After Lucas decided to label the second film "Episode V", the label "Episode IV: A New Hope" was retroactively added to the first film in its published screenplay and first home video release. Many casual fans refer to it as simply Star Wars, even though all the films carry the same title/subtitle pattern now.
The second trilogy to be released was chronologically the first. Essentially an extended prequel, it centered on Luke's father, Anakin Skywalker, and his growth from a young slave on a remote planet into a powerful Jedi Knight. It showed how Senator/Chancellor Palpatine (the Big Bad of the Original Trilogy) gained supreme power through complex schemes, and Anakin's corruption at his hands. It also showed Obi-Wan's story in training Anakin and the fall of the Jedi Order, with Obi-Wan and Yoda becoming the last of their kind.
As part of the marketing for the prequels they were referred to more often by episode number rather than the episode name. In fact many did not catch on to the name of Episode I being The Phantom Menace. Episode III is an anomaly, where fans refer to it equally by both episode number and the name Revenge of the Sith. This is also quickly becoming true for Episode II due to the animated series
Lucas has long argued that the prequel's story existed in some form or another from the beginning of the saga, as the films featured the subtitles, Episode IV-VI (although the subtitle "Episode IV" wasn't in the first Star Wars film until its 1981 video re-release). A New Hope and a few elements of the original trilogy also make slightly more sense when seen against the backstory in the prequels, though others are more complicated. The original trilogy was released to theaters again in 1997 for the 20th Anniversary, featuring a few new special effects, cleaning up a few perceived Special Effects Failures, added some deleted scenes and tweaked some original scenes. The films were slightly tweaked once more for the 2004 DVD release and changed to better match the Prequels by replacing Boba Fett's voice with Jango Fett's, replacing Clive Revill as the Emperor with Ian MacDiarmid, and replacing Sebastian Shaw as Anakin's ghost with Hayden Christiansen.
As to Episodes VII, VIII and IX, the story is more vague. Lucas is on record as both having and not having plans to create them. Lucasfilm's current stance is that the saga was always going to culminate with Luke saving his father and confronting The Emperor; since all this has already happened, there is no need to create further feature films. Only time will reveal whether Lucas intends to stick to this stance.
The story goes that after Lucas made American Graffiti he wanted to make a Flash Gordonremake, and upon being denied the rights to the property he set out to create his own pulp sci-fi universe. After multiple incarnations, some of the content of which can be found in repurposed names and concepts for later EU productions, he formed the basic story of the first movie and original trilogy. But from the beginning it was always meant to be just one story in a vast galaxy.
Star Wars was inspired by the 1930s serials and comic strips of Flash Gordon and Buck Rogers. And by Asimov'sFoundation, most manifested in the Imperial capital of Trantor Coruscant and the concept of the decaying Galactic Empire itself. And by Space Battleship Yamato'sWorld War II naval battles IN SPACE!, and Akira Kurosawa's mystical samurai heroes and bumbling sidekicks. (Kurosawa's film The Hidden Fortress was particularly influential on Lucas.)
The films also have some predecessors in SF literature. Frank Herbert's Dune novels (especially the first two or three books) provided some inspiration, notably for the desert planet Tatooine. Also, E. E. "Doc" Smith's Lensman pulp SF series suggested the concept of a superpowered psychic galactic police force. Basically every single Star Wars trope is Older Than They Think, but the film did popularise them, and many modern Space Opera or Sci Fi shows and movies (or just about anything and everything) contain homages to Star Wars.
Expanded Universe
As expected for a film series this popular, the Expanded Universe is immense; in fact, there's a very real argument to be made that Star Wars established the "Expanded Universe" concept as we know it. (While the concept certainly existed long before Star Wars, it was this particular EU that was the first to become a financial and mindshare juggernaut that in some ways became bigger than the films themselves.) Made-For-TV films, Animated Adaptations, a series of Radio Dramas, Video Games and a large series of novels all fall under this banner. Even with how massive the project is, Star Wars has one of the most elaborate, internally consistent canons in the history of media publication. It is also unusual in that pretty much every licensed Star Warsanything is entirely canon unless it is directly contradicted by the films, including the video games and comics. TV Tropes has a very incomplete list of the Star Wars Expanded Universe. See Wookieepedia for a really complete list.
The canonicity (or lack thereof) of the Expanded Universe is a matter of some heated debate among the fans. Some take the view that since it's published, it's official. Others point out that George Lucas himself considers it a separate project apart from "his" canon. This has led to lots and lots of Fan Dumb from all sides.
The popularity of the series has led to many parodies and spoofs. These are some notable ones:
The Star Wars Franchise has its own extremely encyclopedic wiki here. With over 82,000 articles, it is among the largest wikis on the entire Internet (even many academic wikis are eclipsed by it) and there isn't anything Star Wars that is not covered in it.
As might be expected, this franchise is one of the biggest Trope Namers in the history of human media. Even if many of these tropes didn't necessarilystart here, in the modern zeitgeist, mention what the trope is and you'll likely get a Star Wars example back and entire generations of writers have since imitated the examples the movies gave. A full list of them is here.
Action Girl: Padmé and Leia are the only major female characters in their respective trilogies, and they make the most of it. Several female Jedi and bounty hunters embody this trope as well, especially in the EU.
Amusing Alien: Many appear in the various works, but Jar-Jar Binks is the most known and most visible example of The Scrappy.
An Arm and a Leg: Jedi and Sith frequently lose limbs in lightsaber combat due to their Absurdly Sharp Blade quality. Also happens to various other characters for non-lightsaber related reasons.
The Apprentice: The Jedi Order is founded on the concept of apprenticeship, with students (Padawans) trained primarily by a single Jedi Master before taking on the rank of Jedi Knight, then going on to take an apprentice themselves. The Sith use a variant: there is always a single master and a single apprentice in the Galaxy at any time, with the principle that the apprentice will eventually seek to overcome his master and will either succeed or die in the attempt.
Arc Words: Many, including various psychobabble about under/overestimating the power of the Force/dark side etc.
