Original trilogy

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"A film for a generation growing up without fairy tales."
―George Lucas[src]

The original trilogy is the first installment of films of the Star Wars saga to be produced. These were the movies released from 1977 to 1983. They primarily focus on the Rebel Alliance trying to free the galaxy from the clutches of the Galactic Empire, as well as Luke Skywalker's quest to become a Jedi and face Sith Lord Darth Vader and his master Darth Sidious.

The original trilogy is sometimes called the classic trilogy in contrast to the prequel trilogy. The sequel trilogy takes place 30 years after Return of the Jedi.

Plot summary

Star Wars: Episode IV A New Hope
This film introduces the characters of Luke Skywalker and Princess Leia, as well as the iron-fisted regime of the Galactic Empire. On Tatooine, Luke's home planet, the exiled Jedi Obi-Wan Kenobi, in the guise of a kindly old hermit named Ben Kenobi, watches over him. When Luke realizes his Jedi potential, he teams with Han Solo, joins the Rebels, destroys the Death Star and rescues Leia from Darth Vader. However, this was all possible because of Obi-Wan's sacrifice during his final duel with Vader aboard the Death Star.

Star Wars: Episode V The Empire Strikes Back
After the Alliance experiences a devastating defeat at the hands of the Empire on Hoth, Luke Skywalker goes to receive training from the Jedi Master Yoda shortly after a visit by Obi-Wan's Force spirit. However, when Princess Leia and Han Solo are captured by the Empire on Bespin, Luke attempts a rescue only to be confronted by Darth Vader. His battle with the Dark Lord ends in Luke's defeat, and he receives the horrifying revelation that Darth Vader is in fact the former Anakin Skywalker, his father. Leia manages to break free with the help of Han's old friend Lando Calrissian, but Han is himself taken away.

Star Wars: Episode VI Return of the Jedi
After rescuing Han Solo from the gang lord Jabba the Hutt, Luke visits a dying Yoda, who confirms Vader's revelation and reveals that there is another surviving Skywalker before expiring. Obi-Wan Kenobi's spirit appears and elaborates, and Luke deduces that his sister is in fact Leia. While the Alliance engages the Empire in a battle against the second Death Star above Endor, Luke confronts Vader and the Emperor Palpatine, the Sith mastermind who engineered the creation of the Galactic Empire and the fall of Anakin Skywalker. After a brutal duel with Luke, in which he is defeated and shown mercy, Vader renounces the dark side of the Force and becomes Anakin Skywalker again, destroying Palpatine and saving Luke's life at the cost of his own.

With the destruction of the Death Star and the death of Palpatine, the Empire is defeated. As the Rebels celebrate, Luke sees the smiling spirits of Obi-Wan, Yoda, and his father.

Re-releases

  • Episode IV: A New Hope re-release poster
    Episode IV: A New Hope re-release poster
  • Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back re-release poster
    Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back re-release poster
  • Episode VI: Return of the Jedi re-release poster
    Episode VI: Return of the Jedi re-release poster
The original trilogy box re-release
The Canadian original trilogy DVD release

George Lucas has tinkered repeatedly with the original trilogy. Episodes IV through VI were remastered and re-released

The films underwent extensive clean-up and restoration work, and Lucas took advantage of this opportunity to make a number of changes and additions of effects. In a September 2004 interview with CNN, he explains his reasons for the changes:

To me, the special edition ones are the films I wanted to make. Anybody that makes films knows the film is never finished. It's abandoned or it's ripped out of your hands, and it's thrown into the marketplace, never finished. ... Most artists, most painters, even composers would want to come back and redo their work now. They've got a new perspective on it, they've got more resources, they have better technology, and they can fix or finish the things that were never done.…

I wanted to actually finish the film the way it was meant to be when I was originally doing it. At the beginning, people went, "Don't you like it?" I said, "Well, the film only came out to be 25 or 30 percent of what I wanted it to be." ... If you read any interviews for about an eight- or nine-year period there, it was all about how disappointed I was and how unhappy I was and what a dismal experience it was. You know, it's too bad you need to get kind of half a job done and never get to finish it. So this was my chance to finish it.

The re-release changes are a point of contention among some fans, who claim that they reduce the quality of the movies. Some fans see Lucas' testimony before the U.S. Congress in opposition to colorizing black-and-white films (a position he reiterated in August 2004) as hypocritical, but the types of alterations Lucas opposes are done by studios without the consent of the artists involved in the original production, as opposed to changes he made to his own films.

On May 4, 2006, StarWars.com announced that the original trilogy would be released in unaltered form on DVD on September 12, 2006.

  • Unaltered Episode IV DVD cover
    Unaltered Episode IV DVD cover
  • Unaltered Episode V DVD cover
    Unaltered Episode V DVD cover
  • Unaltered Episode VI DVD cover
    Unaltered Episode VI DVD cover

Sources

Notes and references

  1. ↑ Star Wars: Galactic Atlas
Star Wars saga
A New Hope · The Empire Strikes Back · Return of the Jedi
Spin-off films
Holiday Special · Caravan of Courage · The Battle for Endor
Animated television series
Droids · Ewoks
Other media
Audio dramas · Books · Comics · Multimedia projects · Parodies
Roleplaying games · Theme park attractions · Video games
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