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| 2 | %% *** MODERATOR NOTICE *** |
| 3 | %% As with all the Star Wars films, Star Wars Legends material is irrelevant to the tropes presented in this article. |
| 4 | %% Please discuss all Legends material in the Franchise/StarWarsLegends article. |
| 5 | %% |
| 6 | %% This page is SPOILERS OFF due to the sheer volume of spoilers. PLEASE DO NOT ADD ANY TEXT IN SPOILER BRACKETS. |
| 7 | %% |
| 8 | %% |
| 9 | |
| 10 | ! Due to the sheer volume of spoilers, [[Administrivia/SpoilersOff all spoilers are unmarked]]. Administrivia/YouHaveBeenWarned! |
| 11 | |
| 12 | [[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/a_new_hope.png]] |
| 13 | [[caption-width-right:350:[-'''Obi-Wan:''' Remember, The Force will be with you, ''always''.-][[note]]Clockwise from top right: [[EvilOverlord Darth]] [[TheHeavy Vader]], [[GratuitousPrincess Princess]] [[ActionGirl Leia]], [[TheBigGuy Chewbacca]], [[ThoseTwoGuys C-3PO and R2-D2]], [[BigBad Grand Moff Tarkin]], [[CoolOldGuy Obi-Wan]] [[TheMentor Kenobi]], [[TheLancer Han Solo]], and [[TheHero Luke]] [[HeroicLineage Skywalker]].[[/note]]]] |
| 14 | |
| 15 | [[center:[[AC:It is a period of civil war. Rebel\ |
| 16 | spaceships, striking from a hidden\ |
| 17 | base, have won their first victory\ |
| 18 | against the evil Galactic Empire.\ |
| 19 | \ |
| 20 | During the battle, Rebel spies managed\ |
| 21 | to steal secret plans to the Empire's\ |
| 22 | ultimate weapon, the DEATH STAR, an\ |
| 23 | armored space station with enough\ |
| 24 | power to destroy an entire planet.\ |
| 25 | \ |
| 26 | Pursued by the Empire's sinister agents,\ |
| 27 | Princess Leia races home aboard her\ |
| 28 | starship, custodian of the stolen plans\ |
| 29 | that can save her people and restore\ |
| 30 | freedom to the galaxy....]]]] |
| 31 | |
| 32 | ''Star Wars'' (later retitled ''Star Wars: Episode IV -- A New Hope'') is a SpaceOpera film that marks [[WhereItAllBegan the first chapter]] of the ''Franchise/StarWars'' saga and the beginning of the franchise, as well as the start of its enduring phenomenon in pop culture. It was written and directed by Creator/GeorgeLucas, and released on May 25, 1977. |
| 33 | |
| 34 | ''A New Hope'' tells the story of Luke Skywalker (Creator/MarkHamill), a young FarmBoy on a desert planet at the far edge of the tyrannical [[TheEmpire Galactic Empire]]. Luke's quiet life is turned upside down when his family purchases a pair of used droids named R2-D2 and C-3PO (Creator/KennyBaker and Creator/AnthonyDaniels), who are secretly carrying classified Imperial documents: the schematics for a [[PlanetKiller planet-destroying]] DoomsdayDevice known as "the Death Star". |
| 35 | |
| 36 | With the aid of a [[OldMaster wise, mystical hermit]] named Obi-Wan Kenobi (Creator/AlecGuinness) and a [[LovableRogue rakish smuggler]] named Han Solo (Creator/HarrisonFord), Luke sets out to rescue the droids' owner, the [[BadassInDistress captive]] [[RoyalsWhoActuallyDoSomething rebel princess]] Leia Organa (Creator/CarrieFisher), and deliver the documents to [[LaResistance the Rebellion]] before the Empire can unleash the Death Star on the galaxy and crush the fledgling revolution. |
| 37 | |
| 38 | The film also features Creator/PeterMayhew as Chewbacca, Han Solo's beastly alien partner; Creator/PeterCushing as Governor Tarkin, commander of the aforementioned Death Star; and Creator/DavidProwse as Darth Vader, the Empire's sinister top enforcer, with voice dubbed by Creator/JamesEarlJones. |
| 39 | |
| 40 | The film is chronologically preceded by ''Film/RevengeOfTheSith'' and followed by ''Film/TheEmpireStrikesBack''. Other films and shows such as ''WesternAnimation/StarWarsTheBadBatch'', ''Film/{{Solo}}'', ''Series/ObiWanKenobi'', ''WesternAnimation/StarWarsRebels'', ''Series/{{Andor}}'' and ''Film/RogueOne'' take place in the period between ''Revenge of the Sith'' and this film within the current canon, in addition to many other kinds of works in both the [[Franchise/StarWarsExpandedUniverse new expanded universe]] as well as the old ''Franchise/StarWarsLegends'' canon. |
| 41 | ---- |
| 42 | !!These are the tropes you are looking for: |
| 43 | |
| 44 | [[foldercontrol]] |
| 45 | |
| 46 | [[folder:Tropes # to B]] |
| 47 | * TwoDSpace: |
| 48 | ** Seemingly done straight, with the Death Star trench run playing almost exactly like an AerialCanyonChase. But paying close attention to the briefing and wireframe demonstration, it's explained that the port is shielded from the top (making it less of a [[AchillesHeel stupid design flaw]]) so they had to fly underneath and drop the torpedo at a 90 degree angle as they pass overhead (making it even more of a OneInAMillionChance). It still doesn't explain why they enter the trench so much farther away rather than diving in much closer to the target. |
| 49 | ** Later media justified the trench run. Turns out they did so to take cover from the heavy surface fire, as demonstrated in ''Rogue Squadron II: Rogue Leader'', in which going above the trench will see you getting annihilated by turbo laser fire. |
| 50 | * AbandonShip: One of Grand Moff Tarkin's lieutenants reports that they've determined the Rebel plan has a significant chance of succeeding, and advises that Tarkin and his staff should do this, just to be safe. Tarkin scoffs at the idea. |
| 51 | -->'''Tarkin:''' Evacuate? In our moment of triumph? I think you overestimate their chances. |
| 52 | * AceCustom: As hot-shot pilots are wont to do, the Rebel pilots have customized their helmets. Some go with a basic paint job with the Rebel insignia in the color of their team insignia, but some go with more fanciful individualized designs. |
| 53 | * AchillesHeel: The Death Star is a moon sized space station capable of destroying a planet, with only one significant weakness; a two meter wide exhaust port that leads directly to the station's reactor. Even then, the port is ray shielded, so only proton torpedoes have any chance of getting through, and it's still a very slim chance at best. |
| 54 | * AchillesInHisTent: Han Solo leaves after saving Leia, saying his job is done. At the end of the film, he [[BigDamnHeroes comes back to save the day]] in the final battle. |
| 55 | * ActionFilmQuietDramaScene: After the heroes escape from the Death Star and the TIE fighter attack, there's a scene where Luke mourns Obi-Wan's death and Leia tries to comfort him. |
| 56 | * ActionPrologue: The very first scene of the film starts with the famous shot of the Star Destroyer chasing the ''Tantive IV''. |
| 57 | * ActivationSequence: The Death Star needs about twenty seconds from "Commence primary ignition" until it fires its [[DeathRay superlaser]] upon Alderaan. |
| 58 | * ActuallyIAmHim: Ben Kenobi the "strange old hermit" is actually General Obi-Wan Kenobi. Unlike many other examples of this trope, he doesn't waste time playing games and admits it straight away to Luke, who had already made the connection anyway. |
| 59 | -->'''Obi-Wan Kenobi:''' Of course I know him. He's ''me''. I haven't gone by the name Obi-Wan since, oh, before you were born. |
| 60 | * AdaptationalSelfDefense: One of the more controversial changes made from the movie's original cut to the Special Edition. |
| 61 | ** In the original, during Han's EstablishingCharacterMoment, Han shoots Greedo when Greedo holds him at gunpoint, shakes Han down for the money owed Jabba, and implies he is going to kill Han for the bounty since he doesn't have it on him. This sets Han up as an UnscrupulousHero who might end up betraying his passengers to save his life, and it lays the foundation for his CharacterDevelopment into a better man. |
| 62 | ** In the special edition, Greedo shoots, [[EpicFail misses at point-blank range]], and gets shot in self-defense. This was done due to Lucas' insisting it made Han not a cold-blooded killer. Of course, since Greedo had Han at gunpoint and was going to kill him, Han already had the moral high ground even without the OrwellianRetcon - he was acting in self-defense either way. All the edit did was make the moral high ground even more obvious (which is rumored to have been necessary for a PG rating). |
| 63 | ** The scene was later re-re-edited to [[TakeAThirdOption make Han dodge the shot and fire at almost the same time as Greedo]]. In this edit, Greedo still got in that first shot, but Han was already preparing to shoot Greedo, fulfilling the original intent of Han as a wily AntiHero. |
| 64 | ** In [[AllThereInTheManual one of the original scripts]] (dated January 15, 1976), Han indeed shot first. Which makes it even more insulting when George Lucas made a statement, in 2012, [[CosmicRetcon claiming that Greedo has always shot first]]: |
| 65 | --->''The controversy over who shot first, Greedo or Han Solo, in Episode IV, what I did was try to clean up the confusion, but obviously it upset people because they wanted Solo [who seemed to be the one who shot first in the original] to be a cold-blooded killer, but he actually isn't. It had been done in all close-ups and it was confusing about who did what to whom. I put a little wider shot in there that made it clear that Greedo is the one who shot first, but everyone wanted to think that Han shot first, because they wanted to think that he actually just gunned him down.'' |
| 66 | ** In 2019, the Disney+ version (originally re-edited by Lucas for a 3D re-release before the purchase of the property by Disney) contains a brief shot of Greedo saying "Ma klounkee!" before Han and Greedo shoot at each other. External media states that this is a death threat, possibly putting Han in a higher moral ground to shoot Greedo. |
| 67 | * AdaptationExpansion: The Radio Drama version adds a few scenes cut from the final version. Two of them, featuring Luke with his friends and Leia acquiring the plans and dealing with an Imperial Governor, are put in the very beginning of the film, meaning it's nearly an ''hour'' into the story before the ''Tantive IV'' and ''Devastator'' start shooting at each other. |
| 68 | * AerialCanyonChase: The battle on the Death Star in the climax becomes this once Rebel fighters and bombers get into the trench leading to the battle station's weakness. |
| 69 | * AirstrikeImpossible: The Trench Run. Not only is the Trench guarded by heavy gun towers and TIE Fighters, but at the end of it all is a target so small, the only hopes of hitting it at all are via a targeting computer or The Force. |
| 70 | * AlienSky: |
| 71 | ** Luke is framed against a simple but gorgeous [[BinarySuns twin sunset]] in the early part of the movie. It's the first shot to really drive home the point that this isn't Earth, and succeeds spectacularly, despite being one of the film's simplest effects: it's just a double exposure of a real sunset. |
| 72 | ** It also features the rebel base on an Earth-like moon orbiting a red gas giant. |
| 73 | * AllegianceAffirmation: Han presents himself throughout the film as an opportunist only helping the Rebellion for money, and loads up his reward and leaves just before the last-ditch attack on the Empire's Death Star. Just when Luke's X-Wing is targeted by Darth Vader, [[BigDamnHeroes Han flies in with guns blazing]], saving Luke's life and showing his true allegiance as a Rebel hero. |
| 74 | * AllPlanetsAreEarthLike: Alderaan looks very similarly to Earth when looked at it from outer space, more so than Tatooine. |
| 75 | * AllThereInTheManual: Tarkin's formal rank of Grand Moff is never mentioned in the film and appears in the credits. He is only addressed by the nondescript title of Governor, even in the deleted scenes. |
| 76 | * AllThereInTheScript: In the shooting script, right after Han makes his comment about the Kessel Run, the stage directions explicitly call for Obi-Wan to give Han an incredulous stare, implying he's pulling the tale out of his ass to impress some rubes. So the forty-year-old debate over "parsecs" is utterly meaningless, as the line was wrong '''on purpose'''. Rewatching the scene with this in mind, Sir Alec Guinness does indeed give Han an incredulous stare but--in a rarity for a ''Star Wars'' films--the acting was '''''so subtle''''' that nobody noticed it. |
| 77 | * AllYourBaseAreBelongToUs: The movie plays with the trope, with the Death Star coming after the base on Yavin IV and the Rebels attacking to stop it. |
| 78 | * AndMissionControlRejoiced: The destruction of the Death Star causes this reaction among all the crew monitoring the operation. |
| 79 | * AndStarring: Creator/MarkHamill, Creator/CarrieFisher and Creator/HarrisonFord share top billing, Creator/PeterCushing comes next and Creator/AlecGuinness gets the "And" in the main cast. James Earl Jones may get "as the voice of Darth Vader"... but is lumped with all the other co-stars. |
| 80 | * AntiAir: The defense of the Death Star is initially handled by fixed gun emplacements and turrets. While they manage to shoot down a handful of Rebel fighters, they were designed to defend the station against capital ships, allowing the X-Wings to slip through the grid. It isn't until Darth Vader scrambles his personal fighter squadron that the Rebels start getting decimated. |
| 81 | * AntiInterferenceLockUp: Leia is held prisoner on the Death Star. The Imperial military doesn't want her blabbing to the Senate about their ultimate weapon, and they'd like to extract from her the whereabouts of the Rebel Alliance headquarters. However, when {{the hero}}es jailbreak Leia from her cell, Grand Moff Tarkin devises a BatmanGambit: let the Princess escape. She'll make a bee-line for the rebel base, where "we will then crush the rebellion with one swift stroke." |
| 82 | * ApocalypseWow: The obliteration of Alderaan, showcasing just how powerful the Death Star's superlaser is. The scene was especially spectacular, as ''Star Wars'' may be the [[http://www.listal.com/list/wait-did-planet-just-explode first film]] to actually ''show'' an entire planet exploding in this manner. |
| 83 | -->'''Obi-Wan Kenobi:''' I felt a great disturbance in the Force... as if millions of voices suddenly cried out in terror... and were suddenly silenced. I fear something terrible has happened. |
| 84 | * AppealToForce: The Death Star was explicitly built for this purpose, as Grand Moff Tarkin explains: a planet that refuses to submit to the rule of the Empire will be destroyed. Demonstrated when Tarkin threatens to destroy Princess Leia's home planet of Alderaan if she doesn't give him the location of the Rebel base... [[KickTheDog and then blows it up anyway to prove to every other planet that he can carry the threat out]]. And (by blowing up Alderaan instead of the remote Dantooine that Leia had claimed was the location of the Rebel base) proving not only that he ''can'' blow up a planet, but that he ''will'' blow up ''any'' planet, even the "important" ones among the Core Worlds. Then it backfires when the Rebels blow up said Death Star, meaning everyone knows that the Empire will blow up any planet and currently has no way of doing so. |
| 85 | * AnArmAndALeg: |
| 86 | ** C-3PO's left arm is ripped off during the Tusken raiders' attack. Being a droid, however, it can simply be reattached. |
| 87 | ** Ponda Baba loses an arm to Obi-Wan's lightsaber in the Mos Eisley Cantina, complete with [[EarlyInstallmentWeirdness bloody stump]]. |
| 88 | ** Also discussed when Han Solo mentions that Wookiees are known to rip off people's arms out of their sockets when they're upset. Chewbacca doesn't contradict him. |
| 89 | * ArmorIsUseless: At one point during the film, Han Solo and Luke Skywalker steal two sets of Stormtrooper armor to hide among Death Star personnel. As soon as they free Leia and escape the trash compactor, they immediately dispense with the armor. Once its use as camouflage is rendered irrelevant, so is its use as armor. |
| 90 | * ArtisticLicenseGunSafety: |
| 91 | ** Obi-Wan Kenobi hands a Luke a weapon without first explaining how it works. A weapon that will instantly kill or maim you and/or anything and everything else in the room if you even ''slightly'' mishandle it. Luke immediately points it at his own face and stares down the business end. And an instant later ignites the thing, very nearly putting it through both his and Obi-Wan's head. |
| 92 | ** Later, Obi-Wan has Luke being shot at by a little droid (which makes Luke flinch in pain every time he is hit) then intentionally puts a blinding face mask on him, even though Luke is only standing a couple feet away from Chewie while holding a plasma sword of death. |
| 93 | * AsceticAesthetic: |
| 94 | ** TheEmpire uses a clean, dark and minimalist aesthetic, which is why the stormtroopers are stark white in spite of the general aesthetic that DarkIsEvil. |
| 95 | ** Princess Leia's starship, the ''Tantine IV'', has mostly white and chrome interiors, befitting a diplomatic starship belonging to the Imperial senator from the very wealthy world of Alderaan. |
| 96 | * AsteroidThicket: When the ''Millennium Falcon'' briefly drops out of hyperspace in the middle of a cluster of spaceborne rocks, these asteroids are fragments of Alderaan, which has just been destroyed. |
| 97 | * AttackAttackRetreatRetreat: |
| 98 | ** Han charges headlong at the Stormtroopers as a diversionary tactic; he turns and runs after he ends up cornering them and forcing them to stand and fight (the special edition changes this to them running into a hangar full of troopers). The Marvel Comics adaptation suggests that the troopers didn't realize they only had two people chasing them, and once forced to turn and fight, realized they outnumbered their pursuers. |
| 99 | ** Later, when Han and Chewie are being chased by Stormtroopers, one of them called on the comlink to close the blastdoors to cut off their escape. When Han and Chewie manage to get through before it shuts, the Stormtroopers are unable to pursue, with the one who ordered the doors shut shouting "Open the blastdoors! Open the blastdoors!" |
| 100 | * AttackItsWeakPoint: The Death Star is invincible... Except for the fact one of the auxiliary exhaust ports leads directly into the main reactor, allowing a proton torpedo to blow up the entire thing. |
| 101 | * AttackOfTheMonsterAppendage: The Dianoga is a type 1. We only get to see its eyestalk and tentacle. |
| 102 | * AvoidTheDreadedGRating: The reason for that scene where Luke discovers his aunt and uncle's horrifically charred remains (as well as the alien's arm being cut off in the cantina scene). However, George Lucas had no way of knowing at the time that standards would be tightened for G-rated movies within the next few years and that even if he did get a G rating back then (which he did even with that; it was only after an appeal in which he showed the movie to kids and one of the kids was frightened by the scene where Darth Vader asphyxiates Captain Antilles that the MPAA bumped the rating up to PG), he might have gotten a PG rating in 1981 regardless. Averted in the UK, where the movie has always been rated U. Also from the other direction one of [[MultipleChoicePast the many preferred explanations]] for Greedo shooting first. |
| 103 | * AwardSnub: InUniverse, as Chewie is the only living member of the main cast not to get recognition for his role in destroying the Death Star. The {{Doylist}} reason is that Carrie Fisher wasn't tall enough to reach around Peter Mayhew's neck. |
| 104 | * BadassBoast |
| 105 | -->'''Obi-Wan Kenobi:''' If you strike me down, I shall become more powerful than you can possibly imagine. |
| 106 | * BadassBystander: The Y-Wing pilot, who was one of the few to survive the assault on the Death Star. |
| 107 | * BadGuyBar: The Mos Eisley cantina, where bounty hunters and smugglers hang out and Luke almost gets killed for no reason at all. |
| 108 | * BarBrawl: Downplayed. When Obi-Wan tries to talk down the guys bullying Luke, one of the thugs pulls a blaster on him. In response, Obi-Wan neatly lops his arm off with his saber. He then holds his still-lit saber defensively, the look of TranquilFury on his face saying, "Who's next?" The other bar patrons, after a pause, return to their drinks as if nothing had happened. |
| 109 | * BarFullOfAliens: The Mos Eisley cantina is full of different species, most shown in various shots throughout the scene. These range from bat-faced people as tall as children, to 7-feet-tall wookies. |
| 110 | * BavarianFireDrill: When some Stormtroopers are breaking into the control room they're hiding in, C-3PO and R2-D2 simply hide in a nearby closet: when the troopers discover them, 3PO claims they were locked in by the intruders. He gets away with it, since droids are BeneathNotice. |
| 111 | * BazaarOfTheBizarre: Mos Eisley Cantina, though not a market in the strictest sense, is a place of business where drink and food are purchased, and the ambiance is undoubtedly bizarre, what with the exotic music and clientele and all their fantastic accouterments. It is also dangerous and violent, thus operating under the rules of a TruceZone, i.e. no blasters allowed on-premises, so as to cultivate a business-as-usual atmosphere in spite of the diverse races and species which converge there from all across the galaxy; however, the letter of the law is not entirely followed. |
| 112 | * BeautyIsNeverTarnished: |
| 113 | ** When imprisoned on the Death Star, Vader turns up to interrogate Leia with a droid equipped with a huge syringe. As the door closes on them, it's clear that she's about to be tortured for information. And yet the next time we see her, she looks perfectly fine, without so much as a puncture wound or a hair out of place. WordOfGod is that all the interrogator droid did was inject her with a powerful hallucinogen which left her susceptible to suggestion and Vader simply made her ''think'' she was in pain.[[invoked]] |
| 114 | ** Later, she's the first to jump in the garbage shoot and land in sewage. Her floor-length white gown ends up slightly smudgy. Luke is shown shaking his hair out and Han and Chewie are completely dry when they get out of the trash compactor, so it seems the Empire has dry-cleaning services just outside the Death Star's shit-pits. Which is nice of them. |
| 115 | * BeforeTheDarkTimes: {{Trope Namer|s}}, from Kenobi when lamenting the end of the Jedi and the old Republic.[[invoked]] |
| 116 | * BeneathNotice: Droids are analogous to slaves. They are bought and sold as property, and almost nobody recognizes them as individuals with rights. Heroic droid R2-D2 turns this to his advantage, as it saves it and Threepio as they escape Leia's ship at the beginning of this movie. An Imperial Gunner is about to destroy their escape pod, but holds his fire when a scan reveals there are no life forms aboard. Surely this Imperial is aware of droids, but considers them no threat. Later, Artoo and Threepio can walk the corridors of the Death Star with no disguise; to the imperial troops, the droids might as well be furniture. |
| 117 | * BigBad: Grand Moff Tarkin, who holds supreme authority over the Death Star and gives orders to Darth Vader and poses the biggest threat to the Rebels as a result of being in command. Later canon would establish that Tarkin is in military command and Vader exists outside the military structure, working directly under the Emperor. It's also established that Tarkin and Vader both report to the Emperor, respecting each other and working together as equals. Thus Vader doesn't obey Tarkin as a superior, but accepts his request as a friend and colleague. |
| 118 | * BigBadassBattleSequence: The battle of Yavin IV, where the Rebellion sends all of its starfighters against the Death Star as it moves to destroy the Rebel base. |
| 119 | * BigBadDuumvirate: Keeping the above in mind, Vader is the more direct threat to the heroes, and only bothers obeying Tarkin moreso out of a sense of respect and formality than actual obedience. The moment Vader's personal assessment of the situation differs from Tarkin's, he just decides to do as he himself pleases. |
| 120 | * BigDamnHeroes: |
| 121 | ** Han Solo arriving JustInTime to save Luke from Vader, and buy Luke the vital seconds needed to send the proton torpedoes into the Death Star's thermal exhaust port. |
| 122 | ** Luke himself also qualifies, given that he manages to destroy the Death Star mere seconds before it blows the whole Rebellion into dust. |
| 123 | * BigNo: Luke has one as he sees Vader slice his wise mentor in two. |
| 124 | * BigWhat: |
| 125 | ** Leia, after finding out that despite her (feigned) cooperation, Tarkin intends to destroy Alderaan anyway. |
| 126 | ** Vader, in the Death Star trench when his wingman is suddenly taken out. |
