Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope, originally released as Star Wars,[3] is a 1977 American epic space opera film,[4]written and directed by George Lucas. It is the first of six films released in the Star Wars saga: two subsequent filmscomplete the original trilogy, while a prequel trilogy completes the six-film saga. Sony VAIO PCG-3B1M Battery
It is the fourth film in terms of the series' internal chronology. Groundbreaking in its use of special effects, unconventional editing, and science fiction/fantasy storytelling, the original Star Wars is one of the most successful and influential films of all time. Sony VAIO PCG-3C1T Battery
Set "a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away", the film follows a group of freedom fighters known as the Rebel Allianceas they plot to destroy the powerful Death Star space station, a devastating weapon created by the evil Galactic Empire. Sony VAIO PCG-3D1M Battery
This conflict disrupts the isolated life of farmboy Luke Skywalker when he inadvertently acquires the droids carrying the stolen plans to the Death Star. After the Empire begins a cruel and destructive search for the droids, Skywalker decides to accompany Jedi Master Obi-Wan Kenobi on a daring mission to rescue the owner of the droids, rebel leader Princess Leia, and save the galaxy. Sony VAIO PCG-3G2M Battery
Produced with a budget of $11 million and released on May 25, 1977, the film earned $460 million in the United States and $314 million overseas, surpassing Jaws as the nominal highest-grossing film and remained that way until being surpassed by E.T. the Extra Terrestrial in 1983. Sony VAIO PCG-5R1M Battery
When adjusted for inflation, it is the second highest grossing film in the USA and Canada as of 2012. Among the many awards the film received, it gained ten Academy Award nominations, winning six; the nominations included Best Supporting Actor for Alec Guinness and Best Picture. The film is often ranked among the best films of all time. Sony VAIO PCG-7141M Battery
Lucas has re-released the film on several occasions, sometimes with significant changes; the most notable versions are the 1997 Special Edition, the 2004 DVD release, and the 2011 Blu-ray release, which have modifiedcomputer-generated effects, altered dialogue, and added scenes. Sony VAIO PCG-7143M Battery
The galaxy is in a state of civil war. Spies for the Rebel Alliance have stolen plans to the Galactic Empire's Death Star, a weaponized space station capable of annihilating an entire planet. Rebel leader Princess Leia (Carrie Fisher) is in possession of the plans, but her ship is captured by Imperial forces under the command of the evil lord Darth Vader Sony VAIO PCG-7151M Battery
(David Prowse, voiced by James Earl Jones). Before she is captured, Leia hides the plans in the memory of an astromechdroid called R2-D2 (Kenny Baker), along with a holographic recording. The small droid flees to the surface of the desert planet Tatooine with fellow protocol droid C-3PO (Anthony Daniels). Sony VAIO PCG-7154M Battery
The droids are quickly captured by Jawa traders, who sell the pair to moisture farmers Owen and Beru Lars (Phil Brown and Shelagh Fraser) and their nephew, Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill). While Luke is cleaning R2-D2, he accidentally triggers part of Leia's message, in which she requests help from Obi-Wan Kenobi. Sony VAIO PCG-7162M Battery
The only "Kenobi" Luke knows of is an old hermit named Ben Kenobi (Alec Guinness) who lives in the nearby hills. The next morning, upon finding R2-D2 after he escapes to seek Obi-Wan, Luke meets Ben Kenobi, revealing himself to be Obi-Wan. Obi-Wan tells Luke of his days as a Jedi Knight, Sony VAIO PCG-7181M Battery
one of a faction of former galactic peacekeepers who were wiped out by the Empire. Contrary to his uncle's statements, Luke learns that his father Anakin Skywalker fought alongside Obi-Wan as a Jedi Knight before he was betrayed and killed by Vader, Obi-Wan's former pupil who turned to the "dark side of the Force", and gives Luke his father'slightsaber. Sony VAIO PCG-41112M Battery
Obi-Wan views Leia's complete message in which she begs Obi-Wan to take the Death Star plans to her home planet of Alderaan for her father to retrieve and analyze. He then asks Luke to accompany him and learn the ways of the Force. Luke initially refuses, but changes his mind after discovering that Imperialstormtroopers Sony VAIO PCG-7153M Battery
have destroyed his home and killed his aunt and uncle in search of C-3PO and R2-D2. Obi-Wan and Luke hire smuggler Han Solo (Harrison Ford) and his Wookiee first mate Chewbacca (Peter Mayhew) to transport them on their ship, the Millennium Falcon. Sony VAIO PCG-71312M Battery
Upon the Falcon's arrival at Alderaan, they find that the planet has been destroyed under the orders of the Death Star's commanding officer Grand Moff Tarkin(Peter Cushing) to demonstrate the Death Star's power. The Falcon is caught by the nearby Death Star's tractor beam and brought into its hangar bay. Sony VAIO PCG-7144M Battery
While Obi-Wan goes off to disable the tractor beam, Luke discovers that Leia is imprisoned on board and, with the help of Han and Chewbacca, rescues her. After several harrowing escapes, they make their way back to the Falcon, but Obi-Wan is killed in a lightsaber duel with Vader. Sony VAIO PCG-7191L Battery
The Falcon escapes the Death Star but the Empire has placed a tracking device on the ship to follow them to the rebels' hidden base on Yavin IV.
The rebels analyze the Death Star plans, disclosing a vulnerable exhaust port leading to the station's main reactor. Sony VAIO PCG-3C1M Battery
Luke joins the assault team, but Han collects his reward for the rescue and plans to leave despite Luke asking him to stay. The rebels suffer heavy losses after several failed attack runs, leaving Luke one of the few surviving pilots. Vader and a group of TIE fighters are about to destroy Luke's ship, Sony VAIO PCG-3F1M Battery
but Han Solo returns at the last moment and destroys the TIE Fighters and the blast sends Vader spiralling away. Then Luke successfully destroys the Death Star seconds before it can fire on the rebel base. Luke and Han are subsequently awarded medals by Leia for their heroism. Sony VAIO PCG-3H1M Battery
- Mark Hamill as Luke Skywalker: Luke is a young man who was raised by his aunt and uncle on the remote, desert worldTatooine. He dreams of something greater than his current position in life and eventually finds it.
Harrison Ford as Han Solo: Han is a cynical smuggler whom Luke and Obi-Wan meet at the Mos Eisley Cantina. Sony VAIO PCG-3J1M Battery
- They hire him to take them to Alderaan in his ship, the Millennium Falcon, which is co-piloted by Chewbacca.
Carrie Fisher as Princess Leia Organa: Leia is a member of the Imperial Senate and a leader of the Rebel Alliance. She plans to use the stolen Death Star plans to find the station's weakness. Sony VAIO PCG-8141M Battery
- Peter Cushing as Grand Moff Tarkin: Tarkin is the commander of the Death Star and a Regional Governor of the Galaxy. He leads the search for the Rebel Base, hoping to destroy it.
Alec Guinness as Obi-Wan "Ben" Kenobi: Obi-Wan is an aging man who served as a Jedi Knight and then Jedi Master during the Clone Wars. Sony VAIO PCG-8161M Battery
- Early in the film, Kenobi introduces Luke to the Force.
- Anthony Daniels as C-3PO: 3PO is a protocol and interpreter droid who also falls into Luke's hands. He is rarely without his counterpart droid, R2-D2.
Kenny Baker as R2-D2: R2 is an astromech droid who is carrying the Death Star plans and a secret message for Obi-Wan from Princess Leia. Sony VAIO PCG-3C2M Battery
- Peter Mayhew as Chewbacca: Chewie is Han Solo's sidekick, a 200 year old Wookiee and first mate of the Millennium Falcon.
David Prowse as Darth Vader: Vader is a Dark Lord of the Sith and a prominent figure of the Galactic Empire who hopes to destroy the Rebel Alliance. He is voiced by James Earl Jones. Sony VAIO PCG-5N2M Battery
Lucas shared a joint casting session with long-time friend Brian De Palma, who was casting his own film Carrie. As a result, Carrie Fisher and Sissy Spacekauditioned for both films in each other's respective roles. Lucas favored casting young actors without long-time experience. Sony VAIO PCG-5P1M Battery
While reading for Luke Skywalker (then known as "Luke Starkiller"), Hamill found the dialogue to be extremely odd because of its universe-embedded concepts. He chose to simply read it sincerely and was selected instead of William Katt, who was subsequently cast in Carrie.[5][6][7] Sony VAIO PCG-5S1M Battery
Lucas initially rejected the idea of using Harrison Ford, as he had previously worked with him on American Graffiti, and instead asked Ford to assist in the auditions by reading lines with the other actors and explaining the concepts and history behind the scenes that they were reading. Sony VAIO PCG-9Z1M Battery
Lucas was eventually won over by Ford's portrayal and cast him instead of Kurt Russell, Nick Nolte,[7] Sylvester Stallone,[8] Christopher Walken, Billy Dee Williams (who would play Lando Calrissian in the sequels), and Perry King, who wound up playing Solo in the radio plays.[5][9] Sony VAIO PCG-7171M Battery
Many young actresses in Hollywood auditioned for the role of Princess Leia, including Cindy Williams.[5] Carrie Fisher was cast under the condition that she lose 10 pounds for the role. Aware that the studio disagreed with his refusal to cast big-name stars, Sony VAIO PCG-7186M Battery
Lucas signed veteran stage and screen actors Alec Guinness as Obi-Wan Kenobi and Peter Cushing as Tarkin.[5] Additional casting took place in London, where Mayhew was cast as Chewbacca after he stood up to greet Lucas. Lucas immediately turned to Gary Kurtz, and requested that Mayhew be cast.[10] Sony VAIO PCG-81112M Battery
Daniels auditioned for and was cast as C-3PO; he has said that he wanted the role after he saw a McQuarrie drawing of the character and was struck by the vulnerability in the robot's face.
