Up until the past 15 years or so, television series were firmly episodic.  Serialized TV (outside of mini-series) risked alienating viewers since it stopped anyone from coming in mid-season.  However, with the rise of DVDs, OnDemand, and digital downloads, serialized TV series have become firmly established.  Some shows still retain an episodic nature, but some series—particularly dramas—have been built around telling one long story over the course of an entire season.  Our new feature, Seasoned, will review a TV series by season rather than by episode.

And we couldn’t think of a better kick-off to this feature than HBO’s The Wire.  Hit the jump for my review of the groundbreaking drama’s first season.

Before I begin my review of The Wire, I would like to establish two important points regarding my viewing experience.  First, I previously saw the first three seasons of the series, but it was several years ago, and I can only remember the broadest aspects of the plot.  For a show where the devil is in the details, my review will basically be a first viewing.  This leads to my second point: I am purposely avoiding outside commentary on Season One because it may reveal plot points about the other seasons, and I would like my viewing to be as fresh as possible.

In June 2002, HBO began airing The Wire, a police drama unlike any that had come before.  Created by former Baltimore police reporter David Simon and former homicide detective Ed Burns, the show blasted apart every cliché and comfort of the standard police procedural.  Simon had already begun picking apart the genre with his series Homicide: Life on the Street, but The Wire went far beyond the perspective of cops.

Set in Baltimore (a city where Simon had the greatest familiarity) and with the blessing of the city’s mayor, the show took an unflinching look at the intersection of police investigations, criminal organizations, social issues, and the politics in between.  The show rarely, if ever, took a hard stance on characters simply being “good” or “evil”, although some were portrayed as more admirable than others.  It’s a series based around compromise, and exploring the morality and necessity behind those compromises. Furthermore, The Wire tends to function more as social observation rather than social commentary.  Simon and Burns refuse to provide answers or solutions because the story proves there’s no quick fix when it comes to a complex web of conflicts, and, more importantly, to human nature.

The self-destructive nature of Homicide Detective Jimmy McNulty (Dominic West) begins our journey into the complicated world of Baltimore’s cops and criminals.  Westside drug kingpin Avon Barksdale (Wood Harris) has left a string of bodies as collateral damage in his criminal operation.  After McNulty watches Avon’s nephew D’Angelo (Larry Gilliard) escape conviction due to witness intimidation, he brings his grievances to Judge Phelan (Peter Gerety), and says that the murders will continue until Avon is brought to justice.  Phelan uses his political might to push the Deputy Commissioner Ervin Burrell (Frankie Faison) to create a detail to investigate Barksdale.  Burrell tells the detail’s leader, Lieutenant Cedric Daniels (Lance Reddick), to keep the investigation brief and contained, but McNulty’s constant needling and the mounting evidence against Barksdale expands the scope of the case.

Most police dramas would focus simply on the work of the detail, and would barely acknowledge the criminal organization or the political factors guiding and obstructing the investigation.  In The Wire, these elements are not only acknowledged, but deemed essential.  Much like the cops, the criminals have a clear organizational structure but it’s far more streamlined and functional than what the police (or “po-leece” in the dialect of both the cops and criminals) have.  Avon is the top dog, Stringer Bell (Idris Elba) is his smart and steady second-in-command, and then there are lieutenants who function both as muscle and overseers of various parts of the drug-dealing locations.  DeAngelo is demoted from the Towers to “The Pit”, which makes less money and forces DeAngelo to function as both a boss and a mentor to the teenage dealers Poot Carr (Tray Chaney),Bodie Broadus (J.D. Williams), and Wallace (Michael B. Jordan).  Of course, violence is also a strong factor in keeping the ranks in line.  As Detective Thomas “Herc” Hauk (Domenick Lombardozzi) points out to his partner Ellis Carver (Seth Gilliam), the cops will never “win” because the criminals’ system of promotion and punishment is far more powerful than what the Baltimore Police Department can dish out.

The Wire is a deeply complicated show and I could spend pages going through every plot development and character motive.  But this isn’t meant to be a recap.  This is an outline of the organizations in play: The Law, The Politics, and The Criminals.  Although the show’s title is a literally a reference to the wiretapping the detail used to build their case against Barksdale, it’s figuratively about the wires that interconnect and crossover the various aspects of the show.  For example, the detail works with Omar Little (Michael K. Williams) in order to bring down Barksdale even though Omar is a criminal who participates not under pressure or threats, but because he wants revenge against Barksdale for the brutal retaliatory murder of Omar’s partner and boyfriend.  The detail also works with Bubbles (Andre Royo), a drug addict who volunteers as a criminal informant in order to punish Barksdale’s crew for stomping on his friend.

In a standard police procedural, there’s no cooperation.  There’s only intimidation.  The cops hang a charge over a criminal’s head and the criminal either agrees to inform or they go to jail.  In order to keep the plot moving forward, the criminal usually agrees to work with the cops.  That kind of intimidation exists on The Wire, but it’s used not only as a means of coercion, but also a means of unsanctioned punishment giving way to straight-up police brutality.  When Detective Greggs (Sonja Sohn), a smart and honorable investigator on the detail, tries to get a hitter Barksdale’s crew to cop to a murder and flip on his boss, the perp only throws hateful epithets her way.  This behavior is greeted a severe beat-down by Greggs and two more cops inside the interrogation room.  He deserves it, but we’d like to think cops are above such brutality.  And in a normal cop show, such brutality would become the defining issue of an episode, and the cop would be punished.  In The Wire, it’s fairly commonplace, and so are other short-cuts.  There are no straight-arrow po-lice on the show, and if there were, they’d be totally ineffective.

So are Greggs and her cohorts corrupt?  Are they unfit for duty?  Shouldn’t they be above such behavior?  The Wire doesn’t quibble with these issues as plot points because the show isn’t about moralizing.  The show lives and breathes in the grey area, and it leaves the moral judgments to the viewer.  That’s not to say that a character’s morality doesn’t affect their circumstances.  If placed in a dramatic range, The Wire would absolutely be a tragedy.  Some of the characters are doomed by their own personalities and moral code.  McNulty’s anti-authority streak, short temper, and self-righteousness mean he’ll always hurt himself, and his resultant self-loathing will push away those around him.  D’Angelo and Wallace show empathy in a game that has no patience for it, and both suffer and, in the case of Wallace, die as a result.

Tom King wraps up “Knightmares,” his self-proclaimed “arc of one-shots” with this issue. Based on that description alone, I’d hoped that we would get some type of zinger or reveal that would make this feel like an actual arc, even if that arc is just a bridge. I mean, if it’s being touted as an arc, there should be some type of actual story arc, right? Well, there isn’t. This is an “arc” because DC needed six issues to fill a trade. In reality, “Knightmares” is nothing more than a bunch of one-and-dones.

Now, I’m not opposed to one-and-done stories. I’ve read many one-and-done issues that are a ton of fun or completely moving. King has even written a few of those! But the six issues that make up the “Knightmares” arc? Nope. They just haven’t done it for me. And despite being unsatisfied with the issues themselves, it’s a little irritating that it would be pushed as an arc rather than a collection of six, individual issues. Be honest with what it is, and you would avoid some headaches.

I will give DC some credit though. There have been a few wonderful moments or lines within these issues, but a few nice moments or lines isn’t going to cut it for a trades-worth of pages. In all, the entire thing feels like a waste that could have – and more importantly, should have – been conveyed within a single issue – at least as it is. We gained nothing from this arc that we didn’t already know. There was no progression. No revelation. No big “Aha!” moment to give any of these stories a point… They’ve just been filler. And its filler that’s coming in at the most inopportune time of the King’s run. We should be rising to the climax of his long game, not pausing to play with various artists – which, by the way, has been the only positive takeaway from “Knightmares.”

This could have been different though. This could have easily been an actual arc, that moved from completely absurd to completely profound. Each issue could have ultimate symbolized Batman fighting his way out of layers of psychosis and dream state to ultimately wake up by the end… But the story didn’t do that. The story ended the same way it began… Batman is dreaming. The last issue of this story is a splash page of Batman asleep. There’s nothing exciting about that. He’s tied up to a machine, but we suspected this all along, so… what’s the point? Had there been a single panel or two of Batman’s eyes opening, we’d at least close this book going, “Oh!!! $#!& about to get real!” But this isn’t what happens. And this isn’t the feeling we got from the end of the issue.

This could have been different though. This could have easily been an actual arc, that moved from completely absurd to completely profound. Each issue could have ultimate symbolized Batman fighting his way out of layers of psychosis and dream state to ultimately wake up by the end… But the story didn’t do that. The story ended the same way it began… Batman is dreaming. The last issue of this story is a splash page of Batman asleep. There’s nothing exciting about that. He’s tied up to a machine, but we suspected this all along, so… what’s the point? Had there been a single panel or two of Batman’s eyes opening, we’d at least close this book going, “Oh!!! $#!& about to get real!” But this isn’t what happens. And this isn’t the feeling we got from the end of the issue.

Anyway, this story, in particular, came about because Tom King told Amanda Conner that she needed to do Batman, and she said she would have loved to have done the Bachelorette party (from the Prelude to the Wedding tie ins). King said, “Done,” and here we are… Batman #68 is a reimagining of the Bachelorette party, but less entertaining, and even more irrelevant than the previous issues of ”Knightmares.” In fact, this is nothing more than the Selina and Lois show, because that’s who we follow for three-fourths of this issue.

Of the many superheroes that exist in American culture, I choose Superman, the Superman from the first major motion picture. Before I begin talking about what Superman represents though it is good to define what a superhero is. Any superhero worth his or her tights has certain characteristics. They must have super powers, and usually a secret identity, an archenemy, sure success, and of course an unlikely sidekick. Superman possesses much of these traits but some of them are stronger than others. One of the major problems I saw in this movie was how lame Superman’s secret identity is, a pair of black-rimmed glasses. Lois Lane must have been as dumb as a box of rocks not to see right though them, but I guess this is sort of the willing suspension of disbelief we talked about in class.

