The Skywalker Saga Recap

Episode 4: A New Hope Recap

    In date order, this is the one that started it all. Cronalogically, this is the fourth episode of the Skywalker Saga and the first film of the Original Trilogy.

    The film begins with the opening crawl saying that the Rebel Alliance has won its first victory in the Galactic Civil War and have stolen plans for the Death Star, a space station capable of destroying entire planets (this is explained in full detail in Rouge One: A Star Wars Story). Princess Leia Organa, an Imperial Senator who's secretly a Rebel leader and is currently in custody of the plans, attempts to race home to her home planet of Alderaan in hopes that they can save her people and restore peace to the galaxy, but her ship, the Tantive IV is abducted over the planet of Tatooine by an Imperial Star Destroyer. A shootout occurs between Rebel soldiers and boarding Imperial Stormtroopers. When the smoke clears, the ruthless Darth Vader, who kind of looks like an all-black scifi samari due to his suit, cape, and helmet (which are all black) arrives on the scene. Leia smartly hides the plans in the memory bank of astronomic droid R2-D2 along with a recorded message before she's detained. Luckily, R2 manages to get on an escape pod to Tatooine accompanied by his companion, protocol droid C-3PO.

    Later, the droids are found by Jawas traders, who sell them to local moisture farmers Owen and Beru and their nephew Luke Skywalker, a restless young man who craves adventure from beyond his home planet. While cleaning the droids, part of the message is played. It's for someone named Obi-Wan Kenobi, and she's requesting his help. After Luke finds R2 missing, he and 3PO set out the next day to find him, only to be attacked by scavenging Sand People. He's rescued by hermit "Old Ben" Kenobi, an acquaintance of his who reveals that "Obi-Wan" is his true name. After heading to his home, Obi-Wan tells Luke of his days as one of the former Jedi, galactic peacekeepers of the former Galactic Republic, how he was an old friend of Luke's father, and how they were both veterans of the often talked-about Clone Wars. However, Darth Vader, Obi-wan's former pupil, betrayed and murdered Luke's father after turning to the Dark Side of the Force. Moreover, the Jedi were hunted down to near-extinction by the Empire. He then presents Luke with his father's lightsaber, the signature weapon of Jedi Knights.

    R2 then plays Leia's full message to Obi-Wan: "General Kenobi. Years ago, you served my father in the Clone Wars. Now he begs you to help him in his struggle against the Empire. I regret that I am unable to present my father's request to you in person, but my ship has come under attack and I'm afraid that my mission to bring you to Alderaan has failed. I have placed information vital to the survival of the Rebellion into the memory systems of this R2 unit. My father will know how to retrieve it. You must see this droid safely delivered to him on Alderaan. This is our most desperate hour. Help me, Obi-Wan Kenobi. You're my only hope."

    Obi-Wan wants Luke to come with him so that he can learn the ways of the Force. At first, Luke refuses since he's tied down on duty, but later changes his mind after he learns that Imperial Stormtroopers had destroyed his home and killed his aunt and uncle in their search for the droids. Arriving at a cantina to look for transport, Luke and Obi-Wan hire Han Solo, a smuggler with a price on his head due to his debt to local mobster Jabba the Hutt. Pursued by Stormtroopers, the four with Han and his 200-year-old Wookie copilot Chewbacca (Chewie for short) on their ship the Millennium Falcon ("What a piece of junk!") and jump into hyperspace enroute to Alderaan.

    On the way there, Obi-Wan trains Luke in the ways of the Force, despite Han saying that he doesn't believe in any of that stuff. However, by the time they reach Alderaan, they find it reduced to chunks of rock; Death Star commander Grand Moff Tarkin had destroyed it as a show of force. When Han gives chase after an Imperial TIE fighter, they're all captured by the Death Star's tractor beam and pulled into the station into the docking bay. Obi-Wan goes to shut down the tractor beam so they can escape while Luke, Han, and Chewie go to rescue Leia after R2 informs them that she's been scheduled for execution. After successfully shutting it off, Obi-Wan later sacrifices himself during a final duel with Vader, allowing the heroes to escape the station with Leia. However, by using a tracking device, the Empire is able to follow the Falcon to the hidden Rebel base on Yavin 4.

    Leia's schematics reveal a hidden weakness in the thermal exhaust port which could allow the Rebels to cause a chain reaction in its main reactor with a precise torpedo strike. While Han leaves with his money to pay off Jabba, Luke joins the rest of the starfighter squadron in an attack against the station, which has to have an orbit before getting a clear shot at the base. During the fight, the Rebels suffer heavy losses when Vader leads a squadron of TIE fighters against them, and he even shoots R2. Just in time, Han arrives in the Falcon, narrowly managing to save Luke. Meanwhile, Vader gets ricocheted out the trench by one of his escorting TIEs and goes spiraling off. Guided by Obi-Wan's spirit and using the Force, Luke makes a perfect shot with his torpedoes into the exhaust port, destroying the Death Star moments before it fires on the Rebel base.

    Later on in a triumphant ceremony, R2 is revealed by a polished 3PO to have been fixed up good as new. Luke and Han are awarded medals of heroism by Leia. (Don't worry. Chewie gets his to........eventually).

Voice Credits:

Mark Hamill as Luke Skywalker

Harrison Ford as Han Solo

Carrie Fisher as Leia Organa

Peter Cushing as Grand Moff Tarkin

Alec Guinness as Obi-Wan "Ben" Kenobi

Anthony Daniels as C-3PO

Kenny Baker as R2-D2

Peter Mayhew as Chewbacca

David Prowse as Darth Vader (James Earl Jones as Darth Vader's voice)

Phil Brown as Uncle Owen

Shelagh Fraser as Aunt Beru

Jack Purvis as Chief Jawa

Eddie Byrne as Rebel General Vanden Willard

Dennis Lawson as Wedge Antilles

Garrick Hagon as Biggs Darklighter

Don Henderson as Imperial General Cassio Tagge

Leslie Schofield as Imperial General Moradmin Bast

Richard LeParmentier as Admiral Motti

Alex McCrindle as General Jan Dodonna

Alfie Curtis as Dr. Evazan

Peter Geddis as Captain Raymus Antilles

Michael Leader as one of the Stormtroopers who accidentally hit his head against the door (LOL😂🤣!)

John Wayne as Imperial spy Garindan (with heavily synthesized audio recordings)

Robert Clarke as Wulff Yularen