The history of Star Wars – undeniably one of the greatest science fiction epics of motion picture history – is also the history of multiple releases and versions, nearly all of them altered in various subtle and not-so-subtle ways. To wit:
1977: Star Wars is released theatrically.
1982: Star Wars is released on laserdisc.
1997: Star Wars – The Special Edition is released theatrically and on VHS. The Special Edition and its notable SFX changes replaces the Theatrical Version, allegedly permanently.
2004: Star Wars – The Special Special Edition is released on DVD, complete with additional SFX changes.
2006: Star Wars – The Special Special Edition is re-released on DVD in a so-called Limited Edition (”so-called” because it has been continuous available from then to now), which includes as bonus material a transfer of the laserdisc release of the original Theatrical Version (yay! Now this is what we want!).
2011: Star Wars – The Special Special Special Edition is released on Blu-ray with lossless audio as part of either Star Wars: The Original Trilogy box, or Star Wars: The Complete Saga box. Lots of extra material, but, sadly, not the Theatrical Version. A new batch of SFX and sound changes, of course.
2012-2017: The complete chronological Star Wars saga – Episodes I-VI – will, according to a plan which will probably change, be re-released theatrically in special, special, special, special 3D versions, one per year. These will undoubtedly be out on 3D Blu-rays later. Or, by then, the saga will be released in a 4K format.
Add to this the various widescreen and THX-remastered releases. Yes, Lucasfilm has milked this franchise for all it’s worth, and we’re not done seeing new versions of it yet. Of course, if this were some soapy mainstream production like, say, Gone With the Wind, we sci-fi fans wouldn’t care two hoots about this avalanche of different versions. But the original Star Wars trilogy (well, the first two, anyway) just happens to be some of the best science fiction movies of all time, and so their release history acquires significance to genre fans.
What’s so good about the first two Star Wars movies? In short, an archetypal hero’s journey, a convincingly alien setting and lots of cool spaceship action! I’ll take them one at a time:
1) An archetypal hero’s journey. Form without content is a hollow shell of insignificance; therefore a good movie needs as its basis a story that works, even if it seems like a simple one. A story can be structured in a ridiculously simple way, even as it is based on grand symbolic patterns with a universally human relevance and impact. It can be exciting even if it is predictable, and cool even if it is corny. Luke Skywalker is the everyman hero who rises with the occasion to change his situation from one of oppression to one of freedom. In some way or other, most people can identify with this struggle, root for it and be inspired by it. With the two first Star Wars movies (Episodes IV and V), Lucas managed to appeal brilliantly to an all-ages audience and create an attractive and fantasy-flavored sci-fi universe of iconic power; a modern mythology to rival all the great epics of classic literature.
2) A convincingly alien setting. One of the most difficult things to do well in science fiction (in books as well as movies) is to present non-Terran cultures which appear genuinely alien. The hand-crafted spaceships and puppet aliens created for the first Star Wars movies succeed in giving us a ruggedness that makes us believe that we are dealing with alien cultures thousands of years old. It is unparallelled in sci-fi movies, and this amazing achievement is completely and disastrously undermined in the CGI-plastered prequel trilogy (Episodes I-III), where Lucas has spent an infinitely larger amount of money creating something infinitely less appealing to the discerning audience.
3) Lots of cool spaceship action! Nothing epitomizes the kind of sci-fi action that most sci-fi adventure fans and techno geeks want to see more than cool spaceships zooming around and fighting each other in outer space. Nothing like the spaceship action of the first two Star Wars movies have been seen before or since. We have the speed, the cool designs, the feeling of pumping adrenaline; the epic battle between good and evil fought among the stars. Everything has been scaled up to a larger-than-life arena, which makes the conflicts seem more important: the fate of entire planets are at stake. It transports us to a future where spaceships can fly almost effortlessly between worlds, destroy planets and influence galaxy-wide political schemes. That sort of thing is the very definition of “space opera”, and while other movies who attempt that subgenre of sci-fi frequently fail as poorly written, poorly produced or both, the two first Star Wars movies still hold up as the gold standard of how to do it.
So, what’s bad about the Star Wars movies? Well, the awful prequels aside, the major bad thing about the original trilogy, as intimated earlier, is that George Lucas just won’t leave well enough alone. He’s gotta do special, special, special editions, giving us all, he figures, a reason to buy the movies yet again. And like good little suckers, we do.