| 127 | * BillionsOfButtons: The cockpit of the ''Millennium Falcon''. Harrison Ford has said that he had seen the construction of the set for the movie, and was looking forward to actually sitting in the cockpit. When he finally did, he asked how you "fly" the ship, and he was told by George Lucas that he didn't know, just to work it out. |
| 128 | * BinarySuns: The iconic double-sunset Luke Skywalker contemplates on Tatooine. Also indirectly the TropeNamer; the soundtrack name is [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LxDm-4Jrg9w "Binary Sunset"]]. |
| 129 | * BlackAndWhiteMorality: The Rebel Alliance, Luke and co. are the good guys, and the Empire are the clear-cut bad guys, the trope played straight right down to the clothes worn by named characters. Han Solo starts off in a grey area, but even he ends up becoming a hero in the end. |
| 130 | * BlatantLies: |
| 131 | ** The whole "diplomatic mission to Alderaan" thing is a very iffy defense that Vader doesn't buy. The prequel ''Rogue One'' makes it even more blatant[[note]]Though in a deleted scene for ''A New Hope'', Vader pointed out that her excuse doesn't work since he saw her ship in battle just before[[/note]], as Vader was cutting his way into the ''Tantive IV'' when it blasted away from a battle and jumped into hyperspace in plain view of the Imperials. |
| 132 | ** After shooting up the entrance to the detention block, Han tries to pass off the incident as a "slight weapons malfunction." The officer on the other side doesn't buy it for a minute. |
| 133 | * BlindJump: Han Solo has the ''Milennium Falcon'' make an emergency jump to escape a Star Destroyer when her DeflectorShields start to collapse. |
| 134 | * BluffingTheAuthorities: After attacking the detention block on the Death Star, Han Solo tries to do this to an officer who calls over the intercom. He's unsuccessful. |
| 135 | -->'''Han:''' Uh, we had a slight weapons malfunction, but, uh... everything's perfectly all right now. We're fine, we're all fine here now, thank you. ''[beat]'' How are you? |
| 136 | * BluntNo: Luke's answer when Han wonders if a guy like him could have a chance with a Princess. |
| 137 | * BoardingParty: The Imperials blasting their way into the Rebel corvette at the start of ''A New Hope''. |
| 138 | * BondOneLiner: Serves as an EstablishingCharacterMoment for Han. |
| 139 | -->'''Han:''' ''[to the bartender, after killing Greedo]'' Sorry about the mess. |
| 140 | * {{Bottomless Pit|s}}: Which Luke and Leia swing over. |
| 141 | * {{Bowdlerise}}: The Special Editions subtly edit every moment someone gets shot with a blaster on-screen to make the effect less gruesome, and also edit the Greedo scene so that Han unambiguously shoots Greedo in self-defense as opposed to killing him before he can even get off a shot. |
| 142 | * BringerOfWarMusic: The music at the beginning of the [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vLgsf8Pei6Q first scene]] has a staccato beat clearly inspired by Holst's Mars music. |
| 143 | * BringHimToMe: Taking Leia on board the Death Star after she was captured, although this was necessary for Tarkin's interrogation method. |
| 144 | * BuildLikeAnEgyptian: The rebel base on Yavin IV is a pyramid. Many of the Yavin IV scenes were shot in the ruins of [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tikal Tikal]] in what is now Guatemala, making this more of a case of "Build Like a Mayan". |
| 145 | * ButWhatAboutTheAstronauts: Alderaanians who were offworld when the Death Star destroyed their home planet are orphaned. |
| 146 | [[/folder]] |
| 147 | |
| 148 | [[folder:Tropes C to D]] |
| 149 | * CallASmeerpARabbit: In the novelisation, Obi-Wan uses the term "ducks" to refer to what would later be known InUniverse as "pelikki". |
| 150 | * TheCallKnowsWhereYouLive: Luke's home being burnt down by stormtroopers. Kenobi notes that Luke would have been killed as well if he was there. |
| 151 | * CallToAdventure: Delivered by Obi-Wan Kenobi: |
| 152 | -->'''Obi-Wan:''' ''You'' must learn the ways of the Force, if you're to come with me to Alderaan.\ |
| 153 | '''Luke:''' Alderaan? [[RefusalOfTheCall I'm not going to Alderaan]], I've gotta get ''home'' -- it's late, I'm in for it as it is! |
| 154 | * TheCameo: |
| 155 | ** [[Literature/ShadowsOfTheEmpire The Outrider]] taking off from Mos Eisley in the Special Edition. |
| 156 | ** Creator/JohnWayne as the voice of Garindan ezz Zavor, an alien who unwillingly alerts the Stormtrooper garrison to the location of C-3PO and R2-D2 as the heroes are about to leave Tatooine for Alderaan on the ''Millennium Falcon''. |
| 157 | * CantBelieveISaidThat: |
| 158 | ** Han Solo, struggling to pose as an Imperial soldier over the intercom, improvises "We're all fine here now, thank you. Uh... How are you?", then winces at himself. (This was an adlib, so either Harrison Ford couldn't believe that was the best he could ''ad lib'', or he felt Han would realize he was talking like an idiot.) |
| 159 | * CantKillYouStillNeedYou: When all their efforts to get the rebel base of out Leia prove useless, Vader and Tarkin [[YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness order her termination]]. But then the ''Millennium Falcon'' arrives, and they re-consider. |
| 160 | -->'''Officer:''' We've captured a freighter entering the remains of the Alderaan system. Its markings match those of a ship that blasted its way out of Mos Eisley.\ |
| 161 | '''Vader:''' They must be trying to return the stolen plans to the princess. She may yet be of some use to us... |
| 162 | * CargoConcealmentCaper: The heroes hide aboard smuggling crates in the Millennium Falcon to keep away from the stormtroopers searching the ship. |
| 163 | * CasualDangerDialogue: During the Detention Center shootout, Han and Leia take some time to banter with each other while they're being shot at by a group of Stormtroopers. |
| 164 | -->'''Han:''' Can't get out that way!\ |
| 165 | '''Leia:''' Looks like you managed to cut off our only escape route!\ |
| 166 | '''Han:''' [[SarcasmMode Maybe you'd like it back in your cell, your highness!]] ''[blaster bolts whizzes past head]'' |
| 167 | * CelebratingTheHeroes: In the final scene, Princess Leia presides over an awards ceremony where she presents Luke and Han with medals for their efforts in destroying the Death Star. (Chewbacca didn't get his until the 1997 MTV Movie Awards.) |
| 168 | * ChangedMyMindKid: Just when Vader is about to blast Luke down onto the Death Star surface, the ''Millennium Falcon'' makes a surprise intervention and blasts one of Vader's wingmen. Han returns after saying through the movie that he only cares about the prize at the end! |
| 169 | -->'''Vader:''' I have you now... ''[explosion]'' What?!\ |
| 170 | '''Han:''' Yeeeeeeaaahoooo! |
| 171 | * ChaseFight: In the beginning, Princess Leia's starship is fighting with Darth Vader's Star Destroyer as she tries to escape so she can give technical data on the Death Star to the Rebel Alliance. |
| 172 | * CheckpointBluff: Obi-Wan Kenobi uses a JediMindTrick to convince the stormtroopers that "These are not the droids you are looking for" (referencing R2-D2 and C-3PO). |
| 173 | * CheckpointCharlie: Obi-Wan Kenobi gets his party through a Stormtrooper-manned checkpoint in Mos Eisley because [[JediMindTrick those weren't the droids they were looking for and they didn't need to see their identification]]. |
| 174 | * ChekhovsGun: Anakin Skywalker's lightsaber is an aversion for this film's plot, but is played straight in the trilogy as a whole. Obi-Wan gives it to Luke, and provides him some training in its use, but Luke never actually uses it until [[Film/TheEmpireStrikesBack the next film]]. And there's the role it plays in the Sequel Trilogy. |
| 175 | * ChekhovsSkill: |
| 176 | ** The development of Luke's Force sensitivity functions as this, as he increasingly learns to [[DontThinkFeel fight by instinct rather than by conscious thought]]. The culmination is his destruction of the Death Star. |
| 177 | ** Luke is also established early on to be a skilled pilot, which allows him to join the attack on the Death Star even though he's never flown in combat before. |
| 178 | * CityWithNoName: Or rather, Planet With No Name. Despite how iconic and well-known it is, Tatooine is not named in the film. |
| 179 | * ClimaxBoss: Obi-Wan's fight against Darth Vader, to which the former sacrifices himself and allows the rest of the heroes to escape the Death Star. The FinalBattle is an aerial dogfight between Luke Skywalker and the Rebels against Vader and the Empire, culminating in the Death Star's destruction. |
| 180 | * ColdBloodedTorture: Darth Vader tortures Leia to get information. |
| 181 | --->'''Darth Vader:''' Now, your highness, we will [[{{Understatement}} discuss]] the location of your hidden rebel base. |
| 182 | * ColorMotif: The good guys like Luke and Leia wear white, while Vader wears all black. The Stormtroopers, politically presented as good enforcers, wear white armor over black, and Han Solo, whose morality is greyed, wears light and dark colors. |
| 183 | * ComicBookAdaptation: Creator/MarvelComics launched its long-running ''[[ComicBook/StarWarsMarvel1977 Star Wars]]'' comic with a six-issue adaptation of the film. The comic is notable for being based on an early edit of the film and as such has characters and scenes (including one featuring a humanoid Jabba the Hutt) not in the final movie. In 2013-2014, Dark Horse Comics released a miniseries titled ''The Star Wars'', adapting an early version of Lucas' screenplay for ''A New Hope''. |
| 184 | * ComingOfAgeStory: For Luke and Leia. Luke Skywalker leaves his home and family to begin his training as a Jedi Knight while Princess Leia has to prove herself as a successful leader. Later shown to be [[GenerationXerox a mirror of their parents Anakin and Padmé]]. |
| 185 | * CommanderContrarian: General Tagge for the Empire. ("Until this battle station is ''fully'' operational, we are vulnerable.") Unusually he's [[OnlySaneMan entirely right]] and the Empire would have been a lot better off listening to him. |
| 186 | * ComplainingAboutRescuesTheyDontLike: Leia, which leads to WellExcuseMePrincess with Han. |
| 187 | * ContrivedCoincidence: In the individual movie there is little problem with the fact Luke gains ownership of the droids, as he was just a farmboy along for the adventure with the OldMaster. In the grand scheme of the saga, Vader being revealed as his father AND the person who built C-3PO starts to stretch things, in addition to the fact that Obi-Wan and Yoda anticipated Luke as a potential weapon to defeat Vader and the Emperor. |
| 188 | * CoolOldGuy: Obi-Wan Kenobi, who can still wield a mean lightsaber, scare off Tusken Raiders, effortlessly maim rowdy cantina drinkers, shut down the Death Star's tractor beam, and even engage Darth Vader in direct combat before allowing him to strike him down so that the Force's power can grow in Luke Skywalker's path to Jedi knighthood. |
| 189 | * CoverIdentityAnomaly: When Han is impersonating a stormtrooper over the intercom, he can't come up with his operating number. |
| 190 | * CoversAlwaysLie |
| 191 | ** Darth Vader's lightsaber has a guard on the original cover and film poster. The blade is also orange-ish in colour instead of pale red. |
| 192 | ** There are also [[https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/936full_star_wars__episode_iv_a_new_hope_poster.jpg these]] [[https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/star_wars_ver2_xlg.jpg earlier]] posters showing a much more muscular Creator/MarkHamill, a [[ShowSomeLeg sexier]] Creator/CarrieFisher, the implication that they are lovers, and Luke raising a lightsaber as if he used it in battle. As it stands, Luke only uses a lightsaber during a training scene and doesn't pick it up again until the next movie, while it's not until [[Film/ReturnOfTheJedi two]] films later that we see Leia in anything that could be considered MsFanservice. Also while this poster has all the elements for a classic LegCling, it averts it by giving the princess a strong independent pose. |
| 193 | * CreateYourOwnHero: The Empire killing Luke's aunt and uncle, as well as Obi-Wan telling Luke that Darth Vader killed his father, is what ends up convincing him to go with Obi-Wan to Alderaan and learn to become a Jedi. From a retroactive standpoint, this becomes much more literal when it's revealed that Luke is Vader's son. |
| 194 | * CurbStompCushion: In the opening of the movie, at least two Stormtroopers are shot dead by lucky Rebels, keeping the skirmish in the ''Tantive IV'' hallway from otherwise being an outright massacre by the Empire. Leia also manages to kill one before she's captured, which was just a distraction from her real mission, helping C-3PO and R2-D2 to escape with the Death Star plans. |
| 195 | * DamageControl: R2-D2 has to repeatedly fix damage to Luke's X-Wing during the Battle of Yavin. The droid is eventually shot by an enemy fighter and knocked out of commission for the rest of the fight. |
| 196 | * DamnedByFaintPraise: Biggs praises Luke as "one of the best bush pilots on the Outer Rim". While his confusion with the rampant signals in the ''Falcon'' when they first encounter the Death Star makes it clear Luke ''is'' inexperienced with starfighters and starships more generally, the fact is he's genuinely an AcePilot and one of the only survivors of Vader's ambush. To call him a "bush pilot" is either to dramatically underestimate the bush or to really oversell it. Ditto for the Outer Rim. |
| 197 | * DamselOutOfDistress: Princess Leia is captured in the opening scene and remains a prisoner for a good deal of the movie. Then the trope is inverted (one could almost say deconstructed for the genre George Lucas was drawing from). True, Leia doesn't try to escape herself, but that's because she's imprisoned in a moon-sized battle station. When an opportunity does arise, she seizes it with both hands and [[ActionGirl takes charge of matters]] once it's obvious her so-called rescuers don't have a clue what they're doing. |
| 198 | -->'''Leia:''' ''Somebody'' has to save our skins! |
| 199 | * DangerDeadpan: Davish Krail (Gold Five) and Garven Dreis (Red Leader) both have their moments, especially during their trench runs. Krail not only has the infamous "Stay on target!", but also has the distinction that as he pulls out of the trench with Darth Vader closing on his tail, his last words are a calm sitrep telling Dreis what he is going to face. However, Dreis is the more deadpan of the two, as exemplified when he calmly reports to Luke that he just lost an engine and Luke should begin his attack run ''while Vader is still shooting him up''. |
| 200 | -->'''Krail:''' ''[[KilledMidSentence They came from BEHIND]]--'' |
| 201 | * DataDriveMacGuffin: The Rebel Alliance has stolen data tapes containing the complete plans for the Empire's new superweapon, the Death Star. For the first two-thirds of the plot, the heroes' goal is to get those stolen plans to the Rebel headquarters, so the Alliance can analyze them and find the Death Star's weak point--and the Empire will do anything to get those plans back. |
| 202 | * DeadlyDeferredConversation: In a deleted scene restored in the Special Edition, Luke runs into his old friend Biggs Darklighter before Red Squadron launches against the Death Star, with them promising to catch up afterwards. Biggs dies to Vader's guns during the final trench run. |
| 203 | * DeadlyEuphemism: Leia Organa's impending execution. "I'm afraid she's scheduled to be terminated." |
| 204 | * DeathFakedForYou: Stormtrooper officer Daine Jir warns Darth Vader that arresting Leia, an Imperial senator, is politically dangerous because the Imperial Senate in theory still has some power. Vader orders him to cover it up by faking a DistressSignal and then a report that the ship was destroyed with all hands (ancillary materials state they then ejected the ship and blew it up in case somebody came looking for the debris), though this is all rendered moot less than a week later when Emperor Palpatine dissolves the Senate entirely. |
| 205 | * DeathlyDiesIrae: |
| 206 | ** Heard during the [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wolFdVti3nY burning homestead]] cue, where Luke realizes his home is in danger, which has a subtle reversed repetition of "dies irae," followed by a pronounced brass statement as he sees his aunt and uncle's smoking skeletons. |
| 207 | ** A subtle statement is heard as Grand Moff Tarkin interrogates Leia while [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZxkK2bA-Niw aiming the Death Star's superlaser at her home planet Alderaan]]. |
| 208 | * DeathRay: The Death Star is a moon-sized dreadnought equiped with an extraordinarily powerful EnergyWeapon in the form of a WaveMotionGun capable of an EarthShatteringKaboom, and in the hands of [[TheDragon the ultimate baddie]] is the ''Death Star''. |
| 209 | * DefiantCaptive: Leia snarks at both Vader and Tarkin, resists their mind probe, and even when she seems to acquiesce to their demands for information, it is soon revealed that she's lying to them. |
| 210 | * DefiantToTheEnd: Leia refuses to give Tarkin and Vader any information about the Rebels, even after being tortured, orphaned, and threatened with death. |
| 211 | * DelayedExplosion: The explosion that destroys the Death Star happens a bit after Luke fires the critical shot at its weak point, giving the surviving heroes ample time to get out of range. |
| 212 | * DemotedToExtra: Biggs Darklighter got this because his aforementioned scenes with Luke were deleted. Luke does mention him by name, however -- "Biggs was right, I'm never gonna get out of here!" The special edition reinserts their reunion just before the Battle of Yavin. |
| 213 | * DenOfIniquity: Mos Eisley is a dusty town filled with criminals stopping by to get a drink or to find a fight. |
| 214 | * DepartmentOfRedundancyDepartment: In the special edition, most of the lines from the Jabba scene are the same ones Han and Greedo had already traded in the cantina. The reason for this is that when the Jabba scene was originally cut, the lines were moved to the Greedo one. However, by the time the special edition came around and re-added the Jabba scene, Harrison Ford was too old to record different lines while he was reaching for the blaster. |
| 215 | * DesertSkull: On Tatooine, C-3PO passes by a skull of Krayt Dragon. |
| 216 | * DestroyTheSecurityCamera: Luke, Han and Chewie pull the old TrojanPrisoner trick to get into the detention block, seeking to free the Princess. While Han and Luke focus on taking out the Imperial {{Mook}}s, Chewie makes a point of obliterating the many cameras and sensors. He's so thorough that an officer has to ask about their status over an intercom. |
| 217 | * DestructionEqualsOffSwitch: Zig-zagged. When Luke and Leia are being pursued by Stormtroopers on the Death Star, Luke shuts a blast door and destroys the console ''specifically'' to make it harder for them to open the door again. Unfortunately, the controls for the bridge they need to extend across a bottomless gap were on the same panel. |
| 218 | * DidntThinkThisThrough: Luke only made plans to get into Leia's cell bay. He didn't think about how to escape. Lampshaded by both Leia and Han. |
| 219 | -->'''Leia:''' This is some rescue! You came in here, and you didn't have a plan for getting out?\ |
| 220 | '''Han:''' ''[indicating Luke]'' He's the brains, sweetheart! |
| 221 | * DigitalDestruction: The only DVD release of the original theatrical cut (released as limited edition extras) was a completely phoned in, raw transfer off of the 1993 laserdisc of the film, which had excessive grain, low contrast, serious aliasing, and motion smearing (Motion smearing is when moving objects are blurred and leave behind a trail of their own shape due to DVNR) -- inexcusable, considering that a far better THX remastered transfer had been made and released of it in the past. |
| 222 | * DirtForcefield: The heroes all emerge spotless from their ordeal in the Death Star trash-compactor. When Mark Hamill brought up this fact during filming, Harrison Ford explained to him they weren't making a movie which worried ''at all'' about cataloging nitpicky details. |
| 223 | * DisobeyThisMessage: {{Discussed}} when Obi-Wan tells Luke about his father: |
| 224 | -->'''Obi-Wan:''' ''[takes out a lightsaber]'' I have something here for you: Your father wanted you to have this when you were old enough... but your uncle wouldn't allow it. He feared you might follow old Obi-Wan on some damn-fool idealistic crusade like your father did. |
| 225 | * DistinctiveAppearances: The differences in color between the lightsabers, the stark contrast in starship designs, and the colors of the protagonists and antagonists are all designed to evoke a strong Good vs. Evil theme. |
| 226 | * DitchingTheDubNames: |
| 227 | ** In Spanish, both this movie and (for the longest time) the whole franchise were called "Guerra de las Galaxias", which translates into "War of the Galaxies" in English. Starting with the rerelease of the movie, it was known by the English name plus a direct translation for the subtitle; since then, the franchise also adopted its English name in the Hispanosphere. |
| 228 | ** In German, the movie was released as "Krieg der Sterne". Starting with ''Film/TheEmpireStrikesBack'', "Star Wars" has been used. |
| 229 | * DoABarrelRoll: When Luke has a TIE Fighter on his tail, [[AcePilot Wedge]] saves him with a flawlessly executed [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thach_weave Thach Weave.]] |
| 230 | * DodgeTheBullet: One of the infamous edits to the original film prevents Han from shooting Greedo first by having Han effortlessly dodge a point-blank range blaster shot before firing his own lethal shot. |
| 231 | * DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything: |
| 232 | ** The ending scene for ''A New Hope''. [[http://www.cracked.com/article_19826_6-iconic-scenes-ripped-off-from-lesser-known-movies.html Don't even get us started on]] ''Film/TriumphOfTheWill''! Which, of course, has become rather memetic, given who the ''Empire'' is patterned after... and then that award ceremony happens. Whoops![[note]]Really, it more comes down to the fact that the Nazis were absolute masters of military showmanship in general, and there being only so many ways to show a large, impressive award ceremony cinematically. There's nothing sinister about the ceremony at all, but the resemblance does often elicit chuckles from those in the know.[[/note]] |
| 233 | ** Luke in the final sequence of the film being a military pilot sent on a mission to destroy enemy territory by flying past the defenses, dropping a payload resulting in the deaths of hundreds of thousands, having to escape from the blast he created and receiving a medal almost immediately after his return. It mirrors to some extent the flight of the Enola Gay and the Bockscar -- the US Army Air Force's aeroplanes which were sent to drop the atomic bombs that destroyed the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in the final year of WWII. A controversial mission resulting in the deaths of hundreds of thousands of civilians which some believe to be either a necessary evil or plain terrorism. Though regardless of your stance, and to be fair to Luke Skywalker and the other Rebel Pilots, the Death Star was mostly populated with more service members than civilians workers (who were still culpable by serving on the Empire's genocide machine) and had more in common with a Naval Aircraft carrier than a civilian metropolis and posed a immediate threat. Some fans from a moralistic standpoint consider the destruction of Alderaan by the Empire to have more in common with the WWII bombings. |
| 234 | * DoingInTheScientist: Motti scorns the Force as bogus sorcery that can do nothing but scare people with its hype. [[DoNotTauntCthulhu He is promptly Force-choked by Darth Vader.]] |
| 235 | * DontThinkFeel: Obi-Wan teaches Luke this aboard the ''Millennium Falcon''. |
| 236 | -->'''Obi-Wan:''' Remember, a Jedi feels the Force flowing through him.\ |
| 237 | '''Luke:''' You mean it controls your actions?\ |
| 238 | '''Obi-Wan:''' Partially, but it also obeys your commands.\ |
| 239 | [...]\ |
| 240 | '''Obi-Wan:''' Stretch out with your feelings. |
| 241 | * DoomedHometown: |
| 242 | ** Alderaan, Leia's home planet, is destroyed by the Death Star as a show of its power. |
