“If you strike me down, I shall become more powerful than you can possibly imagine.”

It is an extremely true and valid statement that the Star Wars films have forever changed the landscape of the film industry. Before, movies were generally devoid of action, which could only be found in grand and overblown three-hour epics. Action and adventure were things that were hard to come by, especially in children’s films. All of that changed with “Star Wars,” a science fiction film written and directed by George Lucas. Since the film’s initial release on May 25, 1977, the film has underwent several changes, from its title changing from “Star Wars” to “Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope” to Lucas releasing special editions for the film’s twentieth anniversary, featuring new digital effects and revised scenes. However, no matter which version of the original film a viewer is watching, there can be no denying that “A New Hope” redefined the science fiction genre, along with all of Hollywood itself, providing an innovative and enthralling cinematic treat for all ages.

Despite being the first Star Wars film ever released, “A New Hope” is chronologically the fourth film in the Star Wars saga, set about twenty years after the formation of the tyrannical Galactic Empire, as seen in the third episode in the series, “Revenge of the Sith.” The Empire and the Rebel Alliance are fighting against each other in a period of civil war. Recently, the Rebels have won their first battle against the Empire, and a band of Rebel spies have obtained secret plans to the Death Star, a colossal superweapon and space station created by the Empire that is capable of destroying entire planets. Princess Leia Organa receives the plans and implants them in an astromech droid named R2-D2 aboard her blockade runner, which is being attacked by a troop of Imperial Stormtroopers commanded by Darth Vader, one of the Emperor’s Sith Lords. R2-D2 and his companion, an intelligent yet bumbling golden protocol droid named C-3PO, desperately flee the blockade runner in an escape pod just before the Stormtroopers find them, crash-landing on the desolate desert planet of Tatooine.

On Tatooine, R2-D2 and C-3PO are captured by aliens called Jawas and are held in their Sandcrawler, where the Jawas hoard various types of droids found during their travels. The Sandcrawler stops in front of a moisture farm inhabited by married couple Owen and Beru Lars and their nephew Luke Skywalker, and the Jawas sell the two droids to them. Luke is an ordinary farm boy who dreams of adventure and grandeur, but is constantly bogged down by his boring and tiresome agricultural life. While Luke is cleaning R2-D2, he accidentally plays a holographic message of Leia that was hidden when she installed the plans for the Death Star in him. The message consists of Leia mentioning someone named Obi Wan Kenobi, saying that he is her only hope. Luke infers that Obi Wan is related to Ben Kenobi, a strange old hermit who inhabits the outskirts of Tatooine. The next morning, R2-D2 goes missing, and Luke and C-3PO try to find him. When R2-D2 is found, Luke and C-3PO are attacked by a tribe of Tusken Raiders, a violent desert sand people. A cloaked figure scares the Raiders away, and revives Luke from unconsciousness. The figure is Ben, to whom Luke tells about R2-D2 and Leia’s message. Puzzled, Ben reveals to Luke that he is actually Obi Wan, a name that he has not gone by for years.

At his desert hut, Obi Wan tells Luke about the now extinct Jedi Order, and how the Jedi Knights served as the guardians of peace and justice in the galaxy for nearly a thousand generations. Obi Wan also tells Luke about how his father fought alongside him in the Clone Wars as a Jedi Knight. When Luke asks about how his own father died, Obi Wan nervously responds by saying that Darth Vader, a former pupil of his, turned to the Dark Side of the Force and betrayed and murdered his father. Obi Wan additionally explains the Force to Luke, which is an all-surrounding energy field created by all organisms that binds the galaxy together. Obi Wan then gives Luke his father’s blue lightsaber, which he has kept hidden away in a chest.

Leia’s full message is eventually viewed by Obi Wan and Luke, and she tells Obi Wan that he must hurry to the planet of Alderaan with the Death Star plans. Obi Wan invites Luke to come along, but he declines. However, once some Stormtroopers tracking R2-D2 raids the Lars homestead and kills his aunt and uncle, Luke agrees. In order to get a ship that will take them to Alderaan, Obi Wan, Luke, and the two droids go to Mos Eisley, where they meet smuggler Han Solo and his first mate, a furry Wookiee named Chewbacca, in a shady cantina. Han is the captain of the Millenium Falcon, one of the fastest ships in the galaxy, and he is hired to take them to Alderaan.

