“Star Wars intentionally challenged an audience who had no idea what they were getting themselves into”

Sometimes it’s easy to forget that Star Wars used to just be one movie. Before the novels, the comic strips, the video games, the television shows, and all the sequels and prequels, there was just Star Wars. The great magic trick of that film was making one film feel like a small piece of the larger whole, of an entire, epic story that you had never seen before.

Think about that for a minute. Star Wars intentionally challenged an audience who had no idea what they were getting themselves into. References to the Clone Wars, Jabba the Hutt and the Imperial Senate were callouts to things that didn’t exist yet. We didn’t know what a Kessel Run was or how a moisture vaporator worked, but we would soon enough, along with the names to every single alien in the Mos Eisley Cantina.

As fans, we’re insatiable when it comes to learning more about the Star Wars galaxy. It often feels like a bottomless well for our imaginations; even nearly forty years later, there are plenty of untold stories. That wealth of storytelling opportunity and our zeal for uncovering new corners of the galaxy is a key reason why Disney bought the franchise and plans to release a new film every year.

Michael O’Connor, “The Wonder of Wondering: Star Wars Mysteries in the Prequels”, RetroZap! (16 January 2017) [https://www.retrozap.com/the-wonder-of-wondering-star-wars-mysteries-in-the-prequels/]