The 10 Tiny Details that Made Star Wars Matter

The first time I saw Star Wars I was really freaking scared.

I was 7 in the spring of 1977, and I had already been traumatized by Young Frankenstein. Yeah, I ended that one out in the lobby. So uppermost in my mind, as we drove out to the Burlington (Mass.) Mall Cinema, where Star Wars was playing, was whether or not I could gut out the whole thing.

As it happened that turned out all right. Though it was touch and go for a while there in the trash compactor scene. The problem wasn’t staying in the theater, the problem was getting me out of it.

It really wasn’t for the obvious reasons. I probably could not, at the age of 7, have explained to you what exactly Star Wars was about from a logical point of view. I don’t think I grasped the tactical importance of blowing up the Death Star, or what Princess Leia was a princess of.

The big deal for me was the world. And the world-building in Star Wars happens at the edges of the screen as much as in the middle. It was in the tiny details. What sold me on the whole production was the idea that if you turned the camera around at Uncle Owen’s moisture farm on Tatooine, you wouldn’t see George Lucas and a bunch of key grips standing around in Tunisia. You’d see … more Tatooine.

Here are 10 of those details

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http://tshirtlife.net M

I saw star wars yesterday (for the first time ever)
and for the same reason you listed, fear, is why i haven’t seen it till now

though im definitely not 7 anymore

the first thing i noticed was why does c3p0 have an english accent, i decided that because he was like a butler-type droid and all the best butler-droids are from England.
http://www.twitter.com/leverus Lev Grossman

The funny thing, tho, is that my mother is English, and if anybody is ever curious about what she’s like? Imagine a human female C3PO: that is my mum
berkmire

I was 7 in the spring of 1977 too. I can’t explain why, but I think 7 is the perfect age to see Star Wars – or at least it was in 1977. Perhaps kids are different these day. Older kids liked it sure, but they didn’t live and breath Star Wars the way my 7-year old buddies and I did. Younger kids saw Star Wars to and probably enjoyed it, but a 4-year old isn’t going to trade Star Wars cards, read Star Wars comics, save up for Star Wars action figures, or be so deeply entranced by “the details” of a galaxy far far away. No, 7 was the perfect age in spring of 1977.
animemaven

To me it was this little wheeled machine roaming the halls of the Death Star, for no apparent purpose. I call it “The Cat”. It only exists for Chewbacca to growl at, whereupon it runs away. Nice touch.