After nearly outrunning some Stormtroopers during take-off on Tatooine, the Falcon travels to Alderaan’s location, but the planet has been blown up by the Death Star under the command of Imperial officer Grand Moff Tarkin as a show of power to Leia, who is held hostage aboard the space station. The Falcon is then lured into the Death Star by its awesome tractorbeam, where Han and Luke don Stormtrooper armor and try to rescue Princess Leia while Obi Wan shuts off the tractorbeam. The mission is accomplished, but Obi Wan runs into Darth Vader, and the master and the learner battle against each other with their lightsabers. Obi Wan heroically sacrifices himself to Vader so that the others can escape the Death Star, which causes much sadness and distress to Luke.

The Millenium Falcon journeys to the planet Yavin IV, where the Rebel Alliance has established a secret remote base. The Death Star plans embedded in R2-D2 reveal that the space station has a fatal weakness, a vulnerable exhaust port that is connected to its main reactor. If the blast of an X-wing fighter goes into the exhaust port, the reactor is damaged, which will destroy the Death Star. Luke joins the other X-wing pilots in an attempt to blow up the Death Star, and R2-D2 rides on top of his fighter. The Empire’s deadly TIE fighters manage to kill most of the other X-wing pilots. When all hope seems lost, Luke hears the voice of Obi Wan, who tells him to use the Force and to let go. Luke turns off his fighter’s supercomputer, and Han blasts Vader’s TIE fighter from the Falcon, sending him off into space. With no obstacles in his way, Luke fires into the exhaust port and flies away before the Death Star explodes. Back at the Rebel base, Luke and Han are hailed as heroes, and are later awarded medals in an elegant ceremony. Although the Empire is still reigning over the galaxy, the Rebel Alliance has gained optimism and perseverance in their quest to restore freedom and justice.

The key to the timelessness of “A New Hope,” along with the rest of the original trilogy, is its simplicity. Unlike the storylines of the prequels, the plot of “A New Hope” reads almost like a riveting bedtime story that an adult would tell to their kids. George Lucas stated that from the very start of development on the original trilogy, he always had envisioned Star Wars as a thing for children. Before Star Wars, the only movies that had appealed to children up to that time were animated films, mostly produced by Disney. Ironically, the Walt Disney Company would later go on to buy Star Wars and all of Lucasfilm in the future, but that is another story for another day.

When “A New Hope” was initially released, one of the reasons why people’s expectations were beyond exceeded and surpassed was the film’s innovative and groundbreaking special visual effects. The opening shot after the iconic opening crawl of the Imperial ship chasing after Leia’s blockade runner is just the beginning. The cinematography makes the ship appear so large that it illustrates how intimidating and powerful the Empire is compared to the meager Rebel Alliance. It also adds to the film’s immersive atmosphere. In fact, when Harrison Ford, the actor who played Han Solo, first saw the film, he felt like the Imperial ship was flying over the audience in the theater, and he recalled everyone’s mouths dropping in awe and wonder. All of the original theatrical cut’s special effects are practical, with no CGI (computer generated imagery) involved whatsoever. While several blockbusters with CGI effects like “Jurassic Park” and “The Lord of the Rings” trilogy do hold up extremely well today with their effects, most CGI effects in movies today pale in comparison to the practical effects in Star Wars that came out over forty years ago. After all, Star Wars revitalized this spiral of action-packed adventure films in cinema, and things have never been the same since.

John Williams, who was already a prominent film composer due to his work on Steven Spielberg’s “Jaws,” took his reputation to even newer heights with his score for “A New Hope.” Several compositions in the film are recognizable to most, whether they have seen the movie or not. Playing while Luke is looking out at the twin suns setting on Tatooine, “Binary Sunset” adds to the zealous sense of adventure dwelling within Luke, and his yearning for something greater than himself. And of course, the iconic opening theme that plays at the very start of every Star Wars movie is one of the most exciting and hair-raising musical compositions ever. Additionally, Williams’ soundtrack was preserved by the Library of Congress into the National Recording Registry in 2004, along with the film itself, which was preserved in 1989.

This could endlessly go on and on, but to make a long story short, “A New Hope” began a franchise that will forever endure the test of time. Regarding its cultural impact, nearly every Target, Walmart, or other retail store in America has at least one item related to Star Wars stocked on their shelves, and lightsabers are all the rage these days, like how they have always been. Several movies include Star Wars pop culture references, and it has been parodied and spoofed dozens of times. Star Wars has even found a significant presence at Disney parks around the world, with the attraction Star Tours racking up long lines and wait times. Two Star Wars themed lands will also be opening in 2019, one at Disneyland Park right here in California and the other at Disney’s Hollywood Studios at Disney World in Florida. Whatever entails for the future of Star Wars, it can definitely be said that it will be here to stay, as long as our culture admires and respects the film that started it all.