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"A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away..."
From the moment these words filled up the screen to ecstatic audiences in May of 1977, a legend was born. That's a pretty cliché way of putting it (since, chronologically, this happens to be the fourth chapter in the saga), but there is some serious truth behind the impact that this, the original Star Wars, left upon many viewers. It's hard to believe that this movie ever got made, too. It was George Lucas's brainchild project since childhood, but when shooting this movie, he ran into production problem after problem after problem--many executives predicted that Star Wars would die at the box office. And now look at what place it has in the history of moviegoers. If Star Wars had not been the megahit that it was, there would be no sequels, no prequels, no fans going around reciting memorable quotes from the movie ("May the force be with you!"), and, well, all that it is.
Looking upon Star Wars, retitled in subsequent reissues as Episode IV: A New Hope, it's not hard to understand why this film became such a status of pop culture. Sure, it doesn't have the flashy graphics of today's big, loud and noisy CGI films (although this reincarnation does; more on that later)--but what makes this movie such a classic is simply because, at heart, it is great FUN. The storyline is epic and action-packed (the starship battles and the climactic Death Star Trench fight continue to thrill no matter how many times you see them), the atmosphere that Lucas created is imaginative and engaging, and, best of all, it has a cast of characters that have quickly become household names--eager, earnest young hero Luke Skywalker; dashing, courageous Captain Han Solo; tempestuous yet regal Princess Leia; furry Wookie Chewbacca; wise, saintly Obi-Wan Kenobi; ruthless helmeted villain, Darth Vader; and of course, those lovable robots (sorry, droids), C-3PO and R2-D2.
Lucas has never really been gifted at directing actors, but unlike the later prequels, which suffered from some stiff performances, he got fairly lucky with his first entry. Although there are moments of stiff delivery, at the very least the cast manages to handle the material with just the right amount of exuberance. Indeed, it is hard to imagine a better trio than Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford, and Carrie Fisher as the three human leads, Alec Guiness as the elderly Jedi Master, Anthony Daniels as the golden, worrisome robot, or even James Earl Jones' memorably stentorian voice as Vader (one of cinema's greatest vocal performances ever).
Equally memorable is John Williams' soundtrack, the title fanfare has been used in every Star Wars movie to date, and of course, the motifs Williams creates for the characters fit them to a T. One can only imagine the atmosphere of Star Wars had it been scored by someone else....
With all this, and more, it's no wonder that Star Wars's impact is still going strong, and, at the risk of causing controversy, the original trilogy can easily hold its own against some of the more cinematically complex and impressive trilogies of our time such as The Lord of the Rings, The Godfather, and Back to the Future.
However, George Lucas wasn't satisfied with his original version of Star Wars, so in 1997, he and his company, LucasFilm Ltd., re-released the film as a "Special Edition". This version consists of some added-in and/or altered scenes as well as some more enhanced visual effects. Purists have opposed these additions, especially since Lucas has not decided to release the original print of Star Wars on DVD or BD. While this is a valid argument, Lucas himself has stated that this revamp is his vision. For the most part, some of the alterations work well -- a brief scene involving Luke's friend Biggs is a nice bonus, even if it is marred by one clumsy edit, and the climactic X-Wing Trench battle actually looks even better with the CG enhancements. There have also been cases where dust, dirt, and matte boxes were on the original print, and to have those removed provides better results.
That said, there were some changes that have caused controversy, and diehard fans still rage about them today. One in particular involves a showdown between Han and an alien, Greedo. In the original cut, Han takes out Greedo in one blast, but in the new edition, it is Greedo who takes the first shot before Han fires. For fans who saw Han as something of an anti-hero, this was a jarring move, and understandably so -- it flows very clumsily.
Then there's the added in scene with Jabba the Hutt -- one that Lucas originally shot for the movie but couldn't complete due to budget constraints. While it is nice to have this scene in, the CG model for Jabba (at least in the 1997 edition) doesn't look on par with his counterpart in Return of the Jedi, and a moment where Han steps on his tail looks distractingly goofy. (Subsequent issues have a more improved model.) As nice as this scene is, I feel that it might be better if it were cut since it repeats a lot of lines Han says in the previous scene. The Mos Eisley extension scene also suffers from similar goofy antics from droids.
In the end, Star Wars's entertainment value still remains as timeless as it does, although the original cut does get an edge over the Special Edition for being tighter and faster-paced, overall. Regardless of which version, there's no denying this movie's classic status in cinema.