Being Superman is the childhood fantasy of every little boy and girl (they of course want to be supergirl). He is an accurate representation of the American dream, the young immigrant who comes to the United States; he fits right in and embraces the culture, makes something of himself, and enriches his adopted nation. He is a classical hero in the modern age who fights criminals, rescues the helpless and has a sense of morals and justice just as strong as he is. He fits in perfectly in the American arena of heroes. He displays kindness, by helping the little girl get her cat out of the tree. Another trait was his hard work at the Daily Planet. He also has great respect for his adopted parents. I found it interesting when his real father, Jor-EL, told him to hold onto his heritage even though he would be in a new environment. I believe that this is an American ideal in itself. He told Lois Lane to never lie. I could go on and on, but simply put Superman stood for “truth, justice, and the American Way.”.

The birth origins of Superman were extremely fundamental. He was born on the planet Krypton. This planet has surpassed Earth’s technological advances so greatly, but is doomed to devastation by a huge meteorite.

Star Wars is an American epic space opera franchise centered on a film series created by GeorgeLucas. It depicts the adventures of various characters “a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away”,following the main story of Anakin Skywalker and his son Luke.The first film in the series, Star Wars, was released on May 25, 1977 by 20th Century Fox andbecame a worldwide pop culture phenomenon. It was followed by two sequels, The Empire StrikesBack and Return of the Jedi ; these three films constitute the Star Wars original trilogy, andreceived positive reviews. A prequel trilogy was released between 1999 and 2005 and received amixed reaction from critics and fans. All six films were nominated for or won Academy Awards, andwere commercial successes, with a combined box office revenue of $4.38 billion, making StarWars the fifth-highest-grossing film series. The series has spawned an extensive media franchiseÑthe Expanded UniverseÑincluding books, television series, computer and video games, andcomic books, resulting in significant development of the series’s fictional universe. Star Wars alsoholds a Guinness Wo

Star Wars is an American epic space opera franchise centered on a film series created by GeorgeLucas. It depicts the adventures of various characters “a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away”,following the main story of Anakin Skywalker and his son Luke.The first film in the series, Star Wars, was released on May 25, 1977 by 20th Century Fox andbecame a worldwide pop culture phenomenon. It was followed by two sequels, The Empire StrikesBack and Return of the Jedi ; these three films constitute the Star Wars original trilogy, andreceived positive reviews. A prequel trilogy was released between 1999 and 2005 and received amixed reaction from critics and fans. All six films were nominated for or won Academy Awards, andwere commercial successes, with a combined box office revenue of $4.38 billion, making StarWars the fifth-highest-grossing film series. The series has spawned an extensive media franchiseÑthe Expanded UniverseÑincluding books, television series, computer and video games, andcomic books, resulting in significant development of the series’s fictional universe. Star Wars alsoholds a Guinness World Records title for the “Most successful film merchandising franchise.” In2012, the total value of the Star Wars franchise was estimated at USD $30.7 billion, including box-office receipts as well as profits from their video games and DVD sales.In 2012, The Walt Disney Company acquired Lucasfilm for $4.05 billion and announced three newStar Wars films, with the first film, Star Wars: The Force Awakens, planned for release onDecember 18, 2015. 20th Century Fox retains the physical distribution rights to the first two StarWars trilogies, owning permanent rights for the original 1977 film and holding the rights toEpisodes IÐIII, V and VI until May 2020. The Walt Disney Studios owns digital distribution rights toall the Star Wars films, excluding A New Hope.SettingThe events depicted in Star Wars media take place in a fictional galaxy. Many species of aliencreatures are depicted. Robotic droids are also commonplace and are g

Star Wars is an American epic space opera franchise centered on a film series created by George Lucas. It depicts the adventures of various characters “a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away”, following the main story of Anakin Skywalker and his son Luke.The first film in the series, Star Wars, was released on May 25, 1977 by 20th Century Fox and became a worldwide pop culture phenomenon. It was followed by two sequels, The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi ; these three films constitute the Star Wars original trilogy, and received positive reviews.

A prequel trilogy was released between 1999 and 2005 and received a mixed reaction from critics and fans. All six films were nominated for or won Academy Awards, and were commercial successes, with a combined box office revenue of $4.38 billion, making Star Wars the fifth-highest-grossing film series. The series has spawned an extensive media franchiseNthe Expanded UniverseNincluding books, television series, computer and video games, and comic books, resulting in significant development of the series’s fictional universe.

Star Wars also holds a Guinness World Records title for the “Most successful film merchandising franchise.” In 2012, the total value of the Star Wars franchise was estimated at USD $30.7 billion, including box-office receipts as well as profits from their video games and DVD sales.In 2012, The Walt Disney Company acquired Lucasfilm for $4.05 billion and announced three new Star Wars films, with the first film, Star Wars: The Force Awakens, planned for release on December 18, 2015. 20th Century Fox retains the physical distribution rights to the first two Star Wars trilogies, owning permanent rights for the original 1977 film and holding the rights to Episodes IDIII, V and VI until May 2020. The Walt Disney Studios owns digital distribution rights to all the Star Wars films, excluding A New Hope.Setting The events depicted in Star Wars media take place in a fictional galaxy.

Many species of alien creatures are depicted. Robotic droids are also commonplace and are generally built to serve their owners. Space travel is common, and many planets in the galaxy are members of a Galactic Republic, later reorganized as the Galactic Empire.One of the prominent elements of Star Wars is the “Force”, an omnipresent energy that can be harnessed by those with that ability, known as Force-sensitives. It is described in the first produced film as “an energy field created by all living things surrounds us, penetrates us, binds the galaxy together.”

The Force allows users to perform various supernatural feats and can amplify certain physical traits, such as speed and ressexes; these abilities vary between characters and can be improved through training. While the Force can be used for good, it has a dark side that, when pursued, imbues users with hatred, aggression, and malevolence.The six films feature the Jedi, who use the Force for good, and the Sith, who use the dark side for evil in an attempt to take over the galaxy. In the Star Wars Expanded Universe, many dark side users are Dark Jedi rather than Sith, mainly because of the “Rule of Two” .Theatrical films The film series began with Star Wars, released on May 25, 1977.

This was followed by two sequels: The Empire Strikes Back, released on May 21, 1980, and Return of the Jedi, released on May 25, 1983. The opening crawl of the sequels disclosed that they were numbered as “Episode V” and “Episode VI” respectively, though the films were generally advertised solely under their subtitles. Though the first film in the series was simply titled Star Wars, with its 1981 re-release it had the subtitle Episode IV: A New Hope added to remain consistent with its sequel, and to establish it as the middle chapter of a continuing saga.In 1997, to correspond with the 20th anniversary of the original film, Lucas released a “Special Edition” of the Star Wars trilogy to theaters. The re-release featured alterations to the three films, primarily motivated by the improvement of CGI and other special effects technologies, which allowed visuals that were not possible to achieve at the time of the original filmmaking. Lucas continued to make changes to the films for subsequent releases, such as the first ever DVD release of the original trilogy on September 21, 2004, and the first ever Blu-ray release of all six films on September 16, 2011.

Reception of the Special Edition was mixed, prompting petitions and fan edits to produce restored copies of the original trilogy. More than two decades after the release of the original film, the series continued with a prequel trilogy; consisting of Episode I: The Phantom Menace, released on May 19, 1999; Episode II: Attack of the Clones, released on May 16, 2002; and Episode III: Revenge of the Sith, released on May 19, 2005. On August 15, 2008, Star Wars: The Clone Wars was released theatrically as a lead-in to the animated TV series of the same name. Star Wars: The Force Awakens is scheduled for release on December 18, 2015.Plot overview The original trilogy begins with the Galactic Empire nearing completion of the Death Star space station, which will allow the Empire to crush the Rebel Alliance, an organized resistance formed to combat Emperor Palpatine’s tyranny. Palpatine’s Sith apprentice Darth Vader captures Princess Leia, a member of the rebellion who has stolen the plans to the Death Star and hidden them in the astromech droid R2-D2. R2, along with his protocol droid counterpart C-3PO, escapes to the desert planet Tatooine.

There, the droids are purchased by farm boy Luke Skywalker and his step-uncle and aunt. While Luke is cleaning R2, he accidentally triggers a message put into the droid by Leia, who asks for assistance from the legendary Jedi Knight Obi-Wan Kenobi. Luke later assists the droids in finding the exiled Jedi, who is now passing as an old hermit under the alias Ben Kenobi. When Luke asks about his father, whom he has never met, Obi-Wan tells him that Anakin Skywalker was a great Jedi who was betrayed and murdered by Vader. Obi-Wan and Luke hire the smuggler Han Solo and his Wookiee co-pilot Chewbacca to take them to Alderaan, Leia’s home world, which they eventually find has been destroyed by the Death Star.

Once on board the space station, Luke and Han rescue Leia while Obi-Wan allows himself to be killed during a lightsaber duel with Vader; his sacrifice allows the group to escape with the plans that help the Rebels destroy the Death Star. Luke himself fires the shot that destroys the deadly space station during the Battle of Yavin. The Star Wars world, unlike fantasy and science-fiction films that featured sleek and futuristic settings, was portrayed as dirty and grimy. Lucas’ vision of a “used future” was further popularized in the science fiction-horror films Alien, which was set on a dirty space freighter; Mad Max 2, which is set in a post-apocalyptic desert; and Blade Runner, which is set in a crumbling, dirty city of the future. Lucas made a conscious effort to parallel scenes and dialogue between films, and especially to parallel the journeys of Luke Skywalker with that of his father Anakin when making the prequels.

Star Wars also ressects on the events in America following the September 11 attacks. Some have drawn similarities between the rise in authoritarianism from around the beginning of Clone Wars until the end of the Old Republic and the United States government’s actions after 9/11, specifically passage of the Patriot Act in 2001.Technical information All six films of the Star Wars series were shot in an aspect ratio of 2.39:1. The original trilogy was shot with anamorphic lenses. Episodes IV and V were shot in Panavision, while Episode VI was shot in Joe Dunton Camera scope. Episode I was shot with Hawk anamorphic lenses on Arrissex cameras, and Episodes II and III were shot with Sony’s CineAlta high-definition digital cameras.Lucas hired Ben Burtt to oversee the sound effects on the original 1977 film. Burtt’s accomplishment was such that the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences presented him with a Special Achievement Award because it had no award at the time for the work he had done. Lucasfilm developed the THX sound reproduction standard for Return of the Jedi. John Williams composed the scores for all six films.

