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Star Wars is an American epic space opera media franchise created by George Lucas, which began with the eponymous 1977 film [a] and quickly became a worldwide pop culture phenomenon.
Oct 10, 2024 · Star Wars is a space opera saga created by George Lucas that became one of the most successful and influential multimedia franchises in entertainment history. Begun in the 1970s and ’80s and resuscitated at the turn of the 21st century, the series advanced the field of special effects and developed into a highly lucrative merchandising industry.
- The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica
- Overview
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- Themes
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For other uses, see Star Wars (disambiguation).
"A film for a generation growing up without fairy tales."
―George Lucas
is a multi-genre mythology and multimedia franchise created by George Lucas in 1976. Comprising movies, novels, comics, video games, toys, and numerous television series, the Star Wars franchise employs archetypal motifs common to religions, classical mythology, and political climax, as well as musical motifs of those same aspects.
As one of the foremost examples of the space opera subgenre of science fiction, Star Wars has become part of mainstream popular culture, as well as being one of the highest-grossing series of all time.
In 2012, The Walt Disney Company bought the rights to the franchise from George Lucas for 4.05 billion dollars. Since then, Disney has split off Star Wars into two main categories, those being Star Wars Legends and Star Wars Canon, with Canon being the "official" story of the franchise.
Original Trilogy Growth of the Expanded Universe
Beginning with Splinter of the Mind's Eye, the Star Wars Expanded Universe was populated by a slow trickle of novels, comic strips and television specials. Almost a decade after the release of Return of the Jedi, Star Wars merchandising sales had ground to a halt. In an effort to revitalize interest and capitalize on the success of other franchises in books, Bantam Spectra and Lucas Licensing planned a four-year publication run that would include several Star Wars novels. It was 1991's Heir to the Empire that sparked the success of the first run of new novels and signaled a renaissance in Star Wars publishing. The Thrawn Trilogy by Hugo Award–winning author Timothy Zahn would become one of the most popular science-fiction series to date, and introduced some of the Expanded Universe's best-known characters, like Grand Admiral Thrawn, Mara Jade and Gilad Pellaeon. Bantam would continue to publish dozens of books across a number of eras, leading to the use of era markers after Bantam was sold to Del Rey. But books were just the beginning. In the same year as Zahn's success, Dark Horse Comics released Star Wars: Dark Empire, the first serious Star Wars graphic novel. It too would be followed by dozens of comic series. video and computer games also contributed to the Expanded Universe, but 1996's Shadows of the Empire multimedia campaign marked a turning point. The simultaneous release of a novel, video game, comics, soundtrack, toys and other promotional tie-ins set the standard that would later be followed for the merchandising efforts of the prequel trilogy and expanded upon for the Clone Wars.
Special Editions
In the 1990s, with ILM's advancement in technology, George Lucas sought to refine his Star Wars films, and began altering them to in an effort to fulfill his original intentions when creating the films. New scenes were added as a result, although some minor aesthetic changes came to be items of controvery amongst fans. Despite this, some fans praised other changes.
Prequel Trilogy
"You know, our films weren't much liked when they came out, by my generation who loved the first ones. I think people of our generation wanted to feel the way they'd felt when they saw those first three movies when they were kids, and George [Lucas] wanted to take our ones in a different direction, he had a different idea. It was tricky at the time, I remember. But now, all these years later, I'm really aware of what our films meant to the generation they were made for, the children of that time. They really like them. I've met people who, they mean a lot to them, those films, more so than the original three, and I'm like, 'Are you kidding?'" ―Ewan McGregor on the audience reception to prequel trilogy
"A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away.…"
―Opening line of Star Wars media[123]
The line "A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away.…," which appears at the beginning of every Star Wars film, and is the only way the Star Wars galaxy has been defined in relation to the real world. It is alluding to the classic fairy tale line "Once upon a time, in a land far, far away…" and variations thereof. It may reflect that the films are to be interpreted as the myths of the future, as opposed to literally meaning that the events take place in the past. Lucas himself intentionally left the details open to interpretation.[124]
The saga shows an "ancient" galactic civilization thousands of years old. The setting is totally unrelated to Earth, the Milky Way Galaxy or reality, which gives it more liberty, in a sense. The Star Wars galaxy prominently features humans that look like those from Earth. Their civilization was able to develop space travel, terraform, build ecumenopoleis, and build space colonies 200,000 years "ago," according to the Expanded Universe.
