Star Wars essay - a child's best friend

Rating: 10/10 (24 April 2020)

I wasn't a popular kid, mostly spending time in my own imagination. I was 7 when I first saw Star Wars, and I was immediately captivated by its charm and fantasy.
Firstly, it made me feel I had friends! The characters are some of the most well-rounded and iconic of all time. As a kid I resonated with Luke, stuck on a desolate planet with no one around, but with dreams and aspirations that always seemed too far out of reach. He and I could only dream of venturing into the stars and rescuing a damsel in distress.
Speaking of whom, Leia is no mere damsal when we meet her, and she grows into an even stronger female role model over the trilogy. She's fiercely intelligent, no-nonsense, and fiesty enough to keep Vader, Tarkin, and two horny spacemen at bay! Even humiliated in a gold bikini, she has the strength of character to be unfazed and hold her own (much to the admiration of every teenage boy in the '80s and '90s).
Han, to me, was like those kids a few years older at school who you'd never hang around with, but as I grew, so did my appreciation of him. His wit, his charm, his confidence. Played with an earthy realism, Ford was always going to be the true hero in keeping a film so aloft grounded amongst the nuts and bolts. His relationship with Chewie is just perfect too, especially seeing as we can only ever understand one side of the conversation.
But! As strong as the key three are, they are no match for the immeasurable presence of Darth Vader, probably the greatest movie character ever. From the first second we see him, he's immediately terrifying, daunting and intimidating. The voice, the mask, the height, the quotes ("The ability to destroy a planet is insignificant next to the power of the Force.") Plus his arc over the trilogy is probably the best of all the characters.
The story is legendary. Farmboy discovers heroic plot and joins his wise mentor to learn new skills, save the princess and destroy the enemy's ultimate weapon. It's so good they completely replicated it for Episode VII! At time of writing, there have been eleven proper Star Wars movies (plus Clone Wars, Ewoks, etc), but none of them, even Empire, surpasses the gallant charm of the original. Even 40 years later the effects are still solid (and only slightly dated) because of the use of miniatures, costumes, robust sets and locations which keep the movie grounded, physical and tangible in a way which its prequels and sequels could only dream about. Also John Williams's sensational score is one of the most recognisable soundtracks in Hollywood history.
So many years later, but no film can make such a romping space fantasy so believable, immersing and iconic. Long live Star Wars!