I’m not as a principle against the retroactive improvement of a movie’s or TV show’s production values – for instance, I think the remastered Star Trek: The Original Series DVDs and Blu-rays worked extremely well. For me, who was never really into TOS (I’m of the TNG generation), the remastered versions became about ten times more interesting than the original ones, and made me buy them. These versions should probably be proclaimed the gold standard of how to make improved alterations, namely in such a subtle way that you don’t particularly notice it (unless of course you already know every original frame by heart) – everything just looks better, slicker, less silly.
Sadly, George Lucas is not just interested in making his StarWars saga look a bit better overall; he can’t help adding extra stuff, like creatures, aliens, droids and even dialogue, which fit about as well into the originals as square pegs in round holes. Still, while I think his level of changes is generally ill-adviced (so what if Han fired first?! Greedo was a scumbag!), I do think a few of them are improvements. Darth Vader’s much-maligned ”NOOOO!” in the Blu-ray version of Star Wars: Episode VI – Return of the Jedi actually seemed quite fitting to me – even at the increased volume compared to the rest of the audio level. I think that detail added some humanity and sympathy to Vader’s turning away from the dark side of the Force, instead of just having him act like a mysterious robot. But anyway. Back to the first movie.
There are those SF fans who criticize Star Wars for not being proper science fiction; that it is more of the (inferior) genre known as science fantasy. Although there is some truth to that, I don’t agree. I think Star Wars is proper science fiction, and I’ll try to explain why. It is certainly impossible to deny that Star Wars features knights, swords, dwarfs (a fantasy stable), evil lords and even a princess, and many instances of characters mounted on some alien steed. And what appears to be magical powers. George Lucas did this deliberately; he specifically wanted a fairy-tale style chivalrous quest in a space opera setting. It blends the genres.
But it is still possible to see the story and the environment as fully science fictional. The swords, after all, are laser swords, the steeds are alien creatures, the princess turned out to be democratically elected, and the jedi knights are morally incorruptible upholders of justice whose powers come from tapping into a fundamental life force. The Force. Now this is where people start seriously disagreeing, because what is the Force? Is it religion? Is it magic? Is it midichlorians? Is it fantasy or science fiction?
It is of course open to individual interpretation, but in my opinion the Force is a perfectly fine science fiction concept. The idea that life generates a force that can be tapped into to greater or lesser degrees doesn’t strike me as all that far-fetched. There must be something in nature that makes emotion and consciousness possible; some kind of scientifically explainable and neurologically real lifeforce that drives all the fundamental behavior: reproduction, food-foraging, curiosity, consciousness. It has not been identified by science yet, but – and I say this as a complete atheist – I am certain there is such a phenomenon, and the Force in Star Wars is a perfect symbol of it. To me, that makes it good science fiction. And although I have very few good things to say about the prequel trilogy, the addition of the midichlorian microorganisms as a scientific explanation of the Force is actually a detail that I really love, whereas those who prefer to look at the Star Wars universe through the lenses of the fantasy genre, hates it for the very same reason; that it introduces a scientific basis for the (allegedly magical )Force.
So, as regards the two first movies, I have virtually nothing negative to say about them, except that some of the puppet aliens (and the android antics) sometimes get a little too silly. Since this is supposed to be a review of the original movie, I will however add that the popular notion of preferring The Empire Strikes Back to the first Star Wars movie is not one I have embraced. When you have seen these movies enough times, there are elements of Empire that become dull on repeated viewings, whereas the original movie maintains a wholesome adventure story with an unequalled impact. Empire is great, but it is not as great as Star Wars.
As for the new Blu-ray release, one has to admit it is great. The movie is clearer and better-looking than ever, and there are loads and loads of extras. The only big thing – and it’s a real doozy – that I will lambast it for is that it does not include the original, unaltered, unspecialized version of the movie. When the Theatrical Version comes out on Blu-ray, it will be a grand moment – then we will finally have a high-resolution version of one of history’s greatest movies standing on our shelves, looking as it did originally in all its hand-crafted glory. This and nothing less is what we must demand from Lucasfilm.
Director: George Lucas
Cast: Harrison Ford, Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisher, Alec Guinnes, Anthony Daniels, Kenny Baker, David Prowse, Peter Cushing and others.
Runtime: 125 min.
Country: USA
Film Rating: 
Blu-ray Rating: 