The titular Star Wars originally referred to the Galactic Civil War which takes place in the original trilogy. However, when considering the prequels (focusing on the Invasion of Naboo and the Clone Wars), the sequels (depicting the First Order-Resistance War) and the Expanded Universe, these events are only a portion of the millennia-spanning war between the Sith and the Jedi/Galactic Republic.
also merges science with supernatural elements that strongly relate to epic stories and fairy tales (e.g., magic, knights, witches, princes, and "whimsical" alien races such as Ewoks, Wisties, etc.).
Films
"I've never seen the movies as any kind of phenomenon because I have to live with them and work with them and they're just another movie that I make. It's no harder or easier than anything else I do. It's just that they became really popular for whatever reason while something else didn't. But I like all the movies I make, and I put just as much work into all of them. And it's hard to tell why some of them really become popular and some of them don't. I mean I know the basic rules, yet when something like Star Wars becomes such an incredible phenomenon there's no way to explain it." ―George Lucas[125] The original idea for Star Wars was conceived in the early 1970s and went through many revisions, providing plenty of material for the films. The original Star Wars movie (Episode IV) was first released in 1977, but the novelization was released six months earlier, in 1976. The sixth Star Wars film (Episode III) was released in 2005. There were originally to be nine films in three trilogies (some accounts claim twelve films in four trilogies); however, Lucas has stated that he does not intend to make any more Star Wars films after Episode III. On October 30, 2012, The Walt Disney Company, along with the announcement of the acquisition of Lucasfilm, announced plans for the production of a new series of films, beginning with Star Wars: Episode VII The Force Awakens in 2015, and plans for additional films. George Lucas announced he would not be directing the films but would serve as a creative consultant. All of the original films were shot at, among other locations, Elstree Studios. Episode I was filmed at Leavesden Studios and the subsequent prequels were filmed in Sydney, Australia. Tunisia has served as the location for filming scenes set on the desert planet Tatooine. Together, the first nine movies in the main saga have made a grand total of $8,789,255,249 worldwide at the box office. An eighth film has been released in 2017, titled Star Wars: Episode VIII The Last Jedi, as well as a ninth, Star Wars: Episode IX The Rise of Skywalker. Films by release order: •Star Wars: Episode IV A New Hope (May 25, 1977) •Star Wars: Episode V The Empire Strikes Back (May 21, 1980) •Star Wars: Episode VI Return of the Jedi (May 25, 1983) •Star Wars: Episode I The Phantom Menace (May 19, 1999) •Star Wars: Episode II Attack of the Clones (May 16, 2002) •Star Wars: Episode III Revenge of the Sith (May 19, 2005) •Star Wars: Episode VII The Force Awakens (December 18, 2015) •Star Wars: Episode VIII The Last Jedi (December 15, 2017) •Star Wars: Episode IX The Rise of Skywalker (December 20, 2019)
Re-releases
George Lucas has tinkered repeatedly with the original trilogy. For the Special Editions of Episodes IV through VI, the films were extensively cleaned up and restored, and Lucas took this opportunity to make a number of changes, adding previously cut scenes and new effects. The Special Editions were released in theaters in early 1997, and on VHS later that year. Further changes were made for the films' initial DVD release in September 2004. In 2006, Lucas finally released the original trilogy in unaltered form on DVD. At a ShoWest convention in 2005, George Lucas demonstrated new technology and stated that he was planning to release all six films in a new 3D film format, beginning with A New Hope in 2007. This did not materialize, but on September 28, 2010, StarWars.com announced the 3D release of Star Wars: Episode I The Phantom Menace coming to theaters in 2012. Lucas also hinted in the past that he would release his definitive, often called "archival," editions of all six Star Wars films in one set on a next-generation home-video format in 2007.[source?] This release was to coincide with, and celebrate, the 30th anniversary of the Star Wars saga. These "archival" editions were never released, or announced. Despite the Disney's 2012 purchase of Lucasfilm Ltd. and the release rights to all future Star Wars films, Fox was to retain original distribution rights to A New Hope, which they co-produced and co-financed, in perpetuity in all media worldwide. Fox was also to retain theatrical, nontheatrical, and home video rights worldwide for the franchise's five subsequent films, which Lucasfilm produced and financed independently, through May 2020, at which time ownership was to transfer to Disney. This complex relationship between Fox and Disney, particularly in regards to Fox's perpetual rights to Episode IV, was to create an obstacle for any future boxed set comprising all nine films.[126] On December 14, 2017, the Walt Disney Company announced that it is acquiring most of Fox's parent company, 21st Century Fox, including the film studio and all distribution rights to A New Hope.[127]
Expanded Universe
Main article: Star Wars Legends The Expanded Universe (or EU) is the continuation of the movies. It plays a major role in the storyline. One can read books from the prequel era, between the movies, or post-Episode VI. There are also several books dealing with the lives of Han Solo and Lando Calrissian just before the movies. There are even books about the briefly shown Wedge Antilles. Some notable characters within the EU include the twins Jaina and Jacen Solo, former Emperor's Hand Mara Jade, the pilot-turned-Jedi Corran Horn, and the tactical genius Grand Admiral Thrawn. The books set during or after the Star Wars original trilogy follow Luke Skywalker, Princess Leia, Han Solo, and other minor characters, as well as the growth of the New Republic. The Truce at Bakura by Kathy Tyers is the first book chronologically set after Return of the Jedi, but the first Expanded Universe story written was Alan Dean Foster's Splinter of the Mind's Eye. Writers in the Expanded Universe often gave context to details in the movies, for example explaining that the absence of non-humans shown in the Galactic Empire (compared to the numbers in the Rebellion) was because most Imperials were xenophobic.