| 243 | ** The Lars homestead is attacked by Stormtroopers, who leave the burning corpses of the Larses out for the child they raised, Luke Skywalker, to find. |
| 244 | * DoomsdayDevice: The Death Star is a space station that can destroy planets with its massive laser. Grand Moff Tarkin hopes to use it to eliminate the Rebellion and to scare the rest of the galaxy into submission. |
| 245 | * DopeSlap: When R2-D2 refuses to display the rest of Princess Leia's holographic message to Luke, pretexting a dysfunction, C-3PO slams the top of his dome and tells him to stop fooling around. |
| 246 | * DownerBeginning: Despite the name of the movie, little actual hope exists, with the Empire's new super-weapon almost complete, the ''Tantive IV'' being overrun by the Empire, Darth Vader making a personal appearance, and Princess Leia, the leader of the Rebellion, being captured. |
| 247 | * DownInTheDumps: Leia, Luke, Han Solo and Chewbacca drop down a garbage chute into the disposal to avoid being trapped by stormtroopers. Now they're trapped in the garbage with a monster and walls that close in on themselves. |
| 248 | * TheDragon: Darth Vader appears as Tarkin's primary enforcer, although he only does so because Tarkin has supreme authority within the confines of the Death Star and because the two have a mutual respect for each other. |
| 249 | * DragonInChief: Darth Vader to Grand Moff Tarkin. Tarkin is Vader's nominal superior within the confines of the Death Star, and while Vader has at least a little respect for his authority, Tarkin is far less of a threat. Vader also clearly feels free to act on his own accord when he disagrees with Tarkin, assembling and leading a fighter squadron to defend the Death Star after Tarkin dismisses such a defense. |
| 250 | * DramaticTimpani: Heard when Obi-Wan, headed back to the docking bay, stops in his tracks when confronted by Darth Vader. |
| 251 | * DrawAggro: This is part of the Death Star battle plan. Red Squadron would focus on the laser towers on the surface, to reduce fire on the Gold Squadron flying into the trench. Unfortunately Vader's piloting skills mean it doesn't matter if the rest of the Death Star forces aren't focused on them. |
| 252 | * DressingAsTheEnemy: Luke and Han "borrow" some Stormtrooper uniforms to sneak into the prison block on the Death Star. |
| 253 | * DubNameChange: Several in the French version, many for no other reason than avoiding LipLock. Also doubles as a localized version of EarlyInstallmentWeirdness since several of these were later changed to the original names (or a more faithful equivalent) in the sequels, and others, eventually, in the prequels. In fact, Darth Vader's name is the only one to have remained [[TheArtifact consistent across all the movies]]. |
| 254 | ** Luke Skywalker was called "Luc Courleciel" (a literal translation) in very early credits. |
| 255 | ** C-3PO and R2-D2 are respectively Z-6PO and D2-R2. |
| 256 | ** Darth Vader is Dark Vador, possibly because French speakers are unfamiliar with the "th" sound. |
| 257 | ** Chewbacca is now Chictaba (a corruption of "chique tabac", chews tobacco), with Chewie now being Chico. |
| 258 | ** C-3PO references the "salt mines of Kesselring" instead of the "spice mines of Kessel". |
| 259 | ** Grand Moff Tarkin is "Gouverneur Tarkan", with a voiced ''n''. |
| 260 | ** Alderaan is now Aldorande. |
| 261 | ** The Death Star is "l'Étoile Noire" (the Black/Dark Star). The dub of ''Film/ReturnOfTheJedi'' would later translate it literally as "Étoile de la Mort". |
| 262 | ** "The Clone Wars" to "La Guerre Noire" ("The Black/Dark War"), presumably to better match the lip movement while still sounding suitably mysterious. When the prequels came around the name was translated more literally as "La Guerre des Clones". |
| 263 | ** Han Solo is called Yan Solo (which is how the name "Ian" is pronounced in French) since "Han" would sound like "Anne", a female name.[[note]]In fact, this receives a shout-out in the French version of ''Film/{{Solo}}'', where Lando, instead of mispronouncing "Han", calls him "Yan" and is corrected.[[/note]] |
| 264 | ** The ''Millenium Falcon'' is the "''Millenium Condor''", it later became "''Faucon Millenium''" and is sometimes called "''Faucon Millénaire''" (a more literal translation). |
| 265 | * DueToTheDead: Obi-Wan, C-3PO, and R2-D2 are shown burning a bunch of Jawas slaughtered by Stormtroopers on a funeral pyre when Luke returns from the devastated Lars homestead. As the novelization put it, "Kenobi retained values most modern men would have deemed archaic. He would consign no-one to the bone-gnawers and gravel-maggots, not even a filthy Jawa." Books later established burning as the standard Jawa funeral rite, which Kenobi, himself a subscriber to a religion which traditionally burned its dead in a similar fashion, knew. |
| 266 | * TheDulcineaEffect: Luke opts to rescue Leia on the strength of little more than her {{Hologram}} image. |
| 267 | [[/folder]] |
| 268 | |
| 269 | [[folder:Tropes E to F]] |
| 270 | * EarlyBirdCameo: While disguising as Stormtroopers, Luke and Han walk past a RA-7 Protocol Droid in the Death Star. It took almost ''40 years'' in real life for that particular type of droid to [[WesternAnimation/StarWarsRebels have a role]] in the franchise. |
| 271 | * EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: See the ''Star Wars'' [[EarlyInstallmentWeirdness/StarWars page]], which comes almost completely from this film. Lucas had no reason to believe this film would become a smash hit, let alone that it would launch a decades-long franchise. |
| 272 | * EarthShatteringKaboom: Alderaan is destroyed by the Empire using the Death Star as part of the final effort to crush rebellion and dissent across the galaxy. |
| 273 | * EasyEvangelism: Luke accepts ''everything'' that Obi-Wan tells him about his father, the Jedi and the Force without question, even though he's hearing about these details just now. This does help speed the story along of course. Luke's belief only starts stretching during Yoda's lessons in the next movie. Also downplayed in that Obi-Wan only starts training Luke on how to use the Force in any real detail after Luke has already seen a JediMindTrick.\ |
| 274 | Luke also chews out Han for not believing in the Force, [[DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything similar to how a religious person would chew out an atheist in real life for not having a faith in God]], even though on Han's defense, there's no way an outlaw and smuggler like him who had more life experience without any direct involvement of the Force would've had a reason to believe it. And Han is not Force-sensitive himself. |
| 275 | * EjectEjectEject: This is done in dialogue, when the other pilots tell Porkins to eject. He mistakenly thinks he can still pull out and dies by crashing into the Death Star. |
| 276 | --> '''Porkins:''' I've got a problem here.\ |
| 277 | '''Biggs:''' Eject!\ |
| 278 | '''Porkins:''' I can hold it!\ |
| 279 | '''Biggs:''' PULL UP!\ |
| 280 | '''Porkins:''' No, no, I'm all right--\ |
| 281 | '''BOOM''' |
| 282 | * ElegantWeaponForAMoreCivilizedAge: {{Trope Namer|s}}, with Kenobi gushing about the [[LaserBlade lightsaber]]. |
| 283 | * EliteMooks: |
| 284 | ** The TIE fighter pilots that attack the Rebels in the finale are the personal squadron of Darth Vader, the MagicKnight who leads the villain's military efforts from the frontlines. |
| 285 | ** Darth Vader's stormtroopers during the opening scene. At least they manage to hit someone and arrest the remaining rebels. |
| 286 | * EnemyChatter: Obi-Wan overhears a pair of stormtroopers discussing the advent of a new piece of technology, the BT-16. |
| 287 | * EpicFail: Greedo misses Han Solo at ''point blank range'' in the Special Editions, only to be immediately killed by the smuggler. |
| 288 | * EstablishingCharacterMoment: |
| 289 | ** Han shooting first when threatened by Greedo. One of the reasons why the change to that scene evoked such a backlash. |
| 290 | ** Luke's Binary Sunset scene; gazing wistfully into the distance like he was looking at the future. |
| 291 | ** Vader walking emotionlessly past his dead troops and then strangling Captain Antilles to death while interrogating him. He also provides the first introduction of what the Force is capable of; an Imperial officer starts mouthing off about how his "sorcerer's ways" are nothing compared to the Death Star, to which Vader casually lifts a hand and chokes the guy from across the room. |
| 292 | --->'''Vader:''' I find your lack of faith disturbing. |
| 293 | ** Leia's first appearance is being caught in a firefight by Stormtroopers, shooting at the Stormtroopers while trying to get a message off the ship. Her first speaking scene is cool defiance in the face of Darth Vader (who, as mentioned, just strangled her captain), and her second is being brought to the deck of an Imperial vessel, just after being put through an enhanced interrogation session, and happily taking the time to insult the commander to his face. She then attempts to guilt Darth freakin' Vader, and lies about the location of the Rebel base to throw off the Empire and save her planet from destruction. The lie fails, miserably, but this woman is SilkHidingSteel all the way. |
| 294 | ** Governor Tarkin, and by extension the Galactic Empire as a whole, has his evilness demonstrated when he orders the destruction of Alderaan, after he had promised to spare them if Leia told him the location of the rebel base. It shows how the Empire will lie and wipe out billions of people just to make a point. |
| 295 | * EstablishingCharacterMusic: |
| 296 | ** Darth Vader is first seen on the ''Tantive VI'' accompanied by an [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MftSEu4vgg0 ominous trumpet chord]] which, combined with his black, skull-like mask and helmet, marks him as the villain. |
| 297 | ** Later, when we first see Luke, the main theme is heard briefly, marking him as TheHero. |
| 298 | * EstablishingSeriesMoment: The first scene does this for the saga, though in ways that are difficult for modern audiences to appreciate. First, it gives the setting as "A Long Time Ago, in a Galaxy Far Far Away...", establishing this as a modern-day fairy tale in space. Next, it introduces the plot via an Opening Scroll as an homage to the ''Flash Gordon'' serials of the 1930's, complete with a bombastic opening theme. Then, just seconds later, we get that famous tracking shot of the underside of an Imperial Star Destroyer, showing off every lovingly crafted inch of the thing—and showing that, unlike Flash Gordon, this was a big-budget EpicFilm in a painstakingly detailed fictional world. Moviegoers in 1977 had never seen a science-fiction film with production values that high, but that tracking shot gave them a taste of the spectacle that awaited them. |
| 299 | * EverybodysDeadDave: The Battle of Yavin ends with all the on-screen rebel pilots except Han, Luke, Wedge, and a Y-wing pilot dead, with all of the dead pilots having only been introduced so they could fight in the battle. |
| 300 | * EvilIsNotWellLit: The interior of the Death Star, the villains' secret base, is drab and monotone. |
| 301 | * ExactWords: Captain Antilles tells Darth Vader that their ship intercepted no transmissions of the Death Star plans. ''Film/RogueOne'' shows this is accurate, as the plans were transmitted to the ''Profundity'' and then downloaded and carried by hand onto the ''Tantive IV''. |
| 302 | * ExplainExplainOhCrap: After Luke and Obi-Wan find the remains of the Jawas that sold them R2-D2 and C-3PO, he realizes that the Stormtroopers search for the droids would end up leading them back to his relatives homestead. |
| 303 | -->'''Luke:''' But that would lead them back... '''''home!''''' |
| 304 | * {{Exposition}}: |
| 305 | ** Han Solo's [[HyperspaceIsAScaryPlace "Traveling through hyperspace ain't like dusting crops, boy!"]] |
| 306 | ** Tarkin's "You're sure the homing beacon is secure aboard their ship?" almost qualifies as an AsYouKnow. |
| 307 | ** Obi-Wan's InfoDump about the Jedi Knights and the Force. |
| 308 | * ExtremelyShortTimespan: The movie seems to take place in the span of at least three days. |
| 309 | * EyeOnAStalk: The Dianoga has an eye on a stalk, which lets it see above the surface while the rest of its body remains submerged. |
| 310 | * FailsafeFailure: Including one of the most famous in all media: |
| 311 | ** The Death Star, a battle station the size of a small moon, can be completely destroyed by a small fighter firing a couple of torpedoes down a thermal exhaust shaft that leads directly to the main reactor. Imperial designers apparently recognized the problem to the extent of ray shielding the shaft to protect it from blaster fire, but for some reason cannot stop projectiles. (Of course, the Empire can be forgiven for this, since you would have to be [[RightManInTheWrongPlace some kind of space wizard who is also a fighter pilot]] to actually hit a target that small.) The film ''Film/RogueOne'' addresses the weakness as being purposefully put in by the Death Star's unwilling designer in order to specifically give it a glaring weakness for the Rebels to use, although given that almost the entire Rebel attack force perish in the assault and the Death Star is ultimately only destroyed right at the last second, how "glaring" it ended up being is debatable. |
| 312 | ** Basically all the doors on the Death Star. If you shoot out the control panels for them on one side, the controls on the other side no longer work either. This proves to be both a feature and a bug for Luke and Leia during their escape. |
| 313 | ** Further demonstrating the ''Death Star's'' shoddy design, the tractor beam system has seven separate power junctions feeding it. This is apparently not for backup and failsafe purposes, as the disconnection of any ''one'' of the junctions will disable the entire system. |
| 314 | * FaintInShock: A bit of an homage. While he probably didn't actually ''faint'' (being a droid and all), Threepio topples backwards when he first sees the Tusken Raider. He is found some time later just recovering the droid equivalent of consciousness. He seems to have slipped in surprise at the Raider, tumbled down a rough incline, and took damage that knocked him offline for a time. In presentation, it very much captures the feel of "weak character fainting when confronted with sudden, surprising danger." |
| 315 | * FakingTheDead: To avoid the political consequences of arresting Princess Leia, Vader orders his men to send out a fake DistressCall, then send a message to the Senate saying [[MakeItLookLikeAnAccident everyone on board was killed]]. Once the Death Star is operational however, the Empire soon drops the façade of needing the Senate at all. |
| 316 | * FallingIntoTheCockpit: Downplayed with Luke, who had only piloted civilian craft before (with no indication he'd flown in space, only in atmosphere) ending up flying a starfighter at a decisive battle. Though he was studying to enter the Space Academy, he had not yet attended it. |
| 317 | * FalseFalseAlarm: When attacking the prison section of the Death Star to recuse Leia, one of the guards trips the alarm. Solo tries to play it off as a false alarm but fails completely. |
| 318 | * FamilyUnfriendlyViolence: Although generally considered a family movie, with a large fanbase of kids, the film includes several unexpectedly gory moments that remain unique in the original trilogy: the smoldering skeletons of Owen and Beru that Luke sees when he returns home; and the close-up of a bloody dismembered arm of the thug who finds himself on the wrong end of Obi-Wan's lightsaber (owing to the editing of the scene, coupled with the appearance -- possibly due to SpecialEffectsFailure -- of the arm being hollow, and the fact we hear no more about the man Obi-Wan attacks, the impression is given that the man is actually vaporized by the lightsaber). The novelization also features a few unusual for the series graphic descriptions of gore and violence during some of the battles. |
| 319 | * FantasticMeasurementSystem: The movie uses parsecs as a measure of time. They're actually a real world measure of distance. Lucas explained that this was intended to be a deliberate mistake, to show that Han Solo wasn't as clever as he made out. Obi-Wan visibly winces at the line. A later flip-flop came up with a scenario where a ship with more powerful engines could either take a riskier shortcut, or make rendezvous with a moving target before it had moved so far; thus it really was correct, in a complicated way. |
| 320 | * FantasticRacism: Wookiees are not well-respected. An Imperial derisively refers to Chewbacca as a "thing," and later Leia snaps, "Will somebody get this big walking carpet out of my way?" |
| 321 | * FeelingTheirAge: Obi-Wan, when asking Luke to join him, lamented that he was getting too old to go on these sort of adventures. A big part of his duel with Vader was being mocked that he was old and out of practice. |
| 322 | * FieldPromotion: |
| 323 | ** Davish "Pops" Krail, who flies with the callsign "Gold 5" is the only Y-Wing pilot to survive the first Death Star trench run. When he reports the situation to Red leader, the other pilot refers to him as "Gold Leader". [[RedShirt He doesn't get the chance to celebrate.]] |
| 324 | ** Before making his trench run, Red Leader tells Luke to take Wedge and Biggs and stand by in case he fails. Just before he's shot down, Red Leader tells Luke to execute his run, and there's a huge musical cue symbolizing that Luke is now in command of the mission and what's left of Red Squadron. |
| 325 | * FighterLaunchingSequence: The ships launching for the battle of Yavin. |
| 326 | * FinalGirl: Done retroactively in the Disney EU, with Gold Squadron's sole survivor being a woman who just so happens to come from Alderaan and wasn't among the victims of the Disaster. |
| 327 | * FinalSolution: When Alderaan was destroyed by the Death Star, approximately '''1,999,940,000''' sentients were on the planet at the moment of its destruction. |
| 328 | * FinalSpeech: Obi-Wan provides a rare ''post-death'' Final Speech (since he dies silently in his fight against Darth Vader): "Run, Luke! Run!" |
| 329 | * FingerPokeOfDoom: The first appearance of the Force-choke used by Vader. |
| 330 | * FireForgedFriends: Luke, Han, Leia, Chewie, R2 and 3PO become TrueCompanions through their shared experience of escaping from the Death Star, a character dynamic that continues through the rest of this trilogy and sets the original trilogy apart from both the prequels and sequels. |
| 331 | * FixItInPost: Go watch the climax again, and note that every reference to the Death Star being about to blow up the Rebel base is delivered via anonymous voice-over and computer displays. Evidently in the original cut, the Rebels just intercepted the Death Star at some random point in space and destroyed it. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GFMyMxMYDNk This YouTube video]] discusses at length how much editor Marcia Lucas changed the entire movie for the better. |
| 332 | * FlatWhat: Darth Vader, when the ''Millennium Falcon'' appears out of nowhere at the last possible minute and blows up one of the ships flanking his. |
| 333 | * FlauntingYourFleets: Shown as the Rebel X-Wings take off to attack the Death Star. |
| 334 | * FollowTheWhiteRabbit: |
| 335 | ** It is Luke going off on a tear to find a runaway droid, who happens to be white and little, that brings him face-to-face with Obi-Wan Kenobi and it saves his life, as he is then not at home for the arrival of the Imperial Stormtroopers that kill his Aunt and Uncle, his adoptive parents--the death of which means he has nothing to stay around for, so can commit and go on the adventure, leaving his home planet. |
| 336 | ** Later, the ''Millennium Falcon'' follows a lone TIE fighter to the Death Star, and the Death Star follows the ''Millennium Falcon'' to the Rebel Base at Yavin. |
| 337 | * FooledByTheSound: |
| 338 | ** Obi-Wan imitates the howl of a krayt dragon to scare away a band of Sand People after they attack Luke and then start raiding his landspeeder for useful items. |
| 339 | ** After [[DistressedDude Luke, Han, Chewbacca]], and [[DamselInDistress Leia]] are saved from being crushed to death by a "garbage masher", they shout happily. C-3PO hears them and mistakes their cheerful shouting for screams of pain, [[MistakenForDying concluding that they're all dying]]. |
| 340 | ** Two stormtroopers arrive to guard the Death Star's tractor beam controls while Obi-Wan is working on sabotaging them. Once finished, he uses the Force to make them hear a noise behind them, making them look away long enough for him to escape. They're heard talking about it briefly: |
| 341 | --->'''Stormtrooper 1:''' What was that?\ |
| 342 | '''Stormtrooper 2:''' That? That's nothing. Outgassing, don't worry about it. |
| 343 | * TheForceIsStrongWithThisOne: {{Trope Namer|s}}. Vader seeing Luke's X-Wing wasn't so easy to hit. |
| 344 | * ForcedToWatch: Leia is forced to watch Alderaan's destruction with all her friends and family still on the planet. |
| 345 | * {{Foreshadowing}}: |
| 346 | ** As Luke introduces himself to R2-D2 and C-3PO, 3PO calls him "Sir Luke", hinting at Luke's eventual Jedi Knighthood. |
| 347 | ** Uncle Owen expressing his fear to his wife Beru that Luke will turn out like his father. |
| 348 | ** Luke griping that R2-D2 is going to get him into a lot of trouble back home. The Stormtroopers searching for R2 and the data schematics he has hidden inside him trace him to Luke's farm and murder Owen and Beru, leaving Luke essentially orphaned. |
| 349 | ** Ben Kenobi telling Luke that Obi-Wan is not dead... not yet. |
| 350 | ** Luke asking Obi-Wan how his father died and Obi-Wan struggling for several moments before replying. This one's interesting because, obviously, ''Empire'' hadn't been written or even conceived at the time of the original release. But the way Creator/AlecGuinness plays this character beat unintentionally provides ''excellent'' foreshadowing for the Vader twist. In-universe and in the context of the Original Trilogy's release, it can retroactively be seen as Obi-Wan stalling. He knows he has to tell Luke ''something'' about Anakin, but that now is ''not'' the time or place to reveal the truth. So, Obi-Wan decides to settle on ''his'' truth, or what he sees as the truth (that the Dark Side corrupted Anakin, destroyed the good man Obi-Wan trained and loved like a brother, and that only Vader remains now). |
| 351 | ** Darth Vader foretells to Tarkin that it will be a day long remembered, hinting at the Death Star's destruction. |
| 352 | ** Darth Vader tells the Imperial council to not get too overconfident in the Death Star, stating "the ability to destroy a planet is insignificant next to the power of the Force." Sure enough, it's the Force that allows Luke to make the one-in-a-million shot that destroys the battle station. |
| 353 | ** When Vader talks about Obi-Wan to Tarkin, the latter says he must not be allowed to escape. Vader replies that escape is not his plan. He's right — [[ObiWanMoment Obi-Wan intended to die on the Death Star, and even signaled why he intended to die during their final duel.]] |
| 354 | * FranchiseDrivenRetitling: The film was originally called just ''Star Wars''. The 1980 sequel, ''Star Wars Episode V: Film/TheEmpireStrikesBack'', featured an episode number and subtitle in the opening crawl as part of its GenreThrowback nature to give the impression of a long running film serial. When the original film was re-released in 1981, ''Episode IV: A New Hope'' was added above the original opening crawl. |
| 355 | * FreezeFrameBonus: |
| 356 | ** Although many of the X-wing models were reused throughout the final battle sequence (sometimes without respect to which ships are actually supposed to be on screen), if one looks closely they'll find that ILM built at ''least'' six unique models: [[http://www.nexus-models.com/uploads/1/5/6/8/15681180/__3901352_orig.jpg Red Leader (Dreis)]], [[http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-23GbkXIt2nQ/UF_iG8UMAbI/AAAAAAAAY0w/ovO5rY13Woc/s1600/red2kenrice03.jpg Red Two (Wedge)]], [[http://www.modelermagic.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/red3top-sized.jpg Red Three (Biggs)]], [[http://www.modelermagic.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/Red-4-02-500x333.jpg Red Four (John D.)]], [[http://www.modelermagic.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/three-quarter-top-right-sized.jpg Red Five (Luke)]], and [[http://www.modelermagic.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/HPIM1500-500x378.jpg Red Six (Porkins)]] all had unique markings.[[note]]Another possible model exists in the form of [[http://www.modelermagic.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/kg_blue-12.jpg "Blue]] [[http://www.modelermagic.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2009/01/KG_BLUE_12_SIDE.jpg Twelve"]], from the period when the X-wings were originally going to be called Blue Squadron before the limits of bluescreen technology of the time forced this to change.[[/note]] |
