Countdown to the Rise of Skywalker: Week 5

Obviously I need a picture of X-Wings to start this off.

It's time for the movie that started it all! A New Hope, or as the OT fans would say, just Star Wars. Most people would agree this movie is nearly perfect, so here are my meager thoughts about it.

A few thoughts:
-I don't think I could recount the number of times I have seen this movie, and it never gets old. It is hard to say that about many movies in history.
-Thanks to Disney+ I transitioned right from watching Rogue One into the beginning of A New Hope. The continuity is perfect, but the difference in film making style is quickly apparent.
-I am actually a fan of many of the changes made in the Special Edition. The addition of more fighters at the Death Star battle and the establishing shots of Mos Eisley on Tatooine add a lot to the movie. On the other hand, I do not love the silly CG shots of rontos and droids in Mos Eisley and that heinous scene between Jabba and Han in Docking Bay 94.

This scene is not terrible until Han walks behind Jabba and steps on his tail. The reason for the weirdness is because Jabba was played by a human originally and Han walks around him. When digital Jabba was edited in, the only way to solve the problem was have Han step on the tail. The edit is terrible and ruins the whole scene.

-I use this movie in my classes to help teach the Hero's Journey because it aligns so closely with Joseph Campbell's research. It is always interesting to watch students react who have never seen it before.
-I had the privilege of watching A New Hope with a live symphony orchestra earlier this year, and it took my appreciation for the music and sound design to an even higher level. The experience helped me think about the conscious choices that had to be made about when to include music and when to let the sound take over.
-There are lots of X-Wings, and if you read my previous post, you know I love X-Wings.
-The march at the end of the movie is one of my favorite pieces of music in all soundtrack history. Everything about it gives me joy.

This is one of my favorite shots from the Special Edition. I like the scale of the Falcon juxtaposed with the Mos Eisley skyline, plus the Millennium Falcon just looks cool with the blue lights.

A few memories:
-Many people can share their first Star Wars movie memory, but for me I cannot pinpoint any specific moment when I first watched it. I mainly remember having picture books around the house and playing with my older cousins' toys as an introduction to the saga.
-So much of my childhood (and let's be honest, my adulthood also) was wrapped up in Star Wars. We hunted for used toys at garage sales or got hand-me-downs from my cousins. I poured over the storybooks with stills from the movie and waited to watch it when we could record it on a VHS tape from the broadcast airing. I was technically born outside of the prime range of the first wave of Star Wars fans, but I caught a lot of it second hand through my dad and cousins.
-Now, I am building my own memories with my kids surrounding the movies and showed A New Hope to my son this past spring. There is definitely a joy in sharing something you love with the people you love.

This scene is particularly nostalgic for me because I had a pop up book with a page where you could pull a tab and swing Luke and Leia back and forth. I wore that thing out.

It is hard to believe that this movie is over 40 years old and still holds up so well. In 40 more years, I am confident people will still be talking about it and praising its many merits. Next up, the greatest sequel ever to grace film!

Even with the recent fan edit that ups the action in this scene, I still think the slow and tense stand off between these two masters is a masterful bit of dueling.