Star Wars: A New Hope

You can’t escape Star Wars, but you can finally sit down and ask a scarier question: what does A New Hope actually feel like when you watch it today? We bring fresh eyes to the 1977 film that changed Hollywood forever and quickly realize the weird tension at the heart of any classic. You think you know every beat from pop culture, but the real experience can still surprise you, especially when huge story moments land with less emotion than you expect.

We get into the details that make the movie endure: George Lucas dropping us into a fully formed galaxy, the choice to let the droids guide the plot, and why it was originally released as simply Star Wars before the “Episode IV: A New Hope” label arrived later. From there, we talk characters and casting, including what makes Han Solo work, why Leia still reads as a sharp, capable leader, and how Darth Vader is literally a blend of performances. We also debate pacing, “dry” acting, and the way Luke’s maturity seems to jump ahead overnight.

Then we nerd out where Star Wars really flexes: practical effects, miniatures, matte paintings, and the despecialized cut, plus the audio magic that sells space as a place you can almost touch. John Williams’ legendary score, the Cantina vibe, Vader’s breathing, Chewie’s voice, and even the lightsaber hum all get their due. Listen for our favorite scenes, our ratings debate, and the question we end on: does the hype still hold up? Subscribe, share with a friend, and leave us a five-star review if you want more movie premieres every week.

🎬 Have You Seen?! The Movie Podcast is a Roll Credits Studio production.

 🎧 Listen where ever you get your quality podcasts: https://open.spotify.com/show/10QRGuPFPCaL6FWmFBxEyF  

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/have-you-seen-the-movie-podcast/id1845758756

📱 Stay Connected:
🐦 Twitter/X: HaveYouSeenPodcast (@HYSPod) / X
📷 Instagram: Instagram
🎵 TikTok: haveyouseenpod (@haveyouseenpod) | TikTok

 👥 Hosted by: Dylan & Joe

👉 Got a classic you think we should cover? Send us your movie suggestion!

Transcript

Welcome And Listener Callouts

Joe 0:17

Welcome to Have You Seen the Movie Podcast, where every movie is a premiere.

SPEAKER_03 0:22

This week we're jumping into one of the most important movies ever made, Star Wars A New Hope.

Joe 0:28

Star Wars.

SPEAKER_03 0:29

The film that changed Hollywood forever.

Joe 0:32

If you enjoy the show, make sure to follow it on your favorite podcast app and leave us a five-star rating. It really helps us grow.

SPEAKER_03 0:40

And we want to hear from you. Text us your name and a movie suggestion using the link in the description.

Joe 0:46

This week's movie, Star Wars. A new hope. Star Wars is rated BG for sci-fi action and intensity. If that's not suitable for little ears, we hope you'll tune in next week. So

First Reactions And Missing Emotion

Joe 1:01

what did you think of Star Wars going before it and then watching it?

SPEAKER_03 1:08

Um, I feel like this is one of those ones that you just know everything going into it. Like just being a part of like pop culture. Yeah. Like you think you already know everything. Right. And so like what I was not expecting was how downplayed the acting was, if that's what you would like call it.

SPEAKER_02 1:35

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:35

But so like maybe you know, maybe we'll touch on this a little later.

SPEAKER_02 1:40

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:41

But when the Millennium Falcon flies to what what's the planet? Woldrun?

Joe 1:48

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:49

That gets blown up. And they're like, well, where's the planet? And it's like, well, it's not there. Like that was like such a it could have been like such a emotional shocking moment.

Joe 2:06

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 2:06

That you're like, how could the Empire stoop this low?

Joe 2:11

Yeah. To destroy a whole planet.

SPEAKER_03 2:13

To destroy a whole planet just to prove a point. And kind of like what the government's doing to our planet.

SPEAKER_02 2:21

Oh, wait.

Joe 2:23

Did we get political? Did we get within the first three minutes? Oh no.

SPEAKER_03 2:29

I'm like, hmm, this tracks.

Joe 2:30

This one's gonna have some political leanings, whether you like it or not.

