3) Episode IV: A New Hope

A.  Why start with Episode IV?

The Star Wars saga as originally conceived by George Lucas was much too large to be made into a single film or even a single trilogy so Lucas structured his ideas into episodes. He decided to start with the second half of his story first because he believed it had the greatest chance of being a theatrical success. 

B.  What are the cut scenes from A New Hope?

There were scenes filmed where Luke met his friend Biggs on Tatooine. The scene is described in the book, and the storybook has a picture of it. The scene is described in the Marvel comic adaptation. It was never released in the movie theaters.

There was also a scene filmed where Luke met Biggs in the Rebel hangar. This scene was later added to the "Special Edition"

There was a scene where Han met Jabba on Tatooine. Originally, Lucas had a large actor in a fur suit as Jabba, and he wanted to use special effects to place the creature of Jabba over the actor. He did not like the results, so he cut the scene from the movie. By the time the "Special Edition" films were being made, the technology was available, and Jabba was added via 3D computer graphics.

Partial unfinished footage of all three scenes can be found on the video "From Star Wars to Jedi : The Making of a Saga".

C.  Are Owen and Beru really Luke's aunt and uncle?

Yes. From a certain point of view. Shmi Skywalker, Luke's grandmother, married Cliegg Lars, father of Owen Lars. You could then say that Owen Lars was the stepbrother of Anakin Skywalker, Luke's father.

For a long time it was believed Owen was actually Obi-Wan Kenobi's brother. It was even mentioned in a comic book, but Episode II has made the point moot.

D.  Did you know the stormtrooper hit his head?

Yes, we all know that. Every month or so, someone drops in with this question. It happens so often that it's now a joke with r.a.s.starwars. When the stormtroopers find the droids in the Death Star, the stormtrooper on the right of the screen bumps his head...pretty hard too.

E.  I have something called "Episode III : Fall of the Republic". Is it the real thing?

No. It was written by John Flynn. This is a fanfiction story. It started popping up in sci-fi conventions in the 80's after ROTJ concluded the original trilogy. In reality, Episode III is currently 3 years away from release, and George Lucas claims the script is almost done (keep in mind this was written May 2002).

John Flynn also wrote an article for CINESCAPE in which he tells the readers about Episodes I, II, and III, but he neglects to tell them that his sources are just his own fanfiction and his own speculations.

F.  What are the Clone Wars?

Obi-Wan refers to the Clone Wars in Episode IV, and the Timothy Zahn books refer to the Empire once having the technology to create legions of troops.

We now know (from Episode II) that the Clone Wars have to do with a separatist movement that tries to oppose the Republic. Under the command of Chancellor Palpatine, an army of clones is ordered to combat this movement. An interesting sidenote is that the clones derrived their original mateiral from Jango Fett, from whom Boba Fett himself is a clone of, raised as Jango's son.

The truth is that the separatist movement was also orchestrated by Palpatine in order to start a war, gain emergency powers, AND get an army of clones. What Episode II showed was the begining of this war. 

G.  What Star Wars related programs/movies have appeared on TV?

Each movie had a "making of" TV special. They are :

• "The Making of Star Wars" - hosted by C-3PO and R2-D2 (1977)
• "SPFX: The Empire Strikes Back" - hosted by Mark Hamill (1980)
• "Classic Creatures: Return of the Jedi" - (1983)

In 1978, "The Star Wars Holiday Special" aired for its only showing. The special was about Chewie visiting his family on his home planet. Most of the major movie characters had cameos. There was also a short cartoon in the middle which showed Boba Fett. If you ask around on rec.arts.sf.starwars, you can usually find someone who will sell you a copy of it.

There were two Ewok movies. They were:

• "The Ewok Adventure: Caravan of Courage"
• "The Ewoks: Battle for Endor."

There was a season of animated cartoon "The Ewoks and Droids Adventure Hour." In the second season, the show became the half-hour "Ewoks" show.

In 1985, PBS aired "From Star Wars to Jedi: The Making of a Saga" which is now available with the boxed set of the Trilogy.