PLOT OVERVIEW
A street performer in costume as Darth Vader in Amsterdam. Vader is considered to be one of the most iconic characters of the Star Wars franchise.
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 (guided
by the power of the Force) fires the shot that destroys the deadly space station during the Battle of Yavin.
Three years later, Luke travels to find the Jedi Master Yoda, now living in exile on the swamp-infested world of Dagobah,
to begin his Jedi training. However, Luke's training is interrupted
when Vader lures him into a trap by capturing Han and his friends at Cloud City.
During a fierce lightsaber duel, Vader reveals that he is Luke's father
and attempts to turn him to the dark side of the Force.Luke escapes and, after rescuing Han from the gangster Jabba the Hutt,
returns to Yoda to complete his training, only to find the 900-year-old
Jedi Master on his deathbed. Before he dies, Yoda confirms that Vader
is Luke's father. Moments later, Obi-Wan's spirit tells Luke that he
must confront his father once again before he can become a Jedi, and
that Leia is his twin sister.
As the Rebels attack the second Death Star, Luke engages Vader in
another lightsaber duel as the Emperor watches; both Sith Lords intend
to turn Luke to the dark side and take him as their apprentice. During
the duel, Luke succumbs to his anger and brutally overpowers Vader, but
controls himself at the last minute; realizing that he is about to
suffer his father's fate, he spares Vader's life and proudly declares
his allegiance to the Jedi. An enraged Palpatine then attempts to kill
Luke with Force lightning,
a sight that moves Vader to turn and kill the Emperor, suffering mortal
wounds in the process. Redeemed, Anakin Skywalker dies in his son's
arms. Luke becomes a full-fledged Jedi, and the Rebels destroy the
second Death Star.
The prequel trilogy begins (32 years before the original film) with the corrupt Trade Federation setting up a blockade of battleships around the planet Naboo.
The Sith Lord Darth Sidious had secretly planned the blockade to give
his alter ego, Senator Palpatine, a pretense to overthrow and replace
the Supreme Chancellor of the Galactic Republic. At the Chancellor's request, the Jedi Knight Qui-Gon Jinn
and his apprentice, a younger Obi-Wan Kenobi, are sent to Naboo to
negotiate with the Federation. However, the two Jedi are forced to
instead help the Queen of Naboo, Padmé Amidala, escape from the blockade and plea her planet's crisis before the Republic Senate on Coruscant.
When their starship is damaged during the escape, they land on Tatooine
for repairs, where Qui-Gon discovers a nine-year-old Anakin Skywalker.
Qui-Gon comes to believe that Anakin is the "Chosen One" foretold by
Jedi prophecy
to bring balance to the Force, and he helps liberate the boy from
slavery. The Jedi Council, led by Yoda, reluctantly allows Obi-Wan to
train Anakin after Qui-Gon is killed by Palpatine's first apprentice, Darth Maul, during the Battle of Naboo.
The remainder of the prequel trilogy chronicles Anakin's gradual descent to the dark side as he fights in the Clone Wars, which Palpatine secretly engineers to destroy the Jedi Order and lure Anakin into his service.Anakin and Padmé fall in love and secretly wed, and eventually Padmé
becomes pregnant. Anakin has a prophetic vision of Padmé dying in
childbirth, and Palpatine convinces him that the dark side of the Force
holds the power to save her life. Desperate, Anakin submits to
Palpatine's Sith teachings and is renamed Darth Vader.
While Palpatine re-organizes the Republic into the tyrannical Empire, Vader participates in the extermination of the Jedi Order, culminating in a lightsaber duel between himself and Obi-Wan on the volcanic planet Mustafar.
Obi-Wan defeats his former apprentice and friend, severing his limbs
and leaving him to burn to death on the shores of a lava flow. Palpatine
arrives shortly afterward and saves Vader by placing him into a
mechanical black mask and suit of armor that serves as a permanent life
support system. At the same time, Padmé dies while giving birth to twins
Luke and Leia. Obi-Wan and Yoda, now the only remaining Jedi alive,
agree to separate the twins and keep them hidden from both Vader and the
Emperor, until the time comes when Anakin's children can be used to
help overthrow the Empire.
Themes
See also: Philosophy and religion in Star Wars and Force (Star Wars)
Aside from its well known science fictional technology, Star Wars features elements such as knighthood, chivalry, and princesses that are related to archetypes of the fantasy genre.[ 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 contains many themes of political science that mainly favor democracy over dictatorship. Political science has been an important element of Star Wars since the franchise first launched in 1977. The plot climax of Star Wars is modeled after the fall of the democratic Roman Republic and the formation of an empire. Star Wars also reflects on the events in America following the September 11 attacks. Some[who?] 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 (JDC) scope. Episode I was shot with Hawk anamorphic lenses on Arriflex 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 A New Hope. 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.[35] 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.[37][38] The technical lightsaber choreography for the original trilogy was developed by leading filmmaking sword-master Bob Anderson. Anderson trained actor Mark Hamill (Luke Skywalker) 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.
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