SPEAKER_03 2:34

It's going to. But like destroying a whole planet just to just to prove their point. And it's like your whole like emotional take when you find that out is like, well, that's what I'm telling you. It's not here.

Joe 2:53

Yeah. Yeah. Like. Right. I mean, the only I think the only real emotional take on it is when Ben feels this disturbance in the forest.

SPEAKER_03 3:04

Right. That's the only time that they really react to it.

Joe 3:07

Uh-huh. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 3:09

And like I could see how they were trying to go for like the emotional part got cut short because of getting pulled into the Death Star. But then, like, with the whole like it was, yeah. It was just too one tone.

Joe 3:30

Yeah. Yeah, I get that. Yeah, you pointed it out when we're watching it, and I was like, Yeah, I never really thought about it like that, but it is kind of so

How The Title Became A New Hope

Joe 3:40

so okay.

SPEAKER_03 3:40

When did this movie come out?

Joe 3:43

It came out in 1977.

SPEAKER_03 3:47

And of course, it was directed by George Lucas.

Joe 3:51

So I wasn't even born yet.

SPEAKER_03 3:53

I wasn't born yet either.

Joe 3:55

Yeah. Dun dun dun. So yeah, it was originally called Star Wars.

SPEAKER_03 4:03

And okay, so originally called Star Wars. Yes. So when was it changed to Star Wars A New Hope?

Joe 4:12

So Lucas originally wanted the scroll to say Star Wars A New Hope.

SPEAKER_03 4:19

Okay, so it was originally planned to be called that from the get-go. Okay. No.

Joe 4:24

It was called Star Wars, but in the scroll, in the crawl that comes up at the beginning, okay. It was gonna say uh episode episode four, a new a new hope, and then the chapter is a new hope. So yeah, so like it would have said episode four, but the producers, the producers didn't want that because they're like, this is one movie, this is your first movie of whatever this is. Right. And we don't want people trying to go and look for the first three or trying to, you know, like look for a movie that's not there, and if you don't get a sequel, this isn't gonna make any sense. Right. So it wasn't until home video that they added the episode four and the new hope part of it. Oh, interesting. Yeah. So you can call it New Hope, it's fine. But I know it is Star Wars.

SPEAKER_03 5:20

All

Scale, Pacing, And Practical Effects

SPEAKER_03 5:21

right. So if you haven't seen this movie in a while, here's the quick setup. A farm boy named Luke Skywalker gets pulled into a galactic rebellion against the Empire, teaming up with smugglers, droids, and a mysterious Jedi to destroy a planet killing weapon. Sounds about right.

Joe 5:43

Smugglers, droids, and a mysterious Jedi to destroy a planet killing weapon.

SPEAKER_03 5:52

Dun dun dun dun.

Joe 5:56

We'll talk more about the trailer later.

SPEAKER_03 5:59

That awful thing.

Joe 6:02

So Dylan, your perspective.

SPEAKER_03 6:06

Yeah. So like I think the whole scale of the I don't know, adventure movie, whatever you want to call it. Yeah. I thought they did a really good job though. Like you really did feel like it was different planets that they were on and stuff. Yeah. All of the sets were like unique. It wasn't like, oh, they went from one sandy beach to another sandy beach. Right. But yeah, like I felt like the whole thing like really moved from one thing to the next. Yeah. Yeah. Like it definitely does not give itself like time to breathe, really. Right. But I will say, like, I enjoyed how a lot of it had to be done with practical effects and stuff, versus a lot of the computer stuff.

Joe 7:01

Yeah, and we watched the despecialized version.

SPEAKER_03 7:05

So what does that mean?

Joe 7:07

So at one point George Lucas went back and added scenes and dialogue and Oh really? Yeah. And he also added CG effects and more creatures and people and things in different scenes.

SPEAKER_03 7:22

Did he just feel like it wasn't filled out enough?