Armored Coffins: Basic TIE fighters have neither ejection seats nor shields. (Expanded Universe material somewhat justifies this in that the TIE is extremely cheap to manufacture, and the Empire is depending on their overwhelming numbers rather than their sturdiness. Pilots are also relatively easy to come by in a galaxy this well-populated). Later versions modeled after Vader's TIE Advanced prototype did get shields, after the TIE corps sustained massive losses at the hands of shielded Rebel craft.
Ascended Extra: With how much Expanded Universe material is being written, we're well on our way to every single background character from the films getting names and thorough backstories. The winners for this are Wedge and Boba Fett. IG-88 has a Shadows of the Empirelevel as well.
Ascended Fanboy(s): The 501st Legion, the world-wide "definitive Imperial costuming organization," was rewarded for their service by being canonically named as Vader's Praetorian Guard, as well as being made the "stars" of Star Wars Battlefront 2.
Attack! Attack... Retreat! Retreat!: Han's running battle with the Death Star's stormtroopers in A New Hope contains several examples of this, from the iconic "Close the blast doors! Close the blast doors! ... Open the blast doors! Open the blast doors!" bit to the scene when he goes on the offensive against a squad, only to retreat after he "corners" them and finds a much larger squad waiting ready.
Attack Pattern Alpha: The space battles are full of this, especially the Rebels.
Author Appeal: A society of warrior-sages who, as per Word Of God, can have all the sex they want so long as they don't get too attached.
Author Existence Failure: George Lucas hired SF pulp novel author and Hollywood screenwriter Leigh Brackett to write the script for The Empire Strikes Back. She wrote a first draft but died of cancer before she could revise it. Lucas wrote subsequent drafts himself, and later turned the script over to Lawrence Kasdan (writer of Raiders of the Lost Ark) for polishing. (Lucas's revisions after Brackett's death notably included the creation of the Luke, I Am Your Father moment. In Brackett's draft Vader and Anakin were two separate characters, and Luke sees Anakin's Force ghost before heading off to duel Vader.)
Authority Equals Asskicking: The Jedi Order and the Sith both embody this trope, as the stronger Force-users tend to be the highest ranked. The Sith explicitly codify it by making "promotion" based on You Kill It, You Bought It.
Avoid The Dreaded G-Rating: The reason for that scene in A New Hope where Luke discovers his aunt and uncle's horrifically charred remains. Justified, as George Lucas had no way of knowing at the time that standards would be tightened for G-rated movies within the next few years, so if he didn't shoot that scene and got a G rating back in 1977, he could've earned a PG rating if he submitted it in 1981 regardless.
Han Solo can't use the Force, but he gets the drop on Darth Vader, takes the Millennium Falcon through nigh-impossible manoeuvres, and knocks the galaxy's most feared bounty hunter into the Sarlacc (albeit accidentally) while blind.
While nowhere near the level of Han, Leia has her moments, notably in her first encounter with Vader where she not only lies to his face, but talks to him like he's an idiot. She later strangles Jabba to death. (The fact that she later turns out to be Force-sensitive notwithstanding.)
Bald Women: Aurra Sing, Sly Moore (in the prequels)
The Battlestar: Most large capital ships carry fighter squadrons as well as their own heavy armament. Star Destroyers and their counterparts, the Corellian Cruisers, are the basic examples.
BBW: Yarna d'al' Gargan from Episode VI: Return of the Jedi
Bilingual Dialogue: Han apparently speaks (or at least understands) a variety of languages, including Huttese, Rodian, and Wookiee. Lando and Nien Numb communicate this way in Return of the Jedi. R2-D2 does this constantly, since he only speaks Binary.
Bittersweet Ending: A staple of the series. In fact, A New Hope has the only unambiguously happy ending.
The Phantom Menace- The Battle of Naboo is a success, but Qui-Gon Jinn is killed in a duel that only proves the Sith still exist.
Attack of the Clones - The Republic wins the Battle of Geonosis, but now has a galactic-scale war on its hands. Anakin and Padmé get married. Count Dooku escapes.
The Empire Strikes Back - The heroes escape from Cloud City, but Han is still frozen in carbonite and captured by Boba Fett. Luke learns Vader is his father.
Return of the Jedi- Darth Vader does a Heel Face Turn and then dies. The Rebels defeat the Emperor, but that doesn't end the war.
Bizarre Alien Biology: Several near-human or rubber-forehead species, as described in the Expanded Universe. There's some even more bizarre stuff in the EU.
Bizarre Human Biology: Humans, as well as all other living species in The Verse, possess "midi-chlorians", mysterious organelles which have some intricate connection to the Force.
Bloodbath Villain Origin: Anakin's first task after being christened Darth Vader is to lead the attack on the Jedi Temple.
Boarding Party: The Imperials blasting their way into the Rebel corvette at the start of Episode IV.
Bodyguarding A Badass: The Imperial guard are the sign-of-office type, since their bosses are Sith Lords.
Bottomless Pits: Every single movie, multiple times even. Entire cities have been built in bottomless pits. The Emperor is particularly fond of them and dies when Vader throws him into one.
Broad Strokes: The entire saga was built upon having millions of stories being told while we are only seeing a few. There is a tier-based system of how Star WarsCanon works: Movies > Novelizations/Comic Adaptations > Television > Original story Comic Books / Literature / Video Games> Older material (subject to be ignored) >What If? stories, Alternate Endings and items not meant to be taken seriously.
Bromantic Foil: Naive farmboy and cynical drug smuggler turned mercenary? Naturally they'll be the two guys competing over Leia.
Cheated Angle: The Death Star is always shown so the superlaser dish is facing the viewer. The only exception is the occasional view from behind when the superlaser is firing, but it's never shown without the laser visible in an establishing shot.
Clingy Costume: Darth Vader's armour is also a life-support system, and cannot be removed outside a special chamber.
Cold-Blooded Torture: Vader's torture of Princess Leia in the first movie, Han Solo and Chewbacca in the second and the Emperor's use of electrical torture on Luke in the third.
