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Before we begin let me set the scene: the landscape of film has not yet been claimed by something as lasting and influential. The TV world has already been introduced to The Doctor and the crew of the U.S.S. Enterprise. The film world had seen it’s share of individual movies but nothing that would create such a lasting impression on the world for generations for come. There was nothing that was about to kickstart a legacy that was about to turn forty years old with no signs of slowing.
The stage was wide open for them to come in and claim it for their own.
The stage lights are off. A few words come up, blue in silence. A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away...
There is nothing after the fanfare, the pause that comes before the start of every great show. Then the full lights come on with the blast of that first note. Dun-dun-dun-dun dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun da-dun-Dun da-da-da-dahhh-dahhh da-da-da-da-dah da-da-da-da.
Then the words start flying up. This is the introduction, this is the prologue. These are the words you will remember; the words that will begin to paint a world as in depth and indescribable as all of the stars behind the lettering. This is Star Wars and it is the beginning of something.
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....
A spaceship crawls across the screen. Inside men are running, both in defence and fear. Along a corridor there is a young woman in a white dress bending down to give something to a droid. Then she straightens up, puts her hood back up and darts away.
She is taken prisoner but there is something about the way she holds herself and the tone of her voice which tells you that she has not defeated. That she will not admit defeat. She is brave and fearless, even in the face of true evil and she is all the more wonderful for it. She is the heroine you have been waiting for. Someone strong of mind and will, resilient enough to have a backup plan. A leader, a fighter, and a princess.
Then there are the droids being sent through space. They have something special, a message of hope that will bring together unlikely heroes. One droid talks too much while the other speaks only in a series of beeps that you don’t understand. Yet you understand them both. They have a rapport, a friendship between the fearless and the afraid.
They find the boy. This is your hero. He is young: a farm boy of nineteen being raised by his aunt and uncle. Like many other teenagers he can’t wait to leave home and go off and do his own thing but he is grounded by his family. They have raised him and when they tell him to stay and help he has no choice but to do so. He is restless at home. Too like his father they say. For some reason his uncle is afraid that his nephew will be too like the father but there is nothing more said. Luke Skywalker’s past is a mystery.
Then the droids come to be in his ownership. The droids that were sent far away are bought by Owen Lars which leads Luke to the discovery of a message. “Help me Obi-Wan Kenobi. You’re my only hope.”
Over and over the message plays; there is more to it, but Luke cannot hear it. The little droid is stubborn and refuses to break orders, even as his friend smacks his unit and despairs.
Old Ben is a legend that lives out over the dune sea and Luke takes his new droids in the hope of finding him and discovering the rest of the message the beautiful girl has delivered to him. There are Tusken raiders and the little R2 unit is attacked but Kenobi comes out of hiding to save Luke. In return for finding him, Old Ben tells Luke about his father, Anakin Skywalker, a Jedi knight he used to know. He presents Luke with his father’s lightsaber. It is a powerful weapon, made of pure light that can cut through anything it touches.
When Luke fears for his aunt and uncle he returns home but it is too late for them. Homestead burning and now there is nothing left for Luke on Tatooine. He decides he wants to become a fabled Jedi knight, like his father before him.
They go to Mos Eisley spaceport, a hive of villainous scum being patrolled by Stormtroopers. They are in need of a ship to escape Tatooine to fulfil the quest left to Obi-Wan by the Princess. They get in with a simple but effective Jedi mind trick that only works on the weak minded: “These aren’t the droids you’re looking for.”
Then we are introduced to Han Solo. He is a smuggler, in debt to a gangster and willing to shoot first and ask questions later. He shoots first and Greedo lies dead at the table but no one in the cantina blinks an eye. They have other things to worry about: other disputes to break up or fight.
Han Solo, and his co-pilot Chewbacca the Wookie, agree to help Luke and Ben for a price. Ben promises him the money that Han so desperately needs and they all escape the threats of Tatooine and Mos Eisley to head out on their adventure.