Writing
Elements of the history of Star Wars are commonly disputed, as Lucas' statements about it have changed over time.[a 1] Sony VAIO PCG-31311M Battery
George Lucas completed directing his first full-length feature, THX 1138, in 1971. He has said that it was around this time that he first had the idea for Star Wars,[12] though he has also claimed to have had the idea long before then.[13] One of the most influential works on Lucas's early concepts was the Flash Gordon space adventure comics and serials.[14] Sony VAIO PCG-8152M Battery
Lucas even made an attempt to purchase the rights to remake Flash Gordon at one point, but could not afford them.[15] Friend and collaborator Walter Murch suggested in an interview that Star Wars was Lucas' "transubstantiated version of Apocalypse Now"; at one time, Lucas had planned to direct that film.[16] Sony VAIO VPCS13X9E/B battery
Following the completion of THX 1138, Lucas was granted a two-film development deal with United Artists at the Cannes Film Festival in May of that year forAmerican Graffiti, and an idea for a space opera he called The Star Wars. He showed United Artists the script for American Graffiti, but they passed on the film. Sony VAIO VPCS12V9E/B battery
Universal Studios picked the film up,[17] and Lucas spent the next two years completing it. Only then did he turn his attention to The Star Wars. He began writing the treatment in January 1973, unsure what would come of Graffiti, and still very much in debt.[17]
Lucas began his creation process by taking small notes, inventing odd names and assigning them possible characterizations. Sony VAIO VPCS12V9E/B battery
Lucas would discard many of these by the time the final script was written, but he included several names and places in the final script or its sequels (such as Luke Skywalker and Han Solo). He revived others decades later when he wrote his prequel trilogy (such as Mace Windy, renamed Windu). Sony VAIO VPCF13M8E/B battery
He used these initial names and ideas to compile a two-page synopsis titled "The Journal of the Whills", which bore little resemblance to the final story.[18] The Journal told the tale of the son of a famous pilot who is trained as a "padawaan" apprentice of a revered "Jedi-Bendu".[18] Sony VAIO VPCF13Z0E/B battery
Frustrated after being told that his story was too difficult to understand,[19] Lucas started again on a completely new outline, this time borrowing heavily from Akira Kurosawa's The Hidden Fortress,[20] so much so that he at one time considered buying the rights to the film.[21] Sony VAIO VPCM13M1E/L battery
He relied on a plot synopsis from Donald Richie's book The Films of Akira Kurosawa and wrote a 14-page draft that paralleled The Hidden Fortress, with names and settings reminiscent of the science fiction genre.[22]
Both United Artists and Universal passed on their options for the film later that year, Sony VAIO VPCM13M1E/W battery
citing the risk involved in the project's potentially high budget. Lucas pursued Alan Ladd, Jr., the head of 20th Century Fox, and in June 1973 closed a deal to write and direct the film. Although Ladd did not grasp the technical side of the project, he believed that Lucas was talented. Sony VAIO VPCF22M1E battery
Lucas later stated that Ladd "invested in me, he did not invest in the movie."[5] The deal afforded Lucas $150,000 to write and direct.
Later that year, Lucas began writing a full script of his synopsis, which he would complete in May 1974. Sony VAIO VPCF11M1E/H battery
In this script he reintroduced the Jedi, which had been absent in his previous treatment, as well as their enemies, the Sith. He changed the protagonist, who had been a mature General in the treatment, to an adolescent boy, and he shifted the General into a supporting role as a member of a family of dwarfs. Sony VAIO VPCF13M0E/B battery
Lucas envisioned the Corellian smuggler, Han Solo, as a large, green-skinned monster with gills (this would turn out to be Greedo, whom Han would shoot in the Mos Eisley Cantina when we first meet his character). He based Chewbacca on his Alaskan Malamute dog, Indiana, Sony VAIO VPCYB2M1E battery
(whom he would later use as namesake for his next hero Indiana Jones), who often acted as the director's "co-pilot" by sitting in the passenger seat of his car.[23]
Many of the final elements in the film began to take shape, though the plot[24] was still far removed from the final script. Sony VAIO VPCYB3V1E battery
It did, however, begin to diverge from The Hidden Fortress and take on the general story elements that would comprise the final film. Lucas began researching the science fiction genre, both watching films and reading books and comics.[25] His first script incorporated ideas from many new sources. Sony VAIO VPCY11M1E battery
The script would also introduce the concept of a Jedi master father and his son, training to be a Jedi under the father's Jedi friend, which would ultimately form the basis for the film and even the trilogy. However, in this draft, the father is a hero who is still alive at the start of the film.[26] Sony VAIO VPCS12L9E/B battery
The script was also the first time Darth Vader appeared in the story, though other than being a villain, he bore little resemblance to the final character.
Lucas grew distracted by other projects, but he would return to complete a second draft of The Star Wars by January 1975; Sony VAIO VPCF11S1E/B battery
while still having some differences in the characters and relationships. For example, the protagonist Luke (Starkiller in this draft) had several brothers, as well as his father who appears in a minor role at the end of the film. The script became more of a fairy tale quest as opposed to the more grounded action-adventure of the previous versions. Sony VAIO VPCYB3V1E/R Battery
This version ended with another text crawl which previewed the next story in the series. This draft was also the first to introduce the concept of a Jedi turning to the dark side; a historical Jedi that became the first to ever fall to the dark side, and then trained the Sith to use it. Lucas hired conceptual artist Ralph McQuarrie to create paintings of certain scenes around this time. Sony VAIO VPCF23P1E Battery
When Lucas delivered his screenplay to the studio, he included several of McQuarrie's paintings.[27]
A third draft, dated August 1, 1975, was titled The Star Wars: From the Adventures of Luke Starkiller which now had most of the elements of the final plot, with only some differences in the characters and settings. Sony VAIO VPCF23N1E Battery
Luke was again an only child, and his father was, for the first time, written as dead. This script would be re-written for the fourth and final draft, dated January 1, 1976 as The Adventures of Luke Starkiller as taken from the Journal of the Whills. Saga I: Star Wars. Lucas worked with his friends Gloria Katz and Willard Huyck to revise the fourth draft into the final pre-production script.[28] Sony VAIO VPCY21S1E/L Battery
20th Century Fox approved a budget of $8,250,000; American Graffiti, having been released in 1973 to positive reviews, allowed Lucas to renegotiate his deal with Alan Ladd, Jr. and request the sequel rights to the film. For Lucas, this deal protected Star Wars' unwritten segments and most of the merchandising profits.[5][29] Sony VAIO VPCY21S1E/G battery
Lucas would continue to tweak the script during shooting, most notably adding the death of Kenobi after realizing he served no purpose in the ending of the film.[30][31]
Lucas has often stated that the entire original trilogy was, in essence, intended as one film. However, he said that his story material for The Star Wars was too long for one film, Sony VAIO VPCF24M1E battery
so he opted to split the story into multiple films[5][32][33] He also stated the story evolved over time and that "There was never a script completed that had the entire story as it exists now [1983]... As the stories unfolded, I would take certain ideas and save them[...] I kept taking out all the good parts, Sony VGP-BPL13 Battery
and I just kept telling myself I would make other movies someday."[34] Lucas's second draft is often cited as the script he is referring to in relation to this issue[35] and in The Secret History of Star Wars, Michael Kaminski argues that this draft is structurally very similar to the final film in plot arrangement, Sony VGP-BPS13 Battery
although the only elements from it that were saved for the sequels were an asteroid field space chase (moved to The Empire Strikes Back) and a forest battle involving Wookiees (moved to Return of the Jedi, with Ewoks in place of Wookiees).[35] Sony VGP-BPS13/B Battery
Production
In 1975, Lucas founded the visual effects company Industrial Light & Magic (ILM) after discovering that 20th Century Fox's visual effects department had been disbanded. ILM began its work on Star Wars in a warehouse in Van Nuys, California. Sony VGP-BPS13/S Battery
Most of the visual effects used motion control photography, which creates the illusion of size by employing small models and slowly moving cameras. Model spaceships were constructed on the basis of drawings by Joe Johnston, input from Lucas, and paintings by McQuarrie. Sony VGP-BPS13/S Battery
Lucas opted to abandon the traditional sleekness of science fiction by creating a "used universe" in which all devices, ships, and buildings looked aged and dirty.