Joe 7:25

Or well, it's kind of like going back to the the original crawl in the beginning, like he he had a vision and what he wanted, but then as producers got involved and other things and limitations of time and money, he had to cut scenes. So I think it was in the 90s, late 90s, they went back when episode one through three were put out, and they added different scenes and dialogues and CG effects to be more of what he wanted to originally see.

SPEAKER_03 7:59

Oh, okay. Interesting.

Joe 8:03

Yeah, originally people considered Star Wars to be fast paced for what it was at the time. Yeah. Because it's just like it goes, goes, goes. And comp in comparison to these days and like you know, movies now, it it slow a lot slower than, you know.

SPEAKER_03 8:24

Yeah, you kind of feel like some parts drag on.

Joe 8:27

Yeah, because he was just like, I'm just gonna I'm just gonna write this like you you you jumped into the middle of a book. So I'm not gonna explain droids, I'm not gonna explain, you know, lasers or or lightsabers or how they work or anything like that. Like you're just gonna be in this world, you know. Okay. And which I think a lot of like I think of Harry Potter, which not everything is explained to the T to where you're like, right, you know, and you just accept it for what it is and you move on and you just embrace it, you know.

SPEAKER_03 9:02

Gotcha. Um yeah, it's kind of interesting going and like finally watching it versus just knowing about it, if you will.

SPEAKER_02 9:15

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 9:15

Because like Darth Vader, you know, like you already kind of know a lot of the stuff with him, how you know he was Jedi Apprentice and then turned to the dark side and et cetera, et cetera. Right. And kind of became, you know, started to become what we see in this movie. Yeah. So like trying to like step back kind of to the you know 70s when it came out, yeah, and just watching it with fresh eyes, uh-huh, like you're just like, what is going on?

Joe 9:59

Yeah,

Pop Culture Baggage And The Force

Joe 10:00

who is this guy? Like, why is he all dressed in black?

SPEAKER_03 10:03

Or like they did not talk about like the force as much as I thought was going to happen, because like I feel like a lot of it is the you know, kind of talking about like use the force, right? Use the force, yeah. Who who's that?

Joe 10:28

Stretch out with your feelings.

SPEAKER_03 10:32

I guess they didn't cover that as much as I thought they were going to. Like they definitely just left it as oh, that's just an old dead religion.

Joe 10:42

Yeah, mm-hmm. Yeah, pretty much. But yeah, and then on Vader's side, they talk about it too. Oh, you're just one of the last remnants of this hokey religion, or whatever.

SPEAKER_03 10:56

Right, you know, super interesting.

Joe 10:57

It's like, oh yeah, well, I can still choke you.

SPEAKER_03 11:03

All right.

Why The Droids Lead Us

SPEAKER_03 11:06

So let's talk about characters. Yep. Um the main one that we end up following is Luke Skylar.

SPEAKER_02 11:16

Skylar.

Joe 11:18

I don't even know what the movie did you watch?

SPEAKER_03 11:21

Space Balls.

Joe 11:23

Yeah, exactly. The sword. Luke Skywalker.

SPEAKER_03 11:30

No, I'm gonna say it. Shut up, Joe. So the main one that we end up following is Luke Skywalker. Uh who who played him? Mark Hamill. Why did you overpronunciate that? I thought it was interesting how we started off by following the droids. We didn't start off with Luke, which is totally what you would expect.

Joe 11:59

Yeah, yeah. That was a big, big thing that he wanted to do. Um, there's so Akira Kurosawa. Um I gotta come up with new jokes. In the movie Seven Samurai use less important characters or less featured characters to like bring the plot along. Oh, and so there's a lot of little things from other movies that he puts in here, but that's one of the main things is that that movie is is mostly moved along by by like what would be considered minor characters. Really? And then those minor characters touch on the major characters throughout, you know. So like, you know, with with the droids just they're they start off in the whole battle, you know, which the whole thick of it. Princess Leia is there, you know, but you don't realize like who she is really at the time, and then they get tossed down to what was it, Tatooine, or and then and then they meet Luke and then meet Ben, and you know, and so it just kind of keeps going, and and then all of a sudden everybody's together. So yeah, that was that was the intention.