Lucas’ design for Star Wars involved a grand musical sound, with leitmotifs for different characters and important concepts. Williams’ Star Wars title theme has become one of the most famous and well-known musical compositions in modern music history.Lucas hired ‘the Dean of Special Effects’ John Stears, who created R2-D2, Luke Skywalker’s Landspeeder, the Jedi Knights’ lightsabers, and the Death Star. The technical lightsaber choreography for the original trilogy was developed by leading filmmaking sword-master Bob Anderson. Anderson trained actor Mark Hamill and performed all the sword stunts as Darth Vader during the lightsaber duels in The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi, wearing Vader’s costume. Anderson’s role in the original Star Wars trilogy was highlighted in the film Reclaiming the Blade, where he shares his experiences as the fight choreographer developing the lightsaber techniques for the movies.Production history Original trilogy In 1971, Universal Studios agreed to make American Graffiti and Star Wars in a two-picture contract, although Star Wars was later rejected in its early concept stages.

American Graffiti was completed in 1973 and, a few months later, Lucas wrote a short summary called “The Journal of the Whills”, which told the tale of the training of apprentice CJ Thorpe as a “Jedi-Bendu” space commando by the legendary Mace Windy. Frustrated that his story was too difficult to understand, Lucas then began writing a 13-page treatment called The Star Wars on April 17, 1973, which had thematic parallels with Akira Kurosawa’s The Hidden Fortress. By 1974, he had expanded the treatment into a rough draft screenplay, adding elements such as the Sith, the Death Star, and a protagonist named Annikin Starkiller.For the second draft, Lucas made heavy simplifications, and introduced the young hero on a farm as Luke Starkiller.

Annikin became Luke’s father, a wise Jedi knight. “The Force” was also introduced as a mystical energy field. The next draft removed the father character and replaced him with a substitute named Ben Kenobi, and in 1976 a fourth draft had been prepared for principal photography. The film was titled Adventures of Luke Starkiller, as taken from the Journal of the Whills, Saga I: The Star Wars. During production, Lucas changed Luke’s name to Skywalker and altered the title to simply The Star Wars and finally Star Wars.At that point, Lucas was not expecting the film to become part of a series. The fourth draft of the script underwent subtle changes that made it more satisfying as a self-contained film, ending with the destruction of the Empire itself by way of destroying the Death Star. However, Lucas had previously conceived of the film as the first in a series of adventures. Later, he realized the film would not in fact be the first in the sequence, but a film in the second trilogy in the saga. This is stated explicitly in George Lucas’ preface to the 1994 reissue of Splinter of the Mind’s Eye:The second draft contained a teaser for a never-made sequel about “The Princess of Ondos,” and by the time of the third draft some months later Lucas had negotiated a contract that gave him rights to make two sequels. Not long after, Lucas met with author Alan Dean Foster, and hired him to write these two sequels as novels.

The intention was that if Star Wars were successful, Lucas could adapt the novels into screenplays. He had also by that point developed an elaborate backstory to aid his writing process.When Star Wars proved successful, Lucas decided to use the film as the basis for an elaborate serial, although at one point he considered walking away from the series altogether. However, Lucas wanted to create an independent filmmaking centerNwhat would become Skywalker RanchNand saw an opportunity to use the series as a financing agent. Alan Dean Foster had already begun writing the first sequel novel, but Lucas decided to abandon his plan to adapt Foster’s work; the book was released as Splinter of the Mind’s Eye the following year. At first Lucas envisioned a series of films with no set number of entries, like the James Bond series.

In an interview with Rolling Stone in August 1977, he said that he wanted his friends to each take a turn at directing the films and giving unique interpretations on the series. He also said that the backstory in which Darth Vader turns to the dark side, kills Luke’s father and fights Ben Kenobi on a volcano as the Galactic Republic falls would make an excellent sequel.Later that year, Lucas hired science fiction author Leigh Brackett to write Star Wars II with him. They held story conferences and, by late November 1977, Lucas had produced a handwritten treatment called The Empire Strikes Back. The treatment is similar to the final film, except that Darth Vader does not reveal he is Luke’s father. In the first draft that Brackett would write from this, Luke’s father appears as a ghost to instruct Luke.Brackett finished her first draft in early 1978; Lucas has said he was disappointed with it, but before he could discuss it with her, she died of cancer. With no writer available, Lucas had to write his next draft himself.

It was this draft in which Lucas first made use of the “Episode” numbering for the films; Empire Strikes Back was listed as Episode II. As Michael Kaminski argues in The Secret History of Star Wars, the disappointment with the first draft probably made Lucas consider different directions in which to take the story. He made use of a new plot twist: Darth Vader claims to be Luke’s father. According to Lucas, he found this draft enjoyable to write, as opposed to the yearlong struggles writing the first film, and quickly wrote two more drafts, both in April 1978. He also took the script to a darker extreme by having Han Solo imprisoned in carbonite and left in limbo.

enerally built to serve theirowners. Space travel is common, and many planets in the galaxy are members of a GalacticRepublic, later reorganized as the Galactic Empire.One of the prominent elements of Star Wars is the “Force”, an omnipresent energy that can beharnessed by those with that ability, known as Force-sensitives. It is described in the first producedfilm as “an energy field created by all living things surrounds us, penetrates us, binds the galaxytogether.” The Force allows users to perform various supernatural feats and can amplify certainphysical traits, such as speed and reßexes; these abilities vary between characters and can beimproved through training. While the Force can be used for good, it has a dark side that, whenpursued, imbues users with hatred, aggression, and malevolence.The six films feature the Jedi, who use the Force for good, and the S