When principal photography began on March 22, 1976 in the Tunisian desert for the scenes on the planet Tatooine, the project faced several problems.[38] Sony VGP-BPS13A/B Battery
Lucas fell behind schedule in the first week of shooting due to a rare Tunisian rainstorm, malfunctioning props, and electronic breakdowns.[38][39] When actor Anthony Daniels wore the C-3PO outfit for the first time, the left leg piece shattered down through the plastic covering his left foot, stabbing him. Sony VGP-BPS13A/S Battery
After completing filming in Tunisia, production moved into the more controlled environment of Elstree Studios, near London.[39] However, significant problems, such as a crew that had little interest in the film, still arose.[5][39] Most of the crew considered the project a "children's film", Sony VGP-BPS13AS Battery
rarely took their work seriously, and often found it unintentionally humorous.[5][40] Actor Kenny Bakerlater confessed that he thought the film would be a failure. Harrison Ford found the film "weird" in that there was a Princess with buns for hair and what he called a "giant in a monkey suit" named Chewbacca. Sony VGP-BPS13B/B Battery
Ford also found the dialogue difficult: "George, you can type this shit, but you can't say it!"[41]
Lucas clashed with cinematographer Gilbert Taylor, BSC, whom producer Gary Kurtz called "old-school" and "crotchety". Moreover, with a background in independent filmmaking, Lucas was accustomed to creating most of the elements of the film himself. Sony VGP-BPS13B/Q Battery
His lighting suggestions were rejected by an offended Taylor, who felt that Lucas was over-stepping his boundaries by giving specific instructions and sometimes even moving lights and cameras himself. Taylor refused to use the soft-focus lenses and gauze Lucas wanted after Fox executives complained about the look.[42] Sony VGP-BPS13B/S Battery
Lucas eventually became frustrated that the costumes, sets and other elements were not living up to his original vision of Star Wars. He rarely spoke to the actors, who felt that he expected too much of them while providing little direction. His directions to the actors usually consisted of the words "faster" and "more intense".[5] Sony VGP-BPS13Q Battery
Ladd offered Lucas some of the only support from the studio; he dealt with scrutiny from board members over the rising budget and complex screenplay drafts. After production fell two weeks behind schedule, Ladd told Lucas that he had to finish production within a week or he would be forced to shut down production. Sony VGP-BPS13S Battery
The crew split into three units, led by Lucas, Kurtz and production supervisor Robert Watts. Under the new system, the project met the studio's deadline.
During production, the cast attempted to make Lucas laugh or smile as he often appeared depressed. Sony VGP-BPL21 Battery
At one point, the project became so demanding that Lucas was diagnosed with hypertension and exhaustion and was warned to reduce his stress level.Post-production was equally stressful due to increasing pressure from 20th Century Fox. Moreover, Mark Hamill's car accident left his face visibly scarred, which suppressed re-shoots.[39] Sony VGP-BPS21 Battery
Post-production
Star Wars was originally slated for release in Christmas 1976; however, delays pushed the film's release to summer 1977. Already anxious about meeting his deadline, Lucas was shocked when editor John Jympson's first cut of the film was a "complete disaster". Sony VGP-BPS21/S Battery
According to an article in Star Wars Insider No. 41 by David West Reynolds, this first edit of Star Warscontained about 30–40% different footage from the final version. This included scenes that have never been seen elsewhere along with alternate takes of existing scenes. After attempting to persuade Jympson to cut the film his way, Sony VGP-BPS21A Battery
Lucas replaced him with Paul Hirsch and Richard Chew. He also allowed his then-wife Marcia Lucas to aid the editing process while she was cutting the film New York, New York with Lucas's friend Martin Scorsese. Richard Chew found the film had an unenergetic pace; Sony VGP-BPS21A/B Battery
it had been cut in a by-the-book manner: scenes were played out in master shots that flowed into close-up coverage. He found that the pace was dictated by the actors instead of the cuts. Hirsch and Chew worked on two reels simultaneously; whoever finished first moved on to the next.[5] Sony VGP-BPS21B Battery
Meanwhile, Industrial Light & Magic was struggling to achieve unprecedented special effects. The company had spent half of its budget on four shots that Lucas deemed unacceptable.[39] Moreover, theories surfaced that the workers at ILM lacked discipline, forcing Lucas to intervene frequently to ensure that they were on schedule. Sony VAIO VGN-Z11MN/B Battery
With hundreds of uncompleted shots remaining, ILM was forced to finish a year's work in six months. Lucas inspired ILM by editing together aerialdogfights from old war films, which enhanced the pacing of the scenes.[5]
During the chaos of production and post-production, the team made decisions about character voicing and sound effects. Sony VAIO VGN-Z11VN/X Battery
Sound designer Ben Burtt had created a library of sounds that Lucas referred to as an "organic soundtrack". Blaster sounds were a modified recording of a steel cable, under tension, being struck. For Chewbacca's growls, Burtt recorded and combined sounds made by dogs, bears, lions, tigers and walruses to create phrases and sentences. Sony VAIO VGN-Z11WN/B Battery
Lucas and Burtt created the robotic voice of R2-D2 by filtering their voices through an electronic synthesizer. Darth Vader's breathing was achieved by Burtt breathing through the mask of a scuba regulator implanted with a microphone.[43] Lucas never intended to use the voice of David Prowse, Sony VAIO VGN-Z11XN/B Battery
who portrayed Darth Vader in costume, because of Prowse's English West Country accent. He originally wanted Orson Welles to speak for Darth Vader. However, he felt that Welles' voice would be too recognizable, so he cast the lesser-known James Earl Jones.[7] Nor did Lucas intend to use Anthony Daniels' voice for C-3PO. Sony VAIO VGN-Z15 Battery
Thirty well-established voice actors read for the voice of the droid. According to Daniels, one of the major voice actors, believed by some sources to be Stan Freberg, recommended Daniels' voice for the role.[5][23]
When Lucas screened an early cut of the film for his friends, among them directors Brian De Palma, Sony VAIO VGN-Z15N Battery
John Milius and Steven Spielberg, their reactions were disappointing. Spielberg, who claimed to have been the only person in the audience to have enjoyed the film, believed that the lack of enthusiasm was due to the absence of finished special effects. Lucas later said that the group was honest and seemed bemused by the film. Sony VAIO VGN-Z17 Battery
In contrast, Alan Ladd, Jr. and the rest of 20th Century Fox loved the film: one of the executives, Gareth Wigan, told Lucas, "This is the greatest film I've ever seen", and cried during the screening. Lucas found the experience shocking and rewarding, having never gained any approval from studio executives before.[5] Sony VAIO VGN-Z17N Battery
The delays increased the budget from $8 million to $11 million.[44]
Cinematic and literary allusions
According to Lucas, the film was inspired by numerous sources, such as Beowulf and King Arthur for the origins of myth and world religions.[5] Sony VAIO VGN-Z19 Battery
Lucas originally wanted to rely heavily on the 1930s Flash Gordon film serials; however, he resorted to Akira Kurosawa's film The Hidden Fortress and Joseph Campbell's The Hero with a Thousand Faces because of copyright issues with Flash Gordon.[45] Star Wars features several parallels to Buck Rogers and Flash Gordon, Sony VAIO VGN-Z19N Battery
such as the conflict between Rebels and Imperial Forces, the "wipes" between scenes, and the famous opening crawl that begins each film. A concept borrowed from Flash Gordon—a fusion of futuristic technology and traditional magic—was originally developed by one of the founders of science fiction, Sony VAIO VGN-Z21MN/B Battery
H. G. Wells. Wells believed the Industrial Revolution had quietly destroyed the idea that fairy-tale magic might be real. Thus, he found that plausibility was required to allow myth to work properly, and substituted elements of the Industrial Era: time machines instead of magic carpets, Martians instead of dragons, and scientists instead of wizards. Sony VAIO VGN-Z21VN/X Battery
Wells called his new genre "scientific fantasia".[46]
Star Wars was influenced by the 1958 Kurosawa film The Hidden Fortress; for instance, the two bickering peasants evolved into C-3PO and R2-D2, and a Japanese family crest seen in the film is similar to the Imperial Crest. Sony VAIO VGN-Z21WN/B Battery
Star Wars also borrows heavily from another Kurosawa film, Yojimbo. In both films, several men threaten the hero, bragging how wanted they are by authorities. The situation ends with an arm being cut off by a blade. Kuwabatake Sanjuro (portrayed byToshirō Mifune) is offered "twenty-five ryo now, Sony VAIO VGN-Z21XN Battery
