The Original Star Wars

Back in 1977 when it first arrived on the scene, I was lucky enough to watch Star Wars five times at the theater or the drive–in. Actually, I think it's the only movie I ever saw at a drive–in. When it arrived, it wasn't called "Episode IV: A New Hope," it was simply a science fiction movie called Star Wars. It was an instant classic.

When you watch an original unaltered version of the movie, you can see that the sequels weren't planned. It's even questionable whether or not George Lucas, creator, writer, and director even considered that Darth Vader was Luke Skywalker's father. Actually, there is evidence that would suggest otherwise:

1. Princess Leia says that her father needs help from Ben Kenobi.
2. Leia doesn't suggest that she has a brother (maybe she doesn't know).
3. Ben Kenobi never suggests that Luke and Leia might be siblings.
4. Remember how shocked you were when the rumor surfaced from all your friends going to see the sequel The Empire Strikes Back that Darth Vader announced, "Luke, I am your father." None of us wanted to believe it and none us the adults suggested that they saw it coming ...
5. Etc.

It's a great movie. Great every time I watch it. I'm not a big fan of the prequels, but the first two movies in the series (1977 and 1982) were incredible. Return of the Jedi isn't one of my favorite movies, either. The Ewoks just seemed to goofy (the only word I could think of) to me.

So, grab a copy of the movie from your movie collection and give it another spin. If you have the versions prior to Lucas' "fixing" them, that's the version to watch.

That Han Solo, he really started off as a jerk, didn't he?