A New Hope: Difference between revisions

{{quote|''"Remember, The Force will be with you, always."''|'''Obi-Wan Kenobi'''}}

 

 

 

 

''A New Hope'', or more precisely, ''Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope'' (originally released as and still simply called ''Star Wars'' by many fans) was the 1977 film that marked the first chapter of the ''[[Star Wars]]'' saga. It's the film that started it all, giving birth to one of the most beloved and long-lived franchises in the history of cinema--and entertainment in general. [[It Will Never Catch On|Though most people wouldn't have guessed that at the time...]]

** Plus since it was improvised, either Harrison couldn't believe that was the best he could ''ad lib'', or he felt Han would realize he was talking like an idiot.

* [[Changed My Mind, Kid]]: 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!

'''Han''': "Yeeeeeeeeeeehaw!" }}

* [[Chekhov's Skill]]: The development of Luke's Force sensitivity functions as this, as he increasingly learns to [[Don't Think, Feel|fight by instinct rather than by conscious thought]]. The culmination is his destruction of the Death Star.

** There is also [http://i2.listal.com/image/136158/936full-star-wars%3A-episode-iv----a-new-hope-poster.jpg this] poster as well as a similar one showing a much more muscular Mark Hamil, a [[Show Some Leg|sexier]] Carrie Fischer, 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.

* [[Deadpan Snarker]]: Han and Leia, to the point of engaging in [[Snark to Snark Combat]].

* [[Defiant to the End]]: Leia to Tarkin.

* [[Deleted Scene]]: Loads were cut due to Lucas feeling they dragged the pace of the film (and it did get the film the best editing [[Academy Award]]). These include:

* [[Department of Redundancy Department]]: In the special edition, some of the lines Han says to Jabba are the same as he said to Greedo. The reason for this is that when the Jabba scene was originally cut, a few of the lines (particularly "Even I get boarded sometimes! You think I had a choice?") were added to the Greedo one. However, by the time the special edition came around, Harrison Ford was too old to record different lines while he was reaching for the blaster.

* [[Distressed Damsel]]: Princess Leia, but the trope is massively subverted for the genre George Lucas was drawing from. True, Leia doesn't try to escape herself, but that's because she's completely outnumbered and then imprisoned in a moon-sized battlestation. When an opportunity does arise, she seizes it with both hands and [[Action Girl|takes charge of matters]] once it's obvious her so-called rescuers don't have a clue what they're doing.

* [[Does This Remind You of Anything?]]: The ending scene for ''A New Hope''. This is a bit more like [[Putting on the Reich]]. [http://www.cracked.com/article_19826_6-iconic-scenes-ripped-off-from-lesser-known-movies.html And don't even get us started on] ''[[Triumph of the Will]]''!

* [[Doomed Hometown]]: Alderaan, for Leia.

* [[Heroic Sacrifice]]: Obi-Wan, coupled with [[Go Out with a Smile]].

* [[Heroism Incentive]]: Luke telling Han he could get a handsome reward for saving Princess Leia.

* [[Hollywood Atheist]] / [[Flat Earth Atheist]]: Admiral Motti is the [[Recycled in Space]] equivalent of this, as far as expressed contempt for religion goes. He even [[Too Dumb to Live|openly ridicules Vader's belief in the force, and gets (albeit temporarily) force-choked for it]].

** Han Solo also evidently doesn't believe in the Force either, but his tone seems to be relatively less contemptuous than Motti's, despite that the consequences to Solo for such contempt would clearly be milder. This may be typical of the times he lives in, as the Empire has done its best to suppress knowledge of the Force.