twenty-five when you complete the mission", whereas Han Solo is offered "Two thousand now, plus fifteen when we reach Alderaan." Lucas's affection for Kurosawa may have influenced his decision to visit Japan in the early 1970s, leading some to believe he borrowed the name "Jedi" from jidaigeki Sony VAIO VGN-Z21ZN/X Battery
(which in English means "period dramas", and refers to films typically featuring samurai).[46]
Tatooine is similar to Arrakis from Frank Herbert's book Dune. Arrakis is the only known source of a longevity drug called the Spice Melange. References to "spice", various illegal stimulant drugs, occur throughout the last three films of the Star Wars saga. Sony VAIO VGN-Z25 Battery
In Episode IV Han Solo is a spice smuggler who has been through the spice mines of Kessel. In the conversation at Obi-Wan Kenobi's home between Obi-Wan and Luke, Luke expresses a belief that his father was anavigator on a spice freighter. Other similarities include those between Princess Leia and Princess Alia ( /əˈliːə/), Sony VAIO VGN-Z25/B Battery
and between Jedi mind tricks and "The Voice", a controlling ability used by Bene Gesserit. In passing, Uncle Owen and Aunt Beru are "Moisture Farmers"; in Dune, Dew Collectors are used by Fremen to "provide a small but reliable source of water."[47] Frank Herbert reported that, "David Lynch, Sony VAIO VGN-Z25TN/B Battery
[director of 1984 film Dune] had trouble with the fact that Star Wars used up so much of Dune." The pair found "sixteen points of identity" and they calculated that, "the odds against coincidence produced a number larger than the number of stars in the universe."[48] Sony VAIO VGN-Z26TN/B Battery
The Death Star assault scene was modeled after the film The Dam Busters (1955), in which Royal Air Force Lancaster bombers fly along heavily defended reservoirs and aim "bouncing bombs" at their man-made dams to cripple the heavy industry of the Ruhr. Some of the dialogue in The Dam Busters is repeated in the Star Warsclimax; Sony VAIO VGN-Z27 Battery
Gilbert Taylor also filmed the special effects sequences in The Dam Busters. In addition, the sequence was partially inspired by the climax of the film633 Squadron (1964) directed by Walter Grauman,[49] Sony VAIO VGN-Z27/B Battery
in which RAF Mosquitos attack a German heavy water plant by flying down a narrow fjord to drop special bombs at a precise point while avoiding anti-aircraft guns and German fighters. Clips from both films were included in Lucas's temporary dogfight footage version of the sequence.[14] Sony VAIO VGN-Z27TN/X Battery
The opening shot of Star Wars, in which a detailed spaceship fills the screen overhead, is a nod to the scene introducing the interplanetary spacecraftDiscovery One in Stanley Kubrick's seminal 1968 film 2001: A Space Odyssey. The earlier big-budget science fiction film influenced the look of Star Wars in many other ways, Sony VAIO VGN-Z29N Battery
including the use of EVA pods and hexagonal corridors. The Death Star has a docking bay reminiscent of the one on the orbiting space station in2001.[50] The film also draws on The Wizard of Oz (1939): similarities exist between Jawas and Munchkins; the main characters disguise themselves as enemy soldiers; Sony VAIO VGN-Z29N/X Battery
and when Obi-Wan dies, he leaves only his empty robe, similar to the melting of the Wicked Witch of the West. Also of note is that Luke lives on a farm with his uncle and aunt like Dorothy.[51] Although golden and male, C-3PO is inspired by the robot Maria, the Maschinenmensch from Fritz Lang's 1927 filmMetropolis. Sony VAIO VGN-Z31MN/B Battery
His whirring sounds were speculated to be inspired by the clanking noises of The Wizard of Oz character the Tin Woodsman and C-3PO has an arc throughout the Star Wars saga that is similar to the arc of the Cowardly Lion.[52]
Soundtrack
On the recommendation of his friend Steven Spielberg, Sony VAIO VGN-Z31VN/X Battery
Lucas hired composer John Williams, who had worked with Spielberg on the film Jaws, for which he won anAcademy Award. Lucas felt that the film would portray visually foreign worlds, but that the musical score would give the audience an emotional familiarity. Sony VAIO VGN-Z31WN/B Battery
In March 1977, Williams conducted the London Symphony Orchestra to record the Star Wars soundtrack in twelve days.[5]
Lucas wanted a grand musical sound for Star Wars, with leitmotifs to provide distinction. Therefore, he assembled his favorite orchestral pieces for the soundtrack, Sony VAIO VGN-Z31ZN/X Battery
until John Williams convinced him that an original score would be unique and more unified. However, a few of Williams' pieces were influenced by the tracks given to him by Lucas. The "Main Title Theme" was inspired by the theme from the 1942 film Kings Row, scored by Erich Wolfgang Korngold, Sony VAIO VGN-Z35 Battery
and the track "Dune Sea of Tatooine" drew from the soundtrack from Bicycle Thieves, scored by Alessandro Cicognini. The American Film Institute's list of best scores lists the Star Wars soundtrack at number one.[53]
Releases
Charles Lippincott was hired by Lucas's production company, Lucasfilm Ltd., Sony VAIO VGN-Z35/B Battery
as marketing director for Star Wars. As 20th Century Fox gave little support for marketing beyond licensing T-shirts and posters, Lippincott was forced to look elsewhere. He secured deals with Stan Lee, Roy Thomas and Marvel Comics for a comic book adaptation and with Del Rey Books for a novelization. Sony VAIO VGN-Z35TN/B Battery
A fan of science fiction, he used his contacts to promote the film at the San Diego Comic-Conand elsewhere within fandom. Worried that Star Wars would be beaten out by other summer films, such as Smokey and the Bandit, 20th Century Fox moved the release date to the Wednesday before Memorial Day: May 25, 1977. Sony VAIO VGN-Z36GD Battery
However, fewer than forty theaters ordered the film to be shown. In response, 20th Century Fox demanded that theaters order Star Wars if they wanted an eagerly anticipated film based on a best-selling novel titled The Other Side of Midnight.[5] Lucas himself was not able to predict how successful Star Wars would be. Sony VAIO VGN-Z36GD/B Battery
After visiting the set of the Steven Spielberg-directed Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Lucas was sure Close Encounters would outperform the yet-to-be-released Star Wars at the box office. Spielberg disagreed, and felt Lucas's Star Wars would be the bigger hit. With each Lucas and Spielberg confident that the other's film would be the bigger hit, Sony VAIO VGN-Z36GD/J Battery
Lucas proposed they trade 2.5% of the profit on each other's films. Spielberg took the trade, and still receives 2.5% of the profits from Star Wars.[54]
Within three weeks of the film's release, 20th Century Fox's stock price doubled to a record high. Before 1977, 20th Century Fox's greatest annual profits were $37,000,000; Sony VAIO VGN-Z36TD/B Battery
in 1977, the company earned $79,000,000. Although the film's cultural neutrality helped it to gain international success, Ladd became anxious during the premiere in Japan. After the screening, the audience was silent, leading him to fear that the film would be unsuccessful. Ladd was later told that, in Japan, silence was the greatest honor to a film. Sony VAIO VGN-Z36TD/J Battery
When Star Wars made an unprecedented second opening at Mann's Chinese Theatre on August 3, 1977 afterSorcerer failed, thousands of people attended a ceremony in which C-3PO, R2-D2, and Darth Vader placed their footprints in the theater's forecourt.[55][5] Some cinemas continuously screened the film for more than a year. Sony VAIO VGN-Z37D Battery
Little Star Wars merchandise was available for several months after the film's debut; only Kenner Toys had accepted Lippincott's licensing offers. Kenner responded to the sudden demand for toys by selling boxed vouchers in its "empty box" Christmas campaign. Sony VAIO VGN-Z37D/B Battery
Television commercials told children and parents that vouchers within a "Star Wars Early Bird Certificate Package" could be redeemed for toys "between February 1 and June 1".[5]
In 1978, at the height of the film's popularity, Smith-Hemion Productions approached Lucas with the idea of The Star Wars Holiday Special. Sony VAIO VGN-Z37GD Battery
The result is often considered a failure; Lucas himself disowned it.[56]
The film was originally released as Star Wars, without "Episode IV" or the subtitle A New Hope. The 1980 sequel, The Empire Strikes Back, was numbered "Episode V" in the opening crawl. Sony VAIO VGN-Z37GD/X Battery
When the original film was re-released in 1981, Episode IV: A New Hope was added above the original opening crawl. Although Lucas claims that only six films were ever planned, representatives of Lucasfilm discussed plans for nine or twelve possible films in early interviews.[57] Sony VAIO VGN-Z39D Battery
The film was re-released theatrically in 1978, 1979, 1981, 1982, and with additional scenes and enhanced special effects in 1997.