Star Wars is an American epic space opera franchise centered on a film series created by George Lucas. It depicts the adventures of various characters “a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away”, following the main story of Anakin Skywalker and his son Luke.The first film in the series, Star Wars, was released on May 25, 1977 by 20th Century Fox and became a worldwide pop culture phenomenon. It was followed by two sequels, The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi ; these three films constitute the Star Wars original trilogy, and received positive reviews.
A prequel trilogy was released between 1999 and 2005 and received a mixed reaction from critics and fans. All six films were nominated for or won Academy Awards, and were commercial successes, with a combined box office revenue of $4.38 billion, making Star Wars the fifth-highest-grossing film series. The series has spawned an extensive media franchiseNthe Expanded UniverseNincluding books, television series, computer and video games, and comic books, resulting in significant development of the series’s fictional universe.
Star Wars also holds a Guinness World Records title for the “Most successful film merchandising franchise.” In 2012, the total value of the Star Wars franchise was estimated at USD $30.7 billion, including box-office receipts as well as profits from their video games and DVD sales.In 2012, The Walt Disney Company acquired Lucasfilm for $4.05 billion and announced three new Star Wars films, with the first film, Star Wars: The Force Awakens, planned for release on December 18, 2015. 20th Century Fox retains the physical distribution rights to the first two Star Wars trilogies, owning permanent rights for the original 1977 film and holding the rights to Episodes IDIII, V and VI until May 2020. The Walt Disney Studios owns digital distribution rights to all the Star Wars films, excluding A New Hope.Setting The events depicted in Star Wars media take place in a fictional galaxy.
Many species of alien creatures are depicted. Robotic droids are also commonplace and are generally built to serve their owners. Space travel is common, and many planets in the galaxy are members of a Galactic Republic, later reorganized as the Galactic Empire.One of the prominent elements of Star Wars is the “Force”, an omnipresent energy that can be harnessed by those with that ability, known as Force-sensitives. It is described in the first produced film as “an energy field created by all living things surrounds us, penetrates us, binds the galaxy together.”
The Force allows users to perform various supernatural feats and can amplify certain physical traits, such as speed and ressexes; these abilities vary between characters and can be improved through training. While the Force can be used for good, it has a dark side that, when pursued, imbues users with hatred, aggression, and malevolence.The six films feature the Jedi, who use the Force for good, and the Sith, who use the dark side for evil in an attempt to take over the galaxy. In the Star Wars Expanded Universe, many dark side users are Dark Jedi rather than Sith, mainly because of the “Rule of Two” .Theatrical films The film series began with Star Wars, released on May 25, 1977.
This was followed by two sequels: The Empire Strikes Back, released on May 21, 1980, and Return of the Jedi, released on May 25, 1983. The opening crawl of the sequels disclosed that they were numbered as “Episode V” and “Episode VI” respectively, though the films were generally advertised solely under their subtitles. Though the first film in the series was simply titled Star Wars, with its 1981 re-release it had the subtitle Episode IV: A New Hope added to remain consistent with its sequel, and to establish it as the middle chapter of a continuing saga.In 1997, to correspond with the 20th anniversary of the original film, Lucas released a “Special Edition” of the Star Wars trilogy to theaters. The re-release featured alterations to the three films, primarily motivated by the improvement of CGI and other special effects technologies, which allowed visuals that were not possible to achieve at the time of the original filmmaking. Lucas continued to make changes to the films for subsequent releases, such as the first ever DVD release of the original trilogy on September 21, 2004, and the first ever Blu-ray release of all six films on September 16, 2011.
Reception of the Special Edition was mixed, prompting petitions and fan edits to produce restored copies of the original trilogy. More than two decades after the release of the original film, the series continued with a prequel trilogy; consisting of Episode I: The Phantom Menace, released on May 19, 1999; Episode II: Attack of the Clones, released on May 16, 2002; and Episode III: Revenge of the Sith, released on May 19, 2005. On August 15, 2008, Star Wars: The Clone Wars was released theatrically as a lead-in to the animated TV series of the same name. Star Wars: The Force Awakens is scheduled for release on December 18, 2015.Plot overview The original trilogy begins with the Galactic Empire nearing completion of the Death Star space station, which will allow the Empire to crush the Rebel Alliance, an organized resistance formed to combat Emperor Palpatine’s tyranny. Palpatine’s Sith apprentice Darth Vader captures Princess Leia, a member of the rebellion who has stolen the plans to the Death Star and hidden them in the astromech droid R2-D2. R2, along with his protocol droid counterpart C-3PO, escapes to the desert planet Tatooine.
There, the droids are purchased by farm boy Luke Skywalker and his step-uncle and aunt. While Luke is cleaning R2, he accidentally triggers a message put into the droid by Leia, who asks for assistance from the legendary Jedi Knight Obi-Wan Kenobi. Luke later assists the droids in finding the exiled Jedi, who is now passing as an old hermit under the alias Ben Kenobi. When Luke asks about his father, whom he has never met, Obi-Wan tells him that Anakin Skywalker was a great Jedi who was betrayed and murdered by Vader. Obi-Wan and Luke hire the smuggler Han Solo and his Wookiee co-pilot Chewbacca to take them to Alderaan, Leia’s home world, which they eventually find has been destroyed by the Death Star.
Once on board the space station, Luke and Han rescue Leia while Obi-Wan allows himself to be killed during a lightsaber duel with Vader; his sacrifice allows the group to escape with the plans that help the Rebels destroy the Death Star. Luke himself fires the shot that destroys the deadly space station during the Battle of Yavin. The Star Wars world, unlike fantasy and science-fiction films that featured sleek and futuristic settings, was portrayed as dirty and grimy. Lucas’ vision of a “used future” was further popularized in the science fiction-horror films Alien, which was set on a dirty space freighter; Mad Max 2, which is set in a post-apocalyptic desert; and Blade Runner, which is set in a crumbling, dirty city of the future. Lucas made a conscious effort to parallel scenes and dialogue between films, and especially to parallel the journeys of Luke Skywalker with that of his father Anakin when making the prequels.
Star Wars also ressects on the events in America following the September 11 attacks. Some have drawn similarities between the rise in authoritarianism from around the beginning of Clone Wars until the end of the Old Republic and the United States government’s actions after 9/11, specifically passage of the Patriot Act in 2001.Technical information All six films of the Star Wars series were shot in an aspect ratio of 2.39:1. The original trilogy was shot with anamorphic lenses. Episodes IV and V were shot in Panavision, while Episode VI was shot in Joe Dunton Camera scope. Episode I was shot with Hawk anamorphic lenses on Arrissex cameras, and Episodes II and III were shot with Sony’s CineAlta high-definition digital cameras.Lucas hired Ben Burtt to oversee the sound effects on the original 1977 film. Burtt’s accomplishment was such that the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences presented him with a Special Achievement Award because it had no award at the time for the work he had done. Lucasfilm developed the THX sound reproduction standard for Return of the Jedi. John Williams composed the scores for all six films.
Lucas’ design for Star Wars involved a grand musical sound, with leitmotifs for different characters and important concepts. Williams’ Star Wars title theme has become one of the most famous and well-known musical compositions in modern music history.Lucas hired ‘the Dean of Special Effects’ John Stears, who created R2-D2, Luke Skywalker’s Landspeeder, the Jedi Knights’ lightsabers, and the Death Star. The technical lightsaber choreography for the original trilogy was developed by leading filmmaking sword-master Bob Anderson. Anderson trained actor Mark Hamill and performed all the sword stunts as Darth Vader during the lightsaber duels in The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi, wearing Vader’s costume. Anderson’s role in the original Star Wars trilogy was highlighted in the film Reclaiming the Blade, where he shares his experiences as the fight choreographer developing the lightsaber techniques for the movies.Production history Original trilogy In 1971, Universal Studios agreed to make American Graffiti and Star Wars in a two-picture contract, although Star Wars was later rejected in its early concept stages.
American Graffiti was completed in 1973 and, a few months later, Lucas wrote a short summary called “The Journal of the Whills”, which told the tale of the training of apprentice CJ Thorpe as a “Jedi-Bendu” space commando by the legendary Mace Windy. Frustrated that his story was too difficult to understand, Lucas then began writing a 13-page treatment called The Star Wars on April 17, 1973, which had thematic parallels with Akira Kurosawa’s The Hidden Fortress. By 1974, he had expanded the treatment into a rough draft screenplay, adding elements such as the Sith, the Death Star, and a protagonist named Annikin Starkiller.For the second draft, Lucas made heavy simplifications, and introduced the young hero on a farm as Luke Starkiller.
Annikin became Luke’s father, a wise Jedi knight. “The Force” was also introduced as a mystical energy field. The next draft removed the father character and replaced him with a substitute named Ben Kenobi, and in 1976 a fourth draft had been prepared for principal photography. The film was titled Adventures of Luke Starkiller, as taken from the Journal of the Whills, Saga I: The Star Wars. During production, Lucas changed Luke’s name to Skywalker and altered the title to simply The Star Wars and finally Star Wars.At that point, Lucas was not expecting the film to become part of a series. The fourth draft of the script underwent subtle changes that made it more satisfying as a self-contained film, ending with the destruction of the Empire itself by way of destroying the Death Star. However, Lucas had previously conceived of the film as the first in a series of adventures. Later, he realized the film would not in fact be the first in the sequence, but a film in the second trilogy in the saga. This is stated explicitly in George Lucas’ preface to the 1994 reissue of Splinter of the Mind’s Eye:The second draft contained a teaser for a never-made sequel about “The Princess of Ondos,” and by the time of the third draft some months later Lucas had negotiated a contract that gave him rights to make two sequels. Not long after, Lucas met with author Alan Dean Foster, and hired him to write these two sequels as novels.
The intention was that if Star Wars were successful, Lucas could adapt the novels into screenplays. He had also by that point developed an elaborate backstory to aid his writing process.When Star Wars proved successful, Lucas decided to use the film as the basis for an elaborate serial, although at one point he considered walking away from the series altogether. However, Lucas wanted to create an independent filmmaking centerNwhat would become Skywalker RanchNand saw an opportunity to use the series as a financing agent. Alan Dean Foster had already begun writing the first sequel novel, but Lucas decided to abandon his plan to adapt Foster’s work; the book was released as Splinter of the Mind’s Eye the following year. At first Lucas envisioned a series of films with no set number of entries, like the James Bond series.
In an interview with Rolling Stone in August 1977, he said that he wanted his friends to each take a turn at directing the films and giving unique interpretations on the series. He also said that the backstory in which Darth Vader turns to the dark side, kills Luke’s father and fights Ben Kenobi on a volcano as the Galactic Republic falls would make an excellent sequel.Later that year, Lucas hired science fiction author Leigh Brackett to write Star Wars II with him. They held story conferences and, by late November 1977, Lucas had produced a handwritten treatment called The Empire Strikes Back. The treatment is similar to the final film, except that Darth Vader does not reveal he is Luke’s father. In the first draft that Brackett would write from this, Luke’s father appears as a ghost to instruct Luke.Brackett finished her first draft in early 1978; Lucas has said he was disappointed with it, but before he could discuss it with her, she died of cancer. With no writer available, Lucas had to write his next draft himself.
It was this draft in which Lucas first made use of the “Episode” numbering for the films; Empire Strikes Back was listed as Episode II. As Michael Kaminski argues in The Secret History of Star Wars, the disappointment with the first draft probably made Lucas consider different directions in which to take the story. He made use of a new plot twist: Darth Vader claims to be Luke’s father. According to Lucas, he found this draft enjoyable to write, as opposed to the yearlong struggles writing the first film, and quickly wrote two more drafts, both in April 1978. He also took the script to a darker extreme by having Han Solo imprisoned in carbonite and left in limbo.

ith, who use the dark side forevil in an attempt to take over the galaxy. In the Star Wars Expanded Universe, many dark sideusers are Dark Jedi rather than Sith, mainly because of the “Rule of Two” .Theatrical filmsThe film series began with Star Wars, released on May 25, 1977. This was followed by twosequels: The Empire Strikes Back, released on May 21, 1980, and Return of the Jedi, released onMay 25, 1983. The opening crawl of the sequels disclosed that they were numbered as “EpisodeV” and “Episode VI” respectively, though the films were generally advertised solely under theirsubtitles. Though the first film in the series was simply titled Star Wars, with its 1981 re-release ithad the subtitle Episode IV: A New Hope added to remain consistent with its sequel, and toestablish it as the middle chapter of a continuing saga.In 1997, to correspond with the 20th anniversary of the original film, Lucas released a “SpecialEdition” of the Star Wars trilogy to theaters. The re-release featured alterations to the three films,primarily motivated by the improvement of CGI and other special effects technologies, whichallowed visuals that were not possible to achieve at the time of the original filmmaking. Lucascontinued to make changes to the films for subsequent releases, such as the first ever DVDrelease of the original trilogy on September 21, 2004, and the first ever Blu-ray release of all sixfilms on September 16, 2011. Reception of the Special Edition was mixed, prompting petitions andfan edits to produce restored copies of the original trilogy.

