to him.) So, what do you think of her, Han?Han: I'm tryin' not to, kid.Luke: Good.Han: Still, she's got a lot of spirit. Whaddya think? Do you think a Princess and a guy like me...Luke: (interrupting with a quick response) NO!
They are guided to land on the secret Rebel base on the far side of the 4th moon of a small planet named Yavin. There, the base is hidden in an ancient temple protected by a thick green jungle. Inside the Rebel base after they land, the Alliance leaders extract and study the Death Star technical readouts and blueprint data from R2-D2's computer data banks, discovering all the inner workings of the battle station. In their plan of attack explained by the Rebel commander to a small group of Rebel fighters which includes Luke, the pilots are briefed on the one vulnerable Achilles' heel "weakness" - a long, narrow shaft at the center. If penetrated, entered by a small one-man fighter after a difficult approach, and struck in a direct hit with a proton torpedo, it will explode the entire leviathan in a lethal chain reaction. The squadron fliers are told:
The approach will not be easy. You're required to maneuver straight down this trench and skim the surface to this point. The target area is only two meters wide. It's a small thermal exhaust port right below the main port. The shaft leads directly to the reactor system. A precise hit will start a chain reaction which should destroy the station. Only a precise hit will set off a chain reaction.
Although most of the pilots look at each other in disbelief, Luke is confident that it is not impossible: "I used to bullseye womp rats in my T16 back home. They're not much bigger than two meters." The squad of fighter pilots is told: "Man your ships, and may the Force be with you." Meanwhile, the Death Star approaches and soon will be within firing range of the planet - Vader contemplates the final end to the Rebels: "It'll be a day long remembered. It's seen the end of Ben Kenobi. It'll soon see the end of the rebellion."
In the hangar after collecting rewards, Han and Chewie load crates onto the Falcon to prepare to leave. Han refuses to be a part of what he considers a foolish and suicidal mission: "What good is a reward if you ain't around to use it? Besides, attacking that battle station ain't my idea of courage. It's more like suicide." But as he departs, Han Solo says goodbye to Luke with: "May the Force be with you." Chewie growls softly at Han as Luke walks away. Han talks back: "What're you lookin' at? I know what I'm doing."
Now that Han has decided to desert him and Ben is dead, Luke, who is willing to sacrifice his life to save the Rebels, is upset about his chances of success. Princess Leia tenderly kisses him on the cheek to encourage him. Luke slips into his X-wing fighter's cockpit as part of the Red Group squadron, refusing a replacement droid for R2: "Not on your life. That little droid and I have been through a lot together." C-3PO expresses his concern for his pal as well: "Hang in tight. You've got to come back. You wouldn't want my life to be boring, would you?"
When the fighter planes and pilots are ready for take off, Luke hears Ben's spirit speaking to him: "Luke, the Force will be with you." The Death Star approaches within 15 minutes range of the Rebel base after the rebel squadron has left.
Pilots in the Red and Gold Groups report in to their wing commanders, who then guide their fighters into attack formation at attack speed against the Death Star. Luke signals his approach: "This is Red Five. I'm going in." As he attacks a target, a large plume of explosive gas almost envelopes his fighter, but he escapes a fiery death and reports back: "I got a little cooked, but I'm ok." Because the fighters are small and quick-moving, they are difficult and evasive targets for the Imperial turbolaser defenses and blaster cannons. Vader orders Imperial crews to their enemy fighters: "We'll have to destroy them ship to ship. Get the crews to their fighters."
Now there are only seven minutes until the Rebel ships are within firing range of the Death Star, and time is running out before the rebel planet is destroyed by Vader's Death Ray. As the Rebel fighters plunge toward the Death Star's surface to enter the trench and reach the target area, Luke hears Ben's advice inside his helmet: "Luke, trust your feeling." The engines of the Imperial fighters screech into range as they enter into the impressively choreographed space battle/attack. Most of the Rebel fighters are shot out of the sky by Imperial fighters, but Vader is concerned about a few of the most daring fighters who appear to be attacking into the trench.