Original home video releases
The film was released on VHS, Betamax and Laserdisc during the 1980s and '90s by CBS/Fox Video. Sony VAIO VGN-Z39D/X Battery
The first Star Wars was released on video tape in 1982, but only to rental customers. The first sell through video tapes of Star Wars were released in 1984.[60]
Special Edition
After ILM used computer-generated effects for Steven Spielberg's Jurassic Park, Lucas concluded that digital technology had caught up to his original vision forStar Wars.[5] Sony VAIO VGN-Z41MD/B Battery
For the film's 20th anniversary in 1997, A New Hope was digitally remastered and re-released to movie theaters, along with The Empire Strikes Backand Return of the Jedi, under the campaign title The Star Wars Trilogy: Special Edition. The Special Edition versions contained visual shots and scenes that were unachievable in the original release due to financial, Sony VAIO VGN-Z41WD/B Battery
technological, and time restraints; one such scene involved a meeting between Han Solo and Jabba the Hutt.[5] The process of creating the new visual effects for A New Hope was featured in the Academy Award-nominated IMAX documentary film, Special Effects: Anything Can Happen, directed by veteran Star Wars sound designer, Ben Burtt. Sony VAIO VGN-Z45GD/B Battery
Although most changes were minor or cosmetic in nature, some fans believe that Lucas degraded the movie with the additions.[61] For instance, a particularly controversial change in which a bounty hunter named Greedo shoots first when confronting Han Solo has inspired T-shirts brandishing the phrase "Han Shot First".[62] Sony VAIO VGN-Z45TD/B Battery
Although the Special Edition's changes were artistic, A New Hope required extensive restoration before Lucas could even attempt his modifications. It had been discovered that in addition to the negative motion picture stocks commonly used on feature films, Lucas had also used internegative film, Sony VAIO VGN-Z46GD/B Battery
a reversal stock which deteriorated faster than negative stocks did. This meant that the entire printing negative had to be disassembled, and the CRI (color reversal internegative) portions cleaned separately from the negative portions. Once the cleaning was complete, the film was scanned into the computer for restoration. Sony VAIO VGN-Z46GD/U Battery
In many cases, entire scenes had to be reconstructed from their individual elements. Fortunately, digital compositing technology allowed them to correct for problems such as alignment of mattes, "blue-spill", and so forth.[63]
The film was then color-corrected and digitally printed onto a new negative, from which prints would be struck. Sony VAIO VGN-Z46MD/B Battery
DVD releases
A New Hope was released on DVD on September 21, 2004, in a box set with The Empire Strikes Back, Return of the Jedi, and a bonus disc of supplementary material. The movies were digitally restored and remastered, and more changes were made by George Lucas. Sony VAIO VGN-Z46SD/B Battery
The DVD features a commentary track from George Lucas, Ben Burtt, Dennis Muren, and Carrie Fisher. The bonus disc contains the documentary Empire of Dreams: The Story of the Star Wars Trilogy, three featurettes, teaser and theatrical trailers, TV spots, still galleries, an exclusive preview of Revenge of the Sith, Sony VAIO VGN-Z46TD/B Battery
a playable Xbox demo of the LucasArts game Star Wars: Battlefront, and a "Making Of" documentary on the Episode III video game. The set was reissued in December 2005 as part of a three-disc "limited edition" boxed set without the bonus disc. Sony VAIO VGN-Z46TD/R Battery
The trilogy was re-released on separate two-disc Limited Edition DVD sets from September 12 to December 31, 2006, and again in a box set on November 4, 2008;[64]the original versions of the films were added as bonus material. Sony VAIO VGN-Z47GD/X Battery
Controversy surrounded the release because the unaltered versions were from the 1993 non-anamorphic Laserdisc masters, and were not retransferred with modern video standards.[65]
Blu-ray release
On August 14, 2010, George Lucas announced that all six Star Wars films would be released on Blu-ray Disc in Fall 2011.[66] Sony VAIO VGN-Z48GD/X Battery
On January 6, 2011, the release was announced for September 16, 2011 in three different editions.[67] Star Wars: The Complete Saga includes nine discs and over 40 hours of special features, including deleted and alternate scenes from the films.[68] The original theatrical versions of the films were not included in the box set. Sony VAIO VGN-Z48TD/X Battery
3D re-release
On September 28, 2010, it was announced that all six films in the series will be converted to stereo 3D. The films are being re-released in internal chronological order beginning with The Phantom Menace on February 10, 2012. A New Hope is scheduled to be re-released in 3D in 2015. Sony VAIO VGN-Z51WG/B Battery
Reaction
Star Wars debuted on Wednesday, May 25, 1977, in 32 theaters, and eight more on Thursday and Friday. It immediately broke box-office records, effectively becoming one of the first blockbuster films, and Fox accelerated plans to broaden its release.[55] Sony VAIO VGN-Z51XG/B Battery
Lucas spent most of the day in a sound studio in Los Angeles. When he went out for lunch with his then-wife Marcia, they encountered a long queue of people along the sidewalks leading to Mann's Chinese Theatre, waiting to see Star Wars.[39] Even technical crew members, Sony VAIO VGN-Z530N/B Battery
such as model makers, were asked for autographs, and cast members became instant household names.[5]
Star Wars remains one of the most financially successful films of all time. The film earned $1,554,475 through its opening weekend ($5.96 million in today's terms), Sony VAIO VGN-Z540EBB Battery
building up to $7 million weekends as it entered wide release ($26.8 million in today's terms).[2] It replaced Jaws as the highest-earning film in North America just six months into release,[70]eventually earning over $220 million during its initial theatrical run ($844 million in today's terms).[71] Sony VAIO VGN-Z540NLB Battery
Star Wars entered international release towards the end of the year, and in 1978 added the worldwide record to its domestic one,[72] earning $410 million in total.[73] Reissues in 1978, 1979, 1981 and 1982 brought its cumulative gross in Canada and the U.S. to $323 million,[74] and extended its global earnings to $530 million.[75] Sony VAIO VGN-Z540NMB Battery
The film remained the highest-grossing film of all time until E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial broke that record in 1983.[76]
Following the release of the Special Edition in 1997,[77] Star Wars briefly reclaimed the North American record before losing it again the following year toTitanic.[78] Sony VAIO VGN-Z550N/B Battery
In total, the film has earned $775,398,007 worldwide (including $460,998,007 in North America alone).[2] Adjusted for inflation, it has earned $2.5 billion worldwide at 2011 prices, making it the most successful franchise film of all-time;[79] at the North American box-office it ranks second behind Gone with the Wind on the inflation-adjusted list.[80] Sony VAIO VGN-Z55F Battery
Critical response
Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope received very positive reviews from film critics. According to review aggregator, Rotten Tomatoes, 94% of 67 reviews assessed are favorable, with an average rating of 8.2/10. Its consensus states in summary, Sony VAIO VGN-Z55TG/B Battery
"A legendary expansive and ambitious start to the sci-fi saga, George Lucas opens our eyes to the possibilities of blockbuster film-making and things have never been the same." In his 1977 review, Roger Ebert called the film "an out-of-body experience", compared its special effects to those of 2001: Sony VAIO VGN-Z56GG/B Battery
A Space Odyssey, and opined that the true strength of the film was its "pure narrative".[81]Vincent Canby called the film "the movie that's going to entertain a lot of contemporary folk who have a soft spot for the virtually ritualized manners of comic-book adventure".[82] Sony VAIO VGN-Z56GG/E Battery
Conversely, Pauline Kael of The New Yorker criticized the film, stating that "there's no breather in the picture, no lyricism", and that it had no "emotional grip".[83] Jonathan Rosenbaum of the Chicago Reader stated, "None of these characters has any depth, and they're all treated like the fanciful props and settings."[84] Sony VAIO VGN-Z56GGX Battery
Peter Keough of the Boston Phoenix said "Star Wars is a junkyard of cinematic gimcracks not unlike the Jawas' heap of purloined, discarded, barely functioning droids."[85][86]
Awards
Star Wars won six Academy Awards, including Best Art Direction, which went to John Barry, Norman Reynolds, Leslie Dilley and Roger Christian. Sony VAIO VGN-Z56TG/B Battery
Best Costume Design was awarded to John Mollo; Best Film Editing went to Paul Hirsch, Marcia Lucas and Richard Chew; John Stears, John Dykstra, Richard Edlund, Grant McCuneand Robert Blalack all received awards for Best Visual Effects. John Williams was awarded his third Oscar for Best Original Score; Sony VAIO VGN-Z56TG/E Battery
