“A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away…” Few can forget those very words when they first appeared in shiny blue on a black background before the now iconic Star Wars logo flashed up on screen for a few seconds, only to pull back as the strains of John Williams’ illustrious theme tune heralded the crawl expositing the back story to the 1977 film.
The movie people behind it all had no idea that those 90 seconds of celluloid did not merely herald the story that unfolded in the ensuing 123 minutes, but were ushering in a new era in cinema history. The iconic introduction would go on to spawn a saga that chronicles a tale of the age-old battle between good and evil, albeit one set in the distant future in the aforementioned far, far away galaxy. It was a saga that would still be in the telling 40 years later.
While never being a diehard obsessive fan who can quote each film in the series verbatim and whatnot, I will confess there is something comforting in the knowledge that Star Wars has always been a part of my life. Of the many movies I saw in my childhood, the memories of watching Star Wars (then still unnumbered) for the first time at the old Embassy Cinema complex remain strong, as does the palpable excitement of checking out the 1980 and 1983 sequels.
I shared the disappointment of millions that the second installment of the saga, released between 1999 and 2005, favoured style over substance – although the underlying narrative offering a wider background to the characters we had come to love and loathe was solid enough.
Yet, few would argue that said disappointment was tempered by the explosive way the saga struck back with 2015’s A Force Awakens with a new director and actors injecting much vim and vigour to proceedings, while the presence of the original story’s beloved stalwarts reminded us why we fell in love with them and Star Wars in the first place.
The iconic introduction would go on to spawn a saga that chronicles a tale of the age-old battle between good and evil
Awakens’ director J. J. Abrams, who co-wrote the script with Lawrence Kasdan and Michael Arndt, had tremendous shoes to fill. But he took up the challenge with aplomb, delivering a movie that certainly gratified the fans and was instrumental in introducing new ones to the saga.
New characters like Daisy Ridley’s scavenger Rey, the de facto heroine of the piece; John Boyega’s dissident Stormtrooper Finn; and Oscar Issac’s resistance pilot Poe Dameron quickly established themselves in audiences’ hearts. Adam Driver’s majestic, mysterious and dark Kylo Ren offered up another complex villain. And, with the return of the old guard, consisting of Harrison Ford’s Han Solo (we salute you, Han!), Carrie Fisher’s former Princess now General Leia, and the missing-but-ever-present Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill) the saga once more took its rightful place in cinema lore. It set the scene for another ground-breaking trilogy in the mould of its original predecessors, with the breathtaking action we have come to expect enhanced by ever-advancing technology, allowing the story to be told and the characters – new and old – to grow.
As audiences worldwide took it in, the anticipation and excitement gave way to well-deserved adulation. And, crucially, the desperate desire for more, as stoked by the dramatic final scene in which (spoiler alert) Rey finally finds Luke and offers him the lightsabre that was once his.
And so, here is part VIII, ominously titled The Last Jedi. The burden is now on director Rian Johnson and his team to carry on telling this extensive, intricate, moving and exciting intergalactic tale. The new heroes from The Force Awakens join their legendary allies on another sprawling adventure that will unlock age-old mysteries of the Force, which will in turn offer shocking revelations of the past.
The sadness experienced by the (spoiler alert!) shocking death of Han Solo on screen will undoubtedly be compounded by the last appearance in the saga of Carrie Fisher, whose unexpected death a year ago came just after she had completed her work on the film.
In an interview with ABC News, Boyega assures fans that Fisher gets an amazing send-off in the movie. “And she is still kept alive in this franchise. That’s the beauty of it. She lives forever, in a sense,” he adds.
As does the saga, it seems, given that 40 years on, it is clear that the Force will be with us. Always.