More than two decades after the release of the original film, the series continued with a prequeltrilogy; consisting of Episode I: The Phantom Menace, released on May 19, 1999; Episode II:Attack of the Clones, released on May 16, 2002; and Episode III: Revenge of the Sith, released onMay 19, 2005. On August 15, 2008, Star Wars: The Clone Wars was released theatrically as alead-in to the animated TV series of the same name. Star Wars: The Force Awakens is scheduledfor release on December 18, 2015.Plot overviewThe original trilogy begins with the Galactic Empire nearing completion of the Death Star spacestation, which will allow the Empire to crush the Rebel Alliance, an organized resistance formed tocombat Emperor Palpatine’s tyranny. Palpatine’s Sith apprentice Darth Vader captures PrincessLeia, a member of the rebellion who has stolen the plans to the Death Star and hidden them in theastromech droid R2-D2. R2, along with his protocol droid counterpart C-3PO, escapes to thedesert planet Tatooine. There, the droids are purchased by farm boy Luke Skywalker and his step-uncle and aunt. While Luke is cleaning R2, he accidentally triggers a message put into the droid byLeia, who asks for assistance from the legendary Jedi Knight Obi-Wan Kenobi. Luke later assiststhe droids in finding the exiled Jedi, who is now passing as an old hermit under the alias BenKenobi. When Luke asks about his father, whom he has never met, Obi-Wan tells him that AnakinSkywalker was a great Jedi who was betrayed and murdered by Vader. Obi-Wan and Luke hire thesmuggler Han Solo and his Wookiee co-pilot Chewbacca to take them to Alderaan, Leia’s homeworld, which they eventually find has been destroyed by the Death Star. Once on board the spacestation, Luke and Han rescue Leia while Obi-Wan allows himself to be killed during a lightsaberduel with Vader; his sacrifice allows the group to escape with the plans that help the Rebelsdestroy the Death Star. Luke himself fires the shot that destroys the deadly space station duringthe Battle of Yavin. The Star Wars world, unlike fantasy and science-fiction films that featured sleekand futuristic settings, was portrayed as dirty and grimy. Lucas’ vision of a “used future” was furtherpopularized in the science fiction-horror films Alien, which was set on a dirty space freighter; MadMax 2, which is set in a post-apocalyptic desert; and Blade Runner, which is set in a crumbling,dirty city of the future. Lucas made a conscious effort to parallel scenes and dialogue betweenfilms, and especially to parallel the journeys of Luke Skywalker with that of his father Anakin whenmaking the prequels. Star Wars also reßects on the events in America following the September 11attacks. Some have drawn similarities between the rise in authoritarianism from around thebeginning of Clone Wars until the end of the Old Republic and the United States government’sactions after 9/11, specifically passage of the Patriot Act in 2001.Technical informationAll six films of the Star Wars series were shot in an aspect ratio of 2.39:1. The original trilogy wasshot with anamorphic lenses. Episodes IV and V were shot in Panavision, while Episode VI wasshot in Joe Dunton Camera scope. Episode I was shot with Hawk anamorphic lenses on Arrißexcameras, and Episodes II and III were shot with Sony’s CineAlta high-definition digital cameras.Lucas hired Ben Burtt to oversee the sound effects on the original 1977 film. Burtt’saccomplishment was such that the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences presented himwith a Special Achievement Award because it had no award at the time for the work he had done.Lucasfilm developed the THX sound reproduction standard for Return of the Jedi. John Williamscomposed the scores for all six films. Lucas’ design for Star Wars involved a grand musical sound,with leitmotifs for different characters and important concepts. Williams’ Star Wars title theme hasbecome one of the most famous and well-known musical compositions in modern music history.Lucas hired ‘the Dean of Special Effects’ John Stears, who created R2-D2, Luke Skywalker’sLandspeeder, the Jedi Knights’ lightsabers, and the Death Star. The technical lightsaberchoreography for the original trilogy was developed by leading filmmaking sword-master BobAnderson. Anderson trained actor Mark Hamill and performed all the sword stunts as Darth Vaderduring the lightsaber duels in The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi, wearing Vader’scostume. Anderson’s role in the original Star Wars trilogy was highlighted in the film Reclaiming theBlade, where he shares his experiences as the fight choreographer developing the lightsabertechniques for the movies.Production historyOriginal trilogy

In 1971, Universal Studios agreed to make American Graffiti and Star Wars in a two-picturecontract, although Star Wars was later rejected in its early concept stages. American Graffiti wascompleted in 1973 and, a few months later, Lucas wrote a short summary called “The Journal ofthe Whills”, which told the tale of the training of apprentice CJ Thorpe as a “Jedi-Bendu” spacecommando by the legendary Mace Windy. Frustrated that his story was too difficult to understand,Lucas then began writing a 13-page treatment called The Star Wars on April 17, 1973, which hadthematic parallels with Akira Kurosawa’s The Hidden Fortress. By 1974, he had expanded thetreatment into a rough draft screenplay, adding elements such as the Sith, the Death Star, and aprotagonist named Annikin Starkiller.For the second draft, Lucas made heavy simplifications, and introduced the young hero on a farmas Luke Starkiller. Annikin became Luke’s father, a wise Jedi knight. “The Force” was alsointroduced as a mystical energy field. The next draft removed the father character and replacedhim with a substitute named Ben Kenobi, and in 1976 a fourth draft had been prepared for principalphotography. The film was titled Adventures of Luke Starkiller, as taken from the Journal of theWhills, Saga I: The Star Wars. During production, Lucas changed Luke’s name to Skywalker andaltered the title to simply The Star Wars and finally Star Wars.At that point, Lucas was not expecting the film to become part of a series. The fourth draft of thescript underwent subtle changes that made it more satisfying as a self-contained film, ending withthe destruction of the Empire itself by way of destroying the Death Star. However, Lucas hadpreviously conceived of the film as the first in a series of adventures. Later, he realized the filmwould not in fact be the first in the sequence, but a film in the second trilogy in the saga. This isstated explicitly in George Lucas’ preface to the 1994 reissue of Splinter of the Mind’s Eye:The second draft contained a teaser for a never-made sequel about “The Princess of Ondos,” andby the time of the third draft some months later Lucas had negotiated a contract that gave himrights to make two sequels. Not long after, Lucas met with author Alan Dean Foster, and hired himto write these two sequels as novels. The intention was that if Star Wars were successful, Lucascould adapt the novels into screenplays. He had also by that point developed an elaboratebackstory to aid his writing process.When Star Wars proved successful, Lucas decided to use the film as the basis for an elaborateserial, although at one point he considered walking away from the series altogether. However,Lucas wanted to create an independent filmmaking centerÑwhat would become Skywalker RanchÑand saw an opportunity to use the series as a financing agent. Alan Dean Foster had alreadybegun writing the first sequel novel, but Lucas decided to abandon his plan to adapt Foster’s work;the book was released as Splinter of the Mind’s Eye the following year. At first Lucas envisioned aseries of films with no set number of entries, like the James Bond series. In an interview withRolling Stone in August 1977, he said that he wanted his friends to each take a turn at directing thefilms and giving unique interpretations on the series. He also said that the backstory in which DarthVader turns to the dark side, kills Luke’s father and fights Ben Kenobi on a volcano as the GalacticRepublic falls would make an excellent sequel.Later that year, Lucas hired science fiction author Leigh Brackett to write Star Wars II with him.They held story conferences and, by late November 1977, Lucas had produced a handwrittentreatment called The Empire Strikes Back. The treatment is similar to the final film, except thatDarth Vader does not reveal he is Luke’s father. In the first draft that Brackett would write from this,Luke’s father appears as a ghost to instruct Luke.Brackett finished her first draft in early 1978; Lucas has said he was disappointed with it, but beforehe could discuss it with her, she died of cancer. With no writer available, Lucas had to write hisnext draft himself. It was this draft in which Lucas first made use of the “Episode” numbering for thefilms; Empire Strikes Back was listed as Episode II. As Michael Kaminski argues in The SecretHistory of Star Wars, the disappointment with the first draft probably made Lucas consider differentdirections in which to take the story. He made use of a new plot twist: Darth Vader claims to beLuke’s father. According to Lucas, he found this draft enjoyable to write, as opposed to theyearlong struggles writing the first film, and quickly wrote two more drafts, both in April 1978. Healso took the script to a darker extreme by having Han Solo imprisoned in carbonite and left inlimbo.Prequel trilogy

rld Records title for the “Most successful film merchandising franchise.” In2012, the total value of the Star Wars franchise was estimated at USD $30.7 billion, including box-office receipts as well as profits from their video games and DVD sales.In 2012, The Walt Disney Company acquired Lucasfilm for $4.05 billion and announced three newStar Wars films, with the first film, Star Wars: The Force Awakens, planned for release onDecember 18, 2015. 20th Century Fox retains the physical distribution rights to the first two StarWars trilogies, owning permanent rights for the original 1977 film and holding the rights toEpisodes IÐIII, V and VI until May 2020. The Walt Disney Studios owns digital distribution rights toall the Star Wars films, excluding A New Hope.SettingThe events depicted in Star Wars media take place in a fictional galaxy. Many species of aliencreatures are depicted. Robotic droids are also commonplace and are g

Star Wars is an American epic space opera franchise centered on a film series created by George Lucas. It depicts the adventures of various characters “a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away”, following the main story of Anakin Skywalker and his son Luke.The first film in the series, Star Wars, was released on May 25, 1977 by 20th Century Fox and became a worldwide pop culture phenomenon. It was followed by two sequels, The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi ; these three films constitute the Star Wars original trilogy, and received positive reviews.

A prequel trilogy was released between 1999 and 2005 and received a mixed reaction from critics and fans. All six films were nominated for or won Academy Awards, and were commercial successes, with a combined box office revenue of $4.38 billion, making Star Wars the fifth-highest-grossing film series. The series has spawned an extensive media franchiseNthe Expanded UniverseNincluding books, television series, computer and video games, and comic books, resulting in significant development of the series’s fictional universe.

Star Wars also holds a Guinness World Records title for the “Most successful film merchandising franchise.” In 2012, the total value of the Star Wars franchise was estimated at USD $30.7 billion, including box-office receipts as well as profits from their video games and DVD sales.In 2012, The Walt Disney Company acquired Lucasfilm for $4.05 billion and announced three new Star Wars films, with the first film, Star Wars: The Force Awakens, planned for release on December 18, 2015. 20th Century Fox retains the physical distribution rights to the first two Star Wars trilogies, owning permanent rights for the original 1977 film and holding the rights to Episodes IDIII, V and VI until May 2020. The Walt Disney Studios owns digital distribution rights to all the Star Wars films, excluding A New Hope.Setting The events depicted in Star Wars media take place in a fictional galaxy.

Many species of alien creatures are depicted. Robotic droids are also commonplace and are generally built to serve their owners. Space travel is common, and many planets in the galaxy are members of a Galactic Republic, later reorganized as the Galactic Empire.One of the prominent elements of Star Wars is the “Force”, an omnipresent energy that can be harnessed by those with that ability, known as Force-sensitives. It is described in the first produced film as “an energy field created by all living things surrounds us, penetrates us, binds the galaxy together.”

The Force allows users to perform various supernatural feats and can amplify certain physical traits, such as speed and ressexes; these abilities vary between characters and can be improved through training. While the Force can be used for good, it has a dark side that, when pursued, imbues users with hatred, aggression, and malevolence.The six films feature the Jedi, who use the Force for good, and the Sith, who use the dark side for evil in an attempt to take over the galaxy. In the Star Wars Expanded Universe, many dark side users are Dark Jedi rather than Sith, mainly because of the “Rule of Two” .Theatrical films The film series began with Star Wars, released on May 25, 1977.

This was followed by two sequels: The Empire Strikes Back, released on May 21, 1980, and Return of the Jedi, released on May 25, 1983. The opening crawl of the sequels disclosed that they were numbered as “Episode V” and “Episode VI” respectively, though the films were generally advertised solely under their subtitles. Though the first film in the series was simply titled Star Wars, with its 1981 re-release it had the subtitle Episode IV: A New Hope added to remain consistent with its sequel, and to establish it as the middle chapter of a continuing saga.In 1997, to correspond with the 20th anniversary of the original film, Lucas released a “Special Edition” of the Star Wars trilogy to theaters. The re-release featured alterations to the three films, primarily motivated by the improvement of CGI and other special effects technologies, which allowed visuals that were not possible to achieve at the time of the original filmmaking. Lucas continued to make changes to the films for subsequent releases, such as the first ever DVD release of the original trilogy on September 21, 2004, and the first ever Blu-ray release of all six films on September 16, 2011.

