The Movies

Note: This is my playlist, but not my videos, I've just gathered them in a playlist for easy reference.

Warning. Spoilers Ahead

The Movies began our introduction to this universe with Luke Skywalker's adventures in trilogy form. Little did we know in the beginning, that the hidden story was the redemption of Anakin Skywalker. Luke was introduced in 1977, a young farm boy whose father was a jedi knight, and whose foster parents were Owen and Beru Lars. Upon an encounter with two droids and his father's old friend and mentor, Obi-Wan Kenobi, he was catapulted to destiny. Not just to become a Jedi Knight, a rebel seeking to restore the Republic and destroy the Empire, but as a catalyst, to save his long lost father. His companions: Princess Leia, later revealed to be his twin sister, also hidden at birth, a smuggler named Han Solo and his wookie pal, Chewbacca and R2 and C3PO who hid far more secrets than he ever dreamed. Thanks to the creator: George Lucas, a whole new Universe is revealed.

His foe: Darth Vader, Lord of the Sith and murderer of the Jedi, most importantly to Luke, he killed his father...or so he was led to believe. But in reality, Darth Vader was Anakin Skywalker...and his redemption would be the destruction of an Empire.

In 1999, Star wars returned with The Phantom Menace, where we meet young Anakin as a boy, and begin the journey from slave, to Jedi, to Sith.

• Episode I: The Phantom Menace - Prequel, 1999, Introduces Anakin as a 9 year old boy to Obi-Wan Kenobi and the Jedi, as well as his future wife, Padme Amidala.
  
  
  
• Episode II: Attack of the Clones -Prequel, 2002, Anakin is a teenage apprentice, when he meets Padme again, faces the loss of his mother and the Clone Wars break out.
  
  
  
• Episode III: Revenge of the Sith - Prequel, 2005, The Clone Wars is in full swing. Anakin is a full Jedi knight, he and Obi-Wan are heroes of the republic.
  But keeping the marriage secret is a strain now that Padme is pregnant. And his friendship with Supreme Chancellor Palpatine is worrying the jedi council. In the end, torn apart by divided loyalties, Anakin gives in to Palpatine, revealed to be the Sith, to save his wife.
  He helps the Emperor destroy the jedi. But at least two jedi escape the purge and birth of an Empire: Yoda and Obi-Wan, who secret away Anakin's children for their own protection upon their mother's death. Anakin battles Obi-Wan and is left scarred, trapped in a suit of armor to breath and all his limbs replaced.
  
  
  

• Episode IV A New Hope - Original Trilogy, 1977, originally released without the subtitle. Introduces Luke Skywalker to Princess Leia, Han Solo, Chewbacca and his father's friend, Obi-Wan Kenobi. They join together to defeat the Empire's ultimate weapon.
  
  
  
• Episode V The Empire Strikes Back - Original Trilogy 1980, The Empire cracks down on the Alliance. Luke begins his jedi training but Vader sets out to intervene by trapping his friends. The end result: neither side quite wins and one friend is left imprisoned by a bounty hunter.
  
  
  
• Episode VI Return A Jedi -Original Trilogy, 1983, Luke knows who Vader is Anakin. He rescues his friend, returns to his jedi master and goes on a mission with his friends to destroy the Empire's new Death Star. Only Vader can feel his presence. And their is only one person who has a hope of getting Anakin to return to being a jedi.
  
  
  
  
  
  

Trivia

• One reason for the edited 'special editions' of the original trilogy was to test run the new special effects in preparation for the prequels.
  
  It also gave the opportunity to correct and finish things that Lucas was never satisfied with.
  
  
• Jabba's Return: The release of the Special Edition of A New Hope includes a scene with Han that introduces Jabba the Hutt. Planned back in the the 1970s, it was abandoned unfinished. The stand in for the Hutt? A human actor. Challenged by the scene where Han walks around the Hutt, which now has a tail, the clever movie maker's had him step on top of the tail.
  
  
• Han shot first. Didn't he? The altering of the scene between him and the bounty hunter Greedo is the most criticized change in the Special Edition.
  
  Lucas had begun to have doubts about the way it set up Han's character with him shooting Greedo first, even though it was apparent that Greedo was aiming to kill him. The new version, however, had Greedo missing at point blank range.
  
  Fans were overjoyed when Lucas himself was eventually seen wearing a 'Han Shot First' T-Shirt.
  
  
• There are at least 2 versions of the Emperor's conversation with Darth Vader. In the first, he merely mentions: "The son of Skywalker". Any more would've revealed too much future storyline. However when a new DVD version was released after the prequels, this was no longer an issue. The new version has Vader demanding how this is possible, and reveals far more of the connection between Anakin, Vader and the Emperor, not only in words, but in tone.
  
  
• Voice Changes: Both Boba Fett and the Emperor had voices changed from the original trilogy to match the prequel voices.
  
  
• The 2 Anakin Ghosts: In Return of the Jedi, the 'spirit of Anakin was originally played by Sebastion Shaw, who also played the man revealed when Luke removed the mask. In the new DVD releases, it was changed to Hayden Christianson, the actor from episodes 2 and 3.