
STAR WARS
(insert John Williams score here)
Star Wars is a space saga or space opera (just without the libretto) created by producer/screen writer/director George Lucas and originally introduced as a movie series. The story began in the middle with Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope in 1977. The next installment, Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back, was released three years after. The final piece of the original trilogy would follow after another three years and was called Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi.
These first three movies follow the story of Luke Skywalker, a farm boy who learns that he is more than what he seems and decides to follow the Jedi Obi-Wan Kenobi and learn the ways of The Force to become a Jedi Knight. He gets swept into the fight against the evil Sith Empire with the Rebel Alliance and meets some wise, brave, frightening, and funny characters along the way. For those who are unfamiliar with this epic there will be more on The Force and Jedi and the Sith and the Empire and theAlliancein a moment. 16 years after Jedi’s release, Lucas brought us back to the beginning of the saga to see where it all began in Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace. Also three years later Episode II: Attack of the Clones arrived and again in another three years along came Episode III: Revenge of the Sith. These told the tale of Luke Skywalker’s father, Anakin Skywalker, from boyhood to manhood. Anakin was believed to be the chosen one who would bring balance to the Force. He was trained by Obi-wan Kenobi in the Jedi arts but fell prey to the Dark Side of the Force and became a Sith lord called Darth Vader. Vader and the Emperor Palpatine took over the Republic of the time and formed The Empire. The first movie made was initially just called Star Wars and not anticipated to be a success. In fact Lucas produced it out of his own pocket because no studio thought it was a money maker. However history has shown it to be one of the highest grossing movie franchises, just going to show that it’s the people in the end who really decide (Boondock Saints much?). Now you’d be hard pressed to find someone in our modern culture who doesn’t know Star Wars, even if they aren’t a fan. There are books, video games, toys, and even live action role playing games all expounding upon Star Wars. These additions to the stories are called the Expanded Universe. Every character ever mentioned, even if they walked on screen for a second, has an action figure. I even have a friend who was able to put “Jedi” as his religion on his dog tags. Yeah, it’s that big.