The cast of the movies feature notable actors, such as Sofia Coppola and Keisha Castle-Hughes. Notable supporting roles played by acclaimed actors include Alec Guinness, Peter Cushing, Christopher Lee and Oliver Ford Davies. In the prequel trilogy, professional models did the non-speaking minor-character roles.
The central theme of Star Wars is letting go. George Lucas believes that to be happy, one should accept all the happenings of reality and be compassionate by wholly letting go of their selfishness—including the fear of losing what one loves, which is an indicator of greed—to be more selfless.[132]
stresses the self-destructive nature of anger and hate, summed up in Yoda's words ("Fear is the path to the dark side: fear leads to anger, anger leads to hate, hate leads to suffering" (help·info)) as well as placing one's feelings for certain people aside. For example, Luke Skywalker is told to remain on Dagobah to complete his training rather than rescue his friends from Cloud City, because doing so will "destroy all for which they have fought and suffered."
Lucas has identified the idea of a democracy becoming a dictatorship as the fundamental idea of the saga. He has stated that the saga raises such ideas as the people giving up their power in desperation, and betrayal by their leaders who may think they are doing the right thing while sacrificing freedom. In this way, Star Wars is a cautionary tale in which Lucas, by his own admission, warns people of the danger that is always present to democracy and freedom and has been demonstrated throughout history.
There appear to be anti-technological messages in the films: the primitive Ewoks defeating technological adversaries, and the general idea of technology opposed to humanity, fitting with Lucas' vision. Lucas explicitly attributed the Ewoks' defeat of the Galactic Empire to the exploits of the Vietnamese National Liberation Front (otherwise known as the Vietcong) that operated during the Vietnam War, and also implied in his 1973 draft that the Rebels were similar representations of said theme in the original film.[133]
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May 20, 2024 · Released in 1999 and starring Ewan McGregor, Liam Neeson, and Natalie Portman, Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace explored what happened long before the original trilogy, making it the...
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- The Battle of Naboo. Refusing to wait for the Senate to deliberate on sending support to Naboo, Queen Amidala determines to return home to help her people in what ways she can, accompanied by Obi-Wan, Qui-Gon, and Anakin.
- The Discovery of The Chosen One. Forced to jump to another system for repairs prior to returning to Coruscant, the Jedi take the refugees away from Federation controlled systems to the Hutt controlled Outer Rim planet of Tatooine, where they encounter Anakin Skywalker.
- The Phantom Menace. Eventually, the disputes between the Commerce Guilds and the Galactic Republic come to a head. After years of cleverly dodging Republic taxation through the utilization of free trade zones, the Trade Federation has finally gone too far and spurred the Republic into action.
- Seeds of a Schism. Seeing the ineffectiveness of the senate and the refusal of the Jedi council to get more involved as evidence that they had lost their way, many Jedi, including Dooku (the former Padawan of Jedi Master Yoda) become disillusioned with the Order and give up their titles.
Empire puts every Star Wars trilogy, spin-off movie, animated series and more in order – from the Mandalorian and The Acolyte, to Andor and The High Republic.
Oct 14, 2020 · A long time ago in a galaxy not far away...before the empire struck back and Jedis returned — there was a young Padawan director named George Lucas who had a crazy idea for a space opera that...