SPEAKER_03 13:20

Yeah, I mean, it definitely follows how like how the events would play out, yeah, yeah.

Joe 13:30

He originally the producers convinced him not to do that. Oh, really? There was a different cut, which would be interesting to see where it just followed the main characters, and he was just just not satisfied, not interested, yeah, and went back and recut it to what it what it is now, which I like. I I do like the fact that like the plot is slowly unfolding through the eyes of the droids.

SPEAKER_03 13:56

So, along the adventures of the droids and Luke Skywalker, you meet Han Solo.

How Harrison Ford Landed Han

SPEAKER_03 14:06

So, played by Harrison Ford. There he is. He looks so young there. Yeah. I mean, because we watched Indiana Jones not too long ago. So when did Indy come out?

Joe 14:22

Is it like 83? Hate to check Raiders of the Lost Arm. Came out in 81. 81, okay. So yeah, Raiders was 81.

SPEAKER_03 14:34

So yeah, only came out in 77, so probably filmed in 76, roughly.

SPEAKER_02 14:43

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 14:44

So like from 76 to 80, you know, yeah, four years. Man, he I don't know what happened to him, but he he's been through a lot, I guess. Between those years?

Joe 14:56

Yeah. So in 73, he had done a small scene in American graffiti, which George Lucas had done.

SPEAKER_03 15:07

Oh, yeah.

Joe 15:08

And there were so many actors coming through to read for these parts that he didn't have any consistent people to read. And Harrison Ford was still a carpenter. Yeah, and so he was like working on sets out there and everything, and he was like, Well, you know, could you could you come in and and you know, read for Han Solo for a day? Or and so George Lucas started to do the thing where kind of like you know, all these connected directors, Francis Ford Coppola, Spielberg, they uh they all kind of create these casts and they'll have like five people read together and then mix them up, or have you know, okay, we have this group of five, this group of five, and then they mix them up. So Harrison Ford was part of just being part of that mix-up. Yeah, and he ended up being like the guy because he just his delivery. I mean, there was like there's so many of these screen tests on YouTube, but one of the major ones that stuck out to me was Kurt Russell. He was almost Han Solo, and he's a great actor, he was a you know, Disney from Disney kid to you know, the what do you call it, the computer war tennis shoes or whatever to being Elvis to you know standing on his own with other movies, but yeah, but that it just didn't click with some people, and it really clicked with him, and so because you know, the the whole idea was Flash Gordon, you know, what what they would tell them is like this is like a movie serial, and it's like Flash Gordon or any of those like old movies, and so they played it a little too campy, yeah. And Harrison Ford really played it like this is going on right now, you know.

SPEAKER_03 17:02

I love how sarcastic he is, yeah, just throughout the hall of them, yeah. Because, like, I mean, that I felt like if I was in the situation, yeah, I'd be yeah, just as sarcastic.

Joe 17:15

I will say, in I think is it Jedi? All I know, all I can say is in the the movies after he steps it up a level. Does he really? Yeah, he does, he does. I mean, there's just some good lines.

SPEAKER_03 17:33

So funny. Somebody who he was really sarcastic to a lot of the times was Princess Leia.

Leia, Kenobi, And Vader Casting

SPEAKER_03 17:41

Yeah. I really liked her character in this because she really played to that strong, independent woman. Yeah. And like she she's portraying a leader and just did an excellent job with that.

Joe 18:06

Yeah, she's like very, you know, she's a diplomat, she's you know, has that royal kind of right, yeah. Right, yeah. Plus, she has a sass. I love oh, go ahead. Who who plays Princess Leia? Carrie Fisher.

SPEAKER_03 18:22

Okay. Yep.

Joe 18:24

And uh, yeah, I mean, she's she's done a lot of other movies other than the Star Wars movies.

SPEAKER_03 18:30

So what else has she been in?

Joe 18:32

You know what's funny? One of the roles that she doesn't get a lot of credit for is when Harry met Sally, and that was like a really good movie. Oh, really? Yeah, that's one of my favorites, I'll say, about with her.

