History Trivia / ANewHope

** The ''Outrider'' from Shadows Of The Empire appears headed off from Mos Eisley, a reference to the then year old multimedia event. With the 2014 reboot however that decanonized ''Shadows of the Empire'', the reference seems lost.

** Admiral Motti refers to the "stolen data '''tapes'''", suggesting the galaxy still uses something akin to video/cassette tapes. To be fair, magnetic tape data storage, albeit mostly unknow by consumers of today, is still widely used in data centers[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magnetic_tape_data_storage#Viability]]. Maybe the princess stole an unenencrypted backup tape from the Empire.

* StarMakingRole: Creator/MarkHamill, Creator/CarrieFisher, and Creator/HarrisonFord became famous for their roles, and went on to have successful careers. Ford himself [[https://www.mirror.co.uk/3am/celebrity-news/ford-star-wars-boosted-my-career-1687514 even stated that playing as Han Solo in this movie (as well as in the original trilogy as a whole) helped boosted his career]].

** Admiral Motti refers to the "stolen data '''tapes'''", suggesting the galaxy still uses something akin to video/cassette tapes. To be fair, magnetic tape data storage, albeit mostly unknow by consumers of today, is still widely used in data centers,[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magnetic_tape_data_storage#Viability]]. Maybe the princess stole an unenencrypted backup tape from the Empire.

* NetworkToTheRescue: Lucas was dumped by almost every studio in Hollywood when he tried to pitch ''Star Wars'' to them. Eventually he went to Creator/TwentiethCenturyFox, who were also reluctant to put their resources in the film due to then-recent financial issues caused by various box office bombs and the UsefulNotes/FallOfTheStudioSystem, but then-studio head Alan Ladd, Jr. managed to cajole the executives into giving the film a chance (by forcing theaters who booked one of their movies to show Star Wars too).

** Not only them, but the studio executives also didn't think the movie would do well and gave Lucas ''all'' merchandising rights, from which he has almost certainly made far more money than from the films themselves. They also stopped paying fees for a storage unit containing many of the film's props although some were rescued such as the Death Star model which now lies in a collectors home.

* TheCastShowoff: Creator/AlecGuiness had some fencing training, so he was able to do some of Obi Wan's duel with Darth Vader himself.

* TroubledProduction: It would be a fitting analogy to say that Lucas getting his film made was a feat as Herculean as the Rebels fight against the Empire. Both the documentary ''Film/EmpireOfDreams'' and J.W. Rinzler's book ''The Making of Star Wars'' go into great detail about how much of an uphill battle it was to make the film (which turned out to be just the first ''Star Wars'' production to go awry, as [[TroubledProduction/StarWars a whole page of them is found here]]): no one believed in the movie, ranging from the studio (who gave a paltry $8.25 million budget, which eventually escalated to $11 million as things went wrong) to the cast and crew who didn't really understand or care for the script and often ridiculed it; filming had rainstorms in a frequently dry Tunisian region, malfunctioning props, and things got so behind schedule that the crew had to split into three units to meet deadlines, the teaser trailer had just whatever footage was available, and the film was still delayed from Christmas 1976 to May 1977; post-production had Lucas hospitalized for extreme stress, followed by supervising the RagtagBunchOfMisfits turned [[Creator/IndustrialLightAndMagic visual effects team]] doing a year's work in six months after blowing half of their budget on shots that were thrown out,[[note]]before Lucas arrived, most of their time and money was spent setting up their equipment rather than actually filming, and the only salvageable scene they did was the escape pod's release[[/note]] and then hiring two editors as well as his then-wife, Marcia Lucas to salvage a first cut described as a "complete disaster" when screened to close friends Creator/StevenSpielberg and Creator/BrianDePalma. Overall, the experience was so miserable, that Lucas left directing the next two films in other hands, and wouldn't direct another movie until ''Film/ThePhantomMenace'' two decades later.

* BeamMeUpScotty: Many think Obi-Wan said "I sense a disturbance in the Force.", but in actuality, he said "I ''felt a great'' disturbance in the Force."

** Among the older and more experienced actors, Creator/PeterCushing enjoyed his role as Grand Moff Tarkin so much he regretted the fact that Tarkin dies in his debut. This ironically serves as stark contrast to Creator/AlecGuinness, whose character is a hero but never liked the film[[note]]Guinness didn't truly actively dislike it at first, it was the film becoming utterly ''gigantic'', and [[MagnumOpusDissonance totally overshadowing all his earlier roles that he was much prouder of]], that caused him to begin to think poorly of the film, though never outright hating it or Obi-Wan[[/note]], while Cushing, whose character is a villain (and the BigBad, no less), actually liked it, with his only regret being that he couldn't appear in the sequels due to his character being killed off.

