We'll Always Have Tatooine

Poster from the first movie

© 1976 Lucasfilm

Copyright © 2020

by Ralph F. Couey

There had been nothing like it before, and a long time will pass before there'll be anything like it again.  Almost 44 years ago on May 25, 1977, a different kind of movie landed in theaters across the land.  It was called Star Wars, a space opera that took place "A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away."  The story had been brought to life by George Lucas, a bespectacled filmmaker whose claim to fame was the nostalgia-inducing "American Graffiti."  Foiled in trying to bring Flash Gordon to the big screen, he essentially created an entirely new universe, complete with heroes, villains, alien planetscapes and their indigenous creatures.  The special effects were spectacular in an age when most studios were still hanging cardboard models from wires.  

Mostly though, it was the story.  1977 was one of those years that filled a gap between other, more rambunctious times.  The year before had been the bicentennial. Before that were the years of Watergate and the final humiliating retreat from Vietnam.  1977 was the beginning of a wildly inflational economy that eventually led to the spiritual malaise of the Carter years, partially obscured by the glitzy disco era..  In some ways, Star Wars was the event that injected air back into the social, cultural, and political vacuum.  

To say that Star Wars captured the imagination is to wallow in understatement.  People not only went once to see the film, but multiple times.  Including your humble correspondent who is only a little embarrassed to admit seeing the movie (by count) some 23 times.  While it was in the theaters.  Most importantly, the film brought hope to a time mired in hopelessness.  It showed us that heroes could be anyone, even an orphaned boy on a remote desert planet.

Three years later, The Empire struck back, and then after another three years what was thought at the time to be the final episode, "Return of the Jedi."  George Lucas then took some time off -- about 16 years in fact between which he brought Harrison Ford another classic role as Indiana Jones.  Finally, in 1999, Lucas brought the Star Wars story back with a three-episode prequel, Phantom Menace, Attack of the Clones, and Revenge of the Sith.  Some thought these to be of lesser quality (especially the regrettable Jar-Jar Binks), but people still flocked to see them.  Finally, ten years after Sith, the final trilogy began with The Force Awakens, The Last Jedi, and the final -- final -- installment The Rise of Skywalker, this time brought to life by Disney.  In between were a couple of blank fillers, Rogue One and Solo.

With the release of the ninth film, the Star Wars saga came to a close, having dominated four decades like a bloodless war.  You can still find people who haven't seen any of the films, but they are not thick upon the ground and are usually asked what rock they had been hiding under.  While it was fun to see the story, plots, and subplots resolved, it leaves us with a sense of emptiness.  No more Star Wars movies to anticipate; no more character fates to debate.  No more anticipation and hope.  An era has come to an end.

Oddly enough, the end of Star Wars has given new life to the Star Trek franchise, which had been cinematically left for dead after finishing a distant second to its galactic cousin.  The next movie, which had been sidelined, now has a script and a shooting schedule.  Chris Pine has decided to return to the role of Captain Kirk.  In the universe, when stars die their elements spread into space to become new stars.  In this case, the retirement of one franchise became new life for another.

So.  No more Star Wars.  An era has ended.  It will live on in various permutations of DVD packaging, and every time the reigning king of home entertainment technology and format advances, they'll certainly be re-issued. Perhaps in two or three decades, the whole series will play as a holographic projection.  Who knows?  And Disney has said that they have several Star Wars "stories" still to tell.

But the big one, the film we waited for so breathlessly for years between chapters has ended.  Rey's symbolic interment of Luke and Leia's light sabers gave us all a moment to stand at the graveside and say a grateful and heartfelt goodbye.  

There have been countless rock bands, but only one Beatles.  Likewise, there will be other popular films, popular franchises.

But there will only ever be one Star Wars.