Future Retroism: Star Wars A New Hope

 Originally published in The Mace and Crown
Future Retroism: Star Wars
A Long Time Ago in a London Film Studio Far Far Away
George Plank
Staff Writer
On Dec. 18, 2015 Star Wars fans received an early Christmas gift from Disney, Star Wars the Force Awakens,・the seventh installment in the science fiction series spanning nearly four decades. After ten years of waiting fans could once again return to that galaxy far far away. But Star Wars・wasn't always the multi-billion-dollar franchise that it is today. Before there was a force to be awakened, an avenging sith or even a new hope it all began in 1977 with a little film simply called, Star Wars.・
The movie begins with a title crawl written by George Lucas and Brian De Palma and set to the theme composed by John Williams. The crawl has become a defining factor in the Star Wars・franchise. Every major installment of the series, as well as a good majority of the licensed video games, has featured an opening crawl to set the tone for the story that is about to unfold. The opening crawl has become so synonymous with the Star Wars・brand that it has been referenced and parodied in almost every facet of popular culture. This crawl succeeds in acclimating the audience to the universe they are about to be thrust into. In the initial crawl the audience learns that an evil galactic empire has built a massive weapon with the ability to destroy entire planets with a single blast. Princess Leia Organa is fleeing for her life with plans to this weapon with her.
From that point on the audience is along for the ride as the movie finally begins. We escape with two droids as they attempt to deliver a message to a mysterious sage. We empathize with a farm boy as he loses everything he has and goes with the sage. We take off with a smuggler as he avoids imperial attention and parties to which he owes money. We are there when the princess sees her own home world destroyed before her eyes and we are there when the princess is finally rescued, the sage dies, an attack is launched against the space weapon and the farm boy unlocks his inner potential.
The cast of Star Wars was as star studded as the expanses of space the film showed. In addition to relative unknowns like Mark Hamill, who played Luke Skywalker, and Carrie Fisher, Princess Leia, it also featured many actors already had massive reputations attached to them. Harrison Ford, Han Solo, had already worked with George Lucas on American Graffiti.・Alec Guinness, Obi Wan Kenobi, was a very respectable British actor. Peter Cushing, Grand Moff Tarkin, had played alongside Christopher Lee as doctor Van Helsing in the Dracula・line of hammer horror films. The voice of Darth Vader was none other than James Earl Jones.
The music of Star Wars・was composed by none other than John Williams. Before Star Wars he had done the music for such films as The Towering Inferno・and Jaws.・Since then he has worked on everything from Harry Potter・and Superman・to Indiana Jones・and even as recent as 2012's Lincoln・and Disney's upcoming BFG.・His orchestral melodies set the tone like nothing else could and his music is what has contributed to making Star Wars・the phenomenon that it is today.
Before 鉄Star Wars・George Lucas had received acclaim for his film, American Graffiti,・a film that glamorized the Americana of the 1950s. Lucas・first film, which had also earned him some praise, was a science fiction film called THX 1138.・He would later use the THX moniker when naming his audio/video presentation company. Even with this minor praise when Lucas came forward with his pitch for a space fantasy many studios had doubts. Eventually Fox decided to take the chance, but wanted to remain distant in case the movie was to fail commercially. Because of that Lucas was able to keep the merchandising rights. With every toy, album, and poster Lucas was now earning a percentage and quickly became one of the wealthiest directors of the time.
Shortly before the release of the sequel film, The Empire Strikes Back,・George Lucas returned to the original film and added, Episode IV A New Hope・to the title. This told fans that the first movie was only one in a series films to come and just a small part of a bigger series overall. This would also be a sign to fans of things to come. Over the years Lucas would return to the original trilogy and touch up the graphics. In the 90's, before the release of Episode I The Phantom Menace,・Lucas released the special editions of the original trilogy. With the advent of computer animation and enhancements Lucas saw the opportunity to improve on his vision for the series. With the addition of enhanced quality and more expansive environments these changes also came with CGI aliens and creatures and changes to the story that many fans see as distracting or unnecessary. The most controversial change was to the cantina scene of  New Hope.・Lucas felt that having Han Solo strike first made him seem too violent and gave people the wrong impression of his character. To remedy this Lucas edited this scene to have an alien named Greedo fire first and move Han's head quickly to the right before having him fire. Many fans have called foul on this and petitions have been made to make available the original cuts of the films. Lucas, however, remains steadfast in his decisions. When the Library of Congress requested a cut of the original Star Wars George Lucas would only turn over a copy of the enhanced special edition. Even to this day you can only see the original cuts of the original trilogy on dvd on bonus discs of limited edition sets.
Today the series has millions of fans all over the world. The newest installment, The Force Awakens,・holds the record for highest gross for opening weekend, week, and has become the highest grossing film domestically. Even though George Lucas is no longer at the reigns the film hit all the points a good Star Wars・film needed to. It had a close group of heroes, an enormous base that poses a major threat to the entire galaxy, and a whirlwind of creative characters and locales. It reintroduces fans to the universe in the same way that Star Wars・introduced everyone to a story that took place a long time ago in a galaxy far far away, beginning with a very familiar main theme and title crawl.