Nothing But Star Wars: Star Wars (1977)

I was four years old when Star Wars came out, in May of 1977. I saw it in the theater, I think more than once, although I only remember a few things from that first run. The droids stuck with me – I used to imitate C-3P0 yelling at R2 in the desert. “Well, I’m not going that way.” I had a nightmare about Darth Vader coming down the hallway to get me, his signature breathing getting louder as he got closer. And I knew Luke was the hero and Leia was the heroine, so obviously they would end up together (the sexual tension between Han and Leia flew right over my head).

Like every other kid around my age, I fell instantly in love with the film. That Christmas was all Star Wars – I still have a bunch of that first wave of action figures in my closet. Doctor Who and Star Trek would eventually crowd it out of the top spot of my geek affections, but Star Wars will always be my first love.

Except, I haven’t been quite as devoted a lover as I could be. I’ve seen the original trilogy more times than I can count, and all the other major films, and most of the new live-action series. But I never got into any of the cartoons, and I’ve only seen the prequel series once, on first release. So I’m going back to the beginning and watching all of Star Wars, in release order, partly to rekindle my childhood flame, partly so I know what the hell is going on in Ahsoka.

So I just finished watching Star Wars, again. Despite having seen it a number of times, I tried to come at it fresh, as if it were 1977. Except, of course, that’s not possible. For one thing, the original theatrical release is no longer available anywhere. I tried to find it though some unsavory means, but struck out and settled on the Disney+ version. Which is fine. I miss the little gray rectangles around the ships, and some of the CGI looks faker than the models, but ultimately the story is the same, and that’s what matters.

Mostly the same. The focus on Boba Fett in that restored Jabba scene bothers me, I think because it feels like the camera is saying, “Hey, recognize this guy? You love this guy!”, which means it’s in there for people who have already seen the sequels. If you’re re-editing the first movie in a series, you should come at it with the assumption that it’s the first time people are seeing it. I know, I’m naïve. This is one of the most popular movies of all time and it’s been out for decades. I don’t care. There will always be people seeing it for the first time.

The cast is just perfect. I’m not sure if Carrie Fisher was rewriting her own dialogue yet, or if that didn’t start until the next film, but Leia feels ahead of her time, absolutely the equal of the two boys. And the romantic pairing here is obviously her and Han, no matter how much four-year-old me disapproves. (I didn’t appreciate the bad boys until much later.) Luke sometimes gets accused of whininess, but apart from that infamous power converters line, I don’t find him so. He’s chafing at his uncle’s restrictions, and understandably so. There’s a rebellion on, who wants to hang around a desert farming moisture?

I’d keep things on brand by analyzing the queer subtext, but there isn’t much there, beyond homophobic jokes about C-3P0. (And oh boy, did I force a laugh at a lot of those growing up.) You’d have to squint pretty hard to read anything into Han and Luke’s friendship, as much as I’d love to read that particular story. Considering there are only two women in the whole film, one of whom is charcoal by the end of the first act, it’s pretty straight. Ah, well. Nothing’s perfect.

I’m going to try to keep on posting my thoughts on every installment of the Star Wars franchise as I watch. Once in a while I might have a deep thought or two, but I imagine mostly it’ll be pretty light. (I doubt I’ll find much profound to say about any particular episode of the Ewoks cartoon, for example.) I don’t get a lot of readers out this way (does anybody read blogs anymore?), but I’m happy to shout into the void for a while. (Maybe shout back in the comments, just so I know I’m not alone?)

Last thought on the original Star Wars – fifty-year-old me enjoyed it just as much as four-year-old me, maybe even a little bit more. And not just because of Harrison Ford’s chest hair.

Next: The Star Wars Holiday Special (1978)