'''Han Solo''': Kid, I've flown from one side of this galaxy to the other, and I've seen a lot of strange stuff, but I've never seen anything to make me believe that there's one all-powerful Force controlling ''everything''. 'Cause no mystical energy field controls ''my'' destiny. It's all a lot of simple tricks and nonsense. }}

* [[Homage]]: To [[Akira Kurosawa]]'s ''[[The Hidden Fortress]]'', with the droids being the focus for much of the film, and also to ''[[Yojimbo]]'', with the scene of the two braggarts at the cantina. Lucas' heavy use of frame wipes is also indebted to Kurosawa. The heart-wrenching scene where Luke {{spoiler|rushes to the farm, only to find it already raided and his relatives dead}} harkens to an equally distressing scene in ''[[The Searchers]]''.

* [[Neck Lift]]: Darth Vader to the captain of Princess Leia's ship while interrogating him, which leads to a [[Neck Snap]] when he refuses to cooperate.

* [[Never My Fault]]: C-3PO while lost in the desert after refusing to take R2's route:

* [[Nice Job Breaking It, Hero]]

Luke: ''"I think I just blasted it..."'' }}

* [[Nice Job Guiding Us Hero]]: "They let us go."

* [[Off-Model]]: The CGI Jabba from the Special Edition.

* [[Oh Crap]]:

* [[Open the Door and See All the People]]: han Solo running towards a room full of stormtroopers in the Special Edition.

* [[Palette-Swapped Alien Food]]: The blue milk.

** Uncle Owen led Luke to believe Anakin was a navigator on a spice freighter, neither painting him as hero or villain.

* [[Precision F-Strike]]: During the following conversation between Han Solo and Obi-Wan Kenobi:

'''Han''': Damn fool, I knew you'd say that. }}

* [[Pursued Protagonist]]: Leia in the opening

* [[Reliably Unreliable Guns]]: Luke's gun jams when the dianoga attacks him.

* [[Rescue Introduction]]: Luke meeting Leia. Subverted in that she ends up ''leading her own escape''.

* [[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''.

* [[Rewind, Replay, Repeat]]: "Help me, Obi-Wan Kenobi! You're my only hope!"

* [[Smart People Play Chess]]: R2-D2 and Chewbacca's dejarik game during the flight to Alderaan.

* [[Smug Snake]]: While not as obvious an example as [[Return of the Jedi|Jabba]], (who in this installment is actually more along the lines of [[Affably Evil]]) Admiral Motti's ''"any attack made by the Rebels would be a useless gesture"'' remark comes across as fairly presumptuous in any context, {{spoiler|but especially in light of what happened near the end of the movie}}. Also, his attitude towards Vader's belief in the Force is a [[Does This Remind You of Anything?|DTRYOA]] of [[Hollywood Atheist|Hollywood atheism]], of the [[Recycled in Space]] variety.

'''Vader''': Don't be too proud of this technological terror you've constructed. The ability to destroy a planet is insignificant next to the power of the Force.<br />

'''Motti''': Don't try to frighten us with your sorcerer's ways, lord Vader. Your sad devotion to that ancient religion has not helped you conjure up the stolen data tapes, or given you clairvoyance enough to find the rebels' hidden fort...<br />

* [[Tell Me About My Father]]: Just peppered with [[From a Certain Point of View]].

* [[Tempting Fate]]: Tarkin, when offered the opportunity to evacuate the Death Star:

** '''Luke''': "Oh, yeah, well, I guess you're too small to run away on me if I take this off."

* [[Terrifying Rescuer]]: Inverted, when Luke enters Leia's cell in a Stormtrooper uniform, she calmly starts some banter.

* [[Troubled Production]]

* [[Turn Out Like His Father]]: Which provides some unintentional foreshadowing.

'''Owen''': That's what I'm afraid of. }}

* [[Upbringing Makes the Hero]]: Luke.

* [[Well, Excuse Me, Princess!]]: Han to Leia

* [[Why Didn't You Just Say So?]]: Luke says this to Han Solo when they are trying to rescue Princess Leia.

'''Han''': I ''did'' say so before! }}

* [[Widescreen Shot]]: Plenty, from the opening crawl, to the first Star Destroyer, to the final celebration scene.