Episode 4 Came First

Rating: 9/10 (28 September 2006)

Long ago, in a Galaxy far away came a film which saved FOX studios from bankruptcy. It was conceived by a 16 year old George Lucas after he saw the 1959 film Ben Hur. This gave him the ideas which are now lynch pins of the entire series - an all powerful force, an evil empire, emperor, a purpose for our universe.
This is the film, & it established Luke Skywalker (Mark Hammill), OBEONE KANOBI (Alec Guiness), Han Solo (Harrison Ford) & Princess Leia (Carrie Fisher) as part of a group rebels fighting the evil Empire, the Emperor & Darth Vader. In parallel with Ben Hur is the one quote which carries the next 3 episodes. "Strike me down, Darth, & I will become more powerful than you can ever imagine." This Obeone Kanobi quote makes & Darth's slaying him, makes his character like Christ in Ben Hur as Kanobi dies & then his spirit lives on in the force against the Empire.
A New Hope was just that for the American movie goer as this film represented a new hope that films are made which entertain & stimulate the imagination. George Lucas accomplished this & set the stage for much more with this movie. While the film had to be done on a tighter budget than the rest of the series, this made the acting & script more important in this film than in the others. This film made us want more. The climatic Death Star Raid sequence is arguably one of the best battle sequences ever in a science fiction film.
It grips the audience with the fate of the rebellion in the balance. When I first saw this film, the great counter balance was with C3PO & R2D2 as robots behaving like Abbott & Costello for comic relief from all the serious acting going on around them. This balance is important in making this film entertaining too, though is often over-looked by film critics. This film created a hero for a whole generation of film fans, even 2 generations now.
Few films have captured the imagination enough to spawn 2 sequels & 3 prequels which have all done well. Then there is something about evil empires & young hero's fighting impossible odds & winning which brings out the film fan in all of us.