| 357 | ** If you look closely in some shots, you can see Creator/DavidProwse's eyes through the Vader mask. |
| 358 | * FrustratingLie: The Rebel Alliance has just stolen the complete plans for the Death Star, and Darth Vader tracks those stolen plans to the blockade runner ''Tantive IV''. Princess Leia entrusts the plans to the droid R2-D2 and tells him to flee the ship--then when she's captured by Darth Vader minutes later, she denies all knowledge of the Rebels and the plans, and tries to invoke diplomatic immunity. Vader gets so frustrated with this lie that he loses composure and cuts the interrogation short. The prequel ''Film/RogueOne'' retroactively [[{{Retcon}} gives more context to Vader's annoyance and makes Leia's lies even more blatant]]: at the Battle of Scarif, Darth Vader himself came within a hair's breadth of recapturing the stolen plans, and he saw the soldier with the plans board the ''Tantive IV'' just before it fled the battle. |
| 359 | -->'''Leia:''' Darth Vader. Only you could be so bold. The Imperial Senate will not sit still for this. When they hear you've attacked a diplomatic--\ |
| 360 | '''Darth Vader:''' Don't act so surprised, Your Highness, you weren't on any mercy mission this time. Several transmissions were beamed to this ship by Rebel spies. I want to know what happened to the plans they sent you.\ |
| 361 | '''Leia:''' I don't know what you're talking about. I'm a member of the Imperial Senate on a diplomatic mission to Alderaan.\ |
| 362 | '''Darth Vader:''' ''[audibly angry]'' You are part of the Rebel Alliance and a traitor! ''[to the troopers holding Leia]'' Take her away! |
| 363 | [[/folder]] |
| 364 | |
| 365 | [[folder:Tropes G to H]] |
| 366 | * GallowsHumor: When the heroes are [[AdvancingWallOfDoom about to be crushed]] in the trash compactor: |
| 367 | -->'''Han:''' One thing's for sure, we're all going to be a lot thinner! |
| 368 | * GambitRoulette: Darth Vader's ultimate plan to get the Rebel base's location, which Tarkin agreed to on the grounds that it demonstrated that Leia was of more use than he had anticipated, hinged on Luke and Han rescuing Leia and the tractor beam being disabled by the time they got back to the ''Millennium Falcon''. He sent a pair of Stormtroopers into the ''Falcon'' to search for occupants, and the whole thing--Luke and Han attacking the Stormtroopers and DressingAsTheEnemy, Chewie being the TrojanPrisoner, Obi-wan evading the Stormtroopers until the tractor beam was disabled, etc.--was improvised from there. Subverted in that from the perspective of a Force sensitive, there is no such thing as luck. |
| 369 | * GameNightFight: Han implies Chewbacca handles it pretty poorly when he loses in games. It's shown when R2-D2 and C-3PO play dejarik with Chewie, with the droids making a move that beats one of Chewie's piece, making him growl in anger. 3PO protests that R2 made a fair move, but Han warns him it's best to just let him win. |
| 370 | -->'''C-3PO:''' But, sir, nobody worries about upsetting a droid.\ |
| 371 | '''Han:''' That's because a droid don't pull people's arms out of their sockets when they lose. Wookies are known to do that.\ |
| 372 | '''C-3PO:''' I see your point, sir. I suggest a new strategy, R2 -- let the wookiee win. |
| 373 | * GarbageHideout: When Imperial troops cut off their escape route, Luke Skywalker, Princess Leia, Han Solo and Chewbacca are stuck shooting it out in the Death Star's cell bay. Leia takes a blaster from Luke, and obliterates a waste grate. "Into the garbage chute, flyboy." This move gets the party out of harm's way for a while. Then the Imperials start the trash compactor. |
| 374 | * GasLeakCoverUp: Han Solo, answering the operator of a concerned nearby station following the dispatch of the Death Star detention block's guards and security cameras, attempts to buy time for Luke to find Princess Leia by claiming a "reactor leak" is in progress, asking for time to shut it down. It fails miserably. |
| 375 | * GenocideSurvivor: The Empire uses the Death Star to blow up the planet of Alderaan, with Princess Leia being ForcedToWatch as her home is instantaneously destroyed. |
| 376 | * GenreBusting: Hoo boy, we have an adventure story with fairy tale and mythological elements, samurai melodrama, space fantasy, war movie, western and old fashioned science fiction elements all mashed up into one movie. By the way, the visual design evokes PuttingOnTheReich, cowboys in space, RayGunGothic, and a dab of CrystalSpiresAndTogas, all while being the TropeCodifier for UsedFuture. The space combat scenes were created to evoke WWII dogfighting footage at its most heroic and the score hearkens back to much older war movies with bright, powerful orchestral music. Heck, TheDragon is in a costume that mixes samurai silhouettes with those of a RayGunGothic villain. |
| 377 | * GenreThrowback: The whole movie is a big 70's love letter to Flash Gordon, war movies, westerns and B-movie serials of the old days of Hollywood. |
| 378 | * GeorgeLucasAlteredVersion: In addition to making [[AdaptationalSelfDefense Han return fire]] on Greedo instead of shooting first, they added in a deleted scene of Han conversing with Jabba by the ''Falcon'' (who was originally portrayed as humanoid, making some awkward CG putting in the now famous giant slug, and Han calling Jabba a "wonderful human being") [[note]]apparently, Lucas meant to overlay a stop-motion bear creature over the footage, with the natural Irish brogue of the actor intact [[/note]]. There is also a grand establishing shot of Mos Eisley as they drive in, a scene of Luke meeting his old friend Biggs Darklighter (though the early scene in which Biggs is introduced remains on the cutting room floor), an EpicTrackingShot for the X-Wings as they prepare to engage the Death Star, and the [[http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Shistavanen Shistavanen]] [[http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Lak_Sivrak/Canon Lak Sivrak]] as well as the [[http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Defel Defel]] [[http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Arleil_Schous Arleil Schous]] were both replaced by [[http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Ketwol Ketwol]] and [[http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Melas Melas]], a [[http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Pacithhip Pacithhip]] and a [[http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Sarkan Sarkan]] respectively, for the Cantina scene. |
| 379 | * GoOutWithASmile: Obi-Wan sees that Luke, Han, and Leia have the perfect opportunity to sneak aboard the ''Millenium Falcon'' and escape since all the stormtroopers who were guarding the ship are now watching the duel between himself and Vader. Obi-Wan then gives Vader a small grin before throwing the fight and letting Vader cut him down. |
| 380 | * GoodColorsEvilColors: ''Everything'' in this movie. Blue lightsabers are good, red is bad. The Imperial ships are black or white while the Rebel ships are grey and red. Even the laser bolts are different colors, with Rebels firing red and Imperials green (except small arms, which all shoot red bolts). The showdown between Vader and Obi-Wan also introduced the Jedi and Sith color scheme of black vs. brown robes which was maintained throughout all the films. |
| 381 | * GoneHorriblyRight: The goal with the Death Star was to destroy the will of the people of the galaxy and prevent them from fighting back. However, having no hope of victory also means that there is nothing to lose by fighting back, which served to reinvigorate the Rebellion and inspire other worlds to defect. |
| 382 | * GrapplingHookPistol: Averted. When Luke and Leia are trapped by a chasm in the Death Star, Luke discovers one of the compartments of his Stormtrooper utility belt contains a grappling hook and line, but no launcher. He tosses the line so that the hook snags on some overhead piping, allowing he and Leia to swing to safety. |
| 383 | * GreatOffscreenWar: The Clone Wars, first mentioned in this movie and promptly [[NoodleIncident never explained]] [[Film/AttackOfTheClones for the next twenty-five years]]. Beyond the fact that Obi-Wan and Luke's father both fought in it, we learn nothing about it in this film. Keep in mind that at the time, there was no plan for ''Star Wars'' to be a big franchise like it is today, so it was very likely that almost nobody among the crews and actors had any slightest idea what the Clone Wars was like. It didn't help that it never even got any more mention in the rest of the Original Trilogy, making it nothing more than a big fat NoodleIncident at the time. |
| 384 | * GreaterScopeVillain: The Emperor is a background figure who never appears nor does he intervene in the decisions taken. He's only mentioned almost in passing a couple of times through the film. |
| 385 | * TheGuardsMustBeCrazy: Subverted, if not averted. The commander of the prison guards didn't buy the TrojanPrisoner plot Luke and Han tried to do with Chewbacca while they were DressingAsTheEnemy. [[CurbStompBattle Not that it helped much....]] |
| 386 | * GuileHero: If you think about it, every major character save for Chewbacca uses guile to screw somebody else over. |
| 387 | ** R2: Tricks Luke into removing his restraining bolt so he can find Obi-Wan. |
| 388 | ** Obi-Wan: Uses the Force to confuse Stormtroopers, and distracts Vader long enough for Luke and co to escape. |
| 389 | ** Leia: Lies to Tarkin about where the Rebel base is. |
| 390 | ** Luke: Convinces Han to rescue Leia because "she's rich". It turns out the Rebellion ''can'' pay Han, but Luke wouldn't have known that. |
| 391 | ** Han: Shoots Greedo, pretends to be a Stormtrooper on the radio to buy them time ("We're all fine here now, thank you. How are you?") |
| 392 | ** C-3PO: Pretends he and R2 are helpless Imperial droids victimized by Luke and co. |
| 393 | ** Vader and Tarkin: Put a homing beacon on the ''Millennium Falcon'' to track it to the Rebel base. |
| 394 | * GunshipRescue: Han Solo saves Luke, who is being targeted while piloting straight to the tunnel leading to the core of the Death Star. |
| 395 | -->'''Han Solo:''' You're all clear, kid! Now let's blow this thing and go home! |
| 396 | * GuyInBack: R2-D2 during the final battle. To add to the drama, he is badly damaged during the final trench run. |
| 397 | * HallwayFight: The movie opens with Imperial Stormtroopers blasting their way into Princess Leia's starship, leading to a series of intense shoot-outs in the narrow corridors of the ship. |
| 398 | * HardTruthAesop: |
| 399 | ** You can't convince a person to do the right thing unless they truly want to do it, no matter the nobility of your case. Luke wants to travel the stars, but knows his aunt and uncle need him on the farm and hesitates when Ben invites him to come to Alderaan. Han only rescues Princess Leia for the promise of enough money to pay his debt to Jabba and refuses to die for her cause. He comes back to save Luke because he likes the kid. |
| 400 | ** The term [[LetTheBullyWin "let the wookie win"]] comes from C-3PO and R2-D2 throwing their holographic chess match with Chewbacca, after Han Solo instructs them not "to upset a wookie". This scene suggests that it [[PyrrhicVictory isn't worth winning]] -- even fairly -- against a SoreLoser that could inflict DisproportionateRetribution upon {{Rage Quit}}ting, particularly if the stakes are as low as an inconsequential chess match. |
| 401 | * HardWorkHardlyWorks: Luke Skywalker never had more than a few days worth of actual Jedi training. He got a few hours of school aboard the ''Millennium Falcon'' with Obi-Wan and learned enough for the Force to guide him as he blew up the Death Star. |
| 402 | * HeroKiller: Darth Vader is infamous for killing numerous Jedi when the Empire began to rule, including Luke's father. Onscreen, he cements his status when he kills Obi-wan in a lightsaber duel and shoots down half-a-dozen pilots during the Battle of Yavin, including two squad leaders and Luke's childhood friend Biggs, while giving R2-D2 serious damage and nearly shooting down Luke before Han arrives in a BigDamnHeroes. |
| 403 | * HeroicSacrifice: Obi-Wan allows Vader to kill him so Luke will leave the Death Star. Since Obi-Wan knows he'll live on in the universe's afterlife, he decides to GoOutWithASmile. |
| 404 | * HeroismIncentive: Luke telling Han he could get a handsome reward for saving Princess Leia. It even got played with in various ways. |
| 405 | -->'''Han:''' No reward is worth this. |
| 406 | * TheHerosJourney: Hits every note, and Joseph Campbell was one of Lucas's many inspirations in developing the story. |
| 407 | * HeroTrackingFailure: |
| 408 | ** The ''Millennium Falcon'' gets pursued by four TIE fighters as it flees from the Death Star. Han and Luke get on the freighter's gun turrets, but the fighters are too fast and the two pilots initially kept missing their shot. Eventually, both of them start to adjust their aim and LeadTheTarget, blowing the [=TIEs=] up. |
| 409 | ** The Death Star's guns also do a very poor job of defending against the Rebel X-Wings and Y-Wings in the climactic battle. They're heavy guns designed to prevent attack by large warships, as the Empire didn't even contemplate that small fighters might present any threat to a station [[ThatsNoMoon the size of a small moon]]. |
| 410 | * HesDeadJim: When Vader is [[NeckLift choking the Rebel]], we see a close-up of his feet, but it's only to establish that Vader is holding him up in the air; his legs are never kicking even when he dies (well, at least we don't see it). [[SickeningCrunch The bones in his neck being crushed]] sorta drove the point home. |
| 411 | * HesitationEqualsDishonesty: A [[{{Retcon}} retroactive example]]; Obi-Wan hesitates for a few seconds before telling Luke that Vader betrayed and murdered his father. He was intended to be telling the truth at the time the film was made, but TheReveal about Luke's parentage in ''The Empire Strikes Back'' makes it this trope. The hesitation was also quite a fortunate touch, as it makes the later {{Retcon}} work more smoothly. |
| 412 | * HiddenInPlainSight: The Rebel plan during the Battle of Yavin. The X-Wings would distract the turrets while the slower Y-Wings, unnoticed in the confusion of the X-Wing attack, made their way to the Trench to attack the exhaust port. Unfortunately, Darth Vader is wise to that maneuver, ordering all TIE Fighters to take out the X-Wings, while his own squadron goes after the Y-Wings. |
| 413 | * HighTechHexagons: Some hexagonal lights can be seen on the walls of the Lars homestead, as well as above the elevator doors of the Death Star. |
| 414 | * HollywoodTactics: The entire purpose of wingmen is to ''attack'' any enemies that try to engage your lead fighter. The enemy can't line up a shot to take out your leader if they're too busy dodging your own shots. Instead of sitting there as useless meat shields, Wedge and Biggs and the rest should have immediately dropped back to engage Vader's fighters. Notably, when Han shows up and does exactly this, it immediately breaks up Vader's formation and leaves Luke free to take his shot, precisely what wingman tactics are supposed to do. |
| 415 | * HologramProjectionImperfection: Princess Leia's message to Obi-Wan Kenobi (stored in R2-D2) starts with a burst of static. |
| 416 | * {{Homage}}: |
| 417 | ** To Creator/AkiraKurosawa's ''Film/TheHiddenFortress'', with the droids being the focus for much of the film, and also to ''Film/{{Yojimbo}}'', with the scene of the two braggarts at the cantina. Lucas' heavy use of frame wipes is also indebted to Kurosawa. |
| 418 | --->'''Admiral Motti:''' ''[to Vader]'' [Your belief in the force hasn't] given you clairvoyance enough to find the rebels' ''hidden fortre''-- ''[Vader silences him with a ForceChoke]'' |
| 419 | ** The heart-wrenching scene where Luke rushes to the farm, only to find it already raided and his relatives dead harkens to an equally distressing scene in ''Film/TheSearchers''. |
| 420 | ** The confrontation between Kenobi against Ponda Baba and Cornelius Evazan in the cantina is straight out of ''Film/{{Yojimbo}}'', complete with the lingering shot on a severed arm. |
| 421 | ** Much of the Death Star attack at the climax comes from ''Film/TheDamBusters'', down to the dialogue in places. In fact, some footage from ''The Dam Busters'' was actually used in early cuts as a stand-in for the Death Star trench run. |
| 422 | ** The medal ceremony scene at the end is almost frame-for-frame out of the infamous Nazi propaganda film ''Film/TriumphOfTheWill''. |
| 423 | ** A couple of the characters are homages bordering on {{Expy}}. Classical Hollywood aficionados will recognize Greedo's [[Creator/PeterLorre silky voice and bugged-out eyes]], and Jabba moves smoothly like Sidney Greenstreet and has his placid expression. Harrison Ford's Han Solo has elements of Creator/HumphreyBogart [[note]]"I stick my neck out for no one!"[[/note]] as well. |
| 424 | * HonestJohnsDealership: The droids sold by the Jawas are what they find around Tatooine, so defective droids like the R5 unit with the malfunctioning motivator end up getting sold to unsuspecting consumers. |
| 425 | * {{Hypocrite}}: After learning that Dantooine isn't the location of the current rebel base, Tarkin has the nerve to get upset that Leia lied ''to him'', [[YouSaidYouWouldLetThemGo just after he had went back on his word to her and blew up her home planet]]. Although his anger could be more directed at the fact that, having destroyed Alderaan, he now has no leverage over her. |
| 426 | * HyperspeedEscape: The Stormtroopers have just barely tracked down the heroes and which ship they are taking before the ''Millenium Falcon'' is able to get out of the Mos Eisley spaceport. In orbit they find Star Destroyers chasing them, but Han is able to calculate a lightspeed jump and outrun them (the first time hyperspeed was shown). Han later confirms he was able to outrun their pursuers. |
| 427 | * HypocriticalHumor: |
| 428 | ** When Luke rescues Leia from her cell, she remarks that Luke's rather short for a Stormtrooper. In real life, Mark Hamill is 5'9", while Carrie Fisher was a petite 5'1" in height. |
| 429 | ** Even more amusing in that Temeura Morrison, who played Jango Fett and was the base for the clone army that became stormtroopers, is only 5'7". Luke is actually ''tall'' for a stormtrooper. |
| 430 | ** After Luke boasts that he just blasted a TIE fighter, Han Solo, who tends to be a bit on the smug, overconfident side at times, tells him not to get cocky about it. |
| 431 | [[/folder]] |
| 432 | |
| 433 | [[folder:Tropes I to J]] |
| 434 | * IdiotBall: |
| 435 | ** The commander of the Star Destroyer doesn't fire on the escape pod leaving Leia's ship because there are no life signs onboard. The Star Wars Lore clearly establishes that droids are very common and perform a wide variety of significant tasks. As such, it is mind-boggling that a senior Imperial officer wouldn't consider the possibility that the pod might have droids onboard that might be important to the rebels. Though he does immediately tell Vader about this. |
| 436 | ** Leia deduces that the ''Falcon'' is being tracked by the Empire, but instead of taking precautions (for instance, making a rendezvous with an Alliance ship in deep space), she travels straight to Yavin IV, leading the Death Star right to its target. |
| 437 | ** Even if Admiral Motti genuinely thought that Vader was making up the Force, what did he seriously think that the end result of insulting him to his face was going to be? |
| 438 | * IJustWantToBeSpecial: The film begins with Luke saying that he wants to leave home to join the Rebellion, just like some of his friends. It's bittersweet when he gets his wish. He stated that he wanted to join the Imperial Academy (even though Luke said he had a negative opinion of the Empire when talking to Obi-Wan), as he and Owen discussed at their dinner. Owen wouldn't allow him to, due to how much Luke was needed on the moisture farm and because he was a bit nervous that Luke would turn out like his father. |
| 439 | -->'''Beru:''' Luke's just not a farmer, Owen. He has too much of his father in him.\ |
| 440 | '''Owen:''' [[{{Foreshadowing}} That's what I'm afraid of.]] |
| 441 | * ILied: Tarkin threatens to destroy Alderaan unless Leia gives up the location of the Rebel base. When Leia tells him, he has Alderaan destroyed anyway. For her part, Leia lied about it being on Dantooine, at least currently. |
| 442 | * ImmediateSequel: This starts presumably not long after ''Film/RogueOne'' ends. |
| 443 | * ImminentDangerClue: After Han speculates that the TIE fighter harassing the ''Falcon'' around the remains of Alderaan either followed them through hyperspace or got separated from a convoy, Obi-wan counters that those fighters don't have hyperspace drives and work from local bases only—of which they both agree there are none around Alderaan. [[ThatsNoMoon Then they see it heading for what seems to be a small moon ...]] |
| 444 | * ImpededCommunication: While pursuing a TIE fighter that just buzzed the ''Millennium Falcon'' and took a couple of potshots at them, Han Solo orders Chewbacca to jam its communications so that it can't alert the Empire to their location. Not that it matters: the TIE is [[LuredIntoATrap leading them right to the Death Star]]. |
| 445 | * ImperialStormtrooperMarksmanshipAcademy: |
| 446 | ** Averted and then played straight when the Imperials board the ''Tantive IV''. The stormtroopers quickly mow through the rebels and send the remaining ones packing. But during the shootout, C-3PO and R2 pass through the hallway and narrowly miss the volley of lasers being shot between the imperials and the rebels. While this could be chalked up to them not being the targets of either side, the droids got really lucky they made it out intact. |
| 447 | ** Ironically, an aversion of this is what lets Luke and Kenobi know that the Jawas who sold Luke the droids ''weren't'' slaughtered by Tuskens. Unfortunately, this realization is made too late to save Owen and Beru. |
| 448 | ** The Death Star's stormtroopers fire volley after volley of lethal laser rounds and always end up just missing our heroes. This includes when they're standing still five feet in front of them, clinging to a wall, or running down a straight hallway. Leia later rationalizes that Vader intentionally let them escape, but it isn't clear when in the escape Vader got that idea and relayed it to his troops. |
| 449 | ** Greedo, in the [[GeorgeLucasAlteredVersion Special Edition]], clearly is a graduate as he is somehow able to miss Han. At point-blank range. By more than the distance between them. ''With a laser''. |
| 450 | * ImplausibleDeniability: Captain Antilles and Leia both try to insist that ''Tantive IV'' is on a diplomatic mission. Vader is having none of it and takes the ship captive. The film ''Rogue One'' shows it as completely implausible. |
| 451 | * ImposedHandicapTraining: When Obi-Wan is teaching Luke how to use the Force, he has him fight a practice robot blindfolded. |
| 452 | * IncrediblyLongNote: The original theatrical release close music for the movie ends on a very long note. |
| 453 | * IndyPloy: |
| 454 | ** Played with, as Luke's spur-of-the-moment plan to get into the detention center starts to unravel when they just blindly shoot at the cameras and Han poorly makes an excuse over the intercom. |
| 455 | ** Leia's ploy also works partly. Diving into the garbage chute gets them out of the firefight, but the droids have to save them from the compactor. |
| 456 | * InformedAbility: This is the film where Obi-Wan Kenobi infamously states, when pointing out blaster marks "Only Imperial Stormtroopers are so precise." These would be the same Stormtroopers [[ImperialStormTrooperMarksmanshipAcademy that can't seem to hit the broad side of a barn]] any time they're shown shooting at the heroes. People do seem to forget however that in this film at least the Stormtroopers were deliberately missing. |