the Best Sound went to Don MacDougall, Ray West, Bob Minkler and Derek Ball; and a Special Achievement for Sound Effects Editing went to Ben Burtt.[87] Additional nominations included Alec Guinness for Best Actor in a Supporting Role, George Lucas for Best Original Screenplay, Sony VAIO VGN-Z56TG/R Battery
Best Director, and Best Picture, which instead went to Annie Hall.[88]
At the Golden Globe Awards, the film was nominated for Best Motion Picture – Drama, Best Director, Best Supporting Actor (Alec Guinness), and it won the award for Best Score.[88] It received six BAFTA nominations: Sony VAIO VGN-Z570N/B Battery
Best Film, Best Editing, Best Costume Design, Best Production/Art Design, Best Sound, and Best Score; the film won in the latter two categories.[88] John Williams' soundtrack album won the Grammy Award for Best Album of Original Score for a Motion Picture or Television Program, Sony VAIO VGN-Z57G Battery
and the film was awarded the Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation.[88] In 1997, the MTV Movie Awards awarded to Chewbacca character the lifetime achievement award for his work in the Star Wars trilogy.[88]
The film also received twelve nominations at the Saturn Awards, Sony VAIO VGN-Z57GG/X Battery
the oldest film-specialized awards to reward science fiction, fantasy, and horrorachievements,[88] including a double nomination for Best Actor for Mark Hamill and Harrison Ford and Best Actress for Carrie Fisher. It won nine: Best Science Fiction Film, Sony VAIO VGN-Z57GGX Battery
Best Direction and Best Writing for George Lucas, Best Supporting Actor for Alec Guinness, Best Music for John Williams, Best Costume for John Mollo, Best Make-up for Rick Baker and Stuart Freeborn, Best Special Effects for John Dykstra and John Stears and Outstanding Editing for Paul Hirsch, Marcia Lucas and Richard Chew.[88] Sony VAIO VGN-Z57TG/X Battery
Cinematic influence
Critic Roger Ebert wrote, "Like The Birth of a Nation and Citizen Kane, Star Wars was a technical watershed that influenced many of the movies that came after."[89] It began a new generation of special effects and high-energy motion pictures. Sony VAIO VGN-Z58GG/X Battery
The film was one of the first films to link genres—such as space opera and soap opera—together to invent a new, high concept genre for filmmakers to build upon. Finally, along with Steven Spielberg's Jaws it shifted the film industry's focus away from personal filmmaking of the 1970s and towards fast-paced big-budget blockbusters for younger audiences. Sony VAIO VGN-Z58GGX Battery
After seeing Star Wars, director James Cameron quit his job as a truck driver to enter the film industry. Other filmmakers who have said to have been influenced by Star Wars include Peter Jackson, Dean Devlin, Roland Emmerich, Christopher Nolan, John Lasseter, David Fincher, Kevin Smith, John Singleton, and Ridley Scott. Sony VAIO VGN-Z590NJB Battery Scott was influenced by the "used future" (where vehicles and culture are obviously dated) and extended the concept for his science fiction horror film Alien and science fiction noir film Blade Runner (which also starred Harrison Ford). Jackson used the concept for his production of The Lord of the Ringstrilogy to add a sense of realism and believability.[ Sony VAIO VGN-Z590UAB BatteryNolan cited Star Wars as an influence when making the blockbuster Inception.[91]
Some critics have blamed Star Wars and also Jaws for ruining Hollywood by shifting its focus from sophisticated and relevant films such as The Godfather, Taxi Driver, and Annie Hall to films about spectacle and juvenile fantasy.[92] Sony VAIO VGN-Z591U/B Battery Peter Biskind complained for the same reason: "When all was said and done, Lucas and Spielberg returned the 1970s audience, grown sophisticated on a diet of European and New Hollywood films, to the simplicities of the pre-1960s Golden Age of movies… They marched backward through the looking-glass." Sony VAIO VGN-Z59G Battery In an opposing view, Tom Shone wrote that through Star Wars and Jaws, Lucas and Spielberg "didn't betray cinema at all: they plugged it back into the grid, returning the medium to its roots as a carnival sideshow, a magic act, one big special effect", which was "a kind of rebirth".[90] Sony VAIO VGN-Z620D BatteryStar Wars has been the subject of many parodies, including those in Robot Chicken, South Park, Family Guy in the episode "Blue Harvest", the short film Hardware Wars and Mel Brooks' full-length parody, Spaceballs.
In 1989, the U.S. National Film Registry of the Library of Congress selected the film as a "culturally, Sony VAIO VGN-Z620N/B Battery historically, or aesthetically important" film.[94] In 2002, Star Wars and The Empire Strikes Back were voted as the greatest films ever made on Channel 4's 100 Greatest Films poll.[95] In 2006, Lucas's original screenplay was selected by the Writers Guild of America as the 68th greatest of all time. Sony VAIO VGN-Z650N/B Battery The novelization of the film was published in December 1976, six months before the film was released. The credited author was George Lucas, but the book was revealed to have been ghostwritten by Alan Dean Foster, who later wrote the first Expanded Universe novel, Splinter of the Mind's Eye. Sony VAIO VGN-Z670N/B Battery The book was first published as Star Wars: From the Adventures of Luke Skywalker; later editions were titled simply Star Wars (1995) and, later, Star Wars: A New Hope (1997), to reflect the retitling of the film. Certain scenes deleted from the film (and later restored or archived in DVD bonus features) Sony VAIO VGN-Z690CTO Battery were always present in the novel (since it had been based on the screenplay), such as Luke at Tosche Station with Biggs and the encounter between Han and Jabba (referred to as "Jabba the Hut") in Docking Bay 94. Other deleted scenes from the movie, such as a close-up of a stormtrooper riding on a Dewback, Sony VAIO VGN-Z690NAX Batterywere included in a photo insert added to later printings of the book.
Smaller details were also different from the film version; for example, in the Death Star assault, Luke's callsign is Blue Five instead of Red Five as in the film. Also Obi-Wan does not sacrifice himself; Sony VAIO VGN-Z690PAB BatteryVader actually defeats and executes him in the lightsaber duel. Charles Lippincott secured the deal with Del Rey Books to publish the novelization in November 1976. By February 1977, a half-million copies had been sold.[5]
Book-and-record sets
Lucasfilm adapted the story for a children's book-and-record set. Sony VAIO VGN-Z690PCB Battery
Released in 1979, the 24-page Star Wars read-along book was accompanied by a 33⅓ rpm 7-inchgramophone record. Each page of the book contained a cropped frame from the movie with an abridged and condensed version of the story. The record was produced by Buena Vista Records, Sony VAIO VGN-Z690PDB Battery
and its content copyrighted by Black Falcon, Ltd., a subsidiary of Lucasfilm "formed to handle the merchandising for Star Wars".[105]
The Story of Star Wars was a 1977 record album presenting an abridged version of the events depicted in Star Wars, using dialogue and sound effects from the original film. Sony VAIO VGN-Z690PEB Battery
The recording was produced by George Lucas and Alan Livingston, and was narrated by Roscoe Lee Browne. The script was adapted by E. Jack Kaplan and Cheryl Gard.
Radio drama
A radio drama adaptation of the film was written by Brian Daley, directed by John Madden, and produced for and broadcast on the American National Public Radionetwork in 1981. Sony VAIO VGN-Z690PFB Battery
The adaptation received cooperation from George Lucas, who donated the rights to NPR. John Williams' music and Ben Burtt's sound design were retained for the show; Mark Hamill (Luke Skywalker) and Anthony Daniels (C-3PO) reprised their roles as well. The radio drama featured scenes not seen in the final cut of the film, Sony VAIO VGN-Z690YAD Battery
such as Luke Skywalker's observation of the space battle above Tatooine through binoculars, a skyhopper race, and Darth Vader's interrogation of Princess Leia. In terms of Star Wars canon, the radio drama is given the highest designation (like the screenplay and novelization), G-canon. Sony VAIO VGN-Z691Y/B Battery
Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back (also known as The Empire Strikes Back) is a 1980 American epicspace opera film directed by Irvin Kershner and written by Leigh Brackett and Lawrence Kasdan, with George Lucas writing the film's story and serving as executive producer. Sony VAIO VGN-Z691Y/X Battery
Of the six main Star Wars films, it was the second to be released and the fifth in terms of internal chronology.
The film is set three years after the original Star Wars. The Galactic Empire, under the leadership of the villainousDarth Vader, Sony VAIO VGN-Z698Y/X Battery
is in pursuit of Luke Skywalker and the rest of the Rebel Alliance. While Vader chases a small band of Luke's friends—Han Solo, Princess Leia Organa, and others—across the galaxy, Luke studies the Force under Jedi MasterYoda. But when Vader captures Luke's friends, Sony VAIO VGN-Z699JAB Battery
Luke must decide whether to complete his training and become a full Jedi Knight or to confront Vader and save his comrades.