** Among the older and more experienced actors, Creator/PeterCushing enjoyed his role as Grand Moff Tarkin so much he regretted the fact that Tarkin dies in his debut. This ironically serves as stark contrast to Creator/AlecGuinness, whose character is a hero but never liked the film[[note]]Guinness didn't truly actively dislike it at first, it was the film becoming utterly ''gigantic'', and [[MagnumOpusDissonance totally overshadowing all his earlier roles that he was much prouder of]], that caused him to begin to think poorly of the film, though never outright hating it or Obi-Wan[[/note]], while Cushing, whose character is a villain (and the BigBad, no less), actually liked it.

* TechnologyMarchesOn: A lot of the technology references are dated to computers and electronics of the 70's. Admiral Motti refers to the "stolen data '''tapes'''", suggesting the galaxy still uses something akin to video/cassette tapes. Wire frame 2D graphic displays are also used in some sequences, most notably the Death Star Trench Run briefing. This at least has become ZeerustCanon, as while other movies often use elaborate holographic displays for similar sequences there is the occasional reminder that some interfaces in the setting still use Atari graphics. Which fits the UsedFuture aesthetic.

** Among the older and more experienced actors, Creator/PeterCushing enjoyed his role as Grand Moff Tarkin so much he regretted the fact that Tarkin dies in his debut. This ironically serves as stark contrast to Creator/AlecGuinness, whose character is a hero but never liked the film[[note]]Guinness didn't truly actively dislike it at first, it was the film becoming utterly ''gigantic'', and [[ClassicallyTrainedExtra totally overshadowing all his earlier roles that he was much prouder of]], that caused him to begin to think poorly of the film, though never outright hating it or Obi-Wan[[/note]], while Cushing, whose character is a villain (and the BigBad, no less), actually liked it.

** Famously, the toy makers at Kenner were caught with their pants down, and were so desperate that they ended up selling empty boxes, containing a display stand and a coupon to get the actual first 4 action figures once they were available.
** Not only them, the studio executives didn't think the movie would do well and gave Lucas ''all'' merchandising rights, from which he has almost certainly made far more money than from the films themselves. They also stopped paying fees for a storage unit containing many of the films props although some were rescued such as the Death Star model which now lies in a collectors home.

* OldShame: Subverted with Creator/AlecGuinness. See CreatorBacklash above.

* UnintentionalPeriodPiece: Take one look at the [[SeventiesHair hair styles and sideburns]] and you ''know'' that this film was made in TheSeventies.

* UsefulNotes/AFIS100YearsSeries:
** AFIS100Years100Movies: #15
** AFIS100Years100Thrills: #27
** AFIS100Years100HeroesAndVillains:
*** #14 Hero, Han Solo
*** #37 Hero, Obi-Wan Kenobi
*** #3 Villain, Darth Vader
** AFIS100Years100MovieQuotes: #8, "May the force be with you"
** AFIS100YearsOfFilmScores: #1
** AFIS100Years100Cheers: #39
** AFIS100Years100Movies10THAnniversaryEdition: #13
** AFIS10Top10:
*** Science Fiction, #2

* TrollingCreator: "Greedo always shot first." Made even more amusing by the fact that George Lucas was seen wearing a "Han shot first!" shirt during the filming of ''Film/IndianaJonesAndTheKingdomOfTheCrystalSkull''.

* TroubledProduction: It would be a fitting analogy to say that Lucas getting his film made was a feat as Herculean as the Rebels fight against the Empire. Both the documentary ''Film/EmpireOfDreams'' and J.W. Rinzler's book ''The Making of Star Wars'' go into great detail about how much of an uphill battle it was to make the film (which turned out to just the first ''Star Wars'' production to go awry, as [[TroubledProduction/StarWars a whole page of them is found here]]): no one believed in the movie, ranging from the studio (who gave a paltry $8.25 million budget, which eventually escalated to $11 million as things went wrong) to the cast and crew who didn't really understand or care for the script and often ridiculed it; filming had rainstorms in a frequently dry Tunisian region, malfunctioning props, and things got so behind schedule that the crew had to split into three units to meet deadlines, the teaser trailer had just whatever footage was available, and the film was still delayed from Christmas 1976 to May 1977; post-production had Lucas hospitalized for extreme stress, followed by supervising the RagtagBunchOfMisfits turned [[Creator/IndustrialLightAndMagic visual effects team]] doing a year's work in six months after blowing half of their budget on shots that were thrown out,[[note]]before Lucas arrived, most of their time and money was spent setting up their equipment rather than actually filming, and the only salvageable scene they did was the escape pod's release[[/note]] and then hiring two editors as well as his then-wife, Marcia Lucas to salvage a first cut described as a "complete disaster" when screened to close friends Creator/StevenSpielberg and Creator/BrianDePalma. Overall, the experience was so miserable, that Lucas left directing the next two films in other hands, and wouldn't direct another movie until ''Film/ThePhantomMenace'' two decades later.

