Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope
We knew we had to pick something big for our 75th episode and what could be more monumental than the original Star Wars? These days it's tough to separate the saga's mythology from the real world controversy surrounding the Special Editions, the prequels, and the revisionist history Lucas constantly seems to be rewriting, but we do our best to acknowledge all of that while simultaneously celebrating what a tremendous achievement this was back in 1977 and why it still means so much to so many of us today.
Topics include: Our varying degrees of Star Wars fandom and the different perspectives we're all coming at this with, the influence this franchise has had on the film industry and culture at large, the real problem with the concept of "Special Editions" and the particularly noteworthy missteps this one makes, the unsung heroes of the series who were unceremoniously erased from its history, the incredible realization of Lucas' "used future" concept for the look of the film, lightsaber battles in the OT vs the PT, Darth Vader's minimal screen time and why keeping him on the peripheral works so much better, how different the second act of the film almost was, why Chewbacca doesn't get a medal, and much much more!