"A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away..."
From the moment these words filled up the screen to ecstatic audiences in May of 1977, a legend was born. That's a pretty cliché way of putting it (since, chronologically, this happens to be the fourth chapter in the saga), but there is some serious truth behind the impact that this, the original Star Wars, left upon many viewers. It's hard to believe that this movie ever got made, too. It was George Lucas's brainchild project since childhood, but when shooting this movie, he ran into production problem after problem after problem--many executives predicted that Star Wars would die at the box office. And now look at what place it has in the history of moviegoers. If Star Wars had not been the megahit that it was, there would be no sequels, no prequels, no fans going around reciting memorable quotes from the movie ("May the force be with you!"), and, well, all that it is.
Looking upon Star Wars, retitled in subsequent reissues as Episode IV: A New Hope, it's not hard to understand why this film became such a status of pop culture. Sure, it doesn't have the flashy graphics of today's big, loud and noisy CGI films (although this reincarnation does; more on that later)--but what makes this movie such a classic is simply because, at heart, it is great FUN. The storyline is epic and action-packed (the starship battles and the climactic Death Star Trench fight continue to thrill no matter how many times you see them), the atmosphere that Lucas created is imaginative and engaging, and, best of all, it has a cast of characters that have quickly become household names--eager, earnest young hero Luke Skywalker; dashing, courageous Captain Han Solo; tempestuous yet regal Princess Leia; furry Wookie Chewbacca; wise, saintly Obi-Wan Kenobi; ruthless helmeted villain, Darth Vader; and of course, those lovable robots (sorry, droids), C-3PO and R2-D2.
Lucas has never really been gifted at directing actors, but unlike the later prequels, which suffered from some stiff performances, he got fairly lucky with his first entry. Although there are moments of stiff delivery, at the very least the cast manages to handle the material with just the right amount of exuberance. Indeed, it is hard to imagine a better trio than Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford, and Carrie Fisher as the three human leads, Alec Guiness as the elderly Jedi Master, Anthony Daniels as the golden, worrisome robot, or even James Earl Jones' memorably stentorian voice as Vader (one of cinema's greatest vocal performances ever).
Equally memorable is John Williams' soundtrack, the title fanfare has been used in every Star Wars movie to date, and of course, the motifs Williams creates for the characters fit them to a T. One can only imagine the atmosphere of Star Wars had it been scored by someone else....
With all this, and more, it's no wonder that Star Wars's impact is still going strong, and, at the risk of causing controversy, the original trilogy can easily hold its own against some of the more cinematically complex and impressive trilogies of our time such as The Lord of the Rings, The Godfather, and Back to the Future.
However, George Lucas wasn't satisfied with his original version of Star Wars, so in 1997, he and his company, LucasFilm Ltd., re-released the film as a "Special Edition". This version consists of some added-in and/or altered scenes as well as some more enhanced visual effects. Purists have opposed these additions, especially since Lucas has not decided to release the original print of Star Wars on DVD or BD. While this is a valid argument, Lucas himself has stated that this revamp is his vision. For the most part, some of the alterations work well -- a brief scene involving Luke's friend Biggs is a nice bonus, even if it is marred by one clumsy edit, and the climactic X-Wing Trench battle actually looks even better with the CG enhancements. There have also been cases where dust, dirt, and matte boxes were on the original print, and to have those removed provides better results.
That said, there were some changes that have caused controversy, and diehard fans still rage about them today. One in particular involves a showdown between Han and an alien, Greedo. In the original cut, Han takes out Greedo in one blast, but in the new edition, it is Greedo who takes the first shot before Han fires. For fans who saw Han as something of an anti-hero, this was a jarring move, and understandably so -- it flows very clumsily.
Then there's the added in scene with Jabba the Hutt -- one that Lucas originally shot for the movie but couldn't complete due to budget constraints. While it is nice to have this scene in, the CG model for Jabba (at least in the 1997 edition) doesn't look on par with his counterpart in Return of the Jedi, and a moment where Han steps on his tail looks distractingly goofy. (Subsequent issues have a more improved model.) As nice as this scene is, I feel that it might be better if it were cut since it repeats a lot of lines Han says in the previous scene. The Mos Eisley extension scene also suffers from similar goofy antics from droids.
In the end, Star Wars's entertainment value still remains as timeless as it does, although the original cut does get an edge over the Special Edition for being tighter and faster-paced, overall. Regardless of which version, there's no denying this movie's classic status in cinema.