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A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away...

"Remember, in the end, you’re not looking at the background, you’re not watching the pods, you’re listening to the music."
George Lucas, The Beginning: Making Episode I

In one early interview, George Lucas said he had very high expectations when he made Star Wars in the mid-1970s. The only thing that exceeded his expectations was the music of John Williams. For good reasons.


  • Even before delving into Williams, Alfred Newman's ever awesome theme for the 20th Century Fox logo combined with the Lucasfilm logo is worth mentioning. It was so closely associated to the saga's openings that many lamented the lack of it after Disney purchased the franchise. When Disney purchased 20th Century Fox, there were growing calls to have Disney put the Fox fanfare back in. Those calls were listened to on Disney+ and the 4K Ultimate Collector's Editions.
  • What better way to accompany the words "A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away..." at the beginning of each film of the saga? There's a reason it's one of the most iconic movie themes in history.
  • Any time we hear the Rebel Fanfare is a crowning musical moment of awesome. The Rebel Fanfare is in fact, chronologically speaking, the first piece of music ever heard in a Star Wars film after the opening fanfare, playing as we see the Tantive IV trying to evade the Star Destroyer at the opening of A New Hope. The Fanfare features often as a motif in various different scenarios throughout the original trilogy, often to symbolise Rebel acts of courage or Rebel victories. It is also heard during the credits music of every Star Wars film in the Original Trilogy. Oddly, the tune is in a minor key, which makes it sound threatening and villainous sometimes - in the Star Wars radioplays it was used erroneously to introduce scenes featuring the Empire. The first time we hear the Rebel Fanfare in The Force Awakens is when we see the Millennium Falcon again for the first time, which is a major bit of Fanservice and a huge squee moment for the audience.
  • "Binary Sunset" and its many variations are a mix of heartwarming and tear jerking.
  • The music that plays over the closing credits of each film. We start with an upbeat, bombastic remix of the main theme and the rebel fanfare. While in the opening, the main theme is somewhat stately and reserved, the end credits version says "we won, so suck it, evil!" Immediately afterward, Williams takes us on a journey through all the important themes of each film, allowing us to revisit all our favorite moments and characters. It's the perfect encapsulation of all the emotions that one feels while walking out of the theater at the end of a Star Wars movie: relief, excitement, joy, nostalgia, and a little sadness that it's over... For now.

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