Why Star Wars Worked

They're showing a pretty silly show on Star Wars technology. It's about whether the technology used in Star Wars could exist today.

It had me thinking about why Star Wars was so successful. It's hard to believe, but it had lots of good ideas. Let's run through them.

Lightsabers. After science fiction movies had blasters and deathrays, it was pretty amazing to have a laser sword. This alone was ultra cool. But there's more.

Darth Vader. Looks cool and evil and billowy.

Death Star. Planet destroyer.

The Force. A pseudo-religion that made kids believe in it too.

The Millenium Falcon. Looked great!

Landspeeders. Floating above the ground. How did they do it?

Robots (or droids). C3PO and R2-D2. Weren't they cute?

All these things were put together in one film that had a quest story, a coming of age story, and a decent bad guy to boot.

None of the sequels (even Empire, which is generally acknowledged as the best of the series) has so many new ideas.

And that's why it worked.