Star Wars IV: A New Hope Beat the Cat

Opening Image: Star Wars has almost two opening scenes. There’s the timeless yellow-words-scrolling-through-space-to-give-you-background-info opener, but then the movie actually starts, moving into deep space where a larger Empire ship is attempting to capture and board another, smaller ship. Storm troopers board the smaller ship, along with Darth Vader, and the first ever documented Star Wars battle commences.

Theme Stated: The theme of this movie is to never give up, no matter what is thrown your way.

Set-Up: Mid-Battle, a yet-to-be-introduced woman fusses with R2D2, a droid. R2D2 and his comrade, C-3PO (another droid), run for cover. Meanwhile, we find out that Darth Vader has boarded the ship in search for something – he’s looking for “plans.” Turns out, R2D2 has been assigned to a secret mission by the woman. He has been given these plans in secret, and they are stored in his hard drive.  The two droids escape unharmed in an escape pod, but the woman, who we find out to be Princess Leia – an Imperial Senator and a rebel spy – is captured by Vader because of her supposed knowledge of the plans and her knowledge of the rebel base.

Darth Vader learns that the plans he is seeking are no longer on the ship, but on the escape pod that housed the droids. The droids, who landed on a planet, are captured by Jawas, creatures that capture and sell droids for money.

Catalyst: The two droids are purchased by Owen Lars, the uncle to common-household-name Luke Skywalker. Luke is tasked with cleaning the droids, and he stumbles upon a hidden message put in R2 by Princess Leia. The message speaks of Obi-Wan Kenobi. By asking his uncle about Obi-Wan, Luke learns that Kenobi knew Luke’s father.

R2 slips away in search of Kenobi. Luke and C-3PO chase after him, stumbling across Obi-Wan Kenobi in the process. Luke and the droids go back to Kenobi’s place, where Luke learns of his father’s and Kenobi’s past. They were both Jedi knights before Luke’s father died. Darth Vader, a former pupil of Kenobi’s, turned evil and hunted down the Jedi, killing Luke’s father. Luke learns of the Force, and how to use it. Kenobi and Luke watch the rest of Leia’s message, which is a plea of help.

Debate: Kenobi tries to get Luke to go on this mission to help Leia, but Luke refuses. He knows his duty back on the farm and wants to apply to the academy later on. However, when Luke returns home, he finds his Uncle and Aunt murdered. Storm troopers have been hunting the droids in seek of the plans. Luke agrees to go with Obi-Wan on this mission, and they leave with the droids.

Break into Two: They go to a cantina to look for transportation to Alderaan, the planet that Leia wants them to go to. They find Han Solo and Chewbacca, a Wookie, and they agree to help them get to Alderaan. In their attempt to leave, they are pursued by Storm Troopers who are attempting to take back the droids, since the droids have plans/blueprints to what is called the Death Star, a giant Destructo-Ray that can blast entire planets to pieces. They escape fine, but the Empire now knows of the ship, the Millennium Falcon. They zoom to Alderaan, only to find it missing, surrounded by a field of asteroids.

B-Story: The Empire has blown it to pieces with the Death Star in an attempt to persuade Leia to reveal the location of the Rebel Base.

Midpoint: The gang realizes too late what has happened, for they are being pulled into the Death Star by a tractor beam. They hide in the ship and later leave the ship to explore the Death Star. If the tractor beam is still operational, they won’t be able to escape. Kenobi goes of solo (hahahaha puns) to deactivate it, but the group learns that Leia is aboard the Death Star.

Bad Guys Close In: Through a huge, long drawn out battle, they rescue her and escape the Death Star.

All is Lost: However, Obi-Wan is killed by Vader the process, but he lets his life force be absorbed by the Force, allowing him to guide Luke with a creepy, disembodied voice.

Break into Three: Upon their return to the rebel base, they use the Death Star blueprints to figure out how to destroy the massive space weapon. However, the Empire tracked the Falcon, so they’re trying to destroy the Rebel Base. It becomes this race against the clock to see who can destroy who first.

Finale: A fleet of small, single-piloted ships go out to destroy the Death Star, while the death Star has to move into range of the Rebel Base. Luke is one of the fighters, but he’s disappointed in Han Solo because Han left immediately after receiving his payment. Slowly, one by one, each of the fighters are picked off by Empire forces until Luke is the only one remaining. He has Vader hot on his tail, and Vader is about to take him out when Han, in the Falcon, saves Luke, sending Vader spinning off into space. Luke blows up the Death Star by using a little bit of shooting skills and a whole lot of Force magic, just in time, too. The Death Star had just moved into Range of the Rebel Base, and was about to neutralize the entire Rebel Force.

Final Image: Upon returning home to the Rebel Base, there is a huge celebration because Luke saved everyone’s life. Luke and Han are both awarded medals by Leia in a fancy ceremony. The last scene is everyone in the audience applauding them.