| 457 | * InsecurityCamera: The cameras in the Death Star's cell block are pretty useless, since Luke and Han shoot them as soon as their cover is blown and a fight breaks out with the Imperial guards. |
| 458 | * ItBeganWithATwistOfFate: Don't forget about the time Luke Skywalker's uncle bought a couple of droids. |
| 459 | * ItWasAGift: Luke's lightsaber was originally his father's. Obi-Wan ''said'' his father wanted him to have it when he was old enough. Of course it may have been MetaphoricallyTrue... |
| 460 | * IWarnedYou: Han was initially against rescuing Leia. |
| 461 | -->'''Han:''' ''[about their plan]'' This is not gonna work.\ |
| 462 | '''Luke:''' Why didn't you say so before?\ |
| 463 | '''Han:''' I ''did'' say so before!\ |
| 464 | ''[Luke shakes his head]'' |
| 465 | * JediMindTrick: Not the {{Trope Namer|s}}[[invoked]], but this film showed the first example of ''Star Wars'''s Jedi Mind Trick, an ability where one uses the mystical energy field known as the Force to fool the weak-minded into doing as one says. |
| 466 | * JerkassHasAPoint: |
| 467 | ** Uncle Owen may be frustrating Luke's dream of going to the Academy terribly, but considering the risk that Luke would surely be discovered by the Sith Lords and corrupted into their minion, you can see why Owen would be determined to prevent that. |
| 468 | ** Vader may well have provoked Motti's outburst by so belittling the Death Star, the focus of all the assembled officers' efforts and hopes for presumably months, in comparison to the Force, but given what we've seen of it in the franchise since then, he has a point. |
| 469 | ** Motti ''had'' to know he was tempting fate to say something like "your sad devotion to that ancient religion" to Vader's face, and indeed it took Tarkin's intervention to save his life, but the Force can't keep anyone in the room from agreeing that for all Vader's mastery of it the Empire is still no closer to finding the rebel base ''or'' recovering the Death Star plans. |
| 470 | ** Leia seems [[ComplainingAboutRescuesTheyDontLike almost petulant about being rescued]], but given that Han and Luke admit that they don't really have much of a plan and the odds are overwhelmingly against them succeeding, can you blame her? |
| 471 | * JustInTime: |
| 472 | ** Han showing up at the Death Star fight and saving Luke from Vader. |
| 473 | ** And soon afterwards, the Death Star exploding just before it can fire on Yavin IV. |
| 474 | [[/folder]] |
| 475 | |
| 476 | [[folder:Tropes K to L]] |
| 477 | * KeepTheReward: Zig-zagged with Han Solo. Before the climax, Solo sticks to his mercenary motives and leaves with his reward before the climactic space battle; [[spoiler: some time after that, he has a [[ChangedMyMindKid change of heart]] and returns [[BigDamnHeroes just in time to help Luke destroy the Death Star.]]]] After this, however, he keeps the reward so he can pay back his debt to Jabba the Hutt, but delays and delays due to his commitment to the Rebellion, Luke, and Leia. At the beginning of ''Film/TheEmpireStrikesBack'' he finally decides to go to Tatooine to repay Jabba, but the Empire gets in his way. |
| 478 | * KickTheDog: |
| 479 | ** The destruction of Alderaan, a peaceful planet full of diplomats, firmly establishes the monstrous nature of Grand Moff Tarkin and the Empire as a whole. In essence, Tarkin and the Empire shot themselves in the foot by enabling neutral worlds to jump to the Rebels' cause. |
| 480 | --->'''Leia:''' ''[from a test shot]'' And you call yourselves humans. |
| 481 | ** The Stormtroopers slaughtering the Jawas and then killing Owen and Beru. The film doesn't give any explanation for the massacres (especially since, unlike the Rebels from the opening, they're all basically no threat to the Empire), and makes it come off as the Empire just being incredibly ruthless. |
| 482 | ** On the ''Tantive IV'' we see several rebel soldiers surrendering and being walked offscreen by stormtroopers. As the Imperial forces prepare to leave, we hear Darth Vader tell his lieutenant to report that no one survived, implying they murdered all the soldiers even though they surrendered. |
| 483 | * KilledMidSentence: Davish Krail during the Trench Run. His last words are a calm sitrep telling Garven Dreis what he is going to face: "They came... from behind--" |
| 484 | * KillSat: The Death Star is not ''technically'' a satellite, since it's a mobile space station with millions of staff, [[TheBattlestar a full complement of fighters and support ships, thousands of secondary weapons]], and a [[EarthShatteringKaboom planet-shattering]] superlaser -- however, it is seen orbiting the planet Yavin in the movie so that it can turn its superlaser on the moon where the main rebel base is located. |
| 485 | * KnightKnaveAndSquire: Luke Skywalker is the Squire, with Obi-Wan and Han Solo as the Knight and Knave respectively. A key point in Luke's character development is when he rejects Han's pragmatism, leading to Han second-guessing his own beliefs. |
| 486 | * LaserGuidedKarma: In retaliation against the disturbance caused by the destruction of Alderaan and the slaughter of all of its inhabitants, the Force guides Luke's hands to fire the shots that destroy the Death Star and slaughter its entire crew. |
| 487 | * LastDayOfNormalcy: We're introduced to Luke Skywalker on Tatooine as a bored kid working on his Uncle Owen's moisture farm, who "wastes time with his friends" at Tosche Station and has dreams of leaving. Then his Uncle buys two used droids with a bit of a history, and one with a mission to find Obi-Wan Kenobi. |
| 488 | * LeaningOnTheFourthWall: Around the 1:30 hour mark, the heroes, [[FalseEnding after rescuing Princess Leia and securing the Death Star plans, head off to the Rebel base to deliver them]]; It's then when Leia says, "It's not over yet." She's right, the movie still has 30 minutes left to depict the battle of Yavin. |
| 489 | * LeaveNoWitnesses: |
| 490 | ** This is why the Stormtroopers slaughter the Jawas and kill Luke's aunt and uncle, seeing as they are trying to leave evidence that Tusken Raiders did it. |
| 491 | ** After Darth Vader attacks Leia's ship (a ship containing an emissary of the Galactic Senate), he orders a subordinate, "Send a distress signal, and inform the Senate that all on board were killed." Presumably he wants to make it look like the ship was destroyed by random piracy, and left nobody alive who could contradict that story. |
| 492 | * LeeroyJenkins: |
| 493 | ** Han makes it clear that he's not fond of stealth and subtlety on the Death Star. |
| 494 | --->'''Luke:''' You know, between [Chewbacca's] howling and your blasting everything in sight, it's a wonder the whole station doesn't know we're here.\ |
| 495 | '''Han:''' Bring 'em on. I'd prefer a straight fight to all this sneaking around. |
| 496 | ** He then chases after a group of retreating Stormtroopers. Followed by him running full tilt ''[[AttackAttackRetreatRetreat away]]'' from the same group of Stormtroopers when they turn around and start shooting at him again. |
| 497 | * {{Leitmotif}}: All over the place. Music/JohnWilliams held nothing back. The film introduces the themes for the Rebels, the Jedi, Princess Leia, and more. Even the Death Star itself has a cue to represent it. (Notably absent is Vader's theme, the ominous Imperial March, which doesn't appear until the next movie.) |
| 498 | * LeitmotifUponDeath: {{Downplayed}} when [[MentorArchetype Obi-wan]] is dueling with [[TheDragon Darth Vader]]. The Force Theme briefly plays in a few moments before [[MentorOccupationalHazard he is killed]]. Strangely, it is followed by Leia's Theme, where she had little importance in the scene. |
| 499 | * LetTheBullyWin: {{Trope Namer|s}}[[invoked]]. 3PO telling R2 to "let the Wookiee win." |
| 500 | * LetsGetDangerous: At first, Obi-Wan seems to be little more than a wizened old man, who may have once been a warrior of the Clone Wars, but is now an old man who lives in a hovel. Then we get to the cantina scene, where said old man whips out a lightsaber, deflects blaster shots and lops a man's arm off. You can tell from the look on Luke's face, that's the moment when he starts to take the whole 'Jedi' thing seriously. |
| 501 | * LifesavingMisfortune: After Han Solo disrupts Darth Vader's attempt to shoot Luke's X-Wing by blasting one of his TIE-Fighter wingmen, the other loses control of his ship and sends Vader's TIE-Fighter spiraling into space. As a result of this, however, Vader ends up being the only one to survive the destruction of the Death Star, allowing him to pull a VillainExitStageLeft and return to plague the heroes for the remainder of the trilogy. |
| 502 | * ALightInTheDistance: C-3PO, lost on Tatooine, sees light glinting off a Jawa sandcrawler and concludes that he's saved. |
| 503 | * ListOfExperiencesSpeech: While talking to young Luke Skywalker, Han Solo lists his experiences to poo-poo the concept of The Force: "Kid, I've flown from one end of this galaxy to the other. Seen a lot of strange stuff. But I've never seen anything to make me believe there's some all-powerful force controlling ''everything''. No mystical energy field controls ''my'' destiny." This speech neatly gauges how cynical and faithless Han Solo is at that point. |
| 504 | * ListingTheFormsOfDegenerates: Obi-Wan does this when he says "Mos Eisley spaceport. You will never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy." |
| 505 | * LiteralDisarming: The lightsaber is shown being used in combat for the first time when Obi-Wan Kenobi uses his in the Mos Eisley Cantina to stop two men about to shoot Luke, cutting the arm off one of them. |
| 506 | * LongSongShortScene: A somewhat longer version of the "Throne Room" music from the final scene of the movie, including a quiet repetition of the minor-key Force theme, can be heard in the symphonic suite. |
| 507 | * ALongTimeAgoInAGalaxyFarFarAway: {{Trope Namer|s}}[[invoked]]. The introductory line of text before the opening crawl. |
| 508 | * LowClearance: In a blooper [[ThrowItIn they left in]][[invoked]] a stormtrooper [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dBQaLuqwtl8 hits his head]] on a door that didn't open ''quite'' enough. |
| 509 | * LyingToProtectYourFeelings: Obi-Wan spouts numerous [[MetaphoricallyTrue half-truths]] and [[MotivationalLie outright lies]] to Luke Skywalker to avoid confessing the AwfulTruth to him that his father Anakin Skywalker and Darth Vader are one and the same. Unfortunately, Luke finds out from his old man himself in [[Film/TheEmpireStrikesBack the sequel]]. |
| 510 | [[/folder]] |
| 511 | |
| 512 | [[folder:Tropes M to N]] |
| 513 | * MacGuffinBlindness: Four stormtroopers fail to recognize that the droids they're looking for are right in front of them, courtesy of Ben's JediMindTrick. |
| 514 | * MagicalGuide: Before his physical death, Obi-wan Kenobi is a guide and teacher to Luke Skywalker; the novelization strongly implies that Kenobi did something to help awaken Luke's Force powers while training him aboard the ''Millennium Falcon''. |
| 515 | * MagicCountdown: Zigzagged. The Battle of Yavin takes place over just under 15 minutes, the same amount of time in the standby alert given as the battle begins. However after that point it jumps all over the place, particularly when 1 minute is remaining at about just under 5 minutes of time in the score plays. |
| 516 | * MagicVersusScience: |
| 517 | ** Vader lectures Admiral Motti on this when the latter brags that the Death Star is the ultimate power in the universe. |
| 518 | --->'''Darth Vader:''' Don't be too proud of this technological terror you constructed. The ability to destroy a planet is insignificant next to the power of The Force. |
| 519 | ** And magic wins. Luke destroys the Death Star specifically by discarding his own technology (that is, his X-Wing's targeting computer) in favor of Obi-Wan's first lesson: let the Force guide your senses. |
| 520 | * MakeAnExampleOfThem: Tarkin had a history with his trope, and destroying Alderaan through its planetary shield (that could have resisted bombardment from hundreds of ships) would show the galaxy that opposing the Empire meant complete annihilation. Then the Rebels blew up the Death Star, thus making an example of ''him''. |
| 521 | * MakeItLookLikeAnAccident: The Jawas who sold R2-D2 and C-3PO to Owen and Beru Lars get slaughtered by Imperial Stormtroopers, who make it look like the Tusken Raiders were responsible by leaving gaderfii sticks and bantha tracks behind. |
| 522 | * MandatoryUnretirement: Obi-Wan Kenobi has been living in self-exile on Tatooine, until Luke Skywalker stumbles upon him while trying to recover a lost droid carrying the stolen plans to the Death Star. As it happens, said droid, R2-D2, also carries a recorded message from Princess Leia begging Obi-Wan to help in her mission. While Obi-Wan doesn't put up much of an argument, he'd been hiding out from the Empire for nearly twenty years at this point. |
| 523 | * MassOhCrap: A planetwide version happens offscreen, but sensed by Obi-Wan Kenobi: |
| 524 | -->'''Obi-Wan:''' I felt a great disturbance in the Force, as if millions of voices suddenly cried out in terror... |
| 525 | * MatchCut: The shot where R2 uploads the Death Star plans at the rebel base and whistles at the 3D schematics immediately cuts to the real Death Star heading for Yavin, in a similar position to where the plans were displayed on screen. |
| 526 | * MaybeMagicMaybeMundane: In contrast to [[EarlyInstallmentWeirdness later films in the series]], many of the claimed signs of the Force in this movie aren't clearly supernatural and are accepted on faith. Lampshaded by Han Solo after seeing Luke successfully fend off a test droid shooting at him while he's wearing a helmet over his eyes; he calls it luck and says he doesn't believe in the Force, calling it "a lot of simple tricks and nonsense"--which [[JerkassHasAPoint makes sense based on what he's seen up to that point]]. |
| 527 | * MedalsForEveryone: The movie's ending shows Leia giving out medals to all the main heroes. Luke Skywalker, Han Solo... [[FantasticRacism but not Chewie]]. He later gets one, decades later, in the GrandFinale of the Skywalker Saga, ''Film/TheRiseOfSkywalker''. |
| 528 | * MentorArchetype: Obi-Wan Kenobi fills this role so well, [[TropeCodifier the Trope was once named after him]]. |
| 529 | * MentorOccupationalHazard: Obi-Wan teaches Luke the basics of being a Jedi and then proceeds to die in a light saber duel against Darth Vader, right in sight of Luke, giving him the motivation to truly hate Vader in the sequel.[[note]]Obi-Wan was meant to live in the early versions of the ''A New Hope'' script, but Creator/GeorgeLucas was frustrated in that during the big battle against the Death Star, he would have had nothing to do. He eventually decided to kill him off before the third act.[[/note]] |
| 530 | * MentorsNewHope: Luke is being taught by Obi-Wan, who also taught Darth Vader before Vader went to the dark side. |
| 531 | * MetaphoricallyTrue: |
| 532 | ** Grand Moff Tarkin orders Leia to divulge the location of the Rebel Alliance's base. She does, saying that it's on Dantooine. When Imperial ships arrive at the planet they find out that there ''was'' a Rebel base there... and it had just been abandoned. So Leia ''did'' divulge the location... just not the right one. |
| 533 | ** Obi-Wan saying that Vader killed Luke's father got the trope its previous name of "Jedi Truth" after the {{Retcon}} of Vader being Luke's father. |
| 534 | * AMillionIsAStatistic: Averted with Alderaan, and the shock and horror various characters express at its destruction. |
| 535 | * MissileLockOn: Targeting computers come up for both lasers and proton torpedoes, especially during the Death Star run. Even though they lock on they can't hit the target, until Luke shuts off his computer and uses the Force to hit the target. |
| 536 | * MissionBriefing: Before the attack on the Death Star. Luke speaks up about how the impossible-seeming goal isn't really. The briefing also includes a complete ExpositionDiagram commented by MrExposition himself, projecting the plans of an AirVentPassageway out of R2-D2's memory on TheBigBoard. |
| 537 | * MistakenForDying: A brief played for laughs scene. After R2 and 3PO manage to shut down the garbage compactor in time, Luke and the others begin screaming in relief, which 3PO mistakes for dying screams and believes he wasn't fast enough to save them, until Luke calls out that they're okay. |
| 538 | * MobDebt: Han Solo has a steep bounty on his head put there by Jabba the Hutt, as punishment for losing a shipment of spice he was smuggling. He plans to use the payment from transporting Luke and Obi-Wan to pay it off, but never gets the chance after getting sucked into joining the Rebellion. |
| 539 | * MotileVehicularComponents: The Rebellion's basic starfighter is the the X-Wing. The ship is named after its ability to, well, open its wings into an "X"-shaped configuration. This connotes DivertingPower from its engines to its quartet of laser cannons. |
| 540 | * MotivationalKiss: Leia gives Luke a peck on the cheek "for luck" before he tries to swing over a precarious gap. |
| 541 | * MuggedForDisguise: Imperial Stormtroopers TK-421 and TK-422 are lured onto the ''Millennium Falcon'', where Han stuns them in order to steal their uniforms. |
| 542 | * MythologyGag: The Special Edition remasters added an EarlyBirdCameo of the ''Outrider'', Dash Rendar's ship in ''Literature/ShadowsOfTheEmpire'', to the establishing shots of Mos Eisley. |
| 543 | * NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast: |
| 544 | ** '''Darth Vader''', a name not very different from '''Dark Invader'''. It's a miracle nobody questioned him not being seduced by the dark side of the force. This was later retconned in the next movie and following material, where it's revealed that's not his birth name, but rather a Sith title. |
| 545 | ** Their starships also invoke fear and force just by their names: the '''Star Destroyers''', and their superweapon, the '''Death Star'''. |
| 546 | * NarrativeFiligree: The encounter with Dr. Evazan (who isn't even given a name here). He just comes up and picks a fight with Luke for no apparent reason, along with mentioning that he's wanted in several systems for (unspecified) crimes. When he and his friend get violent, Obi-Wan [[AnArmAndALeg lops off his arm]]. While he was eventually fleshed out in ''Franchise/StarWarsLegends'', here he just seems like a RandomEncounter to show the Cantina is dangerous, and is never brought up again for the whole trilogy. |
| 547 | * ANaziByAnyOtherName: The Empire is clearly patterned after the Nazis. Their foot soldiers are called "stormtroopers", originally a Nazi term for the SA. Tarkin makes a comment about the "regional governors" governing the Empire directly; the German word for "regional governor" is ''Gauleiter'', and this was in fact the Nazi system of government, with Germany divided into regions governed by Gauleiters appointed by Hitler. |
| 548 | * NearVillainVictory: The Empire comes within ''seconds'' of destroying the Rebel base on Yavin IV before Luke Skywalker blows up the Death Star. Darth Vader also comes extremely close to shooting Luke down, and probably would have had Han not intervened. |
| 549 | * NeckLift: Darth Vader grabs Raymus Antilles' neck and lifts him off his feet while interrogating him. |
| 550 | * NeckSnap: Darth Vader snaps the neck of Raymus Antilles when he refuses to cooperate. |
| 551 | * TheNeedsOfTheMany: Leia is forced into this situation, throwing the planet of Dantooine (which the Expanded Universe has established is an ''inhabited world'', albeit a sparsely populated one) under the proverbial bus in hopes of it being destroyed by the Death Star instead of Alderaan when forced by Tarkin to choose between giving up the rebel base location or seeing her homeworld destroyed. She's far too trusting. |
| 552 | * NeverMyFault: |
| 553 | ** C-3PO while lost in the desert after refusing to take R2's route: |
| 554 | --->'''C-3PO:''' That malfunctioning little twerp! This is all his fault! He ''tricked'' me into going this way. But he'll do no better. |
| 555 | ** Later, after getting tangled up by wires following an attack from the TIE Fighters. |
| 556 | --->'''C-3PO:''' Help! I think I'm melting! ''[to R2]'' This is all your fault. |
| 557 | * NiceJobBreakingItHero: |
| 558 | ** Leia to Han. To Leia it's [[EstablishingCharacterMoment Han's first impression]]. |
| 559 | --->'''Han:''' We can't get out that way.\ |
| 560 | '''Leia:''' Looks like you've managed to cut off our only escape route.\ |
| 561 | '''Han:''' Maybe you'd like it back in your cell, your highness. |
| 562 | ** Luke, while he and Leia are trying to escape the stormtroopers aboard the Death Star. |
| 563 | --->'''Leia:''' Quick, we've got to get across! Find the controls that extend the bridge.\ |
| 564 | '''Luke:''' ''[sighs]'' I think I just blasted it... |
| 565 | * NiceJobFixingItVillain: The TIE pilot who knocks Darth Vader off course, thereby saving Luke and allowing him to destroy the Death Star. Han comes in at the last minute and blasts Vader, right? Nope. Han blasts one of Vader's two wingman, and the other one panics and swerves wildly despite not being fired upon, knocking himself and Vader both off course. |
| 566 | * NonIndicativeName: A mild case. When the film was released, it was simply called ''Star Wars''. The film is not about multiple wars, but instead has one central conflict. This cannot be explained as being part of a franchise, since at the time it was intended to be a standalone work. |
| 567 | * NoodleIncident: |
| 568 | ** The Clone Wars were mentioned only once in the original trilogy, as Luke learns more about Obi-Wan's past. It wasn't until the prequel trilogy and ''WesternAnimation/TheCloneWars'' animated series that we'd learn more about it. |
| 569 | ** As the ''Tantive IV'' comes under attack C-3PO says "They'll be no escape for the princess ''this time''." We find out in ''Film/RogueOne'' that the Princess had, in fact, just had the narrowest of escapes. |
| 570 | ** Vader comments early on that there will be "no-one to stop us ''this time''." This was probably when the Rebels stole the plans in the first place, which would be depicted thirty-nine years later in ''Film/RogueOne''. |
| 571 | * NoOSHACompliance: |
| 572 | ** The Death Star either fired their safety inspection team or have complete disregard for the safety of their staff, because the inside of the station is a giant death trap. You have massive chasms with very tiny bridges that can be retracted, and they have no railings or support at all. The tractor beam's power is controlled through a panel perched on a tower over a bottomless pit, and the catwalk to access the controls is about a foot wide. There are giant doors that slam shut in the blink of an eye. Their hangar bay has a giant, open elevator pit right next to where the ships would land. Heck, the superlaser cannon has two crew members perched on the itty bitty platform right next to the gigantic superlaser beam! |
| 573 | ** The blast doors. These are quadruple-section doors that close in from the corners, leaving an increasingly-shrinking square in the middle. Yes, in the event of decompression or a firefight, these doors need to close quickly for the safety of the onboard personnel (and to prevent pesky intruders from escaping, natch). But if a body (organic or mechanic) gets caught in the opening and mulched by the doors, that's a whole lotta cleaning up involved, and that's if the doors don't jam from all that matter caught in them. |
| 574 | * NoScope: Luke fired the shots that destroyed the Death Star without using his targeting computer (the X-wing's equivalent of a scope). |
| 575 | * NothingIsScarier: |
| 576 | ** The dianoga in the trash compactor. We only see a couple tentacles and an eyestalk. |
| 577 | ** Leia's session with the torture droid. After zooming in ominously on its wicked-looking syringe, the door shuts and we don't see [[ColdBloodedTorture what happens next.]] |
| 578 | ** During the trench run, the guns at the end periodically stop firing at the fighters flying towards the exhaust port. This signals Darth Vader's arrival behind the fighters. |
| 579 | * NotInThisForYourRevolution: TropeNamer. Han just helped save Leia for the reward, and decides to leave the Rebellion to destroy the Death Star without him. While he probably would have left anyway, the fact that he owes a hefty debt to a notorious crimelord certainly doesn't help. |
