Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope (novel)

The Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope novelization, originally entitled Star Wars: From the Adventures of Luke Skywalker, was the official novel adaptation of the film Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope, published in 1976 by Del Rey. It was ghost written by Alan Dean Foster, but credited to George Lucas. It contains many scenes and important notes cut from the film, along with sixteen pages of full-color photos from the motion picture. This version of A New Hope was later collected in The Star Wars Trilogy novelization.

Publisher's summary

 * This summary refers to the original version of the novel.

Luke Skywalker Challenged the Stormtroopers of a Distant Galaxy on a Daring Mission—Where a Force of Life Became the Power of Death!

''Farm chores sure could be dull, and Luke Skywalker was bored beyond belief. He yearned for adventures out among the stars—adventures that would take him beyond the farthest galaxies to distant and alien worlds.''

''But Luke got more than he bargained for when he intercepted a cryptic message from a beautiful princess held captive by a dark and powerful warlord. Luke didn't know who she was, but he knew he had to save her—and soon, because time was running out.''

Armed only with courage and with the light saber that had been his father's, Luke was catapulted into the middle of the most savage space war ever...and he was headed straight for a desperate encounter on the enemy battle station known as the Death Star!


 * This summary refers to the pre-theatrical version of the novel.

Luke Skywalker challenges the stormtroopers of a distant galaxy on a daring mission—where a force of life became the power of death!

''Luke Skywalker was a twenty-year-old who lived and worked on his uncle's farm on the remote planet of Tatooine&hellip;and he was bored beyond belief. He yearned for adventures out among the stars—adventures that would take him beyond the farthest galaxies to distant and alien worlds.''

''But Luke got more than he bargained for when he intercepted a cryptic message from a beautiful princess being held captive by a dark and powerful warlord. Luke didn't know who she was, but he had to save her—and soon, because time was running out.''

Armed only with courage and with the light saber that had been his father's, Luke was catapulted into the middle of the most savage space war ever&hellip;and he was headed straight for a desperate encounter on the enemy battle station known as the Death Star!

Summary
The book is the same as the film with only a few differences that are listed below, the main contribution it gives to the overall story is the character's emotions at a certain time, it illustrates what the characters were thinking when they were under pressure, and sometimes it gives back stories to minor characters where the film could not.

Differences from the film

 * TK-421 is referred to as THX-1138, another reference to one of Lucas' other films,


 * Luke gets much more emotional when Wedge tells him that Biggs was killed, it tells us that Luke's eyes began to water: "'We're a couple of shooting stars Biggs' he whispered huskily, 'and we'll never be stopped.'"


 * In the publisher's summary it says that Luke is twenty years old, yet he was born in 19 BBY and the film (and book) takes place in 0 BBY, he must be 19 (to see how this works go here.)


 * When Greedo confronts Han in the cantina, he is speaking through an electronic translator. The infamous scene that follows is left very vague in the novel, it only says that "light and noise filled the little corner of the cantina", it never says who shot first.

Cover gallery
This is a gallery of the different cover variations of Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope.

Behind the scenes

 * As it was published six months before the release of the film, this was the first Star Wars item ever produced.