Caroline Herrington ’28
EE Staff Writer
May 4 celebrates National Star Wars Day. The saying goes: “May the Fourth (force) be With You”. You can find Star Wars on DVD and on Disney+.
The 20th anniversary of Revenge of the Sith is around right now in movie theaters. It is a story about a young boy who was born as a slave and does everything to protect the love of his life but becomes manipulated and turns evil. The Jedi are forced to go into hiding by the Sith and Anakin Skywalker is supposed to bring balance to the force. But instead becomes a Sith Lord trying to save the love of his life. The first order comes with the same beliefs. Palpatine is still the ruler and comes back. Jedi vs Sith. Below is a summary of the main nine movies of the Star Wars franchise.
A New Hope (1977): A princess named Princess Leia Organa has plans to get to Obi-Wan Kenobi. A boy named Luke Skywalker works on the farm with his Uncle and Aunt. Han Solo flies the Millenium Falcon with his co-pilot Chewbacca. He takes Obi-Wan, Luke, R2D2, and C-3PO. After Luke loses his aunt and uncle to the empire he goes with Obi-Wan to become a Jedi. But when they get to the place they see the planet is not there but they see which seems to look like a moon. It is not a moon but a space station called the Death Star. Once they get there they realize Princess Leia is there. So they go to free her. Obi-Wan goes to turn off the tractor beam but then fights Darth Vader. As Obi-Wan is fighting him he wants to prove he is more powerful than him and inspires Luke so he lets him destroy him. After this they are able to get the plans to the rebel base and blow up the Death Star. It ends with Luke, Han, and Chewbacca being heroes.
Following A New Hope comes The Empire Strikes Back (1980): The rebels are on a planet named Hoth and looking for different things. But the Empire is still on the lookout for them. Eventually Obi-Wan tells Luke to go to Dagobah to learn from Master Yoda. Leia and Han get away from Vader and Luke goes to learn from master Yoda. Lots of surprises come along the way. Leia and Han have to go through an asteroid field. But eventually go to Cloud City with a friend (Lando) of Han Solo. It turns out that Darth Vader is there and Han Solo will get thrown into carbonate. It is all prepared for Luke. Meanwhile he is training to become a Jedi with Yoda. But right before Han gets put into carbonate he and Leia both say they love each other and then Luke comes. Obi-Wan and Yoda and both are scared because they do not want what happened to Luke’s father to happen to him. But then Luke sees Vader and starts fighting him. He finds out a dark, scary, truth. Darth Vader is his father. He freaks out and gets his arm cut off, and Leia saves him. They have to come up with a plan to save Han Solo.
After The Empire Strikes Back is Return of the Jedi (1983): Han is still captured and they have a plan to rescue him. Lando pretends to work there C-3PO and R2D2 to go there in advance. A bounty hunter goes (Leia) to free Han Solo. Once they free him they get captured again but then Luke Skywalker comes to help them. Yoda sadly passes from old age and tells Luke about his father after he seeks him for answers. Then, a squad forms to get rid of the shield for the new Death Star which is half built. Palpatine comes and will stay on the Death Star with Vader. Luke and Leia get separated and Chewbacca that leads them to get captured by Ewokes. Leia becomes friends with the Ewokes and they release the rest of her friends. Leia and Luke find out there are siblings. Luke eventually comes to talk to Vader and will fight him. As Luke is about to die Vader saves him and destroys Palpatine. Vader brings balance back to the force. They live happily now that peace is everywhere.
The Phantom Menace (1999): Two Jedi on a mission and they have to help the Queen of Naboo (Padme) from the trade Federation. As they are traveling they need hyperdrive fuel so they stop at Tatooine. They meet a young boy (Anakin Skywalker) who is a slave with his mom. In order to get him free and the hyperdrive he has to win a race. But his mom is not free so the Jedi take him to learn how to become a Jedi. But they see he has many midi-chlorians. There are many battles that need to be done but Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon Jinn fight Darth Maul, Palpatine’s apprentice. Maul kills Qui-Gon Jinn and Obi-Wan kills Maul. This leads to Obi-Wan training Anakin.
