Now Viewing: star_warsTag type: Copyright Refers to any image referencing the franchise. An iconic and influential space opera action adventure film series and multimedia franchise created by George Lucas. The original film, retroactively titled A New Hope, was released in 1977 and proved to be a surprise success. Its enormous popularity and box office record smashing helped pave the way for 'summer blockbuster' movies, highly-promoted movies released during the summer that are filled with spectacle and are expected to be successful amongst the general audience. In doing so, the film is considered to have radically changed the Hollywood film industry. The film was followed by two sequels which were also successful and iconic. While Lucas wrote and directed the first film, production was so stressful that he let other directors handle the sequels though Lucas still wrote the scripts for the sequels. The second film, The Empire Strikes Back, was directed by Irvin Kershner. The third, Return of the Jedi, was directed by Richard Marquand. The franchise is notably divided into trilogies, each with their own overarching story arc. The original trilogy focuses on the Rebel Alliance's battle against the Empire and of Luke Skywalker's journey from a naive farm boy to a mature and heroic Jedi warrior. The prequel trilogy tells of Anakin Skywalker's gradual descent from hero to one of the galaxy's most infamous villains as well as the rise of the Empire of the original trilogy. The sequel trilogy focuses on a new generation of heroes, Rey and Finn, who join the Resistance to fight against the First Order, which aims to revive the Galactic Empire. The films are heavily inspired by adventure series like Flash Gordon as well as 1930s-40s action adventure film serials, much like Lucas's later work Indiana Jones. The films were also influenced by Japanese pop culture. Notably, the Jedi are more or less samurai wielding laser katanas (lightsabers) and with supernatural powers (the Force). The term Jedi itself was derived from the genre Jidai Geki and Mifune Toshiro, a Japanese actor who starred in numerous samurai films, was considered for the role of Obi Wan Kenobi. The early portions of the first movie which focus on C-3PO and R2-D2 as opposed to the hero Luke Skywalker were inspired by Kakushi toride no san akunin (Hidden Fortress), which used a similar storytelling device. The films were also inspired by he 1974 space opera anime Uchuu Senkan Yamato. Besides inspiring numerous space opera works in the West, it has also had an influence on Japanese pop culture. The 3D weapons based fighting game Star Gladiator is clearly influenced by the Star Wars universe. Yoda, Darth Vader, and the Force Unleashed's Apprentice were guest fighters in Soul Calibur 4. The Super Smash Bros. series features a weapon called a beam sword that in the original Japanese release of the first game and in Brawl made the same sound as the lightsabers. It is also possible to create a double lightsaber weapon like the one Darth Maul uses in Kirby 64. The character Vava (Vile in North America) from Rockman X is based off of Boba Fett. The films have the most iconic use of an opening text crawl and none of the films have an opening credits sequence, which was highly unusual at the time the first film was released. After the first film's release it gradually become more common for films to forgo opening credits in favor of immediately jumping into the story. Despite the massive popularity of the original trilogy, none of the main actors except Harrison Ford, were able to build a successful film career. Nevertheless, all of them have remained recognizable and some, like Mark Hamill becoming a popular voice actor, have managed to gain recognition in other fields. Unlike the original and sequel trilogy, the prequel trilogy is the only one where creator George Lucas and wrote and directed each film. The prequels made extensive use of CG for its special effects. While all of the films were massive financial successes, the prequel trilogy, which began in 1999 with The Phantom Menace, is often regarded as being inferior to the original trilogy. Lucas himself also received criticism for his controversial decision to release the original trilogy with new footage as well as editing a few scenes, which in the infamous Han and Greedo confrontation changes the meaning of the scene, as well as his reluctance to rerelease the original trilogy unaltered. The constant criticism Lucas received over these decisions, the prequels, and the increasing frustration he felt over it led to him losing interest in the franchise so he sold the rights to the series to the Walt Disney Company on 2012, allowing them to have control over future entries in the series. Disney created a sequel trilogy of Star Wars films, which began on 2015. The first film, The Force Awakens, is directed by J.J. Abrams, who had previously revived the Star Trek film franchise with the 2009 Star Trek film. Alongside new characters and actors, the stars of the original trilogy return in supporting roles and John Williams once again composes the soundtrack. The sequel trilogy hews closer to the original in style, intentionally using more practical effects although CG is still present. Like the original trilogy, each entry is handled by a different director. The sequel trilogy also notably has a more ethnically diverse cast for its human characters. Alongside the sequel trilogy, there are also canon spinoff/side story theatrical films, each handled by different directors, released in between each sequel film. The new canon films have also caused previous Expanded Universe stories to be relegated to alternate continuities. However, new canon Expanded Universe works are still being created under Disney, who are now in control of Star Wars canon. The original Expanded Universe has been titled Star Wars Legends. The films are also famous for the orchestral soundtrack composed and conducted by John Williams. The score is so iconic and highly regarded that video game adaptations often reuse a lot of music from the films. Films: Original Trilogy: A New Hope (1977) The Empire Strike Back (1980) Return of the Jedi (1983) Prequel: The Phantom Menace (1999) Attack of the Clones (2002) Revenge of the Sith (2005) Sequel: Star_Wars:_The_Force_Awakens (2015) Star_Wars:_The_Last_Jedi (2017) Star_Wars:_Rise_of_Skywalker 2019 Spinoffs: Star_Wars:_The_Clone_Wars (2003) Star_Wars:_Rebels (2014) Rogue_One:_A_Star_Wars_Story (2016) The_Mandalorian 2019 Cast: Introduced in Original Trilogy: Luke_Skywalker Han_Solo Princess_Leia_Organa_Solo Darth_Vader Obi_Wan_Kenobi Yoda Wilhuff_Tarkin Lando_Calrissan Jabba_the_Hutt Boba_Fett Wedge_Antilles Anakin_Skywalker Emperor_Palpatine Prequel: Padme_Amidala Qui-Gon_Jinn Mace_Windu Jar_Jar_Binks Darth_Maul Jango_Fett Count_Dooku General_Grievous Crossovers: Soul_Calibur_IV The_Lego_Movie Disney_Infinity Related: Lego Angry_Birds Other Wiki Information Last updated: 04/14/20 11:01 AM by jojosstand This entry is not locked and you can edit it as you see fit. |
     
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