Colour-Coded for Your Convenience: In space battles, Rebel lasers are red, and Imperial lasers are green. In the prequels, Republic shots were blue, Separatist shots were red. Jedi use blue or green lightsabers while only Sith carry red lightsabers. And only a badmotherfucker gets to use a purple lightsaber blade.
The expanded universe has made the lightsaber coloring slightly less straight forward. Yellow, Orange, Amber, Pewter, and Black have been used for Jedi saber colors. However the Sith seem to maintain their characteristic red sabers no matter what. Leia herself used a different shade of red for her own lightsaber when she first became a Jedi.
Common Tongue: Basic for humans (and by extension the Republic/Empire) and individual languages for each species.
Corrupt Politician: Senator Palpatine got elected. Emperor Palpatine did not.
Cranial Processing Unit: Appears to apply to many of the humanoid robots. Most notably, in Episode II, C-3PO gets his head switched with that of a battle droid, and remains being himself. Averted with the MagnaGuards, however, since losing their heads doesn't appear to slow them down much.
Creepy Cleanliness: The Empire's ships are always spotless and shiny, emphasizing their coldness and sterility. The Alliance's are always used and lived-in. (George Lucas had fights with the unionized cleaning staff, who kept trying to clean the Alliance sets up for contractual reasons after he had them deliberately dirtied.)
Deadpan Snarker: Han Solo would be the most obvious one, but it seems old Obi-Wan was something of a snarker in his younger days. Even as an old man he's still able to spar with Han though:
Han: Damn fool, I knew you were gonna say that.
Obi-Wan: Who's more foolish, the fool or the fool who follows him?
Decade Dissonance: A bit of a clash between the prequel's and the original trilogies' style for technology. Perhaps justified in that the galaxy under The Empire is a Crapsack World. Though, to be fair, a good amount of the original trilogy spends time on barely-inhabited planets that are the site of Rebel or Imperial bases or galactic backwaters like Tatooine. Bespin is the most high-technology place visited in the original series and it seems rather advanced for an out-of-the-way Tibanna platform (albeit an important one).
Deceptive Legacy: Obi-Wan tells Luke his father is dead. It all depends on your point of view. The audience knows he turns out to be Darth Vader; but from Obi-Wan's point of view, his friend Anakin died (and was mourned) after the events of Episode III.
Decoy Protagonist: It turns out Qui-Gon was right; Despite his flaws and poor decisions, it is Anakin, not Luke, who is the hero of the entire series.
Deleted Scene: Scenes restored in the Special Editions of the Original Trilogy and finished in the DVD releases for the prequels.
Democracy Is Flawed: Then-Senator Palpatine uses the political mire of the Galactic Senate to ignite his scheme of overthrowing the Jedi and Senate to establish a Sith Empire.
Demoted to Extra: Jar-Jar Binks. In Attack of the Clones, he had a somewhat significant appearance. In Revenge of the Sith, he had very minor appearances.
Depending on the Writer: The movies try to have some sense of balance and limitation to the technology and the abilities of Force users. In the Expanded Universe you will find all sorts of battleship weapons more powerful than the Death Star, and Jedi of either the current time period or in the distant past who could be considered forces of nature with what they are able to do.
Digital Destruction: The 2004 dvd set, despite being billed as "restored", recieved terrible color alternation, desaturating the soft, fantasy like colors of the original films into darker, more realistic lighting in vogue with the Prequel Trilogy, and much of the clarity and detail of the original prints is lost in the process. This was the result of Lucasfilm ordering this to be done in a breakneck page of 30 days. See the restoration comparison here. Hopefully the problem was fixed for the Blu-ray reissue.
Nowhere near, sadly. The 2011 Blu-rays have the brightness turned up a teeny bit, and a few lightsaber fixes- mostly in Return of the Jedi- but that's about it. Colours are still all over the shop, lightsaber in Empire Strikes Back often look terrible, and a lot of the detail in the darker parts of the picture are still lost.
Digital Head Swap: Done for Count Dooku's light saber battles (justified, given Christopher Lee's age). It's particularly eerie and distracting as Christopher Lee's head seems to float above his stuntman's shoulders independent of his movements.
Disappeared Dad: Anakin was this for Luke, for awhile. We know what really happened, but Luke didn't learn the truth until Episode V. Also, ironically, applies to Anakin himself, as he has no father.
Disney Villain Death: Palpatine. Then again, when he reached the bottom, he also blew up.
Divine Chessboard: The Light Side versus the Dark Side of the force, through the Jedi and Sith.
The Empire Strikes Back- Probably the biggest downer ending in the series: The Empire storms the Rebellion's hidden base and drives the entire Rebel fleet into hiding, Luke gets his hand cut off and finds out that Darth Vader is his father, and Han Solo gets frozen in carbonite after confessing his love to Leia.
The Phantom Menace might have one. As stated above it could be considered a Bittersweet Ending with Qui-Gon dead but the battle of Naboo having been won. Though the purpose of Naboo's invasion was to make Sidious Supreme Chancellor of the Republic. The Good Guys celebrate their pointless victory not knowing that the Big Bad has actually succeeded and is standing there among them as Palpatine. The Bad Guy Wins, the Good Guys just don't know.
Attack of the Clones- Featured a Jedi massacre and the start of the Clone Wars.
Yoda:Victory? Victory you say? Master Obi-Wan, not victory. The shroud of the dark side has fallen. Begun the Clone War has.
Revenge of the Sith- Drops a ton of bombs on us. The purge of the Jedi Order. Anakin fully becomes Darth Vader after sustaining grievous injuries in a battle with his closest friend Obi-Wan. Padme dies, orphaning newborns Luke and Leia Skywalker. Palpatine forms the Empire.
Dress-Coded for Your Convenience: The Jedi wear brown robes while the Sith wear black. Stormtroopers wear distinctive white armour and Imperial pilots wear black uniforms, emphasizing their sterility and lack of humanity, while Rebels soldiers wear various green and grey tones.