Following a difficult production, The Empire Strikes Back was released on May 21, 1980, and initially received mixed reviews from critics, although it has since grown in esteem, Sony VAIO VGN-Z70B Battery
becoming one of the most popular chapters in the Star Warssaga and one of the most highly-rated films in history.[2][3][4][5] It earned more than $538 million worldwide over the original run and several re-releases, making it the highest grossing film of 1980. Sony VAIO VGN-Z71JB Battery
When adjusted for inflation, it is the 12th highest grossing film in the USA and Canada as of 2012.[6]
In 2010, the film was selected for preservation in the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress for being "culturally, historically, and aesthetically significant." Sony VAIO VGN-Z73FB Battery
Three years after destroying the Death Star, the Rebel Alliance has suffered setbacks in their struggle against theGalactic Empire. Princess Leia now leads a contingent that includes Han Solo and Luke Skywalker in a hidden base on an icy planet of the Hoth system. A probe droid, Sony VAIO VGN-Z790DKX Battery
one of many sent by Darth Vader throughout the galaxy in hopes of finding Luke and the other rebels, lands on Hoth. Luke goes to investigate but is ambushed by a monstrous, furry wampa. While Han Solo searches for him, Luke frees himself from the wampa's cave with his lightsaber but soon succumbs to the freezing temperatures of the snowy wasteland. Sony VAIO VGN-Z790DMR Battery
The spirit of his late mentor, Obi-Wan Kenobi, appears before him and instructs him to go to the planet Dagobah to train under Jedi Master Yoda (voiced by Frank Oz). Han manages to find Luke and uses the warmth of his dead tauntaun mount to keep him alive while they wait to be rescued. Sony VAIO VGN-Z790DND Battery
Just as Luke recovers, the Imperial fleet, having been alerted to the location of the Rebel base by the probe droid, launches an attack using gigantic AT-AT Walkers. The Rebels mount a strong defense, and Luke brings down a walker single-handedly after his fighter is disabled, but the base is nonetheless captured. Sony VAIO VGN-Z820DB Battery
Han and Leia escape on the Millennium Falcon with C-3PO and Chewbacca, but their hyperspace drive malfunctions, and they must hide in an asteroid field. Luke escapes with R2-D2 in an X-wing fighter and crash lands on Dagobah. He is soon found by the diminutive Yoda, Sony VAIO VGN-Z820G/B Battery
who at first pretends to be a simple swamp inhabitant in order to test Luke's patience. After conferring with Obi-Wan's spirit, Yoda accepts Luke as his pupil.
Han and Leia end their bickering and grow closer, but their courtship is interrupted when they must flee a giant asteroid worm. Sony VAIO VGN-Z890GLX Battery
They avoid capture again by attaching the Millennium Falcon directly to the side of a Star Destroyer in Vader's fleet. Frustrated at having lost them, Vader turns to several notoriousbounty hunters, including Boba Fett (Jeremy Bulloch, voiced by Jason Wingreen/Temuera Morrison). Sony VAIO VGN-Z890GMR Battery
Meanwhile, Luke begins a brief period of intensive training, during which his power in the Force grows exponentially. He suffers a setback when he fails a test and sees the vision of his own face inside Darth Vader's helmet. Then he becomes troubled by premonitions of Han and Leia in pain and despite Yoda and Obi-Wan's disapprovals, Sony VAIO VGN-Z898H/X Battery
leaves to save them, promising to return to complete his training.
Having escaped detection, Han lets his ship float away with the star destroyer's garbage and sets a course for Cloud City, a floating gas mining colony in the skies of the planet Bespin. Sony VAIO VGN-Z90FS Battery
Boba Fett secretly follows the Millennium Falcon to the planet Bespin and arrives just before Han and Leia. Bespin is run by Han's old friend Lando Calrissian (Billy Dee Williams), but shortly after they arrive he turns them over to Vader to prevent the takeover of his city. Over Lando's objections, Vader uses them as bait to bring Luke into his trap. Sony VAIO VGN-Z90NS Battery
Vader intends to hold Luke in suspended animation and selects Han as a test subject for the process. Han and Leia profess their love for each other, after which Han is frozen in a block of carbonite. Reneging on his deal with Lando, Vader gives Han's hibernating form to Boba Fett, who plans to present this "prize" toJabba the Hutt. Sony VAIO VGN-Z90PS Battery
Lando frees Leia, Chewbacca, and C-3PO, but they are too late to stop Fett from escaping with Han, forcing them to flee in the Falcon without him.
Meanwhile, Luke has arrived at Cloud City, as Vader planned. Luke and Vader engage in a lightsaber duel that leads them over the central air shaft of Cloud City. Sony VAIO VGN-Z90S Battery
Vader severs Luke's right hand, disarming him, and reveals that he did not kill Luke's father, but actually is Luke's father. Horrified by this fact, Luke refuses Vader's offer to rule the galaxy at his side, choosing instead to throw himself down the air shaft. He slides through a tube system and is ejected but catches onto an antenna under the floating city. Sony VAIO VGN-Z90US Battery
He makes a desperate telepathic plea to Leia, who senses it and persuades Lando to return for him. Its hyperdrive finally repaired by R2-D2, the Falcon escapes. Aboard a Rebel medical frigate, Luke is fitted with an artificial hand. As Luke, Leia, R2-D2, and C-3PO look on from the medical center, Sony VAIO VGN-Z91DS Battery
Lando and Chewbacca set off in the Falcon to rescue Han from Boba Fett and Jabba the Hutt.
Mark Hamill as Luke Skywalker: A commander in the Rebel Alliance, leader of the Rogue Squadron, and Jedi-in-training. After having a vision of his old mentorObi-Wan Kenobi, Luke—along with his droid R2-D2—sets out to find Yoda on Dagobah. Sony VAIO VGN-Z91JS Battery
Harrison Ford as Han Solo: A mercenary smuggler who initially aided the Rebellion in exchange for money but has since accepted a ranking position within the Rebel Alliance. Although he intends to leave the rebels to go and pay off a debt to a gangster, Jabba the Hutt, he is trapped on Hoth by the Imperial blockade. Sony VAIO VGN-Z91PS Battery
- Carrie Fisher as Princess Leia Organa: A high ranking official in the Rebellion chain of command.
Billy Dee Williams as Lando Calrissian: Calrissian is the Baron Administrator of Bespin's Cloud City. He is a long-time friend of Han Solo and former captain of the Millennium Falcon. Sony VAIO VGN-Z91YS Battery
- Anthony Daniels as C-3PO: C-3PO is Princess Leia Organa's protocol droid.
David Prowse as Darth Vader: Vader, a Sith Lord and a loyal agent of Emperor Palpatine, is obsessed with finding Luke Skywalker, the young rebel who destroyed the Death Star. Sony VAIO VGN-Z92DS Battery
- His search brings him to Hoth, where he orders the blockade of the ice planet. It is also revealed in the film that he is actually Luke's father, Anakin Skywalker. James Earl Jones provided the voice of Darth Vader.
Kenny Baker as R2-D2: R2-D2 is Luke Skywalker's astromech droid. Sony VAIO VGN-Z92JS Battery
- Peter Mayhew as Chewbacca: Chewbacca is Han Solo's Wookiee copilot and close friend.
- Frank Oz as Yoda: Yoda is a self-exiled Jedi Grandmaster, who lives on Dagobah.
Jeremy Bulloch as Boba Fett: Sony VAIO VGN-Z92PS Battery
A bounty hunter, Fett has gained infamy throughout the galaxy and is hired by Darth Vader to hunt down the Millennium Falcon.Jason Wingreen provided Fett's voice in the original theatrical cut and the 1997 Special Edition of the film. Sony VAIO VGN-Z92YS Battery
Bulloch also makes a cameo appearance as the Imperial officer who grabs Leia when she tells Luke to avoid Vader's trap. In the 2004 special edition, Temuera Morrison, who played Jango Fett in Attack of the Clone and Commander Cody in Revenge of the Sith, Sony VAIO VGN-Z93FS Battery
- replaced Wingreen as Fett's voice to create better continuity between the original and prequel trilogy.
Alec Guinness as Obi-Wan "Ben" Kenobi: Kenobi was killed by Darth Vader in the Death Star in A New Hope, Sony VAIO VGN-Z93GS Battery
- but his "death" allowed him to become one with the Force, giving him the ability to appear as a spirit and give guidance to his former student, Luke Skywalker.
Denis Lawson as Wedge Antilles: Wedge is a pilot in the Rebel Alliance, who flew with Luke Skywalker at the Battle of Yavin. Sony VAIO VGN-Z93HS Battery
- In the Battle of Hoth, he pilots one of the speeders in the Rogue Squadron and is the first to bring down an AT-AT. In the closing credits, as with A New Hope, Denis Lawson's name is misspelled "Dennis".
