40 years ago today, that huge yellow Star Wars logo, with John Williams' beyond-iconic accompanying theme, first exploded onto a cinema screen, followed by the opening crawl of Episode IV and then the Tantive IV fleeing the almost-endless Imperial Star Destroyer. But as we all know now, that thankfully was only just the beginning.
Star Wars, later Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope, quickly became the highest-grossing movie in history to that point, won seven Academy Awards and still ranks among the best-loved and most lucrative films ever made. The lasting appeal is a piece of cake to explain. The action scenes are consistently exciting and so well-staged that it's just nearly impossible for them not to absorb young and old. But way beyond that, the Saga's themes and tropes have and will always resonate universally. Slavery, hatred, corruption, coming of age, redemption, identity; the tragic heroine, her exploited, indoctrinated husband, their children having to face that legacy et cetera. These are all very deeply grounded in the reality of life in our own galaxy.
George Lucas had to move Heaven and Earth to bring his immortal tale of intergalactic conflict to us, and the rewards he reaped from it were rightfully way beyond what he expected from it. But from 25 May 1977, to now and beyond, WE are the ones who have been truly the most rewarded. This was his labour of love. This was his paean to the young and young-at-heart, and to all the artists and storytellers before him who fired his imagination. Even seeing it in 1997 for the Special Editions, when I was nearly 9, blew my mind six ways to Sunday. You just cannot ever put a price on anything like that. So, happy 40th birthday, Star Wars, and bravo and thank you forever, Master Lucas. The Force will be with you both. Always.
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