| 580 | * NotSoStoic: During the medal ceremony at the end, Leia is apparently trying to appear regal and stoic, but she can't resist breaking a smile after Luke smiles at her. Notably, when Han smiles at her a second later, she apparently doesn't even have to resist. This moment was possibly intended as a Luke/Leia ShipTease, as they were not planned to be brother and sister at the time. |
| 581 | * NotTooDeadToSaveTheDay: The spirit of Obi-Wan reminding Luke to "Use the Force!" (and right after his death, getting Luke to run from the stormtroopers instead of battling them.) |
| 582 | * NotWorthKilling: After Wedge is forced to pull out of the trench run when his X-Wing is damaged, Vader tells his wingmen not to bother wasting their shots on him, since Wedge is no longer a threat and they still have two fighters trying to target the exhaust port to deal with. |
| 583 | -->'''Darth Vader:''' Let him go. Stay on the leader. |
| 584 | [[/folder]] |
| 585 | |
| 586 | [[folder:Tropes O to R]] |
| 587 | * ObiWanMoment: The TropeNamer is Obi-Wan Kenobi, given the brief second of eye contact he makes with Luke right before Darth Vader kills him in this film. |
| 588 | -->'''Obi-Wan:''' [[BadassBoast If you strike me down, I shall become more powerful than you can possibly imagine]]. |
| 589 | * ObligatoryEarpieceTouch: You can just barely catch it during the Death Star attack. When Luke turns off his targeting computer, there's a quick cut to three older men listening as the base commander asks him about it; when he says he's all right, cut back to the group again and one of them is listening intently and touching his earpiece. |
| 590 | * ObstacleExposition: We have the briefing before the attack against the Death Star that clearly outlines their mission of hitting the exhaust port and everything that can possible stop them. This includes the need for tactical computers to make such a shot, and for good measure there was an unsuccessful attempt mid-way through the battle just so we know just how necessary a precise shot with the targeting computer is. Cue Luke turning off the targeting computer. |
| 591 | * ObviouslyEvil: The Empire. Right from the opening shot you can tell they're the bad guys, what with their cold, angular-looking starships, the Stormtroopers with their perpetually frowning helmets, their ruthless leader who dresses entirely in black, and so on. |
| 592 | * OdangoHair: Leia's hairstyles are a cultural touchstone that intentionally refer to this trope. Unlike this trope, they're all ''completely'' impossible. Hair narrows toward the tip due to wear and tear as it ages, so it starts out physically impossible because of how thick her cinnamon buns and braids remain along their length. Then there's the fact that '''you just. can't. do. cinnamon buns.''' Nevertheless, everyone knows Leia's updo. |
| 593 | * OffstageVillainy: The Empire as a whole. They do some remarkable nefarious acts with the Death Star, but we never hear much of how they affect the rest of the Galaxy. A deleted scene between Luke and Biggs explores this somewhat. The most that they do is burning Luke's farm, and killing his uncle and aunt. |
| 594 | * OffTheShelfFX: The film had so many production problems, that many corners were cut to make the props and effects. The results made ''Star Wars'' one of the tentpole films for how kitbashing can be used to [[Administrivia/TropesAreTools effectively add visual depth]]; |
| 595 | ** All of the ships and the surface of the Death Star were made by kitbashing numerous model kits together to give a feeling of detail and grit the film's UsedFuture tone warranted. For example, the gap between the upper and lower shells of the ''Millennium Falcon'' is filled with the undersides of various trucks. [[http://www.theforce.net/swtc/exhibit/index.html This page]] gives a good idea towards the specifics of how kitbashing (greebling) was done regarding ''Star Wars'' props. |
| 596 | ** The blasters in the film are real firearms (or models/props thereof) decorated with model part kits and whatnot, both for ease of editing (adding the energy bolts to the scenes, timed with the effects of the blank cartridges) and so the blasters actually looked like real weapons. Another reason was simple cost and supply. Even by the mid-1970s when the first movie was filmed, WWII-era weapons were still common and easily procured. Even more so, there were tons and tons of realistic plastic props of WWII weapons (particularly Nazi weapons) left over from '60s-era films or contemporary films (such as ''The Great Escape'' and ''The Dirty Dozen''). This is why a vast majority of the weapons in the ''Star Wars'' universe are modeled closely after German firearms, even down to those used by the heroes such as Han's iconic blaster (modeled after a Mauser pistol). The most iconic Imperial weapon is modeled after a British firearm of the '60s and '70s, the Sterling sub-machine gun, likely as a result of needing large numbers of actually functioning weapons as described previously. It just so happened that at the time ''A New Hope'' was being filmed, the British Army was getting rid of most of its stock of Sterlings because sub-machine guns were falling out of favor as infantry weapons, and the rest is history. Also, using "previous generation" weapons added to the Used Future feel of the series. |
| 597 | ** The Lightsabers are built out of the tubes which hold flashbulbs from old cameras. |
| 598 | ** In the faraway shots of Luke's landspeeder in the pre-Special Edition cuts, "Luke" and "Obi-Wan" were actually dolls from ''Series/TheSixMillionDollarMan''. |
| 599 | ** In the pre-1997 ''Star Wars'' Cantina scene, there is a wolf-like Shistavanen named Lak Sivrak, whose face is quite obviously a Halloween mask from a store. Sivrak was replaced with Ketwol, a member of the elephant-like Pacithhip species, for the Special Edition and subsequent cuts of the film. |
| 600 | ** Mark Hamill revealed that Luke's pants are actually just a pair of Levi's 501 button-fly jeans "bleached to within an inch of their life", with the belt loops and back pockets removed. |
| 601 | * OffWithHisHead: Vader's lightsaber cleaves through Obi-Wan's neck. PlayedWith since Obi-Wan disappears instead of being decapitated. |
| 602 | * OhCrap: |
| 603 | ** When Luke realizes that the Empire knows who the Jawas have been selling droids to: |
| 604 | --->'''Luke:''' But that would lead them back... ''home''... |
| 605 | ** Han's getting the ''Falcon'' ready for takeoff from Mos Eisley when he suddenly hears "Stop that ship! Blast them!" |
| 606 | ** "That's no moon... That's a space station." "It's ''too big'' to be a space station." |
| 607 | ** In the finale of the film, Motti is utterly shocked when he realizes that the Rebels are going to destroy the Death Star. However, it's averted by Tarkin since he doesn't even realize the Death Star is about to blow up. |
| 608 | ** When Vader is about to shoot Luke's X-wing. |
| 609 | --->'''Vader:''' I have you now. ''[wingman goes boom]'' What?! |
| 610 | * OneHitKill: |
| 611 | ** This is how the famous "who shot first" scene is resolved. Han shoots and kills Greedo with a single shot before Greedo can react. |
| 612 | ** The Death Star plays this both ways. One shot from the superlaser at a target ''planet'' creates [[EarthShatteringKaboom the planetary equivalent]] of the ChunkySalsaRule. Whereas a single proton torpedo to the thermal exhaust port, and the Death Star -- the size of a moon with a crew numbering in the millions -- turns itself into a planet-sized firework. |
| 613 | * OnlyInItForTheMoney: Han Solo makes it clear to Luke: "Look, I [[NotInThisForYourRevolution ain't in this for your revolution]], and I'm not in it for you, princess. I expect to be well paid. I'm in it for the money." [[JerkWithAHeartOfGold Or so he says.]] It's also justified, as he really needs the money to survive against Jabba the Hutt (he needs a lot of money to redeem himself for not delivering spice to Jabba). |
| 614 | * OohMeAccentsSlipping: During the first half of the film, Carrie Fisher uses a British accent, which eventually disappears for no reason. It is particularly noticeable in the scene where Tarkin is threatening to blow up Alderaan. (This is explained in the novel ''Literature/StarWarsBloodline''; she is ''mocking'' Tarkin by [[BriefAccentImitation adopting his aristocratic accent]].) |
| 615 | * OpenTheDoorAndSeeAllThePeople: Han Solo running towards a room full of stormtroopers in the Special Edition. |
| 616 | * OrwellianRetcon: |
| 617 | ** Since the 1997 Special Edition, each re-release has featured ever-more-extensive changes, such as Han's shooting of Greedo being changed to [[AdaptationalSelfDefense self-defense]]. |
| 618 | ** A very subtle one: a few frames have been removed from almost ''every single blaster hit'' on a stormtrooper throughout the film in order to [[{{Bowdlerize}} tone down the violence]]. A frame-by-frame comparison makes the difference very obvious -- the frames where the bolt is shown ''hitting'' are removed in editing, less than a half-second of footage per hit. It is especially noticeable in the bridge-swinging sequence, where it happens frequently enough to noticeably rush the pacing of the scene. In the other films, very few stormtroopers are actually shot on-screen. |
| 619 | * OOCIsSeriousBusiness: Vader shows great anger and urgency on board the ''Tantive IV'', lashing out and physically choking Captain Antilles. This is in contrast to his calm demeanor and TranquilFury seen in the rest of the series. ''Film/RogueOne'' explains the circumstances as it reveals he saw ''Tantive IV'' escape with the Death Star plans being and finds it utterly insulting that the crew have the audacity to claim it's nothing but a "diplomatic mission". |
| 620 | * OutOfTheFryingPan: Twice during the escape from the Death Star. First, the heroes escape from a shootout with stormtroopers by diving into a chute, realizing too late that it leads to the interior of a garbage compactor--which not only has the squidlike dianoga monster, but also begins compacting with them inside. Later, Luke shoots a control panel to lock a door between him and some stormtroopers, then realizes immediately afterwards that this same panel controlled the extendable bridge. Thus, he's traded death by stormtrooper for death by bottomless chasm. |
| 621 | * PaletteSwappedAlienFood: While talking to his aunt and uncle about his future, Luke casually pours himself a glass of blue milk. |
| 622 | * TheParalyzer: The Imperials' stun weapons knock out Leia instantly. |
| 623 | * PayingForTheActionScene: After Han Solo kills Greedo in the cantina, he pays the bartender for the mess. |
| 624 | * PerfectPacifistPeople: Leia protests that Alderaan is peaceful, with no weapons, when Tarkin orders the Death Star to target it. [[EarthShatteringKaboom He doesn't care]]. |
| 625 | * PhysicalReligion: Motti sneers at Vader's devotion to an "ancient religion", only to feel said religion's very real presence around his windpipe. |
| 626 | * PlatonicKissing: Leia kisses Luke on the cheek before he heads off to battle. |
| 627 | * PleaseIWillDoAnything: Invoked by Tarkin when he targets Alderaan with the Death Star to motivate Leia to give up the location of the rebel base. Of course, then [[ILied he blows up Alderaan anyway]]. And Leia was lying anyway. The base she gives up had long-since been abandoned. |
| 628 | -->'''Governor Tarkin:''' You would prefer another target, a military target? Then name the system! I grow tired of asking this so it will be the last time: '''Where''' is the rebel base? |
| 629 | * PlotCoupon: The Death Star plans. Luke's original quest was to get them into the hands of the rebels. |
| 630 | * PlotMandatedFriendshipFailure: A variant occurs when Han Solo leaves just before the Death Star arrives, on good, if bitter, terms with the heroes. His exchange with Luke in particular is pretty cordial, but his desire for survival, money, and settling things with Jabba outweighs any loyalty he may feel. Until, of course, [[ChangedMyMindKid he comes swooping in at the last second]] to save Luke and secure his final trench run, only seconds before the Death Star fires on Yavin IV. |
| 631 | * PointDefenseless: Justified in that the Empire didn't think that fighters could possibly threaten the Death Star on their own, so their static defenses were designed to fight off capital ships. In fact, Tarkin is so arrogant about his station's invincibility that he doesn't bother scrambling the vast fighter fleet available to deal with the Rebels' fighters. On the other hand, Darth Vader is not so stupid and had his personal squadron launch on his own authority, with himself in the lead, to deal with them. |
| 632 | * POVCam: The iconic shot of the rebel X-wings plunging into the Death Star's trench, seen from the viewpoint of the lead starfighter itself. |
| 633 | * ThePowerOfLegacy: Uncle Owen led Luke to believe Anakin was a navigator on a spice freighter, painting him as neither a hero nor a villain. Obi-Wan refrains from telling Luke about his father's true nature but tells him that his father was the "best star pilot in the galaxy". |
| 634 | * PracticalEffects: This movie really show-cased Lucas's genius for special effects, especially given it had a lower budget than the later productions would be able to command. |
| 635 | ** As was common at the time, the shots of space ships in space are all various sized miniatures cobbled together from various kits. Lucas's innovation on that front was to have the camera move around the model rather than to try and move the model, allowing for more realistic motion and not have it look like a toy on a string. |
| 636 | ** Rather than put people on stilts for the massive figures of Darth Vader and Chewbacca, they just found really, really tall actors to provide the required imposing presence. |
| 637 | ** The lightsabers are a practical effect, too. They covered wooden rods with movie screen material to make them highly reflective so they would overwhelm the camera and give them a magic glow, and put a motor in the handle to rotate the rod so it would appear uniform. This gave the added benefit of giving the lightsabers a realistic heft as their actors wield them. The only problem was that they stopped glowing if you didn't hold them in the light the right way, as becomes evident in some shots, particularly when the swords are pointing directly at the camera. The only effect that was added later was the color of the blade, using rotoscoping. |
| 638 | * PragmaticVillainy: Darth Vader lets Wedge fly away after his X-Wing gets crippled. Not out of mercy, but because they have a more important matter at hand: preventing the other X-Wings from reaching the weak spot. |
| 639 | * PreBattleBanter: Luke Skywalker tries to persuade Han Solo to help in the upcoming battle and also exchanges words with friends from Tatooine before going into battle. |
| 640 | * PrecisionFStrike: During the following conversation between Han Solo and Obi-Wan Kenobi, which Obi-Wan handles pretty hilariously: |
| 641 | -->'''Han:''' Even if I could take off, I'd never get past the tractor beam.\ |
| 642 | '''Obi-Wan:''' Leave that to me.\ |
| 643 | '''Han:''' Damn fool, I knew you'd say that.\ |
| 644 | '''Obi-Wan:''' Who's the more foolish? The fool or the fool who follows him? |
| 645 | * PsychicStrangle: Vader gets the first on-screen use of the Force, and he uses it to make Admiral Motti choke on his words about Vader's supposed "ancient religion". |
| 646 | * PunnyName: The sole visibly overweight Rebel pilot is named ''Porkins''. Allegedly, he was supposed to be a PigMan but the prosthetics didn't work out. |
| 647 | * APupilOfMineUntilHeTurnedToEvil: TropeNamer. Obi-Wan describing Vader's past with him, although he doesn't tell the whole story. |
| 648 | * PursuedProtagonist: In the opening, Leia attempts to escape the evil [[{{Mook}} Stormtroopers]] as they board her vessel. Unfortunately, their aim is too precise and they capture her. |
| 649 | * PursuingParentalPerils: Luke Skywalker learns that his father was a Jedi Knight who was murdered by Darth Vader. He later tells Obi-Wan Kenobi, "I want to learn the ways of the Force and become a Jedi like my father." At the time, he is unaware of what [[FallenHero actually became of said father]]. |
| 650 | * PuttingOnTheReich: The Empire is pattered after the Nazis, with officers dressed in a manner that recalls the SS. Interestingly, the Rebel ceremony that closes the film is also this, being a direct lift from a scene in ''Film/TriumphOfTheWill''. |
| 651 | * QuizzicalTilt: Luke tilts his head when he finds Princess Leia in the Death Star detention center, and right before she asks him "aren't you a little short for a stormtrooper?" |
| 652 | * RaceAgainstTheClock: The Rebel pilots have 15 minutes to destroy the Death Star before it opens fire on their base. This aspect of the climax wasn't in the original script, but was instead conceived by Marcia Lucas through judiciously editing the footage and recording new PA announcements for the Rebel and Imperial control rooms. |
| 653 | * RadarIsUseless: {{Zigzagged}} in the opening. The Imperial Star Destroyer crew ''are'' able to detect C-3PO and R2-D2's escape pod as they escape from the ''Tantive IV'' down towards the surface of Tatooine, but then opt to let it go because "no lifeforms aboard" were detected. Apparently, the Star Destroyer's sensors cannot detect droids, in a setting where they are commonplace (even aboard Imperial vessels). |
| 654 | * RasterVision: Used here for the holograms. This is an early use of Raster Vision as an aesthetic -- the crummy holograms fit in with the worn-out nature of the tech. |
| 655 | * RealityHasNoSubtitles: This occurs when the Sandpeople, Jawas, R2-D2, and almost everyone in the cantina talks in their alien languages and robotic sound effects. |
| 656 | * RealLifeWritesThePlot: Part of the reason why Tarkin refuses to employ the Death Star's full contingent of fighters (leaving it to Darth Vader to send out his personal squadron) despite the fact that it would have crushed the Rebel attack in about five minutes is because they simply didn't have the time, money or visual effects expertise to depict large squadrons of fighters. By ''Film/ReturnOfTheJedi'', however, that little problem had been taken care of. |
| 657 | * RecklessGunUsage: |
| 658 | ** Watch very closely as Luke Skywalker [[http://irregularwebcomic.net/373.html first ignites his lightsaber]] -- he doesn't know how long the beam is and yet is pointing it at Obi-Wan. |
| 659 | ** Han casually tries to blow open the door to the trash compactor, only for the laser to bounce all around the compactor with no cover for anyone. |
| 660 | --->'''Luke:''' Will you forget it?! I already tried, it's magnetically sealed!\ |
| 661 | '''Leia:''' Put that thing away, you're going to get us all killed! |
| 662 | * RecycledInSpace: |
| 663 | ** Was conceived as Creator/AkiraKurosawa's ''Film/TheHiddenFortress'' in space. |
| 664 | ** Lucas says in the commentary that the scenes where Luke is at home with his aunt and uncle are ''Film/AmericanGraffiti'' in space. Both deal with small-town teenage boys on the night before they leave on a big adventure. |
| 665 | * RecycledSoundtrack: The restored Jabba sequence from the Special Edition and beyond uses portions of the track "Bounty for a Wookiee" from ''Film/ReturnOfTheJedi''. |
| 666 | * ReflectingLaser: Han fires a blaster shot at the door of the trash compactor to try and ShootOutTheLock. The shot goes ricocheting crazily around the trash compactor. Handwaved by the door being "magnetically sealed," coupled with the fact that blasters are not lasers but plasma casters and use magnetic fields to accelerate the shot. How it kept going after it hit the wall the first time is another question entirely. |
| 667 | * RefugeInAudacity: As it turns out, Leia's statements about a "diplomatic mission" becomes this in light of ''Film/RogueOne''. Given that Vader had literally witnessed the ''Tantive IV'' flee Scariff a few hours before, it took serious balls to lie to his face. She was clearly relying on the fact that [=CR90=] corvettes like her ship are common consular vessels; still, it doesn't work. It's no wonder Vader is uncharacteristically outwardly pissed rather than his usual TranquilFury. |
| 668 | * RefusalOfTheCall: Both Luke and Han. The former when asked by Obi-Wan to come with him to Alderaan and the latter when plead to by Luke to help the Rebels destroy the Death Star. |
| 669 | * ReliablyUnreliableGuns: Luke's gun jams when the dianoga attacks him. |
| 670 | * RescueArc: The first half of the movie focuses on saving Princess Leia from the Empire, the second half involving the heroes escaping from the Death Star with Leia's help and then mobilizing to destroy it. |
| 671 | * RescueIntroduction: Luke meets Leia by taking off his helmet and telling her he's going to rescue her. Subverted in that she ends up ''leading her own escape''. |
| 672 | -->'''Leia:''' [[ComplainingAboutRescuesTheyDontLike This is some rescue!]] |
| 673 | * RescueReversal: Immediately after Luke and Han Solo free Leia, she has to help them find a way out. ZigZagged since Luke (with help from C-3PO and R2-D2) then has to rescue them from her rescue. |
| 674 | * {{Retcon}}: When the film became a huge success, Lucas reimagined it as a series and a lot of things introduced here later underwent significant changes. |
| 675 | * {{Retronym}}: When he made ''Star Wars'', Lucas imagined that it would be ''Episode I'' in a series of films with the overall title ''The Adventures of Luke Skywalker''. But while making ''The Empire Strikes Back'' (which was at first going to be ''Episode II'' of the series), he decided that he also wanted to do three prequel films. Since Luke obviously wouldn't be the hero of the prequels, Lucas needed a new name for the overall series. His solution? ''Star Wars'', once just the chapter title of the first film, became the title of the entire saga. As a result, the subtitle ''A New Hope'' was retroactively tacked on to the first film, and it was now numbered ''Episode IV''. |
| 676 | * RevoltingRescue: After rescuing Princess Leia, the group is forced to escape into a garbage compactor on the Death Star to avoid the Imperials. |
| 677 | * RewindReplayRepeat: R2-D2 starts to play Leia's holographic message for Kenobi and the short message loops as Luke asks his droids what it means. |
| 678 | -->'''Leia's hologram:''' Help me, Obi-Wan Kenobi! You're my only hope! |
| 679 | * RibcageRidge: The Krayt dragon bones when C-3P0 and R2-D2 are walking through the desert. |
| 680 | * RidiculouslyPotentExplosive: By the numbers, the EarthShatteringKaboom that wipes out the planet Alderaan would require more energy than the sun produces in two years and is definitely more than the relatively puny pulse shown should be capable of outputting. [[AllThereInTheManual Supplemental materials]] HandWave this by explaining that the Death Star's "hypermatter reactor" uses exotic particles from [[SubspaceOrHyperspace hyperspace]] to cheat the laws of physics. |
| 681 | * RightManInTheWrongPlace: Luke is not initially meant to be the one who destroys the Death Star, but as the battle goes on, every one of the Rebels' pilots is killed or disarmed, leaving first-time soldier Luke to save the day. Thankfully, Luke is attuned to the Force, which lets him make the [[NoScope one in a million shot]] at the Death Star's weak point. |
| 682 | * RoadTripRomance: Han Solo is just Luke's ride. He agrees to help save Leia because of how he could be rewarded, and leaves after he gets paid, but joins in on the fray to save Luke in the end. Han and Leia are at odds at first but slowly fall in love over the course of ''Film/TheEmpireStrikesBack''. |
| 683 | * RodentsOfUnusualSize: The Cantina Scene features a humanoid one. Later in the film, Luke describes "womp rats" as being "not much bigger than two meters." |
| 684 | * RookieMaleExperiencedFemale: |
| 685 | ** Luke is a naïve farmboy who happened to get the memo from the droids he stumbled across; Leia is a senator running covert missions for the Rebel Alliance. |
| 686 | ** Downplayed with Han and Leia; Han has experience in the criminal world, but not the Rebel Alliance. |
| 687 | * RuleOfSymbolism: |