Attack Of The Clones (2002): Padme comes to Coruscant to vote on something. But someone plans to assassinate her. Anakin and Obi-Wan have to protect her. But one night someone tries to poison her. Obi-Wan wants to find out who it is and Anakin will bring her back to Naboo to protect her. Jar Jar Binks will fill in to take her place in the Senate. Meanwhile, Anakin is in love with Padme and Padme likes him but they cannot be together because Anakin is training to be a Jedi. But Anakin has a bad dream about his mother dying and goes to help her at Tatooine. He finds out she is married to another family, the Lars. After his mother dies, they go to Coruscant to free Obi-Wan Kenobi. Obi-Wan finds out that they have clones. As Padme and Anakin get captured Padme confesses her love for him. They kiss and then they get free but the fight is much bigger than they thought. After Count Dooku destroyed Anakin’s arm, he leaves and talks about secret plans for the Death Star that the Sith are planning. Anakin and Padme get married and R2D2 and C-3PO are there.
Revenge of Sith (2005): Anakin and Obi-Wan have to free the Chancellor. After Anakin kills Dooku he gets honored by many and saves Obi-Wan but people do not know what really happened. Then, Anakin finds out Padme is pregnant. He starts having dreams about her dying while she gives birth. So he wants to do whatever he can to save her and the Chancellor says he can teach him a way to save her. Obi-Wan goes to fight General Grievous. This leads to Anakin being manipulated. After he turns him in, Anakin decides to take the Chancellor’s side and they destroy Windu. Now Order 66 happens when the clones turn evil. The Jedi now have to go into hiding. Anakin is named Darth Vader. Palpatine sends them to the Jedi temple and goes to Mustafa. Meanwhile, Padme is nervous and just wants to have her kids on Naboo. But the boy she loves is lost. When Obi-wan finds out what happens he goes after Anakin. This leads to Anakin being badly burned and having to wear a suit to breathe. Padme dies in childbirth and gives birth to twins, Luke and Leia. They both will be hidden from Vader and Palpatine.
The Force Awakens (2015): The First Order comes following the Empire. Poe Dameron has to get a message to the Resistance. But he gets captured. Kylo Ren is one of the main leaders of the First Order. A scavenger named Rey, whose family left her when she was young, joins the fight later. She helps during the battles between the Resistance and First Order. At the end, she has a big battle against Kylo and wants to help find Luke Skywalker.
The Last Jedi (2017): Rey finds Luke and tries to learn about her family. She wants to learn about the force like how back in the day Luke did. Luke does not really want to teach her because of the mistakes he made teaching Kylo Ren. But there’s a connection between Rey and Kylo. Rey fights with Kylo and had the choice to become the new leader with him but chose not to. Now, Luke makes a big choice and helps distract the First Order as Rey helps get the Resistance to safety.
The Rise of Skywalker (2019): Kylo learns about Palpatine’s return and wants to find him. Kylo’s new master is Palpatine which he learns was in charge this whole time. But when the rebels find out that Palpatine is back they try to find him and end this war. Along the way Rey still wants to find who her parents are and learns she is a Palpatine. She is Palpatine’s granddaughter. She goes to the planet Luke does so she does not make any mistakes but Luke convinces her to fight. So she fights Palpatine and Kylo helps her. Now, Kylo (Ben) and Rey fight Palpatine. But Rey ends him and Ben takes his life to save hers. Again, no more war is going on.
There are two other movies, Rogue One, which takes place right before A New Hope, and Solo, which is about Hans Solo. There are also so many more TV shows that are on Disney+: Andor, The Mandalorian, The Acolyte, The Book of Boba Fett, The Clone Wars, and Star Wars Rebels. There are little Lego movies and fun old fashioned versions adding to the story. Also, there are books that you can read about Star Wars to learn more about the characters.
May 4 celebrates the journey of all these characters. MAY THE FORCE BE WITH YOU!
Photo courtesy Andrew Forgrave (aforgrave/Flickr) CC BY-NC-SA 2.0
Great article, Caroline! May the Fourth be with you!