Reception of the Special Edition was mixed, prompting petitions and fan edits to produce restored copies of the original trilogy. More than two decades after the release of the original film, the series continued with a prequel trilogy; consisting of Episode I: The Phantom Menace, released on May 19, 1999; Episode II: Attack of the Clones, released on May 16, 2002; and Episode III: Revenge of the Sith, released on May 19, 2005. On August 15, 2008, Star Wars: The Clone Wars was released theatrically as a lead-in to the animated TV series of the same name. Star Wars: The Force Awakens is scheduled for release on December 18, 2015.Plot overview The original trilogy begins with the Galactic Empire nearing completion of the Death Star space station, which will allow the Empire to crush the Rebel Alliance, an organized resistance formed to combat Emperor Palpatine’s tyranny. Palpatine’s Sith apprentice Darth Vader captures Princess Leia, a member of the rebellion who has stolen the plans to the Death Star and hidden them in the astromech droid R2-D2. R2, along with his protocol droid counterpart C-3PO, escapes to the desert planet Tatooine.

There, the droids are purchased by farm boy Luke Skywalker and his step-uncle and aunt. While Luke is cleaning R2, he accidentally triggers a message put into the droid by Leia, who asks for assistance from the legendary Jedi Knight Obi-Wan Kenobi. Luke later assists the droids in finding the exiled Jedi, who is now passing as an old hermit under the alias Ben Kenobi. When Luke asks about his father, whom he has never met, Obi-Wan tells him that Anakin Skywalker was a great Jedi who was betrayed and murdered by Vader. Obi-Wan and Luke hire the smuggler Han Solo and his Wookiee co-pilot Chewbacca to take them to Alderaan, Leia’s home world, which they eventually find has been destroyed by the Death Star.

Once on board the space station, Luke and Han rescue Leia while Obi-Wan allows himself to be killed during a lightsaber duel with Vader; his sacrifice allows the group to escape with the plans that help the Rebels destroy the Death Star. Luke himself fires the shot that destroys the deadly space station during the Battle of Yavin. The Star Wars world, unlike fantasy and science-fiction films that featured sleek and futuristic settings, was portrayed as dirty and grimy. Lucas’ vision of a “used future” was further popularized in the science fiction-horror films Alien, which was set on a dirty space freighter; Mad Max 2, which is set in a post-apocalyptic desert; and Blade Runner, which is set in a crumbling, dirty city of the future. Lucas made a conscious effort to parallel scenes and dialogue between films, and especially to parallel the journeys of Luke Skywalker with that of his father Anakin when making the prequels.

Star Wars also ressects on the events in America following the September 11 attacks. Some have drawn similarities between the rise in authoritarianism from around the beginning of Clone Wars until the end of the Old Republic and the United States government’s actions after 9/11, specifically passage of the Patriot Act in 2001.Technical information All six films of the Star Wars series were shot in an aspect ratio of 2.39:1. The original trilogy was shot with anamorphic lenses. Episodes IV and V were shot in Panavision, while Episode VI was shot in Joe Dunton Camera scope. Episode I was shot with Hawk anamorphic lenses on Arrissex cameras, and Episodes II and III were shot with Sony’s CineAlta high-definition digital cameras.Lucas hired Ben Burtt to oversee the sound effects on the original 1977 film. Burtt’s accomplishment was such that the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences presented him with a Special Achievement Award because it had no award at the time for the work he had done. Lucasfilm developed the THX sound reproduction standard for Return of the Jedi. John Williams composed the scores for all six films.

Lucas’ design for Star Wars involved a grand musical sound, with leitmotifs for different characters and important concepts. Williams’ Star Wars title theme has become one of the most famous and well-known musical compositions in modern music history.Lucas hired ‘the Dean of Special Effects’ John Stears, who created R2-D2, Luke Skywalker’s Landspeeder, the Jedi Knights’ lightsabers, and the Death Star. The technical lightsaber choreography for the original trilogy was developed by leading filmmaking sword-master Bob Anderson. Anderson trained actor Mark Hamill and performed all the sword stunts as Darth Vader during the lightsaber duels in The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi, wearing Vader’s costume. Anderson’s role in the original Star Wars trilogy was highlighted in the film Reclaiming the Blade, where he shares his experiences as the fight choreographer developing the lightsaber techniques for the movies.Production history Original trilogy In 1971, Universal Studios agreed to make American Graffiti and Star Wars in a two-picture contract, although Star Wars was later rejected in its early concept stages.

American Graffiti was completed in 1973 and, a few months later, Lucas wrote a short summary called “The Journal of the Whills”, which told the tale of the training of apprentice CJ Thorpe as a “Jedi-Bendu” space commando by the legendary Mace Windy. Frustrated that his story was too difficult to understand, Lucas then began writing a 13-page treatment called The Star Wars on April 17, 1973, which had thematic parallels with Akira Kurosawa’s The Hidden Fortress. By 1974, he had expanded the treatment into a rough draft screenplay, adding elements such as the Sith, the Death Star, and a protagonist named Annikin Starkiller.For the second draft, Lucas made heavy simplifications, and introduced the young hero on a farm as Luke Starkiller.

Annikin became Luke’s father, a wise Jedi knight. “The Force” was also introduced as a mystical energy field. The next draft removed the father character and replaced him with a substitute named Ben Kenobi, and in 1976 a fourth draft had been prepared for principal photography. The film was titled Adventures of Luke Starkiller, as taken from the Journal of the Whills, Saga I: The Star Wars. During production, Lucas changed Luke’s name to Skywalker and altered the title to simply The Star Wars and finally Star Wars.At that point, Lucas was not expecting the film to become part of a series. The fourth draft of the script underwent subtle changes that made it more satisfying as a self-contained film, ending with the destruction of the Empire itself by way of destroying the Death Star. However, Lucas had previously conceived of the film as the first in a series of adventures. Later, he realized the film would not in fact be the first in the sequence, but a film in the second trilogy in the saga. This is stated explicitly in George Lucas’ preface to the 1994 reissue of Splinter of the Mind’s Eye:The second draft contained a teaser for a never-made sequel about “The Princess of Ondos,” and by the time of the third draft some months later Lucas had negotiated a contract that gave him rights to make two sequels. Not long after, Lucas met with author Alan Dean Foster, and hired him to write these two sequels as novels.

The intention was that if Star Wars were successful, Lucas could adapt the novels into screenplays. He had also by that point developed an elaborate backstory to aid his writing process.When Star Wars proved successful, Lucas decided to use the film as the basis for an elaborate serial, although at one point he considered walking away from the series altogether. However, Lucas wanted to create an independent filmmaking centerNwhat would become Skywalker RanchNand saw an opportunity to use the series as a financing agent. Alan Dean Foster had already begun writing the first sequel novel, but Lucas decided to abandon his plan to adapt Foster’s work; the book was released as Splinter of the Mind’s Eye the following year. At first Lucas envisioned a series of films with no set number of entries, like the James Bond series.

In an interview with Rolling Stone in August 1977, he said that he wanted his friends to each take a turn at directing the films and giving unique interpretations on the series. He also said that the backstory in which Darth Vader turns to the dark side, kills Luke’s father and fights Ben Kenobi on a volcano as the Galactic Republic falls would make an excellent sequel.Later that year, Lucas hired science fiction author Leigh Brackett to write Star Wars II with him. They held story conferences and, by late November 1977, Lucas had produced a handwritten treatment called The Empire Strikes Back. The treatment is similar to the final film, except that Darth Vader does not reveal he is Luke’s father. In the first draft that Brackett would write from this, Luke’s father appears as a ghost to instruct Luke.Brackett finished her first draft in early 1978; Lucas has said he was disappointed with it, but before he could discuss it with her, she died of cancer. With no writer available, Lucas had to write his next draft himself.

It was this draft in which Lucas first made use of the “Episode” numbering for the films; Empire Strikes Back was listed as Episode II. As Michael Kaminski argues in The Secret History of Star Wars, the disappointment with the first draft probably made Lucas consider different directions in which to take the story. He made use of a new plot twist: Darth Vader claims to be Luke’s father. According to Lucas, he found this draft enjoyable to write, as opposed to the yearlong struggles writing the first film, and quickly wrote two more drafts, both in April 1978. He also took the script to a darker extreme by having Han Solo imprisoned in carbonite and left in limbo.

enerally built to serve theirowners. Space travel is common, and many planets in the galaxy are members of a GalacticRepublic, later reorganized as the Galactic Empire.One of the prominent elements of Star Wars is the “Force”, an omnipresent energy that can beharnessed by those with that ability, known as Force-sensitives. It is described in the first producedfilm as “an energy field created by all living things surrounds us, penetrates us, binds the galaxytogether.” The Force allows users to perform various supernatural feats and can amplify certainphysical traits, such as speed and reßexes; these abilities vary between characters and can beimproved through training. While the Force can be used for good, it has a dark side that, whenpursued, imbues users with hatred, aggression, and malevolence.The six films feature the Jedi, who use the Force for good, and the S