| 688 | ** The Empire is an ObviouslyEvil organization of [[CardCarryingVillain Card-Carrying Villains]]. While it's obvious that the Empire represents evil, it can be less obvious what the ''Star Wars'' universe specifically considers evil. [[EstablishingCharacterMoment The audience receives its first clue regarding the Empire's brand of evil in the film's establishing shot.]] As the shot pans down over Tatooine, we see a Rebel cruiser fly overhead, immediately followed by an Imperial star destroyer. The differences between the ships are immense, and this shot tells us everything we need to know about the Empire. The Imperial ship is much larger than the cruiser, so it takes longer to pass by, its presence dominating the screen as it does so. The audience feels the power and the size of the Empire wrapped up in the imagery of the ship. As the story progresses, we see how that power and size becomes a source of fear throughout the galaxy. The Empire uses both to make people obey and, like the cruiser, it destroys those who resist. Also, considering the Empire's an oppressive regime supported by a military complex that uses power and fear to force people to follow them and kill any who resist, they're like space Nazis or fascists. There's even imagery to support the claim: The stormtroopers' marching is similar to that out of the Nazi propaganda film ''Film/TriumphOfTheWill''; the design of the Imperial officer's uniforms was based on Prussian and German military uniforms from the Nazi era; Darth Vader serves as a type of Imperial Gestapo, or Nazi secret police; and they even have their own FinalSolution via Alderaan's destruction. |
| 689 | ** Contrasting the "Space Nazi" Empire are The Rebels who naturally symbolize forces of goodness and all of its various forms. For starters, the Rebels value individuality over conformity and the state. This is evident even down to the uniforms worn by their foot soldiers. Whereas stormtroopers wear identical uniforms and helmets that make them all look the same, the Rebels all sport helmets that allow the audience to see their faces and recognize them as individuals. Their value of individuality ultimately leads them to victory. In the climactic battle, the Empire's favoring of conformity results in the TIE fighter pilots being very interchangeable and they can't be told them apart. Meanwhile, the X-Wing fighters have individual names and distinct personalities. Ultimately, it is one of these individuals, Luke Skywalker, that manages to take down the behemoth battle station and save the day. The Rebels also value diversity. The Empire only accepts humans into its ranks — specifically white men. The Rebels, however, accept people from all backgrounds, including nonhuman species like Chewbacca. And finally, the Rebels accept religion. They literally couldn't be more different from the Empire. |
| 690 | ** The Force possibly represents religion broadly rather than a specific one — that it has boiled away the imagery, tenets, and hierarchies to focus on the core of religious beliefs. And it is true that the Force isn't a one-to-one analogy for a real-world religion. For example, the Force isn't this universe's equivalent of Catholicism, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, or Taoism or any of the existing religions. The force is religion, not ''a'' religion. As Grand Moff Tarkin says to Vader: "You, my friend, are all that's left of their religion." The implication is that the Jedi were a religion organized by a creed and not a movement of vagabond priests bound by a loose central philosophy. We don't get a clear sense of the religion's structure, but Obi-Wan tells Luke, "the Jedi knights were the guardians of peace and justice in the old Republic". This conjures images of crusading knights of yore, so you may picture a council of Jedi making decisions, warrior Jedi on the front lines, and squire Jedi learning the trade. It's unclear whether the Jedi worship the Force. The Jedi's relationship with the energy field seems a bit more equitable than that. Obi-Wan tells Luke that the Force "obeys your commands," making it something he can use like a talent or tool. Yet Obi-Wan also puts his faith in the Force. He believes that it'll control his actions in a beneficial way and that the Light Side of the Force will ultimately lead Luke to his proper destiny. |
| 691 | ** Much like the Empire represents fascist ideology, but can be read as being a specific fascist group (such as the Nazis), the Death Star (which is really the size of a moon) represents the dangers of military technology in general, but it can be read as specifically the dangers of an advanced military technology... like the atom bomb. Despite its sci-fi veneer, ''Star Wars'' has a rather "ancient" vibe to it and technology is mostly frowned upon — ironic given the then-advanced technology that went into making the film. One example of this is Obi-Wan calling blasters "random" and "clumsy" and preferring the more dated technology of the lightsaber. To the average viewer, it's sci-fi awesomeness, but in their universe, it's like preferring a sword to a gun. Another example is Luke trusting his faith in the Force, and switching off his targeting computer. The message is clear: It's better to put your faith in instinct rather than scientific know-how. The Death Star takes this anti-technology bent and gives it a great big villainous symbol. Unlike the shots of Luke's home world or the Rebel base, there is no nature to be found on the Death Star. Its denizens don't even act naturally. Everything about it is artificial. Basically, the Death Star represents the evils of military technology, specifically the atomic bomb. Like the bomb, the Death Star has been designed with the purposes of deterring retaliation with the promise of mass destruction. When Tarkin orders Princess Leia to name the Rebel base, she lies, saying it is on Dantooine. Tarkin decides not to make Dantooine his target, saying the planet is "too remote to make an effective demonstration." It's been argued that one of the reasons America decided to drop the atomic bomb was to demonstrate its military power to the Soviets, reasoning with eerily parallels to Tarkin's. Obi-Wan's haunting account of the destruction of Alderaan — "I felt a great disturbance in the Force as if a million voices suddenly cried in terror and were suddenly silence" — could as easily describe the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. |
| 692 | ** According to Obi-Wan, a lightsaber is "the weapon of a Jedi knight. Not as clumsy or random as a blaster. An elegant weapon for a more civilized age. For over a thousand generations, the Jedi knights were the guardians of peace and justice in the old Republic. Before the dark times. Before the Empire". Obi-Wan yearns for the good old days when things were simpler and world made sense to him. And it's not just Obi-Wan; ''Star Wars'' has waves of nostalgia running throughout it. The present is considered the dark time and the past is looked up as a better time to be alive. As such, the Jedi and lightsabers take the place of knights and swords and represent the good old days. Audiences look back on the age of errant knights and think of it as a time of chivalry, courage, and decorum (although that couldn't be further from the truth). By co-opting the imagery of knights, ''Star Wars'' creates a symbol that draws us into the nostalgia trip. The Jedi and lightsaber — plus Obi-Wans poetic waxing for the snows of yesteryear — don't bring reality to ''Star Wars''. They infuse the film with the luster of myths and legends. |
| 693 | [[/folder]] |
| 694 | |
| 695 | [[folder:Tropes S to V]] |
| 696 | * SacrificialPlanet: Grand Moff Tarkin uses the Death Star to destroy Alderaan to demonstrate the power of his station to the galaxy before setting his sights on the planet containing the main rebel base. |
| 697 | * SameContentDifferentRating: This trope may very well be at the heart of the "Han shot first" controversy surrounding the Special Edition. The scene when Han shoots Greedo after being threatened flew under the censors' radar back in 1977, but could've bumped the rating up two decades later after the PG-13 rating was created. Thus, some people speculate that this is why the scene was [[AdaptationalSelfDefense edited so that Greedo shot first]]. This is especially hilarious because the film was almost rated "G" back in 1977, despite featuring charred corpses, a bloody severed arm, multiple violent deaths, genocide, and a "heroic" character who starts out as a {{Jerkass}} smuggler. The BBFC classified the UK release of all three original trilogy films ''U''. |
| 698 | * SatelliteFamilyMember: Luke Skywalker has always lived with his Uncle Owen and Aunt Beru on the desert planet Tatooine. [[FantasyForbiddingFather Owen doesn't want Luke to leave and become a pilot; he insists that Luke stay and work on the family moisture farm]]. When Owen and Beru are both killed by Imperial stormtroopers, Luke has all the motivation he needs to go to Alderaan with Obi-Wan Kenobi and become a Jedi, and [[{{Revenge}} join the fight against the Empire that murdered his foster parents]]. |
| 699 | * ScavengerWorld: The desert world of Tatooine is this for the Jawas. They pick up lost droids and wrecked ships' components when they don't steal stuff at least. |
| 700 | * ScreenShake: When the [[LaResistance first X-Wing group's]] proton torpedo hit the surface of the [[ThatsNoMoon Death Star]], there's a quick shot of [[TheFaceless stormtroopers]] bouncing off the walls. |
| 701 | * SeanConneryIsAboutToShootYou: As pictured above, Creator/MarkHamill as Luke Skywalker is depicted in one of the posters holding a blaster directly towards the audience. |
| 702 | * SensoryTentacles: The dianoga from the garbage-compacter scene peeks out of the water using a single eyeball on the end of a tentacle. |
| 703 | * SequelHook: A shot of Darth Vader escaping the Death Star's destruction in his TIE Fighter just before the final scene, signaling that the Empire has been hurt, but not defeated. |
| 704 | * SerendipitousSurvival: When R2-D2 runs off, Luke has to chase after him and hopefully get him back before anybody notices so he won't get in trouble. This, and the subsequent meeting with Obi-Wan Kenobi, delay Luke enough that he doesn't get home until long after the Stormtroopers looking for R2 and C-3PO have already raided it, burning the farm and killing his aunt and uncle. |
| 705 | * SeriesContinuityError: Although ''A New Hope'' was the first film released, it is the fifth film in terms of chronological order[[note]]the three prequels, and then ''Film/RogueOne''. In fact, it's ''sixth'' if you count ''Film/{{Solo}}''[[/note]]. As a result, the fact Luke and Ben retain their birth surnames goes against ''Film/RevengeOfTheSith'' which ended with the two going into hiding and taking on new identities -- difficult to do when you retain your original surname. |
| 706 | * SesquipedalianLoquaciousness: Red Leader during the Death Star run: |
| 707 | -->Galactic Standard Basic: "Pick up your visual scanning."\ |
| 708 | English: [[TranslationYes "Look."]] |
| 709 | * SexSells: [[http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/File:Star_Wars_Style_A_poster_1977.jpg One of the original posters]] features Luke and Leia wearing much more revealing outfits that neither of them actually wear in the movie, as well as making Creator/MarkHamill significantly more muscular, and making Carrie Fisher significantly bustier. The pre-1993 home video releases also use this cover. |
| 710 | * ShapeshiftingExcludesClothing: At the end of Vader's and Kenobi's lightsaber duel Kenobi seemingly gives up and lets Vader slice him -- but when he does so, we (and Vader) find his clothes empty. He AscendedToAHigherPlaneOfExistence and left his clothes behind. (Vader even probes the robes with his toe, not expecting for it to happen.) |
| 711 | * SherlockScan: When he and Luke encounter the slain Jawas, Obi-Wan deduces from the blast marks and tracks in the sand that the obvious suspects of the crime were not the culprit, and that instead it was Imperial Stormtroopers who killed the Jawas and covered up the scene to make it look like Sand People did it. |
| 712 | -->'''Luke:''' It looks like the Sandpeople did this, alright. Look, there's gaffi sticks, Bantha tracks. It's just, I never heard of them hit anything this big before.\ |
| 713 | '''Obi-Wan:''' They didn't, but we are meant to think they did. These tracks are side-by-side. Sandpeople always ride single file to hide their numbers.\ |
| 714 | '''Luke:''' These are the same Jawas that sold us R2 and 3PO.\ |
| 715 | '''Obi-Wan:''' And these blast points, too accurate for Sandpeople. Only Imperial Stormtroopers are so precise. |
| 716 | * ShockingDefeatLegacy: The beginning of the end for the Galactic Empire is when the Death Star is destroyed at the Battle of Yavin, which is a huge military and propaganda victory for the Rebel Alliance. The battle not only deprives the Empire of their superweapon, it also shows the greater galaxy that the Empire isn't the invincible power they appeared to be. Quite ironically, the Empire's commander at Yavin, Wilhuff Tarkin, had started his career by ''delivering'' one to the pirates that infested his native Seswenna sector and [[MakeAnExampleOfThem executing the survivors in a horrific manner for everyone to see]], resulting in piracy all but disappearing from the sector out of the sheer terror of facing ''him''. |
| 717 | * ShooOutTheClowns: Threepio conveniently offers to shut himself down for awhile, probably to help himself repair, right before Ben gives Luke his father's lightsaber and talks about Darth Vader. |
| 718 | * ShootOutTheLock: |
| 719 | ** Subverted when Han tries this in the trash compactor, only to find that the lock (and the walls) are shielded and thus the laser blast simply bounces off. Luke even says he already tried it. |
| 720 | ** Also inverted later, when Luke shoots a door's control panel to make it ''harder'' to open. This unwittingly keeps him and Leia from extending the bridge across. Luke also does this in the Death Star Hangar Bay, shooting a Blast Door control panel to immediately seal it shut, keeping Darth Vader from reaching them. |
| 721 | * ShoutOut: |
| 722 | ** The design of C-3PO was inspired by robot-Maria from Creator/FritzLang's ''Film/{{Metropolis}}''. |
| 723 | ** An imperial officer ''almost'' refers to the Rebel base as a "hidden fortress", though he's interrupted by Vader Force-choking him in the middle of the second word. ''Film/TheHiddenFortress'' is a film which had a massive influence on ''A New Hope'' and successive ''Star Wars'' pictures. |
| 724 | ** Lucas has always been open about ''Film/TwoThousandOneASpaceOdyssey'' being a huge influence on his work due to its revolutionary special effects and visual design, and one of the more direct shout-outs is Docking Bay 327 having a look and frame of bright light at its entrance similar to Space Station V's hangar from ''2001''. |
| 725 | ** In Alan Dean Foster's novelization, Stormtrooper TK-421 is identified as ''Film/THX1138''. In the film itself, a disguised Luke claims he's transferring Chewie from Cell Block 1138. |
| 726 | ** The multiple references to an unspecified (but apparently quite valuable) "spice" is likely one to ''Literature/{{Dune}}''. Later media in both the ''Legends'' and Disney continuities would reinforce this by establishing spice is a drug, similar to that of ''Dune''. Tatooine is a desert planet like Arrakis (but with two suns instead of two moons), and the "Jedi mind trick" is a lot like the Voice. |
| 727 | ** To ''Film/TheWizardOfOz'' due to Han and Luke disguising themselves in stolen stormtrooper armors while rescuing Leia like Dorothy's friends do when dressing up as Winkies to sneak into the Wicked Witch's castle and save her. Chewbacca and 3PO are also easily identifiable as expies of the Cowardly Lion and the Tin Man, while Luke can be seen as a CompositeCharacter of both Dorothy and the Scarecrow for being a farm boy who lives with his aunt and uncle and wishes to leave the dull life on Tatooine, and while resourceful he's often out of his depth compared to his more seasoned companions. |
| 728 | * ShowDontTell: |
| 729 | ** The opening shot, which establishes with visuals alone that the Empire is a massive, aggressive force bearing down on the small, fleeting Rebels. |
| 730 | ** In the DVD commentary for the film, Lucas mentions that he distinguished ''Star Wars'' from other space and science-fiction films by intentionally avoiding exposition about the universe it is set in, treating things that would be fantastic in our universe (i.e. Landspeeders, talking robots, spaceships) as mundane and trivial in their world, using this kind of symbolic storytelling as a way of connecting the audience with the galaxy of ''Star Wars''. A good example of this is the scene where the ''Millennium Falcon'' is introduced. After a sweeping shot with triumphant music allows the audience to marvel at the CoolStarship, Luke exclaims "What a piece of junk!", conveniently informing us that spaceships of that size and ability are considered common in-universe to the point that even a farmboy in a backwater feels ''insulted'' that he'd have to pay so much to hitch a ride in one. |
| 731 | * SickeningCrunch: When Vader snaps Captain Antilles' neck, which the sound crew accomplished by putting walnuts into the peels of an orange and squeezing them. |
| 732 | * SignificantNameShift: At first, Han Solo dismissively calls Luke Skywalker "kid". He first calls him by name [[OOCIsSeriousBusiness when Luke is dragged into the trash compactor by the dianoga and nearly eaten.]] As their friendship develops and they become more like peers, Han calls him "kid" less and less -- by ''Film/ReturnOfTheJedi'', with Luke a full Jedi Knight, he only does it once, and it's more affectionate than anything. |
| 733 | * SinisterGeometry: Introduced in this film is the Death Star, the brutal wedge-shaped Star Destroyers, and the hexagonal/spherical TIE fighters are classic examples. As part of the same trope the Rebels are more varied: the X-wing is closer to a fighter jet and the Rebellion battleships built by the Mon Calamari have curved, organic lines. |
| 734 | * SitRep: A perfect example of one is delivered by Gold-5. After Gold Leader and Gold-2 get blasted, he immediately pulls out of the trench and starts telling Red Squadron what is waiting, before being killed uttering his last words. |
| 735 | -->'''Gold-5:''' They came from behind-- |
| 736 | * SlidingScaleOfIdealismVersusCynicism: The film is firmly idealistic in tone. |
| 737 | * SlidingScaleOfPlotVersusCharacters: Falls into the "Equal Focus Between Plot and Characters" part of the scale. |
| 738 | * SlidingScaleOfRealisticVersusFantastic: The movie is squarely on the "Fantastic" end of the scale. |
| 739 | * SlidingScaleOfVisualsVersusDialogue: The film hits a sweet spot between both. The film is ''very'' dialogue heavy, but there's also a lot of strong visual storytelling going on at the same time. |
| 740 | * SmallRoleBigImpact: All the events which unfold in the original ''Franchise/StarWars'' trilogy were made possible by the gunnery captain on the Star Destroyer at the beginning of the film who gives the order to "hold your fire" on the escape pod that C-3PO and R2-D2 are in because there were no life forms aboard and he concludes it must have just short-circuited. |
| 741 | * SmartPeoplePlayChess: R2-D2 and Chewbacca's dejarik game during the flight to Alderaan reinforces R2-D2's intelligence as a robot while making it clear that Chewbacca (though losing until the famous "Let the Wookie win" bit) isn't just a brute. |
| 742 | * SoreLoser: Han mentions that Wookiees have been known to tear arms out of sockets when they lose. |
| 743 | * SpaceIsNoisy: Played straight, but given an unusually good justification in the novelization, though it only works for some of the scenes. Fighters like the X-wings (and Han would likely have done this for the ''Falcon'' as well) have a speaker system installed that simulates noise as an audible warning of an enemy's position so that the pilot doesn't have to constantly watch his display to see where an enemy fighter is. |
| 744 | * SpinAttack: Obi-Wan does a very slow and pointless spin while fighting Darth Vader. |
| 745 | * SpontaneousCrowdFormation: When Darth Vader and Obi-Wan face off, the Stormtroopers leave their posts guarding the ''Millennium Falcon'' to watch the duel. Luke's shouting at Obi-Wan's death snaps them out of it. |
| 746 | * StabTheSky: One of the film's posters shows Luke holding his LaserBlade up towards the sky. |
| 747 | * StandardEstablishingSpaceshipShot: The Star Destroyer flyby at the beginning. Heck if ''Star Wars'' didn't [[TropeMaker invent]] the trope, it certainly [[TropeCodifier codified]] it. |
| 748 | * StartMyOwn: |
| 749 | ** George Lucas was turned down as the director of the ''Film/{{Flash Gordon|1980}}'' movie, so he decided to make his own space adventure film -- one that ended up completely pushing ''Gordon'' to the side in all forms of media, to the point that he is barely remembered today, while ''Star Wars'' is unquestionably ''the'' most famous Sci-Fi franchise ever. |
| 750 | ** He also created his own visual effects company... and while Creator/IndustrialLightAndMagic is akin to TheEmpire now, at first they were [[RagtagBunchOfMisfits their own Rebel Alliance]], with a workplace so chaotic that once Lucas returned from England and saw it, he had to be hospitalized in shock. |
| 751 | * StepIntoTheBlindingFight: Obi-Wan Kenobi has Luke wear a helmet with the blast shield down as part of a training session. |
| 752 | * StockParodies: It's unlikely that there's a single scene in the movie that hasn't been parodied somewhere. |
| 753 | * StormingTheCastle: The finale sees the main character and a ragtag group of freedom fighter attack on the evil empire's fully armed space station, the Death Star, to stop it from destroying the Rebel planet and everyone on it. |
| 754 | * StreamingStars: Played with. The movie uses the effect when the ''Millennium Falcon'' moves at light speed, but in fact it's only the reality warp of going into hyperspace. Once you're ''in'' hyperspace all you can see out the windows is a crazy blue energy tunnel that gives people migraines if they stare at it too long. |
| 755 | * StrollingThroughTheChaos: R2-D2 and C-3PO walk across a corridor, with Imperial Stormtroopers and Rebel Guards shooting at each other from opposite ends, and somehow aren't hit once. |
| 756 | * StuffBlowingUp: The destruction of the Death Star is one of the most impressive explosions ever seen in movies. Honorable mention goes to the last TIE fighter pursuing the ''Millennium Falcon'', which blows up with an explosion way out of proportion to its actual function as a ruse for the Empire to discover the location of the Rebel base. |
| 757 | * StumblingUponTheLostWizard: The movie has Luke "accidentally" meet Obi-Wan Kenobi, [[NinjaPirateZombieRobot samurai space-wizard]], while he was out looking for R2-D2. Later it transpires that Kenobi has been keeping a close eye on Luke, and their meeting was no accident. |
| 758 | * SuicidalOverconfidence: Upon learning that there's a risk of the Rebels destroying the Death Star, Tarkin balks at the idea of evacuating right before the Empire's moment of triumph, believing the Rebel's chances were being overestimated. Turns out he was ''underestimating'' them. |
| 759 | * SupernaturalAid: Luke receiving the lightsaber from Obi-Wan is a textbook example. |
| 760 | * SupportingProtagonist: The first third of the movie is through the eyes of the droids. |
| 761 | * SuspiciousMissedMessages: An Imperial officer on the Death Star is suspicious when Stormtrooper TK-421 isn't at his post and doesn't respond to the officer's radio query. |
| 762 | * {{Tableau}}: The movie ends with the main characters standing on a raised platform in front of an audience, during a victory celebration. |
| 763 | * TacticalSuperweaponUnit: The Death Star is a honking big ([[PlanetSpaceship the size of the moon]]), NighInvulnerable battleship (referred to as a "battlestation" in-universe) that carries firepower greater than half the Empire's ''fleet'' of lesser ships. It's built to solo-fight an enemy planetary defense force and zap their homeworld with a PlanetDestroyer. Its [[AttackItsWeakPoint only weakness]] is a single, wee tiny auxiliary exhaust port that was (according to ''Film/RogueOne'', deliberately because its lead designer was horrified at his work being used for evil; according to ''Literature/DeathStar'', accidentally because it was built by angry slaves working on cockeyed plans) built in a straight line to its main power plant, which allows a single SpaceFighter to blow it up with the kind of ordinance meant for other starfighters -- if they can A) find it,B) [[AirstrikeImpossible get there without being shot down by defense guns or fighter squads,]] and C) actually hit it. |