Drop Pod: Many factions use these, and some video games let you do it yourself.
Due to the Dead: The Jedi burn their dead in funeral pyres, with few exceptions (including, but not limited to, Jedi that become one with the Force, most notably Obi-Wan and Yoda).
Also, as a minor background event, C-3PO helps Obi-Wan burn a bunch of slaughtered Jawas in a funeral pyre in one scene in A New Hope as Luke returns from discovering his aunt and uncle's charred remains.
In Revenge of the Sith, we only see Padme's funeral procession to the amphitheatre where Qui-Gon's funeral was held, though as inferred from Yoda's dialogue before the scene her body is subsequently buried along with a keepsake of her husband Anakin following the funeral proper.
Dull Surprise: Although there are arguably some instances of it in the original trilogy too, this is taken to new levels in the prequels.
The Dutiful Son: Or daughter in this case. Luke seems to think Leia is this, being in the Rebellion while he was on Tatooine.
Ears as Hair: Several alien species do this at times, including the Togrutas, the Twi'leks, and the Gungans.
Eccentric Mentor: Yoda, who is very wise but more than a little eccentric.
Elite Mooks: The Stormtroopers, and the Super Battledroids from the prequel trilogy.
Emotions vs. Stoicism: Why Jedi are good and Sith are evil, though in the Expanded Universe, stoicism is treated a bit less kindly, as the New Jedi Order by Luke is less rigid.
In the original trilogy, this trope was invoked intentionally, and in fact was created in the editing room. Aside from the lead actors (who were mostly Americans), all of the small parts and background extras in the three films were played by Brits. This was natural, since the trilogy was shot at a studio just outside London. Most of the "good" or "neutral" characters in the films (such as the Rebel pilots, or the cantina bartender) later had their voices dubbed over by American actors, but the sound editors retained the natural English accents of the Imperial mooks for dramatic effect.
Subverted by Mon Mothma, who has a British accent and is head of the Rebellion.
And by C-3PO, thanks to Anthony Daniels' narrow escape from overdubbing.
Evil Overlord: Most Sith Lords (most of whom are also masters), though Darth Vader (an apprentice) is the first and arguably most definitive Evil Overlord to be introduced.
Explain, Explain... Oh, Crap: From the first (or fourth, depending on how you look at it) film, "But if they traced the robots here, they may have learned who they sold them to, and that would lead them back... home!".
From Return of the Jedi, "But how could they be jamming us if they don't know... we're coming...?"
Fake Brit: Leia in A New Hope, briefly. Her accent change could be explained as indicative of speaking formally because she is a senator, much the same way Amidala's manner of speaking changed when she was under cover as her own handmaiden, and later when her term as queen ended. Another possible explanation: the scene where her Fake Brit accent is most prominent — when she's arguing with Tarkin on the Death Star. She's talking down to him, letting him know she is his equal and will not be intimidated... but when he points the Wave Motion Gun at her home planet, she drops the pretense and the accent.
Fantastic Racism: Anakin towards the Sand People. In the EU, human supremacy is the policy of the Empire, to explain why there were no Imperial aliens in the movies.
The droid-hating bartender from Episode IV, as well as the Imperial officer that calls Chewbacca a "thing". As well, the Imperials on Endor refer to the Ewoks as "bear creatures".
Fantastic Rank System: The Empire's rank system includes Moffs and Grand Moffs. The Expanded Universe adds more fantasy ranks.
Fast Roping: The clone troopers in Episode III employ this trope.
Similarly averted in A New Hope where Princess Leia is a senator and member of the Rebellion with no man by her side.
Feudal Future: Popularized the concept of a "used universe" which has inspired Firefly and countless other franchises.
Fish People: Kit Fisto and the Gungans in the prequels, as well as the Aqualish, Mon Calimari, and Quarren.
Flaw Exploitation: Anakin/Vader's love for his family; Luke's for his friends.
Flip Flop of God: Over the years George Lucas has made many contradictory claims about the development, conceptual background, and future plans of the series, always claiming that whatever his current plans are are what he had in mind all along.
Flynning: Oh so much, but justified as lightsabers are a One-Hit Kill weapon, so the emphasis of most combat styles is on avoiding being hit while creating an opportunity to strike.
Forgotten Fallen Friend: Most of Biggs Darklighter's scenes were cut from the original release of A New Hope, resulting in some dissonant cheerfulness from Luke after he destroys the Death Star considering that his best friend had just died.
Gambit Pileup: Palpatine's intricate plans are legendary throughout the series, but there are others that famously compete with his. Specifically, Vader, Luke, and the Rebel leaders all run their own gambits in Return of the Jedi. In order, the Rebels and Vader are Out Gambitted by Palpatine, who is in turn Out Gambitted by Luke.
Generican Empire: The Galactic Republic, replaced by the Galactic Empire, replaced by the New Republic...
Genre Busting: Part science fiction, part fairy tale fantasy, part western, part samurai movie, part World War II film....
Gloved Fist of Doom: Darth Vader lives in this trope. "If you only knew the power of the Dark Side..."
Good Cannot Comprehend Evil: The Jedi Order suffers from this problem, and pay dearly for it, as the prequels show.
Good Scars, Evil Scars: Anakin gains a prominent scar on his face somewhere between Episodes II and III, and several more when he becomes Darth Vader. Luke has one in Episode V from the wampa attack (in reality, this was from a car accident prior to filming).
G-Rated Sex: Word Of God says in the commentary for ESB that, for the adults, a kiss between Han and Leia was supposed to have the same effect as two characters having sex in any other movie.
Graying Morality: The first trilogy. A New Hope has mostly clear-cut heroes and villains (except for Lovable Rogue Han Solo). In The Empire Strikes Back, we learn that Obi-Wan lied to Luke about his father. In Return of the Jedi, Luke is told that he must kill his own father or the Emperor will win.
Hannibal Lecture: Palpatine is especially fond of giving them, but Dooku and Tarkin also get to.
