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Narrative
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alt title(s): Return Of The Jedi; The Empire Strikes Back; A New Hope; Revenge Of The Sith; Attack Of The Clones; The Phantom Menace ![]() A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away...
A classic tale of good and evil, corruption and redemption, hi-tech super-weapons and swordplay, Star Wars brought Space Opera to the big screen. It is a juggernaut of a franchise, making creator George Lucas one of the most powerful men financially and in entertainment.
— Star Wars opening card
The Original Trilogy (1977-1983)
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... don't. 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. A third trilogy, consisting of Episodes VII, VIII and IX, was reportedly planned, but Word Of God claims it won't happen. Unless George Lucas should change his mind again. They wouldn't make sense from a narrative standpoint, though; even though IV, V and VI spent more time focusing on Luke, Leia and Han, Darth Vader was still their central character, just as he is for the Prequel Trilogy. Ultimately, the saga is about Anakin Skywalker: his growth, his fall from grace, and his eventual redemption by his son. Expanded Universe As expected for a film series this popular, the Expanded Universe is immense. Made-For-TV films, Animated Adaptations, Video Games and a large series of novels cover this. Even with how massive the project is, Star Wars has one of the more elaborate, and internally consistent canons. TV Tropes has a very incomplete list of the Star Wars Expanded Universe. See Wookieepedia Star Wars was itself inspired by 1930s serials and comic strips such as Flash Gordon and Buck Rogers. It was particularly inspired by Asimov's Foundation, most manifested in the Imperial capital of Coruscant and the concept of the Empire itself (generally, the influence is visible in the original trilogy, to which Asimov was an adviser). Most of its tropes are thus Older Than They Think, but the film did popularise them, and many modern Space Opera or Sci Fi shows and movies contain homages to Star Wars. Tropes popularized and/or named by the Star Wars Universe:
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