Star Wars is an American epic space opera franchise centered on a film series created by George Lucas. It depicts the adventures of various characters “a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away”, following the main story of Anakin Skywalker and his son Luke.The first film in the series, Star Wars, was released on May 25, 1977 by 20th Century Fox and became a worldwide pop culture phenomenon. It was followed by two sequels, The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi ; these three films constitute the Star Wars original trilogy, and received positive reviews.
A prequel trilogy was released between 1999 and 2005 and received a mixed reaction from critics and fans. All six films were nominated for or won Academy Awards, and were commercial successes, with a combined box office revenue of $4.38 billion, making Star Wars the fifth-highest-grossing film series. The series has spawned an extensive media franchiseNthe Expanded UniverseNincluding books, television series, computer and video games, and comic books, resulting in significant development of the series’s fictional universe.
Star Wars also holds a Guinness World Records title for the “Most successful film merchandising franchise.” In 2012, the total value of the Star Wars franchise was estimated at USD $30.7 billion, including box-office receipts as well as profits from their video games and DVD sales.In 2012, The Walt Disney Company acquired Lucasfilm for $4.05 billion and announced three new Star Wars films, with the first film, Star Wars: The Force Awakens, planned for release on December 18, 2015. 20th Century Fox retains the physical distribution rights to the first two Star Wars trilogies, owning permanent rights for the original 1977 film and holding the rights to Episodes IDIII, V and VI until May 2020. The Walt Disney Studios owns digital distribution rights to all the Star Wars films, excluding A New Hope.Setting The events depicted in Star Wars media take place in a fictional galaxy.
Many species of alien creatures are depicted. Robotic droids are also commonplace and are generally built to serve their owners. Space travel is common, and many planets in the galaxy are members of a Galactic Republic, later reorganized as the Galactic Empire.One of the prominent elements of Star Wars is the “Force”, an omnipresent energy that can be harnessed by those with that ability, known as Force-sensitives. It is described in the first produced film as “an energy field created by all living things surrounds us, penetrates us, binds the galaxy together.”
The Force allows users to perform various supernatural feats and can amplify certain physical traits, such as speed and ressexes; these abilities vary between characters and can be improved through training. While the Force can be used for good, it has a dark side that, when pursued, imbues users with hatred, aggression, and malevolence.The six films feature the Jedi, who use the Force for good, and the Sith, who use the dark side for evil in an attempt to take over the galaxy. In the Star Wars Expanded Universe, many dark side users are Dark Jedi rather than Sith, mainly because of the “Rule of Two” .Theatrical films The film series began with Star Wars, released on May 25, 1977.
This was followed by two sequels: The Empire Strikes Back, released on May 21, 1980, and Return of the Jedi, released on May 25, 1983. The opening crawl of the sequels disclosed that they were numbered as “Episode V” and “Episode VI” respectively, though the films were generally advertised solely under their subtitles. Though the first film in the series was simply titled Star Wars, with its 1981 re-release it had the subtitle Episode IV: A New Hope added to remain consistent with its sequel, and to establish it as the middle chapter of a continuing saga.In 1997, to correspond with the 20th anniversary of the original film, Lucas released a “Special Edition” of the Star Wars trilogy to theaters. The re-release featured alterations to the three films, primarily motivated by the improvement of CGI and other special effects technologies, which allowed visuals that were not possible to achieve at the time of the original filmmaking. Lucas continued to make changes to the films for subsequent releases, such as the first ever DVD release of the original trilogy on September 21, 2004, and the first ever Blu-ray release of all six films on September 16, 2011.
Reception of the Special Edition was mixed, prompting petitions and fan edits to produce restored copies of the original trilogy. More than two decades after the release of the original film, the series continued with a prequel trilogy; consisting of Episode I: The Phantom Menace, released on May 19, 1999; Episode II: Attack of the Clones, released on May 16, 2002; and Episode III: Revenge of the Sith, released on May 19, 2005. On August 15, 2008, Star Wars: The Clone Wars was released theatrically as a lead-in to the animated TV series of the same name. Star Wars: The Force Awakens is scheduled for release on December 18, 2015.Plot overview The original trilogy begins with the Galactic Empire nearing completion of the Death Star space station, which will allow the Empire to crush the Rebel Alliance, an organized resistance formed to combat Emperor Palpatine’s tyranny. Palpatine’s Sith apprentice Darth Vader captures Princess Leia, a member of the rebellion who has stolen the plans to the Death Star and hidden them in the astromech droid R2-D2. R2, along with his protocol droid counterpart C-3PO, escapes to the desert planet Tatooine.
There, the droids are purchased by farm boy Luke Skywalker and his step-uncle and aunt. While Luke is cleaning R2, he accidentally triggers a message put into the droid by Leia, who asks for assistance from the legendary Jedi Knight Obi-Wan Kenobi. Luke later assists the droids in finding the exiled Jedi, who is now passing as an old hermit under the alias Ben Kenobi. When Luke asks about his father, whom he has never met, Obi-Wan tells him that Anakin Skywalker was a great Jedi who was betrayed and murdered by Vader. Obi-Wan and Luke hire the smuggler Han Solo and his Wookiee co-pilot Chewbacca to take them to Alderaan, Leia’s home world, which they eventually find has been destroyed by the Death Star.
Once on board the space station, Luke and Han rescue Leia while Obi-Wan allows himself to be killed during a lightsaber duel with Vader; his sacrifice allows the group to escape with the plans that help the Rebels destroy the Death Star. Luke himself fires the shot that destroys the deadly space station during the Battle of Yavin. The Star Wars world, unlike fantasy and science-fiction films that featured sleek and futuristic settings, was portrayed as dirty and grimy. Lucas’ vision of a “used future” was further popularized in the science fiction-horror films Alien, which was set on a dirty space freighter; Mad Max 2, which is set in a post-apocalyptic desert; and Blade Runner, which is set in a crumbling, dirty city of the future. Lucas made a conscious effort to parallel scenes and dialogue between films, and especially to parallel the journeys of Luke Skywalker with that of his father Anakin when making the prequels.
Star Wars also ressects on the events in America following the September 11 attacks. Some have drawn similarities between the rise in authoritarianism from around the beginning of Clone Wars until the end of the Old Republic and the United States government’s actions after 9/11, specifically passage of the Patriot Act in 2001.Technical information All six films of the Star Wars series were shot in an aspect ratio of 2.39:1. The original trilogy was shot with anamorphic lenses. Episodes IV and V were shot in Panavision, while Episode VI was shot in Joe Dunton Camera scope. Episode I was shot with Hawk anamorphic lenses on Arrissex cameras, and Episodes II and III were shot with Sony’s CineAlta high-definition digital cameras.Lucas hired Ben Burtt to oversee the sound effects on the original 1977 film. Burtt’s accomplishment was such that the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences presented him with a Special Achievement Award because it had no award at the time for the work he had done. Lucasfilm developed the THX sound reproduction standard for Return of the Jedi. John Williams composed the scores for all six films.
Lucas’ design for Star Wars involved a grand musical sound, with leitmotifs for different characters and important concepts. Williams’ Star Wars title theme has become one of the most famous and well-known musical compositions in modern music history.Lucas hired ‘the Dean of Special Effects’ John Stears, who created R2-D2, Luke Skywalker’s Landspeeder, the Jedi Knights’ lightsabers, and the Death Star. The technical lightsaber choreography for the original trilogy was developed by leading filmmaking sword-master Bob Anderson. Anderson trained actor Mark Hamill and performed all the sword stunts as Darth Vader during the lightsaber duels in The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi, wearing Vader’s costume. Anderson’s role in the original Star Wars trilogy was highlighted in the film Reclaiming the Blade, where he shares his experiences as the fight choreographer developing the lightsaber techniques for the movies.Production history Original trilogy In 1971, Universal Studios agreed to make American Graffiti and Star Wars in a two-picture contract, although Star Wars was later rejected in its early concept stages.
American Graffiti was completed in 1973 and, a few months later, Lucas wrote a short summary called “The Journal of the Whills”, which told the tale of the training of apprentice CJ Thorpe as a “Jedi-Bendu” space commando by the legendary Mace Windy. Frustrated that his story was too difficult to understand, Lucas then began writing a 13-page treatment called The Star Wars on April 17, 1973, which had thematic parallels with Akira Kurosawa’s The Hidden Fortress. By 1974, he had expanded the treatment into a rough draft screenplay, adding elements such as the Sith, the Death Star, and a protagonist named Annikin Starkiller.For the second draft, Lucas made heavy simplifications, and introduced the young hero on a farm as Luke Starkiller.
Annikin became Luke’s father, a wise Jedi knight. “The Force” was also introduced as a mystical energy field. The next draft removed the father character and replaced him with a substitute named Ben Kenobi, and in 1976 a fourth draft had been prepared for principal photography. The film was titled Adventures of Luke Starkiller, as taken from the Journal of the Whills, Saga I: The Star Wars. During production, Lucas changed Luke’s name to Skywalker and altered the title to simply The Star Wars and finally Star Wars.At that point, Lucas was not expecting the film to become part of a series. The fourth draft of the script underwent subtle changes that made it more satisfying as a self-contained film, ending with the destruction of the Empire itself by way of destroying the Death Star. However, Lucas had previously conceived of the film as the first in a series of adventures. Later, he realized the film would not in fact be the first in the sequence, but a film in the second trilogy in the saga. This is stated explicitly in George Lucas’ preface to the 1994 reissue of Splinter of the Mind’s Eye:The second draft contained a teaser for a never-made sequel about “The Princess of Ondos,” and by the time of the third draft some months later Lucas had negotiated a contract that gave him rights to make two sequels. Not long after, Lucas met with author Alan Dean Foster, and hired him to write these two sequels as novels.
The intention was that if Star Wars were successful, Lucas could adapt the novels into screenplays. He had also by that point developed an elaborate backstory to aid his writing process.When Star Wars proved successful, Lucas decided to use the film as the basis for an elaborate serial, although at one point he considered walking away from the series altogether. However, Lucas wanted to create an independent filmmaking centerNwhat would become Skywalker RanchNand saw an opportunity to use the series as a financing agent. Alan Dean Foster had already begun writing the first sequel novel, but Lucas decided to abandon his plan to adapt Foster’s work; the book was released as Splinter of the Mind’s Eye the following year. At first Lucas envisioned a series of films with no set number of entries, like the James Bond series.
In an interview with Rolling Stone in August 1977, he said that he wanted his friends to each take a turn at directing the films and giving unique interpretations on the series. He also said that the backstory in which Darth Vader turns to the dark side, kills Luke’s father and fights Ben Kenobi on a volcano as the Galactic Republic falls would make an excellent sequel.Later that year, Lucas hired science fiction author Leigh Brackett to write Star Wars II with him. They held story conferences and, by late November 1977, Lucas had produced a handwritten treatment called The Empire Strikes Back. The treatment is similar to the final film, except that Darth Vader does not reveal he is Luke’s father. In the first draft that Brackett would write from this, Luke’s father appears as a ghost to instruct Luke.Brackett finished her first draft in early 1978; Lucas has said he was disappointed with it, but before he could discuss it with her, she died of cancer. With no writer available, Lucas had to write his next draft himself.
It was this draft in which Lucas first made use of the “Episode” numbering for the films; Empire Strikes Back was listed as Episode II. As Michael Kaminski argues in The Secret History of Star Wars, the disappointment with the first draft probably made Lucas consider different directions in which to take the story. He made use of a new plot twist: Darth Vader claims to be Luke’s father. According to Lucas, he found this draft enjoyable to write, as opposed to the yearlong struggles writing the first film, and quickly wrote two more drafts, both in April 1978. He also took the script to a darker extreme by having Han Solo imprisoned in carbonite and left in limbo.