Harmony Versus Discipline: The Force = The Way of Harmony and The Dark Side = The Path of Discipline, in theory with Jedi trying to be one with the Force and the Sith trying to control it by channeling their desires. In practice the Jedi believe in only using The Force with a focus on self-control, while the Sith seek domination through discipline.
Hoist by His Own Petard: Many villains such as Palpatine, Tarkin and Jabba die due to their own arrogance and hubris.
Hollywood Healing: Luke and Anakin are very active for people with prosthetics. Medical technology in the Republic is far superior to anything we have today.
Luke is attacked by a wampa but heals relatively quickly.
Hollywood Tactics: Made of this trope. Some cases are somewhat justified, as the Rebels have grossly inferior forces and really have no other options.
This is directly mentioned in the novelization of Return of the Jedi: the Rebels know going head to head with an enemy fleet is the one thing a guerilla force is never supposed to do.
Humans Are White: There are precisely two black people in the original trilogy: Lando, and Grizz Fix, an X-wing pilot who gets a quarter second of screen time (dying) in Jedi. The prequels are slightly better about this. Slightly. Blue skin is still more common than black, but at least there's Mace Windu, the galaxy's second biggest badass, among the black characters.
I Am Not Spock: Nearly the entire cast has suffered this to some degree. Most of them have embraced it, while others were left resentful of being typecast (most notably Alec Guinness). Averted by Harrison Ford, though, who launched a successful acting career outside of the Star Wars films.
In the prequels, Count Dooku serves as the figurehead of the rebel Separatists.
If You Can Read This: The prequels do this quite frequently...in an alien alphabet, called Aurebesh. If you transcribe each character for its Roman equivalent, it is just plain English. Some examples make sense in context (such as the screen of Anakin's Naboo Starfighter in Phantom Menace) but most are simply inside jokes made by the creators of the material.
Impossibly Cool Weapon: About half the weapons in the movies, but the lightsabers and the Death Stars deserve special note.
Impractically Fancy Outfit: Amidala's regal outfits, which are so expensive Obi-Wan suggests bargaining with them to buy parts for her ship's hyperdrive.
Inhumanly Beautiful Race: The Diathim from the moons of Iego are known as "angels" and Anakin describes them as "the most beautiful creatures in the universe" (relaying stories he'd heard from spacers).
In the Blood: In this case, it's midichlorians, and evil.
In the Future, We Still Have Roombas: Several examples, including the little skittery Mouse Droid that Chewie growls at and the pit droids in The Phantom Menace.
Ironic Echo: The scene where Vader has to choose between saving luke or letting him die is a mirror of the scene with Mace in the Chancellors office, and the consequences both large and small scale are also identical.
I Shall Taunt You: The Emperor is an expert at this, but all of the villains do it routinely.
I Will Tear Your Arms Off: According to Han, Wookiees have a tendency to do this when they lose at games.
Jacob Marley Warning: Obi-Wan and Yoda to Luke before leaving to face Vader. Also, Vader himself is this to Luke when he realizes how closely Anakin's history mirrors his own.
With all three of those characters absent from A New Hope (the original cut, at least), Darth Vader fills the Large Ham role in that movie. Also, Yoda in The Empire Strikes Back.
Laser Blade: Lightsabers. Admit it, you know you want one.
Let No Crisis Go To Waste: In the prequel trilogy, Senator Palpatine uses fear of the Separatist movement to gain authority.
The Man Behind the Man: Palpatine's the Man behind the Federation, Dooku, and the Separatists.
Martial Pacifist: Although the Jedi don't hesitate to use violence when necessary, they try hard not to kill unless there is no choice. As well, Jedi don't believe in the use of pre-emptive violence.
Darth Plagueis > Darth Sidious > Darths Maul, Tyranus, and Vader > Starkiller
Qui-Gon Jinn > Yoda > Obi-Wan Kenobi > Luke Skywalker (implied in the movie, spelled out in the novelization)
Master Swordsman: Many, including but not limited to Palpatine, Dooku (who is described as such in the script), Yoda, Mace Windu, Qui-Gon (described as one of the only Jedi able to duel Mace to a draw consistently), Obi-Wan, Anakin...
Mauve Shirt: Wedge Antilles, the only non-central character to appear in all three Original Trilogy movies.
Meaningful Name: Ever notice how some of the Sith names take a sinister word starting with "in" and just chop the "in" off? (in)vader, (in)sidious? Coincidence? I don't think so!
Most/all Sith names are some form of a sinister word.
Also, "vader" is Dutch for " father".
And then there's Darth Maul...who has no personality to speak of and is a blunt instrument...
It's not just the Sith. The smuggler who at first wants the war to leave him alone is named "Solo," Leia is Assyrian for "ruler," and the kid who wants to leave his hick planet and travel the galaxy is named "Skywalker." And later, we get the gambler named Lando — on Earth, a shortened form of Orlando, meaning "Land of Gold."
Medieval Stasis: The franchise takes place over tens of thousands of years (e.g. Knights of the Old Republic is set four thousand years before Episode I) and yet there is little to no technological or cultural development in that time. *
Aside from the Death Star, but we know how that turned out.
Merchandise Driven: The franchise may not have started that way, but it definitely ended up there. There are about six different versions of the medical droid that works on Luke at the end of The Empire Strikes Back.
A Million is a Statistic: Averted with Alderaan, and the shock and horror various characters express at its destruction. To be fair, at least one of them (Ben) is a Jedi, and very sensitive to the effect several billion people being wiped out at once has on the Force.
Mind Over Manners: The Jedi's responsible use of their suggestion and telepathy powers.
Mini Mecha: Some of the walkers, such as the AT-RT from Revenge of the Sith.
Model Planning: The Death Star attack planning sessions in both A New Hope and Return of the Jedi are holographic versions of this trope.
Modern Stasis: Technology and culture has been the same in the galaxy for over 10,000 years. The only thing that's changed are political boundaries and some forms of technology.
In that time, we have gone from inventing the wheel to basic space travel. Progress!