While Luke learns about the ways of the Force and how to control it on board the Millennium Falcon, on the Death Star the princess is tortured for the information she refuses to give up. It is only when she faces incredible loss does she speak to her captors. “Dantooine. They’re on Dantooine” she says but it is not enough. They fire anyway. They forced her to move her hand and Darth Vader knew she would lie to them whatever the scenario so they unleash their most powerful weapon and aim it at her homeworld of Alderaan.
“It’s as if a million voices cried out in terror and were suddenly silenced.” There has been a genocide of a peaceful nation just so the evil tyrannies of the Empire could show off how devastating their ultimate weapon was. All of that life lost just because they had the power to do so.
Hope is not yet lost, not for the Rebellion, and not for the princess. Luke and Han are now coming up to Death Star. It is no moon, but a space station, with the weapon at its core. It is the largest of its kind, one of its kind, hanging over them all like a small and imposing moon.
There are plans set in motion and rescues to be carried out. This is the Wookie prisoner routine and with it they can get straight to the detention centre. He’s not a little short to be a stormtrooper because he isn’t a stormtrooper, he’s Luke Skywalker and he’s here to rescue you. The princess goes along with it but she is not a damsel in distress. She is going to be the one to get them out of the mess they have gotten themselves into: taking charge of the situation and leading the men down the garbage shoot into the trash compactor.
Our heroes get out and rejoice at the prospect of life over death. Then they are running back down the corridors, swinging between platforms and evading behind shot at by the accurate blaster fire of a stormtrooper.
As they make their escape Ben walks out to meet his old apprentice, Darth Vader. This is the man who killed Anakin Skywalker. This is the utmost evil of the Empire: the dark menacing Sith Lord. He too meets his old Master with his lightsaber drawn, ready to fight. In every war, in every fight, there must be sacrifices and as Luke looks on in horror, Obi-Wan Kenobi surrenders himself. His spirit is at one in the Force and what was left falls to the ground as nothing more than a pile of fabrics with his weapon on top.
There is little time for grieving. There is a war. This is, after all, a story between good and evil. There is a fight to be waged between the heroes and the villains and this lightsaber duel was not it.
This space fight is it. This fight with X-Wings and TIE fighters is the end. This is the battle between good and evil. This is the Battle of Yavin; the Rebellion Alliance’s attempt to defeat the Empire and the Death Star. This is the message that Princess Leia gave herself up to save. This is the hope she passed on. This is the blueprints to the Death Star with the key to defeating it. She sends away her troops, her pilots and her fighters with the hope that the Force will be with them.
The Force is with them and the Force is with Luke. Luke Skywalker, who is strong in the Force like his father before him, who wishes to be a Jedi too. Luke who switches off his tracking device and can not see the target. But he does not need to see. He believes in the Force and he hears Ben telling him to use the Force so he does. Luke takes his trench run along the Death Star and shoots directly into the exhaust port of the Death Star and blows up the whole station. Good has triumphed over evil and all is well.
There is celebrations on Yavin IV. The heroes are presented with medals for all that they did and the princess smiles at them. This is Luke Skywalker, Han Solo and Princess Leia and they have defeated the Empire. Soon everyone will know their names. They are heroes of their time, a long time ago and now. They were brave even against impossible odds and believed in each other. They had hope.
Now it is forty years later and much has changed. The world has changed from what it was in the late nineteen-seventies. The Star Wars universe has expanded and extended and become so much to so many in the decades that had passed since the first release. The Star Wars universe had a universe of canon to draw from now. Sequels, and prequels, and then further sequels; television shows and books and comics and anthology movies to fill in the gaps. Star Wars had grown from one movie to an entire franchise, one that was still going strong even now.
Even now there are new movies. There are new heroes with new stories to tell. There is evil to be defeated and there is the good in the heroes that rise to do it. There is still Luke Skywalker, the brave Jedi who had come from a moisture farm on the sand planet of Tatooine to become the last true Jedi Master.
Star Wars had shaped a culture for four decades. It had created a space that allowed for new materials and allowed for new ideas to grow from it. It became the staple of sci-fi and fantasy for many people and shaped both their personal and professional lives. Star Wars become not just synonymous with heroes but became a heroic force for good for generations over and over.
And may the Force be with it always.