Some gushing...

Rating: 10/10 (29 September 1998)

If you know someone who says Star Wars changed his or her life, don't laugh, because it's happened to more than a few of us. Before May 1977, sci-fi fans just didn't have that much to pick from. Sure, there were your Forbidden Planets and Logan's Runs, and of course there was Star Trek. Their effects were acceptable (okay, Forbidden Planet was gorgeous for 1954), but quality sci-fi was almost an oxymoron.
Star Wars changed all that.
For the first time we got an exciting plot, action, and incredible special effects in one package. The aliens looked REAL, not like actors in suits. The spacecraft looked REAL, not like models. The laser beams looked REAL, not like...well...anything before it!
For all the books I've read that say 2001: A Space Odyssey was the turning point for sci-fi films, I feel that Star Wars did more to fuel the genre and bring it into the mainstream than any other movie in history. Of course that's just my opinion....