Not so long ago, in a Hollywood not so far, far away, young Lucas Filmmaker wanted to make the first STAR TREK movie. The bosses at Paramount Studios said "NO!".
Undetterred, Lucas decided to make his own version of Star Trek. George Lucas claims to have an IQ of 94, so he aimed his movie at 14 year olds and younger. For inspiration he looked to the same source as Star Trek, which is FLASH GORDON. Although the late Gene Roddenberry claimed "Horation Hornblower" was his model for Star Trek, it was very obviously the 1930's FLASH GORDON serials. I don't know who is the biggest bulls**tter, Roddenberry or Lucas.
Lucas ripped-off the opening crawl from FLASH GORDON, and spent his $11 million budget to make one of the best motion pictures in history. It tells the story of a young man (Mark Hamill) who becomes an interplanetary hero with the help of human and robot colleagues. The special effects are superb, and it won 7 Oscars for technical excellence.
When the movie was released and was a smash hit, Lucas suddenly decided to make it a "Trilogy", so STAR WARS became "STAR WARS Episode IV: A New Hope". He announced there would be three trilogies. What happened to the third trilogy? Lucas recently announced a STAR WARS TV series.
STAR WARS IV (usually abbreviated to "ANH" by fans) is set 19 years after the formation of the Galactic Empire. There is a civil war in the galaxy and a Death Star space station capable of destoying planets is developed. Princess Leia Organa (Carrie Fisher) a leader of the Rebel Alliance is captured and taken to the Death Star. She manages to entrust plans of the weapon to droid R2-D2 (Kenny Baker) and its partner C-3P0 (Anthony Daniels). The droids are captured by Jawas and sold to Owen Lars (Phil Brown) and his nephew Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill).
Princess Leia: (in a holo message) "General Kenobi: Years ago, you served my father in the Clone Wars. Now he begs you to help him in his struggle against the Empire. I regret that I am unable to present my father's request to you in person. But my ship has fallen under attack and I'm afraid my mission to Alderaan has failed. I've placed information vital to the survival of the rebellion into the memory systems of this R2 unit. My father will know how to retrieve it. You must see this droid safely delivered to him on Alderaan. This is our most desperate hour. Help me, Obi-Wan Kenobi. You're my only hope."
Luke Skywalker meeets Ben Obi-Wan Kenobi (Alec Guiness) on planet Tatooine. Luke's home is destroyed and Obi-Wan begins Luke's Jedi training to facilitate the rescue of Princess Leia. At Mos Eisley Spaceport he meets Han Solo (Harrison Ford) who transports the group on his ship Millennium Falcon. Grand Moff Tarkin (Peter Cushing) destroys Leia's home planet Alderaan. A tractor beam pulls the Falcon into the Death Star, Obi-Wan has a lightsaber duel with Darth Vader (David Prowse), and our heroes escape in the Falcon.
Han Solo: "Stay sharp. There's two more coming in. They'll try and cut us off."
Luke: "Why don't you outrun them? I thought you said this thing was fast."
Han Solo: "Watch your mouth kid, or you're gonna find yourself floating home. We'll be safe enough once we make the jump to hyperspace. Besides, I know a few maneuvers. We'll lose em'."
(the ship shudders as an explosion flashes outside the window)
Han Solo: "Here's where the fun begins!"
Obi-Wan: "How long before you can make the jump to light speed?"
Han Solo: "It'll take a few moments to get the coordinates from the navi-computer."
(the ship begins to rock violently as lasers hit it)
Luke: "Are you kidding? At the rate they're gaining..."
Han Solo: "Traveling through hyperspace isn't like dusting crops, boy!"
Actually the Empire allowed the escape to track their ship to the Rebel Base on Yavin IV. There is a battle with squadrons of Rebel ships vs. the Death Star. Luke uses the Force to help destroy the Death Star with the help of Han Solo and Chewbacca (Peter Mayhew). In a ceremony at the Massassi Temple on Yavin IV, Luke and Han are awarded medals of valor by Princess Leia.
The cast also includes: Shelagh Fraser (Aunt Beru), Jack Purvis (Chief Jawa), Alex McCrindle (General Dodonna), Eddie Byrne (General Willard), Drewe Henley (Red Leader), DEnis Lawson (Red Two), Garrick Hagon (Red Three), Jack Klaff (Red Four), William Hootkins (Red Six), Angus MacInnes (Gold Leader), Jeremy Sinden (Gold Two), Graham Ashley (Gold Five), Don Henderson (General Taggi), Richard LeParmentier (General Motti), Mark Austin (Boba Fett), Janice Burchette (Nabrun Leids), Ted Burnett (Wuher), Barry Copping (Wioslea), Alfie Curtis (Dr. Evazan), Maria De Aragon (Greedo)<>
Although he had unabashedly ripped-off FLASH GORDON and STAR TREK, George Lucas actually sued BATTLESTAR: GALACTICA (1979) for ripping off STAR WARS. The greedy idiot lost, of course.
The second STAR WARS movie THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK (1980) is just as good, and has a different director (Irvin Kershner). The third, RETURN OF THE JEDI (1983) is not as good. Lucas tried to re-invent the Teddy Bear with the Ewoks (yech!), and the ending is terrible.
Starting in 1997, George Lucas souped-up the special effects on the three movies and added extra footage. He called them "Special Editions". It is virtually unprecedented for an artist to return to his finished works decades later and "improve" them.
In 1999 Lucas released THE PHANTOM MENACE. In 2002 he released ATTACK OF THE CLONES, and in 2005 THE REVENGE OF THE SITH. They differ from the first trilogy in the horrible use of computer generated cartoon characters and the over-use of digital special effects The characters and dialogue tend to be wooden and the films are inferior.
The first STAR WARS earned $798 million during its original theatrical release. The first five STAR WARS movies made over $3.5 billion. Let's not forget merchandising: George Lucas has raked in over $10 billion from STAR WARS toys and paraphernalia.
