Star Wars: Science Fiction's New Hope (a review by Jedi Teen)

Given our names, you probably figured out that I was going to do this sometime. Actually, I wanted to do a Star Wars review since before we started the blog. The very first Star Wars movie (episode 4: A New Hope) was written and directed by George Lucas in 1977. This is definitely my current favorite movie (well, maybe it’s episode 5, which will be discussed in a latter review), and yesterday was probably my tenth time seeing it this year; I’m starting to lose track.

In the 1970s, many science fiction films were low budget. With the arrival of Star Wars and its groundbreaking special effects, no one had ever seen anything like it! Even after saying this, I believe that Star Wars is not technically science fiction. I have even been known to call it a “political fairytale” with its “a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away”, (set in the past) rescuing princesses, romance,(Han and Leia) and Jedi Knights.

At the beginning of the movie, the rebels have stolen secret plans to the evil Galactic Empire’s massive space station, the Death Star. This station has the ability to destroy an entire planet in one blow. After the scroll which appears at the beginning of all the Star Wars movies, the movie starts with a gigantic spaceship (which looks never-ending) pursuing a much smaller ship. Princess Leia (Carrie Fisher) hides the plans in the memory of a small droid named R2-D2, who talks in beeps and squeaks. He and C-3PO, a protocol droid, use an escape pod to go to the desolate desert planet of Tatooine, which has two suns, where they meet Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill), a nineteen-year-old farm boy who desperately wants to leave the farm and go to the academy. Luke meets Obi-Wan Kenobi (Alec Guinness), a Jedi who teaches Luke about the force.

They meet up with Han Solo (Harrison Ford) who is the pilot of the spaceship the Millennium Falcon. He and his companion Chewbacca, a large hairy wookie, volunteer to take Obi-Wan, Luke, and the droids to the Alderaan system to help Leia and deliver R2’s plans to the rebels. R2-D2 had a message for Obi-Wan, and Leia asked for help. “Help me Obi-Wan Kenobi, you’re my only hope”. Han seems like he only cares about money, because he has debts to pay off, and he asks Luke and Obi-Wan to pay him a lot of money in order for him to take them to Alderaan. However, when the get to Alderaan, Leia’s home planet, it is not there. It has been destroyed by the Death Star, which has a powerful tractor beam which pulls them in. Although they do not know it, Leia is being held hostage on the Death Star. While Obi-Wan is turning off the tractor beam, Luke decides to rescue Leia, and they have quite an adventure getting out of the Death Star-shooting in the halls, almost getting smashed by a garbage masher, and, once they get off the Death Star, there is space fighting. The evil villain, Darth Vader, kills Obi-Wan, before the others can get off the Death Star.

When they get back to the rebel base, they analyze the data in R2-D2 and plan a long attack on the Death Star. Most of the rebel pilots die in the process, but Luke blows up the Death Star with the help of Han, who sends Darth Vader spiraling off into space.

Despite it being 1977, I think the special effects have held up very well. I like the ’77 version far better than the “shiny version” (Lucas’ 1997 special edition) with unnecessary CGI. And of course, this edition spawned the long Han and Greedo controversy (Greedo being a green alien who Han shoots). The question is; who shot first? Well, nobody. Han was supposed to be the only one who shot at all. Well, going back to topic, I think that the special effects and computer graphics were very good for ’77, and any CGI additions are unnecessary

These movies (Episode 4-6) are also much better stories than the prequel trilogy (episodes 1-3). I have only seen the first trilogy (4-6) and episode 1 (The Phantom Menace) but Ep. 1 was boring, and it didn’t make sense. If prequel fans are reading this, think again! The ability to use CGI is insignificant next to the power of good stories. If you haven’t seen Episode 4, watch it. If you have seen it, watch it again. If you don’t like it, you can at least learn to appreciate the John Williams score.

May the force be with you.