Original trilogy

Attribution information
Director(s)	George Lucas (A New Hope) Irvin Kershner (The Empire Strikes Back) Richard Marquand (Return of the Jedi)
Producer(s)	Gary Kurtz (A New Hope, The Empire Strikes Back) Howard G. Kazanjian (Return of the Jedi) George Lucas (Return of the Jedi, Executive) Rick McCallum (A New Hope, The Empire Strikes Back, Return of the Jedi, Special Editions)
Writer(s)	George Lucas (A New Hope; The Empire Strikes Back, Story; Return of the Jedi, Story and Screenplay) Leigh Brackett (The Empire Strikes Back, Screenplay) Lawrence Kasdan (The Empire Strikes Back, Screenplay; Return of the Jedi, Screenplay)
Music by	John Williams
Production information
Released	May 25, 1977 (A New Hope) May 21, 1980 (The Empire Strikes Back) May 25, 1983 (Return of the Jedi) January 31, 1997 (A New Hope, Special Edition) February 21, 1997 (The Empire Strikes Back, Special Edition) March 14, 1997 (Return of the Jedi, Special Edition)
Budget	$11,000,000 (A New Hope) $18,000,000 (The Empire Strikes Back) $32,500,000 (Return of the Jedi)
Language	English
Chronological information
Timeline	0 BBY–4 ABY
Series	Star Wars saga
Preceded by	Prequel trilogy
Followed by	Sequel trilogy

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"A film for a generation growing up without fairy tales."

―George Lucas

The original trilogy is the first installment of films of the Star Wars saga to be produced. These were the movies released from 1977 to 1983. They primarily focus on the Rebel Alliance trying to free the galaxy from the clutches of the Galactic Empire, as well as Luke Skywalker's quest to become a Jedi and face Sith Lord Darth Vader.

The original trilogy is sometimes called the classic trilogy in contrast to the prequel trilogy. The sequel trilogy takes place 30 years after Return of the Jedi.

Episode IV
A New Hope
(originally known as Star Wars)

Episode V
The Empire Strikes Back
(originally known as The Empire Strikes Back)

and Episode VI
Return of the Jedi
(originally known as Return of the Jedi)

Plot summary

Star Wars: Episode IV A New Hope
This film introduces the characters of Luke Skywalker and Princess Leia, as well as the iron-fisted regime of the Galactic Empire. On Tatooine, Luke's home planet, the exiled Jedi Obi-Wan Kenobi, in the guise of a kindly old hermit named Ben Kenobi, watches over him. When Luke realizes his Jedi potential, he teams with Han Solo, joins the Rebels, destroys the Death Star and rescues Leia from Darth Vader. However, this was all possible because of Obi-Wan's sacrifice during his final duel with Vader aboard the Death Star.

Star Wars: Episode V The Empire Strikes Back
After the Alliance experiences a devastating defeat at the hands of the Empire on Hoth, Luke Skywalker goes to receive training from the Jedi Master Yoda shortly after a visit by Obi-Wan's Force spirit. However, when Princess Leia and Han Solo are captured by the Empire on Bespin, Luke attempts a rescue only to be confronted by Darth Vader. His battle with the Dark Lord ends in Luke's defeat, and he receives the horrifying revelation that Darth Vader is in fact the former Anakin Skywalker, his father. Leia manages to break free with the help of Han's old friend Lando Calrissian, but Han is himself taken away.

Star Wars: Episode VI Return of the Jedi
After rescuing Han Solo from the gang lord Jabba the Hutt, Luke visits a dying Yoda, who confirms Vader's revelation and reveals that there is another surviving Skywalker before expiring. Obi-Wan Kenobi's spirit appears and elaborates, and Luke deduces that his sister is in fact Leia. While the Alliance engages the Empire in a battle against the second Death Star above Endor, Luke confronts Vader and the Emperor Palpatine, the Sith mastermind who engineered the creation of the Galactic Empire and the fall of Anakin Skywalker. After a brutal duel with Luke, in which he is defeated and shown mercy, Vader renounces the dark side of the Force and becomes Anakin Skywalker again, destroying Palpatine and saving Luke's life at the cost of his own.

