ENTER THE DARK SIDE
IT’S BEEN 28 YEARS since the names Luke Skywalker, Princess Leia Organa, Han Solo and Darth Vader first entered our lives. Since 1977, the date that the first film – or, in terms of the series, Episode IV – was released, those names have become as familiar to us as those of our own siblings. Maybe, in some cases, even more so.
As the final episode opens in theaters Thursday, it’s worthwhile to go back and see how we got here. Following are plot synopses of the first five films (based on information taken from www.answers.com and www.imdb.com), told in the order in which the films were released. (Note: Spoilers ahead, so read at your own risk.)
“Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope”
(1977) Written and directed by George Lucas, starring Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher, Peter Cushing, Alec Guinness, Anthony Daniels, Kenny Baker, Peter Mayhew, David Prowse, James Earl Jones (voice).
Desperate to leave his home on the desert planet of Tatooine, young Luke Skywalker sees his life change when, seemingly by chance, he encounters a ship bearing the droids C-3PO and R2-D2. Included in the smaller one of the two is a message from Princess Leia Organa, pleading to someone called Obi-Wan Kenobi to save her. Pretty soon, Luke, the Jedi Knight Obi-Wan (whom Luke knows only as “Ben”) and the two droids join cock-sure space smuggler Han Solo and his Wookie sidekick, Chewbacca, and they embark on an adventure to rescue the princess. Their quest brings them to the Rebel Alliance, which is battling the murderous Darth Vader and the planet-killing Death Star, a struggle that allows Luke to first feel the power of The Force.
“Star Wars: Episode V – The Empire Strikes Back”
(1980) Directed by Irvin Kershner, written by George Lucas, Leigh Brackett and Lawrence Kasdan, starring Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher, Frank Oz (voice), Billy Dee Williams, Anthony Daniels, Kenny Baker, Peter Mayhew, David Prowse, James Earl Jones (voice), Alec Guinness, Jeremy Bulloch.
Pursued by Imperial Forces, the scattered remains of the Rebel Alliance split up. Luke heads for the marsh planet Dagobah where he receives instruction in the ways of The Force from the diminutive Jedi Master Yoda. Meanwhile, Han and Princess Leia head for the planet Bespin where they are met by Han’s friend Lando Calrissian. But they are betrayed and taken prisoner by Vader. Han is imprisoned in a carbonite coffin and taken away by the bounty hunter Boba Fett, who is working for the villainous Jabba the Hutt. Luke, meanwhile, confronts Vader and, during a climactic lightsaber fight, loses his right hand and finds out an important secret concerning his past. Leia, who along with the droids and Chewbacca have escaped in Solo’s ship, the Millennium Falcon, returns to save Luke. As the film ends, everyone’s mission is clear: save Han.
“Star Wars: Episode VI – The Return of the Jedi”
(1983) Directed by Richard Marquand, written by George Lucas and Lawrence Kasdan, starring Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher, Frank Oz (voice), Ian McDiarmid, Billy Dee Williams, Anthony Daniels, Kenny Baker, Peter Mayhew, David Prowse, James Earl Jones (voice), Sebastian Shaw, Alec Guinness.
Princess Leia and Chewie arrive at the hideout of Jabba the Hutt, but even though they managed to free Han from his coffin, Jabba’s minions capture and imprison them. Luke, now strong with The Force, arrives and, with a bit of effort, ends up disrupting Jabba’s evil plans, and everyone manages to escape. The emperor joins Vader on the nearly completed new-and-more-powerful Death Star, which is protected by a shield generator located on the forest moon of Endor. Luke and friends join together in a plan to destroy the shield, but they are sidetracked by the planet’s inhabitants, the Ewoks. The series climax: Luke heads to the Death Star to again confront Vader, while his friends and their Ewok allies attack the Imperial Forces on Endor. And so the saga ends …
“Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace”
(1999) Written and directed by George Lucas, starring Liam Neeson, Ewan McGregor, Natalie Portman, Jake Lloyd, Pernilla August, Ian McDiarmid, Oliver Ford Davies, Ahmed Best, Frank Oz (voice), Anthony Daniels, Kenny Baker, Terence Stamp, Samuel L. Jackson, Ray Park.
… only to start all over 32 years before the beginning of “Episode IV.” The trouble that keys all that follows starts when the so-called Trade Federation secretly joins forces with Darth Sidious, Dark Lord of the Sith. Two Jedi Knights, Qui-Gon Jinn and Obi-Wan Kenobi, are sent to resolve a dispute between the Trade Federation and the planet Naboo. After they escape assassins who target them and Naboo’s Queen Amidala, the two Jedi adopt a young Tatooine boy named Anakin Skywalker because Qui-Gon senses the boy’s potential. The Trade Federation attacks Naboo, and the Jedi, along with Naboo’s native inhabitant Gungans, fights an army of droids. Our heroes win when young Skywalker destroys the droid command ship. Skywalker wins the right to train as a Jedi Knight and becomes the padawan, or apprentice, to Obi-Wan.
“Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones”
(2002) Co-written (with Jonathan Hales) and directed by George Lucas, Ewan McGregor, Hayden Christensen, Natalie Portman, Christopher Lee, Ian McDiarmid, Samuel L. Jackson, Temeura Morrison, Pernilla August, Frank Oz (voice), Ahmed Best, Kenny Baker, Anthony Daniels.
Ten years have passed, and the unrest spreads. Several worlds, under the influence of the former Jedi Count Dooku, threaten to secede from the Galactic Republic, and the too-few-in-number Jedi are having trouble restoring order. After Sen. (and former Queen) Padme Amidala is again nearly assassinated, Obi-Wan and Anakin are assigned to guard her. While pursuing the assassins, Obi-Wan discovers the presence of a clone army, which has been built in secret. Anakin and Padme, meanwhile, end up falling in love. In what turns out to be part of Darth Sidious’ grand plan, the Grand Republic Senate votes to give Chancellor Palpatine special emergency powers. The result: The chancellor uses the clone army to fight the secessionists, and civil war – which comes to be known as the Clone Wars – breaks out. Even more important, the Chancellor begins to exert an influence over Obi-Wan’s impressionable young padawan.
“Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith”
(Thursday) Written and directed by George Lucas, starring Ewan McGregor, Hayden Christensen, Natalie Portman, Ian McDiarmid, Samuel L. Jackson, Christopher Lee, Frank Oz (voice), Ahmed Best, Kenny Baker, Anthony Daniels, Jimmy Smits.
And that takes us up to now, three years later – 19 years before the beginning of “Episode IV” …