| 764 | * TacticalWithdrawal: When Wedge's ship is badly damaged during the trench run, Luke tells him to retreat rather than be a sitting duck. Considering Wedge's key involvement in later battles in the series, it proves to be a move that pays dividends for the Alliance in the long-term. |
| 765 | * TakeThat: When ''Series/Space1999'' started airing during the preproduction of ''Star Wars'', Lucas realized that Han Solo's ship would need to be redesigned because its original design looked too similar to the Eagle Transports. He called the redesigned ship the ''Millennium Falcon'' because it's better and faster than a "1999 Eagle". |
| 766 | * TalkingIsAFreeAction: Vader taunts Obi-Wan during their duel, but Obi-Wan calmly dismisses him. |
| 767 | * ATasteOfTheirOwnMedicine: Grand Moff Tarkin, who had Princess Leia's ''entire planet'' obliterated along with everyone inhabiting it, becomes just one of many casualties in the destruction of the Death Star by Leia's brother Luke. |
| 768 | * TechnologyPorn: The movie gives a long, detailed view, in the opening scene, of the '''massive''' Imperial Star Destroyer flying past the camera in all of its Rebel-crushing glory. |
| 769 | * TellMeAboutMyFather: Luke asks his newly found mentor to tell him about his father, Anakin Skywalker. The mentor tells Luke about Anakin's bravery as a Jedi Knight, excellent piloting skill, and deep friendship before informing Luke that the evil Darth Vader betrayed and killed Anakin. |
| 770 | * TemptingFate: |
| 771 | ** As Luke takes the restraining bolt off R2, he makes a comment about how R2-D2 is probably too small to escape, only for the robot to do just that overnight. |
| 772 | --->'''Luke:''' Oh, yeah, well, I guess you're too small to run away on me if I take this off. |
| 773 | ** When he sells his speeder, Luke is confident that he's "never coming back to this planet again." [[Film/ReturnOfTheJedi Yeah, about that...]] |
| 774 | ** Han when he's talking to Jabba the Hutt. |
| 775 | --->'''Han:''' I got a nice, easy charter. I'll pay you back, plus a little extra, I just need a little more time. |
| 776 | ** Tarkin rejects the opportunity to evacuate the Death Star because he wants to celebrate the Empire's victory. |
| 777 | --->'''Tarkin:''' Evacuate? In our moment of ''triumph''? I think you overestimate their chances. |
| 778 | ** Darth Vader brags as he's about to shoot Luke's X-wing, only to find himself under fire from a spaceship that has just entered the battle. |
| 779 | --->'''Vader:''' I have you now... ''[wingman's TIE fighter explodes as Han shoots it]'' What?! |
| 780 | * TentacledTerror: The creature in the Trash Compactor, the Dianoga, is an Octopus-like creature, and is definitely of the threatening variety. [[AllThereInTheManual You wouldn't know this from just watching the movie]], though; its full body is only seen in ExpandedUniverse materials. |
| 781 | * TerrifyingRescuer: Inverted: when Luke enters Leia's cell in a [[{{Mook}} Stormtrooper]] uniform, she calmly starts some banter. |
| 782 | * TestedOnHumans: Grand Moff Tarkin threatens to test the Death Star's planet-destroying superweapon on Princess Leia's homeworld of Alderaan, [[SadisticChoice unless she surrenders the location of the rebel headquarters to be blown up instead]]. However, Tarkin decides to obliterate Alderaan anyway, reasoning that the location Leia gave (Dantooine) is far too remote to serve as [[MakeAnExampleOfThem an effective demonstration for the rest of the galaxy]]. |
| 783 | * ThanatosGambit: During his duel against Darth Vader, Obi-Wan warns him that he won't see the last of him if he dies: "If you strike me down, I shall become more powerful than you can possibly imagine." After Vader kills him, Obi-Wan guides Luke as a Force Ghost to the success of his mission to destroy the Death Star. |
| 784 | * ThankTheMaker: TropeNamer. C-3PO, happy about having an oil bath. |
| 785 | * ThatsNoMoon: TropeNamer. While flying through the rubble of a destroyed planet, the heroes see the Death Star, a man-made space station that resembles a planet. Han Solo initially identifies it as a moon, only for the wise old mentor to point out it's not possible (since Alderaan had no moon). |
| 786 | * ThemeMusicPowerUp: Par for the course with the series, the main theme and/or Rebel theme plays during the shootout on the Death Star, the TIE fighter attack afterward, and the Battle of Yavin when Luke hears Obi-Wan tell how to destroy the station. |
| 787 | * ThereAreNoTherapists: Leia and Luke collectively go through way more in this movie than they're given credit for. Leia loses her ''entire planet'', including her family and the only home she's ever known. Luke, too, loses his family, his mentor, and his best friend from childhood in the space of about ''two days''. |
| 788 | * ThisIsGonnaSuck: When the heroes find themselves in the garbage masher. |
| 789 | -->'''Han:''' You know, it's not going to take them long to figure out what happened to us.\ |
| 790 | '''Leia:''' It could be worse.\ |
| 791 | ''[something moans inside the masher]''\ |
| 792 | '''Han:''' It's worse. |
| 793 | * ThreatBackfire: Happens between Han and Greedo: |
| 794 | -->'''Greedo:''' Jabba's through with you. He has no use for smugglers who drop their shipments at the first sign of an Imperial cruiser.\ |
| 795 | '''Han Solo:''' Even I get boarded sometimes. Do you think I had a choice?\ |
| 796 | '''Greedo:''' You can tell that to Jabba. He may only take your ship.\ |
| 797 | '''Han Solo:''' Over my dead body!\ |
| 798 | '''Greedo:''' That's the idea... I've been looking forward to this for a long time. |
| 799 | * TitleDropChapter: While it was retroactively titled ''A New Hope'' in order to distinguish it from the name of the franchise itself, it was originally released and marketed as, and is still often colloquially referred to as, simply ''Star Wars''. |
| 800 | * TooDumbToLive: |
| 801 | ** The guy on the Star Destroyer who didn't think it worth a single laser blast to play it safe and destroy a seemingly unoccupied escape pod, even though the entire reason for boarding the ship was to track down a missing set of Death Star plans that could easily have been stowed away in the pod (as indeed they were). He's technically to blame for the thousands of people presumably killed when Luke later blows the Death Star up. |
| 802 | ** Admiral Motti insults and belittles Darth Vader, the most feared man in the galaxy who is known to kill officers for failure and insolence, and who has a lightsaber capable of cutting people into pieces. If it weren't for Tarkin interfering, Motti's throat would be crushed. |
| 803 | ** Greedo. Despite holding Han at blaster-point, he fails to notice that Han is reaching for his own blaster -- the one that he then uses to kill Greedo. The remastered version makes him even worse, as he tries to shoot Han at point-blank range -- and ''misses''. |
| 804 | * TortureFirstAskQuestionsLater: Nearly the first thing we see Darth Vader do is [[NeckLift lift a rebel officer by the neck]] and begin choking him. ''Then'' he starts asking him questions. And then he keeps squeezing until things break. |
| 805 | -->'''Darth Vader:''' Where are those transmissions you intercepted? |
| 806 | * TortureIsIneffective: An Imperial officer tries to warn Darth Vader about this ahead of time -- "She'll die before she'll tell you anything!" -- but the Sith Lord tries anyway. Leia withstands a session with a torture droid ''and'' a Force mind probe by Vader himself, and even when Tarkin threatens to blow up Alderaan she still gives them disinformation. Adding insult to injury, there isn't even any indication after her rescue of Leia suffering any negative after-effects from the so-called torture. |
| 807 | * TortureTechnician: In order to break Princess Leia, the Empire brings in an ominous black droid with all types of needles to torture the princess for information. |
| 808 | * TrackingDevice: The Imperials plant one on board the ''Millennium Falcon'', which allows them to track the heroes to the Rebel base on Yavin IV. |
| 809 | * TransformingVehicle: The Rebels' X-Wing starfighters get their name as a result of this when their wings split up to increase their firing spread. |
| 810 | -->'''Red Leader:''' Lock S-Foils into Attack Position. |
| 811 | * TransparentTech: The command center at the rebel base features large, floor-to-ceiling transparent displays. |
| 812 | * TrapDoor: Leia suspects that the villains have intentionally let them go and bugged their ship to track them to the Rebel Base, but she still opts to go straight there. However, this has an advantage of bringing the Death Star to where they can attack it, preventing the imperials from blowing up any more innocent planets and/or modifying the station to remedy its weakness. |
| 813 | * TravelingAtTheSpeedOfPlot: The Death Star arrives in the Yavin system such that it takes another twenty minutes to round the moon and target Yavin-4. |
| 814 | * TrickAndFollowPloy: |
| 815 | -->'''Leia:''' They ''let'' us go. It's the only explanation for the ease of our escape.\ |
| 816 | '''Han:''' Easy? You call ''that'' easy?\ |
| 817 | '''Leia:''' They're tracking us. |
| 818 | * TrickedIntoEscaping: Leia deduces that their escape from the Death Star was actually the aforementioned TrickAndFollowPloy by Tarkin, who is more interested in the rebel base than in the princess. A certain amount of resistance was provided for the sake of plausibility, but not as much as there should have been. The Rebels make the best of it by planning to make their attack on the Death Star as soon as it arrives. |
| 819 | * TrojanPrisoner: Getting into the detention center by pretending Chewie is being transferred from another one. |
| 820 | * TurnOutLikeHisFather: Which provides some unintentional foreshadowing[[note]]The ''intentional'' foreshadowing is that Owen fears Luke will run off to war to get killed. Once the mythos was rewritten during the filming of ''Empire'' to the plot twist we all know and love today, the foreshadowing just got even better[[/note]]. |
| 821 | -->'''Beru:''' Luke's just not a farmer, Owen. He has too much of his father in him.\ |
| 822 | '''Owen:''' That's what I'm afraid of. |
| 823 | * {{Underlighting}}: This is used to provide the glow of lightsabers and blaster shots; for the lightsabers, the underlit portions were rotoscoped over prop swords. This is repeated for ''Film/TheEmpireStrikesBack'' and ''Film/ReturnOfTheJedi'' (including with Palpatine's Force lightning), but it's dropped in all subsequent films (prequels and sequels) in favor of better technological tools to pull off the effect. |
| 824 | * {{Understatement}}: C-3PO understates how grave it would be if he and R2 were found while being hidden. |
| 825 | -->'''C-3PO:''' Master Luke, sir! Pardon me for asking... but, ah... what should Artoo and I do if we're discovered here?\ |
| 826 | '''Luke:''' Lock the door!\ |
| 827 | '''Han:''' And hope they don't have blasters.\ |
| 828 | '''C-3PO:''' That isn't very reassuring. |
| 829 | * TheUnfought: Luke Skywalker never directly fights this film's BigBad, Grand Moff Tarkin (Darth Vader is TheHeavy in this film); [[spoiler:though Luke does fire the shot that indirectly kills him. If Tarkin had decided to evacuate the Death Star he probably would have survived, but he assumed that no one could actually pull off the kill shot]]. He never quite fights Darth Vader in this movie, either, despite Vader being the major villain of the series. He and Vader see each other briefly on the Death Star, but Luke is too busy escaping and Vader is too far away to do much. They do confront each other in star fighters, but Luke is focused on making his trench run and doesn't actively fight back. Han Solo is the one who defeats Vader, and he does it indirectly -- by scaring one of Vader's wingmen into colliding with him. |
| 830 | * UniformityException: Luke-disguised-as-a-Stormtrooper is noticeably shorter than the average Stormtrooper -- Leia remarks upon it before he takes his helmet off and tries to rescue her. |
| 831 | * UnitConfusion: A parsec is a unit of distance, not time. Though depending on the source, it may have been invoked.[[note]]This gets explained in ''Film/{{Solo}}'' as Han taking a shortcut through the Maelstrom, reducing a 20-parsec trip down to 12.[[/note]] |
| 832 | * UnraveledEntanglement: After the TIE fighter attack on the ''Millenium Falcon'' as it escapes from the Death Star, we see C-3PO tangled up in wires as a result of the ship being hit. |
| 833 | -->'''C-3PO:''' Help! I think I'm melting! This is all your fault.\ |
| 834 | '''R2-D2:''' ''[electronic snickering]'' |
| 835 | * UnusuallyUninterestingSight: Averted in the Death Star: The Stormtroopers guarding the ''Falcon'' are intrigued by the lightsaber duel going down on the other side of the hangar and vacate their posts to watch it play out. |
| 836 | * UnwittingInstigatorOfDoom: |
| 837 | ** An InvertedTrope. The Imperial Officer that refuses to fire upon the escape pod containing the droids is basically what allows the titular "New Hope" to rise in the first place. |
| 838 | ** For the Empire, the Stormtroopers who killed Owen and Beru. Thus setting Luke into the path of joining the Rebellion, and becoming a Jedi. |
| 839 | * UsedFuture: The aesthetic of the film is deliberately gritty, reflecting a world in which the Empire has ground the galaxy down. R2-D2 is scuffed up, C-3P0 is what would happen if you left a brass figure unpolished for a year, Luke and his family live in a literal hole in the ground, and Obi-Wan (Ben) is introduced a tatty old bathrobe nearly worn through on the right shoulder. |
| 840 | * VanityLicensePlate: Luke's landspeeder has a license plate reading "THX 1138". |
| 841 | * VariantChess: The scene where R2-D2 and Chewie are playing some holographic ({{claymation}}) version of chess, and Han advising R2-D2 to lose... |
| 842 | * VillainExitStageLeft: Darth Vader escapes after the Death Star is destroyed. Not that he has much choice, since his TIE Advanced is damaged and he has to land on a nearby planet for repairs. |
| 843 | * VillainHasAPoint: Vader is completely right when he calls out Leia when she tries to disguise her rebel scheme as a diplomatic mission. |
| 844 | * VillainOfAnotherStory: The bad guys who threaten Luke in the Mos Eisley cantina. They're wanted in several systems for capital crimes, but are so easily dispatched by Obi-Wan, they barely qualify as villains in this story. |
| 845 | * VillainTakesAnInterest: Vader seems to show some interest in Luke as he's unable to shoot him down. Sure enough, the opening crawl of the next movie mentions that Vader is obsessed with finding him. (Though as the destroyer of the Death Star, he would already be of special interest to the Empire. It's in their best interest to capture or kill the Rebellion's greatest hero, who is no doubt inspiring countless sentient beings to rise up and fight alongside him.) |
| 846 | [[/folder]] |
| 847 | |
| 848 | [[folder:Tropes W to Z]] |
| 849 | * WalkAndTalk: Vader and Imperial officer Daine Jir have one aboard the captured ''Tantive IV''. |
| 850 | -->'''Daine Jir:''' Holding her is dangerous. If word of this gets out, it could generate sympathy for the Rebellion in the Senate.\ |
| 851 | '''Vader:''' I have traced the Rebel spies to her. Now she is my only link to finding their secret base.\ |
| 852 | '''Jir:''' She'll die before she'll tell you anything.\ |
| 853 | '''Vader:''' Leave that to me. Send a distress signal, and inform the Senate that all on board were killed. |
| 854 | * TheWallsAreClosingIn: The trash compactor scene is a ShoutOut to the {{Death Trap}}s from [[FilmSerial cliffhanger serials]] that Creator/GeorgeLucas grew up with. |
| 855 | * WarComesHome: |
| 856 | ** ExaggeratedTrope as well as an ExploitedTrope by Grand Moff Tarkin when he threatens to blow up Alderaan, Leia's home planet, with the Death Star's superlaser if she refuses to reveal the location of the Rebel Base. Even as she lies to try to protect her home planet and her adopted parents, Tarkin decides to [[KickTheDog make an example of Alderaan and inspire fear in the galaxy]] with the [[KillSat Death Star]] and blows up Leia's home planet. |
| 857 | ** Conversely, DownplayedTrope with Luke Skywalker when the Galactic Civil War results in R2-D2 and C-3PO arriving on Tatooine after Darth Vader chases down Princess Leia in his hunt for the Death Star plans. The Stormtroopers track the droids to Luke's adoptive uncle and aunt, Owen and Beru, in which they are killed by the Empire. Luke joins Obi-Wan in his quest to deliver the plans to Alderaan as well as become a Jedi and this path eventually leads him to the Rebellion. |
| 858 | * WatchingTheSunset: Luke watches his home planet's two suns set while wondering about his future as his {{Leitmotif}} plays. |
| 859 | * WatchingTroyBurn: Tarkin admires as the Death Star's laser destroys the entire planet of Alderaan. |
| 860 | * WaveMotionGun: The Death Star's main weapon, which causes an EarthShatteringKaboom. |
| 861 | * WeldTheLock: Luke shoots the control panel lock in order to keep the Stormtroopers from getting in. It turns out that the panel also controls the bridge. His makeshift lock doesn't hold for too long, either. |
| 862 | * WellExcuseMePrincess: Every interaction between Han and Leia is them snarking at each other. |
| 863 | * WeMeetAgain: When Obi-Wan and Darth Vader see each other face-to-face, it is revealed that they share a history, and neither is happy about it: |
| 864 | -->'''Darth Vader:''' I've been waiting for you, Obi-Wan. We meet again, at last. The circle is now complete. When I left you, I was but the learner; now ''I'' am the master. |
| 865 | * WeNeedADistraction: The Rebel battle plan in a nutshell: Red Squadron will fly around making as much noise and drawing as much attention as possible while Gold Squadron slips into the trench unnoticed to make the attack run. |
| 866 | * WeveGotCompany: Han yells this at Luke. |
| 867 | -->'''Han:''' Boring conversation anyway. LUKE, WE'RE GONNA HAVE COMPANY! |
| 868 | * WhamShot: The opening shot of the long pan of the underside of the Star Destroyer chasing the ''Tantive IV'' is one ''for the entire genre of sci-fi film''. After this, no audience would ever accept a crappy papier-mache model of a spaceship against a black background with white dots ever again. All SF movies from this point on had to bring their A game or be dismissed. |
| 869 | * WhatCouldPossiblyGoWrong: Grand Moff Tarkin is doubtful about the Resistance's attack on the Death Star. The {{radio}} adaptation puts his overconfidence down to having just been told by Motti that he could use the Death Star to overthrow the Emperor and rule in his place. |
| 870 | -->'''Moradmin Bast:''' We've analyzed their attack, sir, and there is a danger. Should I have your ship standing by?\ |
| 871 | '''Grand Moff Tarkin:''' Evacuate? In our moment of triumph? I think you overestimate their chances. |
| 872 | * WhatAPieceOfJunk: TropeNamer. How Luke describes the ''Millennium Falcon'' on first seeing it. |
| 873 | * WhatHappenedToTheMouse: |
| 874 | ** From the very beginning, when C-3PO and R2-D2 are seen during the attack on Leia's ship; the silver-plated protocol droid following close behind disappears into an airlock and is not seen again. |
| 875 | ** Two Stormtroopers and the two Imperial technicians are never mentioned again after they're knocked out inside ''Millennium Falcon'' (with the two Stormtroopers get MuggedForDisguise). In the old ''Legends'' novelization, they were found and freed, but since that book isn't canon anymore, we can only assume the ''Falcon'' took off with four unconscious Imperials aboard, two of them in their underwear. |
| 876 | ** It's not revealed whether Han and Chewie ever found that tracking device the Empire planted in the ''Millennium Falcon''. |
| 877 | * WhyDontYouJustShootHim: After discovering Leia lied to him about the rebel base, Tarkin tells Vader to "terminate her, immediately". Yet she's still alive and well later on when Luke and his companions arrive at the Death Star. Not very immediate, it would seem. Justified in that despite all direct attempts to force her to talk failing, Vader sensed they might be able to succeed in finding the rebel base through more subtle means and suggests letting the occupants of the ''Millennium Falcon'' break her out and take her to the base. |
| 878 | * WidescreenShot: Plenty, from the opening crawl, to the first Star Destroyer, to the final celebration scene. |
| 879 | * WingMan: For Luke's final trench run, Wedge and Biggs cover him against [[TheDragon Darth Vader]]. Wedge's ship is crippled and he's forced to withdraw, and Biggs is killed shortly after. |
| 880 | * WouldBeRudeToSayGenocide: The Empire removes the Senate just before they destroy the populated planet Alderaan. Thus, no-one is able to protest this atrocity. While they don't say outright that the upcoming demonstration of the Death Star's firepower is the reason why they removed the Senate, it sure is convenient timing. |
| 881 | * WretchedHive: TropeNamer. Kenobi calls Mos Eisley a "wretched hive of scum and villainy". |
| 882 | * WronskiFeint: Done when Luke is being pursued by a TIE fighter. He pulls to the side suddenly, allowing Wedge Antilles to come at it from the front and blow it away. |
| 883 | * YouAllMeetInAnInn: While not all the characters met there (Leia is already held on the Death Star by this point, the droids had met Luke after being bought, and then they all go to meet Ben Kenobi to find out if the droids belong to him), the meeting with Han Solo and Chewbacca in the Mos Eisley cantina does represent the first time the main hero (Luke) is set to interact with the outside universe, and since the meeting is where the mission to Alderaan is planned that will link them up with Leia and set the plot for the rest of the movie (as well as set all the events of the trilogy in motion), it certainly counts as where the main adventure starts. |
| 884 | * YouAreInCommandNow: Twice during the Battle of Yavin. |
| 885 | ** After Tiree and Dutch are shot down, Davish Krail reports their destruction to Garven Dreis, who replies "I copy, Gold Leader," acknowledging that, as the sole survivor, Krail is now squadron leader. Unfortunately, Darth Vader shoots him down too just seconds later. |
| 886 | ** Later, Dreis tells Luke to set up his attack run and once he goes down, there's a huge, meaningful cue in the score representing that Luke is now in command of the mission (or what's left of it). |
| 887 | * YouAreNotAlone: Just when all seems lost during the final trench run with Luke being chased by Darth Vader with R2 out of action, Luke suddenly hears Obi-Wan's voice out of nowhere, "Use the Force, Luke... Trust me." |
| 888 | * YouCalledMeXItMustBeSerious: Done subtly. When Luke switches off his targeting computer during the attack on the Death Star, MissionControl on Yavin IV briefly breaks military protocol by calling him by his first name instead of his callsign -- something that they wouldn't do unless they were ''very'' alarmed. It's the only time in the whole sequence that the control officer uses anyone's real name. |
| 889 | -->'''MissionControl:''' Luke, you've switched off your targeting computer! What's wrong?\ |
| 890 | '''Luke:''' Nothing. I'm alright. |
| 891 | * YoureInsane: Chewbacca's opinion of Obi-Wan as he departs to disable the Death Star's tractor beam. |
| 892 | -->'''Chewbacca:''' ''[in Shyriiwook, unsubtitled]'' That old man's mad!\ |
| 893 | '''Han:''' Boy, you said it, Chewie. ''[to Luke]'' Where did you dig up that old fossil? |
| 894 | * YourEyesCanDeceiveYou: TropeNamer. Obi-Wan's advice to Luke when training him is to ignore his physical senses and feel the metaphysical energy of the Force. |
| 895 | * YouSaidYouWouldLetThemGo: Tarkin attempts to force Princess Leia into revealing the main Rebel Base by threatening to use the Death Star's superlaser on Alderaan as a demonstration of its power. She gives them the location (or so it seems). Unfortunately for her, Tarkin [[ExactWords never said he would spare Alderaan]] if she gave up the information. |
| 896 | [[/folder]] |
| 897 | ---- |
| 898 | ->''"Great shot, kid! That was one in a million!"'' |
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