With the destruction of the Death Star and the death of Palpatine, the Empire is defeated. As the Rebels celebrate, Luke sees the smiling spirits of Obi-Wan, Yoda, and his father.

Re-releases

Episode IV: A New Hope re-release poster

Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back re-release poster

Episode VI: Return of the Jedi re-release poster

The original trilogy box re-release

The Canadian original trilogy DVD release

George Lucas has tinkered repeatedly with the original trilogy. Episodes IV through VI were remastered and re-released

• as Special Editions (theatrically, and on VHS and LaserDisc) during 1997,
• on DVD in September 2004, and
• on Blu-ray in September 2011.

The films underwent extensive clean-up and restoration work, and Lucas took advantage of this opportunity to make a number of changes and additions of effects. In a September 2004 interview with CNN, he explains his reasons for the changes:

To me, the special edition ones are the films I wanted to make. Anybody that makes films knows the film is never finished. It's abandoned or it's ripped out of your hands, and it's thrown into the marketplace, never finished. ... Most artists, most painters, even composers would want to come back and redo their work now. They've got a new perspective on it, they've got more resources, they have better technology, and they can fix or finish the things that were never done.…

I wanted to actually finish the film the way it was meant to be when I was originally doing it. At the beginning, people went, "Don't you like it?" I said, "Well, the film only came out to be 25 or 30 percent of what I wanted it to be." ... If you read any interviews for about an eight- or nine-year period there, it was all about how disappointed I was and how unhappy I was and what a dismal experience it was. You know, it's too bad you need to get kind of half a job done and never get to finish it. So this was my chance to finish it.

The re-release changes are a point of contention among some fans, who claim that they reduce the quality of the movies. Some fans see Lucas' testimony before the U.S. Congress in opposition to colorizing black-and-white films (a position he reiterated in August 2004) as hypocritical, but the types of alterations Lucas opposes are done by studios without the consent of the artists involved in the original production, as opposed to changes he made to his own films.

On May 4, 2006, StarWars.com announced that the original trilogy would be released in unaltered form on DVD on September 12, 2006.

Unaltered Episode IV DVD cover

Unaltered Episode V DVD cover

Unaltered Episode VI DVD cover

Bibliography

• "Anthony Daniels: Remembering That Galaxy Far, Far Away" — The Lucasfilm Fan Club Magazine 1
• "Star Wars 10th Anniversary Convention!!" — The Lucasfilm Fan Club Magazine 1
• "Star Wars: The Role-Playing Game" — The Lucasfilm Fan Club Magazine 2
• "Inside ILM: Visual Effects Design" — The Lucasfilm Fan Club Magazine 2
• "Star Tours: 'The Ultimate Adventure' is Still the Ultimate Ride at Disneyland" — The Lucasfilm Fan Club Magazine 2
• "Richard Marquand 1938-1987" — The Lucasfilm Fan Club Magazine 2
• "Mark Hamill: 10 Years Later" — The Lucasfilm Fan Club Magazine 3
• "Inside ILM: Creating the Magic of Willow" — The Lucasfilm Fan Club Magazine 4
• "Collections: Foreign Star Wars Collectibles" — The Lucasfilm Fan Club Magazine 5
• "George Lucas: The Force Behind Lucasfilm" — The Lucasfilm Fan Club Magazine 6
• The Secrets of Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire
• Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire Limited Collector's Edition
• "Launch Pad" — Star Wars Insider 150
• Introducing Star Wars Rebels: The Visual Guide on StarWars.com (backup link)
• SDCC 2014: "The Heroes of Star Wars Rebels" Panel - Liveblog on StarWars.com (backup link)
• Star Wars: Build Your Own X-Wing 1 (Creating a Starship Fleet: Ralph McQuarrie – The Man Who Drew Star Wars)
• "Stuart Freeborn: The Makeup Artist" — Star Wars Insider 196
• Star Wars Bust Collection 1 (Behind the Cameras: How the Death Star Was Created)
• Star Wars Bust Collection 2 (Behind the Cameras: Evolution of the Stormtroopers)
• Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga: The Official Collector's Edition

Notes and references

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