Multiple Demographic Appeal: The series has many elements to appeal to people of all ages, including action scenes, comic relief characters and some of the romantic storylines, plus some of the actor casting choices.
Multi-Stage Battle: The climactic lightsaber duels in — coincidentally enough — all the odd-numbered movies.
National Weapon: The Jedi Order uses lightsabers. The various incarnations of the Sith Order also use lightsabers, universally colored red.
Neck Lift: Vader does this to the captain of the Tantive IV.
Necromantic: In Episode III, Anakin is motivated primarily by a quest to prevent Padmé from dying.
Never a Self-Made Woman: Averted in The Phantom Menace where Amidala is ruler of Naboo. By Revenge of the Sith though, it's played straight as the film is all about Anakin becoming Darth Vader, but to give her credit there were three deleted scenes of her actively trying to stop the chancellor from taking over, and then helping found what would become the Rebel Alliance.
In the prequel trilogy, Anakin is the Rogue and Obi-Wan is the Noble.
No Body Left Behind: Obi-Wan and Yoda fade away when they die, leaving behind empty robes. Notably, Vader's body does not disappear. However, it's implied that while his body was in the funeral pyre, Vader learned from either Obi-Wan, Yoda, or Qui-Gon (the latter who learned the trick years after his own death) how to become one with the Force, so his burning body might have simply faded away during the funeral pyre instead of turning into ashes. This theory is supported when Anakin's Force ghost appears with those of Obi-Wan and Yoda.
No Name Given: Palpatine (originally just "The Emperor," making this a mild subversion) has never been given a first name and might not even have one. Steve Sansweet, director of Lucasfilm's content management doubts "that there are many in the know for whom just plain "Palpatine" isn't enough."
Off with His Head!: Several characters are decapitated in battle, notably Jango Fett, Dooku and the apparition of himself as Darth Vader that Luke fights in the cave on Dagobah.
Old Master: Being a sci-fi film that borrows heavily from classical myth, it isn't surprising that Homer's creation made its way to Star Wars.
Once an Episode: Every film features a gigantic space battle and at least one lightsaber duel, which is usually around a pit of some sort.
One Product Planet: As with any good space opera, Star Wars provides plenty of examples of this: Coruscant is a Capital, Bespin and Kessel are Mines, Endor houses a Superweapon, the First Death Star itself was a Superweapon, Genosis is a Factory world, Tatooine is a minor Underworld, and Yavin and Hoth were Strategic locations. Naboo was Blockaded for a while.
Only Sane Man: R2-D2 seems to cater to this, especially considering he never had his memory wiped and is fully aware of everything that has taken place since The Phantom Menace.
Ooh, Me Accent's Slipping: Leia is introduced as having a British Coruscanti accent, but it changes into American Corellian.
Opposed Mentors: Anakin Skywalker has to choose between following Obi wan Kenobi and Palpatine. Eventually, he chooses Palpatine and turns to the Dark Side.
The Order: The Jedi Order, naturally. The Sith may count as an evil Order depending on how cooperative they're feeling at the moment; sometimes they're gathering in huge armies, sometimes there's only one or two of them working together.
Outside-The-Box Tactic: ATAT's have thick armor impervious to the blasters on rebel fighters. However, due to their being very top-heavy, a simple harpoon and tow cable can bring them down with ease.
Papa Wolf: Ironically (since he is the villain, after all), Vader. All of his actions in retrospect turn out to be for the purpose of protecting his son from the Emperor, and that's what motivates his Heel Face Turn.
Planet Ville: Averted with the planet of Naboo: we see a swamp which also has an underwater city inside it, a regular city, and some villas in "Lake Country." Played pretty straight everywhere else.
Politically Incorrect Villain: Much of the Imperial brass. Palpatine himself is not necessarily, if only because he probably sees everyone but himself as pawns.
Precision F-Strike: Star Wars has mostly clean language, which is why its few moments of swearing are so special.
A New Hope has the following conversation between Han Solo and Obi-Wan Kenobi:
Han: Even if I could take off, I'd never get past the tractor beam.
Obi-Wan: Leave that to me.
Han: Damn fool, I knew you'd say that.
Obi-Wan himself gets his only profanity in the entire series in the same film when he uses the term "damn fool idealistic crusade" to describe what Uncle Owen thinks of his mission as he introduces Luke to the Jedi religion.
Rebel technician: Sir, your tauntaun will freeze before you reach the first marker.
Han: Then I'll see you in hell!
Precursors: Most prominently the Celestials who built Centerpoint(as well as the entire Corellian system) and the Maw, and the Rakata who created the first true galaxy-spanning civilization with Infinite Empire and are responsible for modern galactic civilization having the hyperdrive. Many other lesser examples such as the Killiks, who we now know were one of the slave races that the Celestials used to make Centerpoint Qolaraloq and the Maw.
Prequel In The Lost Age: The prequels are set before and during the Clone Wars and the downfall of the Old Republic, and feature the Jedi Order as it was before the Purge.
Prodigal Hero: Obi Wan Kenobi exiles himself to watch over little Luke Skywalker from a distance, and then returns to the first line to be his mentor.
Promoted Fanboy: Nearly two generations have grown up with Star Wars, so almost anyone working on modern projects is one of these.
Pretty Boy: Luke. Just ... look at him. Obi-Wan Kenobi in Episode I and Anakin Skywalker in Episode II as well.
Psychic Radar: The Jedi and the Sith both get to use their mental powers to look for people; usually each other. The most famous example is Darth Vader sensing the presence of Obi-Wan on the Death Star.
"Put that thing away, you're going to get us all killed!"
Red Right Hand: The yellow eyes of the Sith, and Palpatine's epithelial deformity.
Red Shirt: Luke's wingmen in the original trilogy seemed to get killed if an Imperial so much as sneezes. Justified in that even untrained, Luke is Force-Sensitive, granting him a slight degree of precognition, which translates into inhumanly fast reflexes to avoid shots (Anakin explicitly uses the same thing in Podracing in Episode 1).
