This evening.

It's not as I recalled it.

Firstly, it's actually a pretty good film.  But It's much more SFy, it's all droids, spaceships, computer hacking by R2-D2, alien worlds and sense of wonder stuff.  The jedi are a minor part, key but minor.  Obi-Wan works the famous mind trick but otherwise the force basically allows a bit of throttling by DV and otherwise is almost entirely a form of extra-sensory perception.

The mood is Chanbara based, no wuxia at all, none.  There is very little continuity with the other movies, it is expressly mentioned that Princess Leia's father is part of the resistance and is on Alderaan (and it is strongly implied he dies there when it blows up), there is absolutely no possibility of her being

Luke is clearly sexually attracted to Leia, and it implies she may be to him also, she kisses him at one point and otherwise seems a bit tempted by both him and Han.  She's plainly not Luke's sister.  

There is no concept that jedi must build their light sabers, Luke is given his father's.  It seems that's pure extended universe stuff.

Basically, it's a really good swashbuckling/chanbara movie set in space, the jedi have very low key powers and so don't remotely overshadow the other characters as they do later.  It's actually, and this is why I'm here and not in off-topic, much more gameable than the later movies and the prequels because the jedi just aren't the Mary Sues of the setting yet.  It's fast moving sf action, and much more fun for it.

Interesting stuff, almost all Star Wars canon is utterly absent, no wookie life debts, no midichlorians than christ, it seems very unlikely in this one that DV is Luke's father because his father really is spoken of in a way that suggests he genuinely is dead.  Later it all gets retconned of course, but here it works much better for being much simpler.

Oh, Greedo shot first in this version, it works really poorly as a scene as for some reason he misses a shot across a table instead firing rather randomly into the air.  It's not a well amended scene, leaving aside any other issues of characterisation.

Darth Vader mentions Luke building his own light saber as a final test in ROTJ, so it's not just EU...

I'll have to agree with the general tenor of the post, though. Lots of the stuff that got added in TESB was clearly not present in ANH, although some of that might be an artifact of editing...

I did the same, watching all three movies the last week after a rather long pause, although SW is about the only thing I can drop my cynicism long enough to be called a fan of. And even the original version kinda stood the test of time, compared to other science-fiction material. There aren't that many artifacts of the 70s in there and the production design is still one of the best around, something Lucas couldn't exactly repeat.

Yes, but Obi-Wan does hesitate quite noticeably in SW:A New Hope when Luke asked about his father.
 It literally looks like Kenobi is thinking "Oh shit what do I tell him ? or not tell him" for a second or two there.

- Ed C.

It's a movie that stands on its own, but also is sufficiently ambiguous (why does Obi-Wan do X?  What does it mean when Vader does Y?) that later movies can expand on what was happening in the first, without invalidating what it is on its own.  Spiffy!

I sort of wish that more movies that aren't part of series would do that.  There's this unfortunate tendency to want to give the audience all the answers ... and I actually like movies (like Big Trouble in Little China) that just throw in little glimmers of cool stuff beneath the surface, in a way that says "Yeah, we could spend ten minutes exploring and explaining this ... but instead ... Kung Fu!"

I'm with Koltar on this one, whatever Obiwan said was obviously intended as a lie.  Also, I think it's pretty naive to think Luke couldn't be sexually attracted to their sister he never knew they had.

Since Lucas basically cribbed the "I am your father Luke" bit from Kirby's New Gods which came out years before StarWars I think he had it in mind from the beginning.

All I know is that when I went to see it in 1977 it was called Star Wars.
That's it, no New Hope or Episode IV crap! :mad:

Its sequel is probably one of the best sequels ever though the standard dropped with the second sequel.

Balbinus, I find your lack of faith...refreshing.

Regards,
David R

Star Wars (AKA ANH) worked because it was a big ramshackle adventure story with a thousand influences. It also worked because Lucas and his team had to expend real ingenuity building the sets and models (put together out of bits of Airfix stuff and so forth).

Everything since SW is just a watering-down of that original idea. Unsustainable in my view. The new films strike me as flat--flat as the CGI.

Quote from: David JohansenAlso, I think it's pretty naive to think Luke couldn't be sexually attracted to their sister he never knew they had.

I don't think a pulp adventure movie intentionally included an incest subplot.

In real life that could happen, in this genre not so much.

Having seen the early drafts (Luke Starkiller?)--either I am very, very misled as to the authenticity of that stuff--or he didn't have anything particular in mind from the beginning ...
-Marco

Quote from: Marco-or he didn't have anything particular in mind from the beginning ...

Star Wars was made up as George went.  I think in these days Lucas tries to convince us he had big plans from the start, but all the evidence and "behind the scenes" information pretty much proves that the first movie (at least) was simply made up as george went.  Despite having movies beyond that planned, the details were never worked out untill right before production started.  Things like the love story between Han and Leia were "added" by the director before the second film.  I think the only real plan that was hashed out was that Vader would be Lukes father.  And I doubt if even that was set in stone when the first movie was being filmed.

As far as the OP :eek: I watch all the SW movies once or twice a year...I couldn't imagine going 20 years!  What were you thinking?

Quote from: BalbinusI don't think a pulp adventure movie intentionally included an incest subplot.

In real life that could happen, in this genre not so much.

Except it's not an incest subplot it's a fake out for the actual romance.  Luke's a very safe proxy for a competitor for Leia's affections.  Nothing happens, nor would it in this genre.  But a mixed up romance with twins?  That's older than Shakespear.

The only thing better than Star Wars is The Empire Strikes Back, and the only thing better than that s watching them with your 2-year-old daughter.

My belief is that Lucas did have a lot of things in mind to steal, errr use.  But no, Luke could never have been the actual love interest for Leia.  The guy with the destiny isn't supposed to get the girl.

Constructing a lightsaber as a "final test?"

Last I checked, Luke constructed his own 'cause he lost the first one. And the hand that was holding it. Down a bottomless shaft that opens out into... sky. Ouch.