Vader takes two soldiers away with him and personally joins the fight in his own fighter: "Several fighters have broken off from the main group. Come with me." Luke is attacked from behind, but saved when another Rebel fighter comes to his aid. The Rebel fighters of the Gold Group attack down the open trench corridor, the canyon-like, sub-level entrance way to their vulnerable target. But one by one, as they rely on their computerized targeting units, Darth Vader and his Imperial fighters drop in behind them and destroy them. There are only five minutes until the Death Star will be in range of the Rebel base.
During the heated battle, Tarkin is warned by one of his officers of the potential danger of the Rebel attack pattern: "We've analyzed their attack, sir, and there is a danger. Should I have your ship standing by?" Tarkin believes an escape plan is unnecessary: "Evacuate? In our moment of triumph? I think you overestimate their chances!" "Three minutes and closing" is heard from the computer graphic showing the emergence of the planet. More of the Rebel fighters of the Red Group (Luke's group) enter the Dogfight Alley trench, but two fighters are blown up like the others before them. When the third commander views the target in his computer, he reports: "Almost there." But when he fires his torpedos at the target, they explode harmlessly on the surface, not entering into the exhaust port to do the ultimate damage. Vader destroys the courageous commander's fighter as it pulls away.
After two unsuccessful attempts to reach their objective, Luke is the last hope of the Rebels. With only one minute remaining, Darth Vader has eliminated his other two wingmen in their trench approaches. Luke "the leader" is the only hope left. He enters the deadly trench guiding the last of the Rebel ships in an attack run, telling his support: "It's just like Beggar's Canyon back home." Just as he too is about to be eliminated by Vader while speeding down the narrow corridor, he hears Ben's familiar voice re-assuring him:
Use the Force, Luke. Let go, Luke. Luke, trust me.
Vader senses the strength of Luke's Force: "The Force is strong with this one." Relying on the Force, Luke switches off his targeting computer, using his own intuition instead. Vader approaches closer and shoots a blast, hitting R2-D2 and knocking him out of commission. At that same moment, the Death Star views the Rebel planet within striking distance and commences firing ignition. Darth Vader eagerly views his target, with Luke's fighter in his sights: "I have you now!"
Providing surprise backup support in their battered freighter, roguish Han Solo and Chewbacca unexpectedly reappear to defend Luke just as Darth Vader is preparing to destroy his Rebel fighter. Solo screams: "Yahoo!" and blasts away at the Imperial fighters from behind. Vader's fighter craft is clipped by one of his own fighters, causing him to hurtle wildly out of control into deep space. Han assures him to continue: "You're all clear, kid. Now let's blow this thing and go home."
In the exciting conclusion, Luke moves toward the target area and fires his two proton torpedoes at exactly the right instant with a well-placed shot into the shaft. Han, Luke, and the remaining Rebel fighters swiftly fly away from the Death Star. Instead of the Rebel planet exploding, the Death Star flashes and explodes in a destructive shower of white, killing the evil forces. Han praises him over his speaker: "Great shot, kid. That was one in a million." Ben makes a final spiritual appearance to Luke, telling him:
Remember, the Force will be with you, always.
Luke in his Red Five and Han and Chewie in their Falcon, among the few remaining Rebel fighters to survive, return to the safety of the Rebel base. There in front of a cheering crowd, Luke hugs the Princess and spins her around. Han arrives and explains his turnabout: "Well, I wasn't gonna let you get all the credit and take all the rewards." She acknowledges his good deed: "I knew it was more to you than money." R2-D2, damaged during the final trench assault, is badly in need of repair and C-3PO is desperately concerned to help: "If any of my circuits or gears would help, I'd gladly donate them."
During an elaborate and triumphant celebration held later in the main temple, hundreds of Rebel troops are lined up to mark the victory. [This final sequence recalls both The Wizard of Oz (1939) and Triumph of the Will (1934).] At the far end is the white-robed beautiful Princess Leia on a stage. The heroes march down the aisle and are each decorated and honored with golden medallions for their bravery by the Princess, for the triumph of good over evil - and the birth of New Hope. Then, the heroes turn and face the assembled troops who bow before them.