This becomes a Berserk Button for him in Shadows of the Empire when he considers himself a failure of a commander for always losing men. He becomes so enraged that he single-handedly cripples a ship without the aid of the Force. (It doesn't help that Dash Rendar is whining about not shooting down a super missile over the comm. In the audio book it's taken to Narm levels by the reader.)
Unsurprisingly they are indeed wearing orange-to-red flight suits.
Rock Beats Laser: Notoriously, the Ewoks are able to defeat seasoned Imperial troops despite their primitive technology. With some help from blaster-toting rebels. To be fair, the Ewoks did have a terrain advantage (both that they blend in better, and that smaller, more agile creatures are less hindered by all the foliage), backed up by extensive knowledge of said terrain, traps that have been laid out in advance, and no doubt a rather large amount of hubris on the part of the Imperial troops (would you take an Ewok as a serious threat if you hadn't seen the movie?).
Royal Mess: Naboo has an elected queen. Leia is considered a princess despite being adopted.
Royals Who Actually Do Something: Padmé is the queen of Naboo and leads the assault to take back the palace, and fights on Geonosis as the planet's senator.
Rule Of Cool: Lightsabers are the epitome of this trope. Rumor has it that this trope is the main reason why Mace Windu has a purple lightsaber, because Samuel L. Jackson thought it looked cool. (Also so that he would be visible in a huge lightsaber battle.) His lightsaber is the only one used in the movie canon that is not red, blue or green. This is lampshaded by General Grievous in the Revenge of the Sith video game.
Saved for the Sequel: The Phantom Menace and Attack of the Clones both end with several plot points dangling to be picked up in the next installment. Technically, even Revenge of the Sith ends with dangling plotlines... which were already resolved in the original Star Wars trilogy.
Separated at Birth: Luke and Leia are revealed to be this in Episode VI... after kissing in the previous movie.
Serial Prostheses: Anakin loses a hand in Attack of the Clones, and then loses most of his remaining limbs in Revenge of the Sith.
Series Mascot: Darth Vader, starting some time in The Nineties. Before then, C-3PO and R2-D2 seemed to have filled the role, albeit to a lesser extent.
Serkis Folk: In the prequels and the various re-edits of the original trilogy, which drew much criticism from older fans.
Shout Out: There are a few shout outs to the Oz books. Namely Princess Leia's hairbuns which are based on Princess Ozma's hair poppys and the Ewoks are based on the Teddy Bear tribe. Jedi comes from jidaigeki, or samurai movies. Order 66 is a shout out to The Godfather, and the medal ceremony is very similar to Triumph of the Will. The attack on the Death Star in A New Hope is a Shout Out to The Dam Busters. Additionally, look up "The Hidden Fortress" by Akiro Kurasawa and read the first part of the plot. If you don't get it, then substitute "peasants" with "droids".
Sidekick Ex Machina: Chewbacca hijacks an Imperial walker and rescues Han and Leia during the Battle of Endor.
Slave Mooks: The clones, in some people's point of view, and droids. An intelligent, self-aware, disposable, engineered worker race who must be brain wiped every few months else they get uppity.
Smug Snake: Jabba the Hutt. Han offers to pay his debts to him and Jabba refuses to listen; when Leia and Luke warn Jabba that they could defeat him, Jabba and his minions do not take them seriously at all. Even when being led to the Sarlacc pit Luke says "this is your last chance; free us, or die." Jabba and his minions still refuse to take them seriously. Jabba is offered so many warnings and so many chances for alternatives that for him to still keep ignoring the heroes makes his Karmic Death all the more satisfying.
Palpatine might be one as well, at least in Return of the Jedi, though in any case he is in more of a position to be smug. Though he does pull a pretty good trick in giving the Rebels the location of the shield generator to lure them into a trap, he simply is too arrogant to acknowledge the possibility that the Rebels could overcome it.
Sonic Stunner: This well-established genre-SF trope is overshadowed by the blasters, but present.
Space Fighter: Star Wars IV was the Trope Codifier that influenced all subsequent designs to one extent or another. The basic designs of the most famous fighters are instantly recognizable to anyone with even a passing knowledge of pop culture.
Spanner in the Works: The Imperial officer who orders his compatriot to hold his fire as the escape pod passes simply because he believed there was no way to verify if a living being was inside the pod and, thus, whether the pod was launched by accident or by design.
Standard Sci-Fi History: The trope is invoked in the movies, with the Decline and Fall of the Republic, Interregnum of the Galactic Empire, and with the Empire's end the Formation of the New Republic.
Standard Starship Scuffle: Especially in the space battles in Revenge of the Sith and Return of the Jedi, but present to some extent in many of the films.
Starfish Robots: While many droids come in varieties more akin to the humanoid C3-PO, others look like the strange "trash bin on wheels" R2-D2, while still others have such surreal designs that it's difficult to compare them to any real life object.
The Starscream: Vader only sides with Palpatine because he has no other options, and plots to overthrow him with Luke's help.
Though that could be said to be the Sith ideology - if your apprentice isn't scheming to overthrow the Master, he's not been paying attention and if the Master isn't powerful enough to crush his rebellion, he no longer deserves to be the Master.
Stealth In Space: Han's successful attempts at hiding from Star Destroyers in The Empire Strikes Back. Somewhat realistic, as he simply turns off most of the power to the ship which makes it incredibly difficult to detect.
Piggybacking on another ship's radar is a real-life strategy too.
Stock Shout Outs: Sooner or later, every science fiction work makes at least one reference to Star Wars.
Surpassed The Teacher: The entire Sith philosophy of Rule of Two is for the apprentice to eventually surpass and kill his mentor, assuring that the Sith can only grow stronger.
Swamps Are Evil: Played with: Yoda lives in a swamp, but there's also a tree cave...thing that is strong in the dark side. According to some sources in the EU, Yoda chose the swamp on Dagoba because it's so strong in the dark side, because it would help mask his own presence there.
Tactful Translation: How C-3PO translates Jabba the Hutt's discussion with a disguised Princess Leia.
