There is a scene in the original “Star Wars” (1977) that is often cited as being most representative of the themes contained therein. It is of the protagonist Luke Skywalker staring off into the binary sunset as John Williams’ epic score swells. Thanks to the fantastical sci-fi imagery on display (two suns, not just one!), and of course Williams’ wizardry, the audience is meant to take a breath (or perhaps lose it) in a moment of pure poetry. Thematically, this is where the renamed movie earns its new subtitle, “A New Hope,” for we are now all in on joining Luke on his hero’s journey from this point forward. It is deeply relatable, this hope, wonder and ambition of youth. And truly, the golden boy will end up saving us all (multiple times, in fact).
But this is never the first scene I come to when I recall the movie. Likewise, I don’t immediately go to the film’s most awe-inspiring sequence, the Star Destroyer rumbling overhead to open the movie and blowing out our eardrums while simultaneously making us question: “How big is this thing, anyway?”*
* Appropriately, this question can be applied to the size of the ship as well as the overall spectacle contained within the movie itself.
I don’t generally go straight to my earliest Star Wars memory either, that of the shoot-out on the Tantive IV or the droids’ subsequent journey through the desert (these images are burned into my subconscious forever). What about the phenomenal closing space battle winding over and around the Death Star? Or Jedi mentor Obi Wan’s heroic self-sacrifice? Or our first glimpses of the outlandish Cantina and all of the bizarre creatures inhabiting it? Nope, nope and nope.