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The First Film Has Become the Oddball


Zerimar Nyliram
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I absolutely adore A New Hope, aka Star Wars, for the masterful tale that it is. It ranks as one of the best movies of all time. However, as the saga was complete with both the two sequels and the prequels, A New Hope feels like the oddball film.

If we view the six films in chronological order, we have the galactic-level tale of a Republic turning into an Empire. We also have the rise and fall of a Jedi named Anakin Skywalker, a tragic hero who becomes a villain named Darth Vader. However, once we get to Episode IV, it's some battle on a space station far removed from galactic events, where the Emperor is never seen and where Vader isn't even the main villain.

Now, don't get me wrong: the stakes don't have to be on a galactic scale to make for a good movie, and the original protagonist-turned-antagonist doesn't have to remain in the spotlight in order for the characters to be engaging and interesting; but the point still stands.

You know what I mean? Have you ever noticed that?

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Yeah, Jedi was the first one I actually sat and watched from start to finish, though I had seen bits and pieces of the others before then. It was my favorite for a little while before I jumped on the Empire train.

That meant I didn't get to experience the "I-am-your-father" revelation in its fullest, though I do remember being baffled when Luke asked Yoda about it. That's why when I have kids when I'm sixty, I intend to show one all six movies in production order, and then them to another in chronological order, just to gauge the different reactions.

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Lucas is full of crap when he says he chose to do the OT stories Because tech wasnt there to do the PT.

 

But, you can see more cities and big scope stuff in earlier scripts that to do right would have been very expensive. I think it was WAS intentional to keep the OT remote in terms of galactic geography. One, it helps frame Luke as an outsider, two, it makes sense the rebels are hiding and on the run, and three it helps keep the western/frontier/lawless vibe of gunslinger/samurai movies alive.

 

Half the reason the PT doesn't feel like SW to me is this right here.

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The OT is not the story of the Rebellion vs the Empire. It's the story of a few characters adventures within that war. Just like Saving Private Ryan isn't the story of WWII, its the story of that one units adventure in it. The story of those few characters may intersect with the larger War at various points, but that is not the story being told. It's why we don't need to know what exactly the alliance is. Why we don't need to see the Emperor dissolve the Senate, why we don't need to know how the Emperor rose to power. Its completely irrelevant to the story being told in the OT.

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You know, I thought about writing a Yoda origins fanfic set 900 years in the past, where we meet a young Yoda before he joins the Jedi Order and he's an eccentric little ruffian who pickpockets. I envisioned including a line where he's telling a story about a log to distract some people, ending with, "Had a child, that log did," inspired by the video above.

EDIT: Oh wait, I thought this was the parody of Empire with the seagulls.

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You know, I thought about writing a Yoda origins fanfic set 900 years in the past, where we meet a young Yoda before he joins the Jedi Order and he's an eccentric little ruffian who pickpockets. I envisioned including a line where he's telling a story about a log to distract some people, ending with, "Had a child, that log did," inspired by the video above.

 

EDIT: Oh wait, I thought this was the parody of Empire with the seagulls.

We are getting a younger suspiciously smooth looking Yoda in some upcoming spin-off stuff, apparently.

 

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Yoda is overrated.

Nope! I love a good Yoda in a Star Wars! Love the little orange Yoda in the new ones, love the bébé Yoda in THE MΛNDΛLORIΛN, love the one or two little Yoda(s) in R1 shooting their guns off all over the place. Gotta have my Yodes!

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I think the thing that makes ANH the most unique is that of all the Star Wars films, it is the only one to have the 1970s sci fi feel (I know TESB was released in 1980, bit it was filmed in the 1970s). I am talking how films like THX1138, Rollerball, Logan's Run have a certain presentation that has a balance of otherworldness along with realism. The rest of the Star Wars films is definitely just otherworldly, but Star Wars has a certain realism about it that the others don't. I don't know if I am explaining myself well, here, but maybe someone can help me out articulating what I am trying to say, if you understand my meaning!

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I think the thing that makes ANH the most unique is that of all the Star Wars films, it is the only one to have the 1970s sci fi feel (I know TESB was released in 1980, bit it was filmed in the 1970s). I am talking how films like THX1138, Rollerball, Logan's Run have a certain presentation that has a balance of otherworldness along with realism. The rest of the Star Wars films is definitely just otherworldly, but Star Wars has a certain realism about it that the others don't. I don't know if I am explaining myself well, here, but maybe someone can help me out articulating what I am trying to say, if you understand my meaning!

ANH definitely has a 70's sci-fi aesthetic. 70's hair, more primitive effects, desert landscape. It was all done prior to ANH and done to death right after. It definitely aids it in being the odd duck.

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I think that A New Hope feels like the odd ball because it feels like a complete story. Like sure, we are all curious after it (play along that you only saw it), but really the movie is boom, done, and satisfying as is.

 

And I have to again smooch one of Tanks answers because yes to all the reasons the PT didnt feel like Star Wars... at least at the time. The PT sorta encapsulates what the franchise is both in tone and overall quality now.

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