Tempting Fate: Plenty of examples throughout the series, but Motti's "this station is now the ultimate power in the universe" remark takes the cake; and Tarkin's "I think you overestimate their chances" must earn a close second.
Took a Level in Badass: Luke, once on Dagobah, again between episode V and VI. Anakin in the prequels. And after destroying the Death Star, Luke is much more confident than he was in most of A New Hope.
Tragic Hero: Anakin Skywalker/Darth Vader is a textbook example of this trope.
Triang Relations: Luke/Leia/Han are either type 4 or type 7. (Does Leia like Luke or not?) Lando also likes Leia, but it doesn't appear to be reciprocated.
On the non-romantic front, except inFanon, Obi-wan/Padmé/Anakin is type 7, with the Jedi code (as drilled into him by Obi-Wan) telling Anakin his feelings for Padmé are wrong. Fanon puts them in... all the situations where there is at least one mutual attraction.
Two Roads Before You: Luke has to choose between staying on Dagobah and completing his training with Yoda, or going to rescue his friends on Cloud City.
Undercrank: Used in the early movies where CG would be used in the later ones. The alarmingly fast doors on the Death Star 1 are almost certainly undercranked.
Unintentional Backup Plan: Over the course of the movies. Qui-Gon's original plan was for Anakin to bring balance to The Force. However, he ends up falling to the Dark Side and it seems that he won't. In Return of the Jedi, however, he does bring balance to the Force by ensuring that the last of the evil aspect of the Dark Side of the Force dies (and subsequently burns) with him; his son destroys the last vestiges of Vader by burning him on a funeral pyre according to Jedi customs (and it's implied that Anakin's body simply faded away under a minute after the pyre was lit).
Unlimited Wardrobe: Padme has one. Lampshaded by Obi-Wan in Episode I, when he suggests they sell her extensive (and expensive) wardrobe to buy parts.
Also lampshaded by Carrie Fisher in the commentary for Return of the Jedi:
"[Han/Harrison] wears the same outfit for three flicks. And I was complaining that I wear, like, six outfits. And my mother, Natalie Portman, she wears three million. She walks through a doorway and there’s another outfit. It’s like the Liberace of sci-fi changing of clothes."
Unperson: The contributes by Marcia Lucas, George Lucas' ex-wife, to the original trilogy seems to be increasingly forgotten in newer times and some claim that Lucas himself has deliberately been helping speeding up this process. It is even rumored that the special editions were partly made to ensure that Marcia, being co-owner of the rights to the original cuts, would not get any royalities or credit from their screening.
We Can Rebuild Him: Numerous characters replace severed limbs with artificial ones, but Vader is the only one to end up with all of his limbs being replaced.
We Can Rule Together: Vader offers this to Luke, and Dooku to Obi-Wan. Both refuse.
We Will Wear Armor in the Future: Stormtroopers and Bounty Hunters go around wearing plastic armour that would make a medieval knight blush. It helps make them look robotic and anonymous but never helps in stopping a main character's blaster fire.
Whats A Secret Four: The original trilogy has it in spades: What's the Kessel Run? What's a womprat? What does that droid do? What are those aliens? What was Aunt Beru cooking there? However, over thirty years of fandom and the Expanded Universe have filled in details for virtually anything that appears on the screen.
Why Don't Ya Just Shoot Him?: During his fight with General Grievous, Obi-Wan's lightsaber is lost, and he fights him using the Force, despite there being a convenient blaster at his feet. He eventually does.
With Friends Like These: R2-D2 and C-3P0. Although the Bilingual Dialogue means we don't know just how much hostility R2 reciprocates, occasionally C-3P0 quotes him: "Don't call me a 'mindless philosopher'...", and tells him to watch his language.
Woman in White: Leia, a lot of the time, to the point where Carrie Fisher speculated that Leia's favorite color is white. Padmé less frequently.
Word Of God: One notable example is Chewbacca's not getting a medal at the end of A New Hope. The official explanation is that such things are against the Wookiee religion — except that the original official explanation, from the Official Star Wars Fan Club, was that he did get one but Leia wasn't tall enough to put it around his neck.
Wuxia : One of the genres that inspired the franchise. The whole concept of the Jedi and The Force practically makes the franchise a Wuxia saga in space, especially the Prequel Trilogy.
Xanatos Gambit / Xanatos Roulette: Palpatine. The Clone Wars are the former because they bring benefit for him regardless of the outcome. The corruption of Anakain and othe schemes are the latter because of the many variables involved.
Luke also manages some gambits of his own. Mostly of the Trojan Prisoner variety.
The Clone Wars. After all their effort and sacrifices, Palpatine's plan would have given him full power whether the Republic and Jedi had won or lost.
Zerg Rush: The Empire's TIE Fighters, and both the clone and droid armies in Episode II as well.
Zeerust: Ships capable of destroying planets are less impressive when you realize just how easy it is to do so. (All you need is enough energy to accelerate the entire planet to escape velocity.) Other stuff, such as antigravity, is what Michio Kaku calls a Class II impossibility, yet it is commonly seen. (Han's even carried out on an antigravity gurney after he's frozen in carbonite.)
On the "looks old" end of things, we have the motif of cybernetic hands now that we're entering the age of embryonic stem cells, and the vector graphics on the tactical display and targeting computer in A New Hope.
In-universe, this is PAINFULLY apparent in the prequel films. C-3P0 and R2-D2 look dated and completely out of place when juxtaposed with sleeker, agile looking droids. The technology gradually gets more dated-looking as the prequels progress too, naturally because it's supposed to tie itself in with the Original Trilogy. Streamlined ships in The Phantom Menace slowly evolve into clunky, ships by Revenge of the Sith. Sleek control panels seen at the beginning of Revenge of the Sith somehow become overshadowed by a plethora of clunky buttons and dials by the end. Imagine if iPhones suddenly had receivers and rotary dials in the future.
Justified. Word Of God states that Phantom was a time of artisans, and they valued style over everything. As time went on, and the Republic was launched into war, it became a question of utility over attractiveness.
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