** Mark Hamill and Carrie Fisher were probably the most optimistic of its chances and expected it would do well. However, according to Mark, what they had in mind was that it would make $30,000,000 and become a cult classic with stoners "and fans of the Rocky Horror Picture Show."

* TroubledProduction: It would be a fitting analogy to say that Lucas getting his film made was a feat as Herculean as the Rebels fight against the Empire. Both the documentary ''Film/EmpireOfDreams'' and J.W. Rinzler's book ''The Making of Star Wars'' go into great detail about how much of an uphill battle it was to make the film:
** The SciFiGhetto made Universal and United Artists pass on the film, and even as Fox picked it up they were reluctant and gave a paltry $8.25 million budget (which eventually escalated to $11 million). Filming had rainstorms in a frequently dry Tunisian region, malfunctioning props, and things got so behind schedule that the crew had to split into three units to meet deadlines, the teaser trailer had just whatever footage was available, and the film was still delayed from Christmas 1976 to May 1977. It didn't help that the Libyan government mistook the sandcrawler for a military vehicle, forcing the crew to move sandcrawler filming away from the Libyan border to avoid [[UnwittingInstigatorOfDoom causing a Libyan invasion of Tunisia]].
** There were also troubles with the cast and crew, many of whom didn't really understand or care for the script and often ridiculed it. Harrison Ford told Lucas "You can type this shit, George, but you sure can't say it.". Sir Alec Guinness hated the script, but the reason he chose to stick around because he knew it would be a big hit (and also due to a [[MoneyDearBoy generous payroll]]). Lucas butted heads frequently with Director of Photography Gilbert Taylor, who was insulted at Lucas's micromanagement of his camerawork. And after all that, Mark Hamill was injured in a car accident shortly after filming completed, making reshoots of his scenes impossible.
** Post-production had Lucas hospitalized for extreme stress, followed by supervising the RagtagBunchOfMisfits turned [[Creator/IndustrialLightAndMagic visual effects team]] doing a year's work in six months after blowing half of their budget on shots that were thrown out,[[note]]before Lucas arrived, most of their time and money was spent setting up their equipment rather than actually filming, and the only salvageable scene they did was the escape pod's release[[/note]]. Overall, the experience was so miserable, that Lucas left directing the next two films in other hands, and wouldn't direct another movie until ''Film/ThePhantomMenace'' two decades later.
** The first cut was described as a "complete disaster" when screened to close friends Creator/StevenSpielberg and Creator/BrianDePalma. Lucas hired editors Paul Hirsch and Richard Chew to salvage the movie as well as his then-wife, Marcia Lucas. It involved radically restructuring the film (Luke was originally introduced seeing the space battle from the surface), cutting out most of the exposition (the OpeningCrawl was cut in half to the essentials) and maximizing every frame of footage they had to work with (the Tusken Raider that attacked Luke only raised his staff once, they reversed the footage to make it more of a war cry). How masterful the end result turned out is the reason the movie won the Best Editing Oscar.

* TechnologyMarchesOn: The whole plot about the Death Star plans suffers from this on several levels: for one, no one in universe thinks to make copies of the plan and send it to every Rebel base, likely because the writers didn't know this was possible. Also, as the film was made in 1977, there is nothing akin to the Internet in universe (the prequels would eventually add the Holonet as an equivalent) where the Rebels could just keep uploading the plans so people could keep downloading them even if the Empire succeded in shutting down some of the download sites. There's also an unintentionally hilarious bit where Admiral Motti refers to the "stolen data '''tapes'''", suggesting the galaxy (which seems to be several centuries ahead of ours technology wise) still uses something akin to video/casette tapes. Though, to be fair this could just be a term the use for convenience rather than a literal description (akin to how we refer to "folders" on a computer even though no manilla envelopes are involved).