ith, who use the dark side forevil in an attempt to take over the galaxy. In the Star Wars Expanded Universe, many dark sideusers are Dark Jedi rather than Sith, mainly because of the “Rule of Two” .Theatrical filmsThe film series began with Star Wars, released on May 25, 1977. This was followed by twosequels: The Empire Strikes Back, released on May 21, 1980, and Return of the Jedi, released onMay 25, 1983. The opening crawl of the sequels disclosed that they were numbered as “EpisodeV” and “Episode VI” respectively, though the films were generally advertised solely under theirsubtitles. Though the first film in the series was simply titled Star Wars, with its 1981 re-release ithad the subtitle Episode IV: A New Hope added to remain consistent with its sequel, and toestablish it as the middle chapter of a continuing saga.In 1997, to correspond with the 20th anniversary of the original film, Lucas released a “SpecialEdition” of the Star Wars trilogy to theaters. The re-release featured alterations to the three films,primarily motivated by the improvement of CGI and other special effects technologies, whichallowed visuals that were not possible to achieve at the time of the original filmmaking. Lucascontinued to make changes to the films for subsequent releases, such as the first ever DVDrelease of the original trilogy on September 21, 2004, and the first ever Blu-ray release of all sixfilms on September 16, 2011. Reception of the Special Edition was mixed, prompting petitions andfan edits to produce restored copies of the original trilogy.

 More than two decades after the release of the original film, the series continued with a prequeltrilogy; consisting of Episode I: The Phantom Menace, released on May 19, 1999; Episode II:Attack of the Clones, released on May 16, 2002; and Episode III: Revenge of the Sith, released onMay 19, 2005. On August 15, 2008, Star Wars: The Clone Wars was released theatrically as alead-in to the animated TV series of the same name. Star Wars: The Force Awakens is scheduledfor release on December 18, 2015.Plot overviewThe original trilogy begins with the Galactic Empire nearing completion of the Death Star spacestation, which will allow the Empire to crush the Rebel Alliance, an organized resistance formed tocombat Emperor Palpatine’s tyranny. Palpatine’s Sith apprentice Darth Vader captures PrincessLeia, a member of the rebellion who has stolen the plans to the Death Star and hidden them in theastromech droid R2-D2. R2, along with his protocol droid counterpart C-3PO, escapes to thedesert planet Tatooine. There, the droids are purchased by farm boy Luke Skywalker and his step-uncle and aunt. While Luke is cleaning R2, he accidentally triggers a message put into the droid byLeia, who asks for assistance from the legendary Jedi Knight Obi-Wan Kenobi. Luke later assiststhe droids in finding the exiled Jedi, who is now passing as an old hermit under the alias BenKenobi. When Luke asks about his father, whom he has never met, Obi-Wan tells him that AnakinSkywalker was a great Jedi who was betrayed and murdered by Vader. Obi-Wan and Luke hire thesmuggler Han Solo and his Wookiee co-pilot Chewbacca to take them to Alderaan, Leia’s homeworld, which they eventually find has been destroyed by the Death Star. Once on board the spacestation, Luke and Han rescue Leia while Obi-Wan allows himself to be killed during a lightsaberduel with Vader; his sacrifice allows the group to escape with the plans that help the Rebelsdestroy the Death Star. Luke himself fires the shot that destroys the deadly space station duringthe Battle of Yavin. The Star Wars world, unlike fantasy and science-fiction films that featured sleekand futuristic settings, was portrayed as dirty and grimy. Lucas’ vision of a “used future” was furtherpopularized in the science fiction-horror films Alien, which was set on a dirty space freighter; MadMax 2, which is set in a post-apocalyptic desert; and Blade Runner, which is set in a crumbling,dirty city of the future. Lucas made a conscious effort to parallel scenes and dialogue betweenfilms, and especially to parallel the journeys of Luke Skywalker with that of his father Anakin whenmaking the prequels. Star Wars also reßects on the events in America following the September 11attacks. Some have drawn similarities between the rise in authoritarianism from around thebeginning of Clone Wars until the end of the Old Republic and the United States government’sactions after 9/11, specifically passage of the Patriot Act in 2001.Technical informationAll six films of the Star Wars series were shot in an aspect ratio of 2.39:1. The original trilogy wasshot with anamorphic lenses. Episodes IV and V were shot in Panavision, while Episode VI wasshot in Joe Dunton Camera scope. Episode I was shot with Hawk anamorphic lenses on Arrißexcameras, and Episodes II and III were shot with Sony’s CineAlta high-definition digital cameras.Lucas hired Ben Burtt to oversee the sound effects on the original 1977 film. Burtt’saccomplishment was such that the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences presented himwith a Special Achievement Award because it had no award at the time for the work he had done.Lucasfilm developed the THX sound reproduction standard for Return of the Jedi. John Williamscomposed the scores for all six films. Lucas’ design for Star Wars involved a grand musical sound,with leitmotifs for different characters and important concepts. Williams’ Star Wars title theme hasbecome one of the most famous and well-known musical compositions in modern music history.Lucas hired ‘the Dean of Special Effects’ John Stears, who created R2-D2, Luke Skywalker’sLandspeeder, the Jedi Knights’ lightsabers, and the Death Star. The technical lightsaberchoreography for the original trilogy was developed by leading filmmaking sword-master BobAnderson. Anderson trained actor Mark Hamill and performed all the sword stunts as Darth Vaderduring the lightsaber duels in The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi, wearing Vader’scostume. Anderson’s role in the original Star Wars trilogy was highlighted in the film Reclaiming theBlade, where he shares his experiences as the fight choreographer developing the lightsabertechniques for the movies.Production historyOriginal trilogy

 In 1971, Universal Studios agreed to make American Graffiti and Star Wars in a two-picturecontract, although Star Wars was later rejected in its early concept stages. American Graffiti wascompleted in 1973 and, a few months later, Lucas wrote a short summary called “The Journal ofthe Whills”, which told the tale of the training of apprentice CJ Thorpe as a “Jedi-Bendu” spacecommando by the legendary Mace Windy. Frustrated that his story was too difficult to understand,Lucas then began writing a 13-page treatment called The Star Wars on April 17, 1973, which hadthematic parallels with Akira Kurosawa’s The Hidden Fortress. By 1974, he had expanded thetreatment into a rough draft screenplay, adding elements such as the Sith, the Death Star, and aprotagonist named Annikin Starkiller.For the second draft, Lucas made heavy simplifications, and introduced the young hero on a farmas Luke Starkiller. Annikin became Luke’s father, a wise Jedi knight. “The Force” was alsointroduced as a mystical energy field. The next draft removed the father character and replacedhim with a substitute named Ben Kenobi, and in 1976 a fourth draft had been prepared for principalphotography. The film was titled Adventures of Luke Starkiller, as taken from the Journal of theWhills, Saga I: The Star Wars. During production, Lucas changed Luke’s name to Skywalker andaltered the title to simply The Star Wars and finally Star Wars.At that point, Lucas was not expecting the film to become part of a series. The fourth draft of thescript underwent subtle changes that made it more satisfying as a self-contained film, ending withthe destruction of the Empire itself by way of destroying the Death Star. However, Lucas hadpreviously conceived of the film as the first in a series of adventures. Later, he realized the filmwould not in fact be the first in the sequence, but a film in the second trilogy in the saga. This isstated explicitly in George Lucas’ preface to the 1994 reissue of Splinter of the Mind’s Eye:The second draft contained a teaser for a never-made sequel about “The Princess of Ondos,” andby the time of the third draft some months later Lucas had negotiated a contract that gave himrights to make two sequels. Not long after, Lucas met with author Alan Dean Foster, and hired himto write these two sequels as novels. The intention was that if Star Wars were successful, Lucascould adapt the novels into screenplays. He had also by that point developed an elaboratebackstory to aid his writing process.When Star Wars proved successful, Lucas decided to use the film as the basis for an elaborateserial, although at one point he considered walking away from the series altogether. However,Lucas wanted to create an independent filmmaking centerÑwhat would become Skywalker RanchÑand saw an opportunity to use the series as a financing agent. Alan Dean Foster had alreadybegun writing the first sequel novel, but Lucas decided to abandon his plan to adapt Foster’s work;the book was released as Splinter of the Mind’s Eye the following year. At first Lucas envisioned aseries of films with no set number of entries, like the James Bond series. In an interview withRolling Stone in August 1977, he said that he wanted his friends to each take a turn at directing thefilms and giving unique interpretations on the series. He also said that the backstory in which DarthVader turns to the dark side, kills Luke’s father and fights Ben Kenobi on a volcano as the GalacticRepublic falls would make an excellent sequel.Later that year, Lucas hired science fiction author Leigh Brackett to write Star Wars II with him.They held story conferences and, by late November 1977, Lucas had produced a handwrittentreatment called The Empire Strikes Back. The treatment is similar to the final film, except thatDarth Vader does not reveal he is Luke’s father. In the first draft that Brackett would write from this,Luke’s father appears as a ghost to instruct Luke.Brackett finished her first draft in early 1978; Lucas has said he was disappointed with it, but beforehe could discuss it with her, she died of cancer. With no writer available, Lucas had to write hisnext draft himself. It was this draft in which Lucas first made use of the “Episode” numbering for thefilms; Empire Strikes Back was listed as Episode II. As Michael Kaminski argues in The SecretHistory of Star Wars, the disappointment with the first draft probably made Lucas consider differentdirections in which to take the story. He made use of a new plot twist: Darth Vader claims to beLuke’s father. According to Lucas, he found this draft enjoyable to write, as opposed to theyearlong struggles writing the first film, and quickly wrote two more drafts, both in April 1978. Healso took the script to a darker extreme by having Han Solo imprisoned in carbonite and left inlimbo.Prequel trilogy