Clive Revill as the voice of Emperor Palpatine: Palpatine, the ruler of the Galactic Empire, Sony VAIO VGN-Z93VS Battery
- is displeased with the loss of the Death Star and consequently lists the Rebel Alliance as a top priority for his military forces. He is particularly interested in "the offspring of Anakin Skywalker", and orders Vader to convert the boy to the dark side of the Force. Sony VAIO VPCZ11V9R/B Battery
While Clive Revill played the voice of the Emperor, Elaine Baker, the wife of Rick Baker, appeared as Palpatine's physical form in the original theatrical cut and the 1997 Special Edition of the film with superimposed chimpanzee eyes.Ian McDiarmid, Sony VAIO VPCZ11X9E/B Battery
who portrayed Palpatine in Return of the Jedi as well as the prequel trilogy films, replaced both Baker and Revill as Palpatine in the 2004 DVD version, with filming taking place during the principal photography of Revenge of the Sith.[8][10] Sony VAIO VPCZ11Z9E/B Battery
Actor John Ratzenberger, best known as Cliff Clavin from the TV series Cheers and the voices of many characters from Pixar's animated films, has a small part as deck officer Major Bren Derlin. Character actor Treat Williams portrayed several background characters, including a trooper in the Hoth rebel base and a trooper in Cloud City. Sony VAIO VPCZ125GX/S Battery
George Lucas' 1977 film Star Wars exceeded all expectations in terms of profit, its revolutionary effect on the movie industry, and its unexpected resonance as a cultural phenomenon. Lucas hoped to become independent from the Hollywood film industry by financing Sony VAIO VPCZ127FC Battery
The Empire Strikes Back himself with $33 million from loans and the previous film's earnings, going against the principles of many Hollywood producers to never invest one's own money.[13] Now fully in command of hisStar Wars enterprise, Lucas chose not to direct The Empire Strikes Back because of his other production roles, Sony VAIO VPCZ128GC Battery
including overseeing his special effects companyIndustrial Light & Magic (ILM) and handling of the financing. Lucas offered the role of director to Irvin Kershner, one of his former professors at the USC School of Cinema-Television,[14] and known for smaller-scale, character-driven films. Sony VAIO VPCZ12M9E/B Battery
Kershner initially refused, citing his belief that a sequel would never meet the quality or originality of the original Star Wars. He called his agent, who immediately demanded that he take the job.[13] In addition, Lucas hiredLawrence Kasdan and Leigh Brackett to write the screenplay based on his original story.[13] Sony VAIO VPCZ13M9E/B Battery
Brackett completed her draft in February 1978 before dying of cancer, and Lucas wrote the second before hiring Kasdan, who had impressed him with his draft for Raiders of the Lost Ark.
After the release of Star Wars, ILM grew from being a struggling company and moved to Marin County, California.[13] Sony VAIO VPCZ13V9E/X Battery
The Empire Strikes Back provided the company with new challenges. Whereas Star Wars mostly featured space sequences, The Empire Strikes Back featured not only space dogfights but also an ice planet battle opening sequence and elements of cities that floated among the clouds. Sony VAIO VPCZ13Z9E/X Battery
For the battle scenes on the ice planet of Hoth, the initial intent was to use bluescreen to composite theImperial walkers into still-shots from the original set. Instead, an artist was hired to paint landscapes, resulting in the Imperial walkers being shot using stop motion animation in front of the landscape paintings.[13] Sony VAIO VPCZZZHJ Battery
The original designs for the AT-ATs were, according to Phil Tippett, "big armored vehicles with wheels". Many believe the finished design was inspired by the Port of Oakland container cranes, but Lucas denied this.[16] Sony VAIO VPZ118 Battery
In designing the Jedi Master Yoda, Stuart Freeborn used his own face as a model and added the wrinkles of Albert Einstein for the appearance of exceptional intelligence.[17] Sony VAIO VPZ117 Battery
Sets for Dagobah were built five feet above the stage floor, allowing puppeteers to crawl underneath and hold up the Yoda puppet. The setup presented Frank Oz, who portrayed Yoda, with communication problems as he was underneath the stage and unable to hear the crew and Mark Hamill above.[18] Sony VAIO VPZ119 Battery
Hamill later expressed his dismay at being the only human character on set for months; he felt like a trivial element on a set of animals, machines, and moving props. Kershner commended Hamill for his performance with the puppet.[13][19]
Filming began in Norway, at the Hardangerjøkulen glacier near the town of Finse, Sony VPCM11M1E/B Battery
on March 5, 1979. Like the filming of Star Wars, where the production in Tunisia coincided with the area's first major rainstorm in fifty years, the weather was against the film crew. While filming in Norway, they encountered the worst winter storm in fifty years. Temperatures dropped to−20 °F (−29 °C), and 18 feet (5.5 m) of snow fell.[13] Sony VPCM11M1E/W Battery
On one occasion, the crew were unable to exit their hotel. They achieved a shot involving Luke's exit of the Wampa cave by opening the hotel's doors and filming Mark Hamill running out into the snow while the crew remained warm inside.[13] Despite reports to the contrary, Sony VPCM12M1E/L Battery
the scene in which Luke gets knocked out by the Wampa was not added specifically to explain the change to Hamill's face after a motor accident that occurred between filming of Star Wars and The Empire Strikes Back. Lucas admitted that the scene "helped" the situation, though he felt that Luke's time fighting in the rebellion was sufficient explanation.[19] Sony VPCM12M1E/P Battery
The production then moved to Elstree Studios in London on March 13,[15] where over 60 sets were built, more than double the number used in the previous film.[13] A fire in January on Stage 3 (during filming of Stanley Kubrick's The Shining) forced the budget to be increased from $18.5 million to $22 million, and by July the budget increased $3 million more. Sony VPCM12M1E/W Battery
Filming finished by mid-September.[15]
One memorable exchange of dialogue was partially ad-libbed. Originally, Lucas wrote a scene in which Princess Leia professed her love to Han Solo, with Han replying "I love you too." Harrison Ford felt the characterization was not being used effectively, and Kershner agreed. Sony VPCM13M1E/L Battery
After several takes, the director told the actor to improvise on the spot. Ford changed Solo's line to "I know."
During production, great secrecy surrounded the fact that Darth Vader was Luke's father. Like the rest of the crew, Sony VPCM13M1E/P Battery
Prowse—who spoke all of Vader's lines during filming—was given a false page that contained dialogue with the revelatory line being "Obi-Wan killed your father."Hamill did not learn of the plot point until just before the scene was filmed, astounding the actor; Kershner advised him to ignore Prowse's dialogue and "use your own rhythm". Sony VPCM13M1E/W Battery
Until the film premiered, only Lucas, Kershner, Hamill, and James Earl Jones knew what would really be said; Jones' initial reaction to the line was, "He's lying!"[13]Interestingly, though, according to the San Francisco Examiner, during a fan gathering in the late 1970s, Sony VAIO VPCZ112GX/S Battery
David Prowse revealed to a crowd of cheering fans that Vader was going to be revealed as Luke's father in the next film.[22] The film includes a brief image of Vader with his mask off, facing away from the camera. For the original viewers of the film, this scene made it clear that Vader is not a droid.[19] Sony VAIO VPCZ114GX/S Battery
To preserve the dramatic opening sequences of his films, Lucas wanted the screen credits to come at the end of the films. Even though this is more common now, this was a highly unusual choice at the time. The Writers Guild and the Directors Guild had no problem allowing it on Star Wars, Sony VAIO VPCZ115 Battery
back in 1977, because the writer-director credit (George Lucas) matched the company name, but when Lucas did the same thing for the sequel it became an issue because Lucas had his last name on the start of the film (Lucasfilm), while the director and the writers had theirs on the end. Sony VAIO VPCZ115FC/B Battery
They fined him over $250,000 and attempted to pull Empireout of theaters. The DGA also attacked Kershner; to protect his director, Lucas paid all the fines to the guilds. Due to the controversy, he left the Directors Guild, Writers Guild, and the Motion Picture Association.[13] Sony VAIO VPCZ115FC/S Battery
The initial production budget of $18,000,000[23] was 50% more than that of the original. After the various increases in budget, The Empire Strikes Back became one of the most expensive movies of its day and after the bank threatened to pull his loan, Lucas was forced to approach 20th Century Fox. Sony VAIO VPCZ116 Battery
Lucas made a deal with the studio to secure the loan in exchange for paying the studio more money, but without the loss of his sequel and merchandising rights. After the film's box office success, unhappiness at the studio over the deal's generosity to Lucas caused studio president Alan Ladd, Jr. to quit. Sony VAIO VPCZ116GX/S Battery
The departure of his longtime ally caused Lucas to take Raiders of the Lost Ark to Paramount Pictures. Sony VAIO VPCZ117 Battery,Sony VAIO VPCZ117FC/B Battery,Sony VAIO VPCZ118 Battery
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