SPEAKER_03 18:45

We also have Ben or Obi-Wan Kenobi. He was older than I thought he was gonna be.

SPEAKER_02 18:56

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 18:57

Because I guess I've seen like clips from like of him from the the prequels, I guess. Uh-huh. Oh, yeah. Like, I was not expecting it to be like the old man. Yeah. And he really, you know, with him trying to supposed to be Luke's mentor, he really did not get that much time mentoring.

Joe 19:25

Right. Yeah, he did not. It's very brief. Yeah, Alec Guinness.

unknown 19:32

Alec Guinness.

Joe 19:35

He was like for them, for Harrison Ford and Mark Hamill and all them, like he was a seasoned actor, so yeah, they would not mess around or anything when he was there. Yeah, yeah. Because it was like they were trying to learn from him, and he was he was sort of the Kenobi on set, you know. Yeah. Because he had just from that point before has had so many other movies, and and they just respected him as an actor. That's cool. Yeah. So he was kind of a rock star.

SPEAKER_03 20:09

So you have Darth Vader.

Joe 20:13

Yes.

SPEAKER_03 20:16

So I mean definitely one of the most iconic villains out there, for sure.

Joe 20:24

Yeah. Voice, everything, just just yeah.

SPEAKER_03 20:31

So did they have like a okay, who played who played Darth Vader?

Joe 20:39

That's a good question. David Prouse played the physical Darth Vader. Oh. And the voice was James Earl Jones. Okay.

SPEAKER_03 20:57

Man. So did David Powell?

Joe 21:03

Prow. Prouse. Prouse? Whatever.

SPEAKER_03 21:08

So did David Prouse think that he was going to be voicing Dread Vader?

Joe 21:14

I think there was a couple of situations like with Anthony Daniels, C3PO, right? Where so when they recorded or did the audio, the original audio for the movie, they they just had them in their masks, you know, saying the lines.

SPEAKER_03 21:34

All of a sudden, so they would all have been muffled. Yeah.

Joe 21:36

So just you know, and uh, so then the idea was like, okay, you'll say the lines, the actors in front of you will be able to understand. Right. We'll go back and post and put, you know, but some actors just didn't have the possession that they were looking for. Like he just was not, his voice was not. That Darth Vader, you know, right. And so they're like, okay, we need to find another voice for Darth Vader. So then that was it. Um, and it was also attributed to him being in the suit and changing his voice, so that was also like kind of an idea.

SPEAKER_03 22:22

Yeah.

Joe 22:23

So with like R2D2, um, he was the actor inside was an actor named Kenny Baker, and he was a small person. Yeah. And so he was in this, like, I mean, he said it was claustrophobic. Oh man. Yeah. And so he he had to be in the suit and like just waddle around and everything. And they, you know, he could say lines, but they ended up changing everything with his, you know, voice and yeah, because all you get is beeps and boops.

SPEAKER_03 22:58

Right, right. Yeah. You said you said something about lines, and I was like, I was like, he had lines?

Joe 23:07

Yeah, yeah. That would be interesting to hear, huh? He had lines, but they had to bleep them all out. Oh man.

SPEAKER_03 23:14

To be fair, if I was cramped in that, I'd probably do the same day.

Joe 23:23

They're like, man, this guy. They kind of took for his voice, they for R2's voice, they kind of took these like baby sounds, and then they they made these baby sounds because they would they would talk about like, oh, you know, R2, bleep bleep, bleep, bleep, you know, they would they would make these little like cooey cooey baby sounds, like, you know, kind of things.

SPEAKER_03 23:50

Oh yeah.

Joe 23:51

And so then they were like, well, why don't we try doing those things because we're already doing that, and then they they like did that audio with a synthesizer, and like, and so then that what that's what became kind of R2's voice, like a mix of synthesizer and baby sounds. Huh. And they originally thought that they were gonna do that with C3PO as well, yeah, but Anthony Daniels' voice was so like proper that they were like, that's that's what we want, you know, like it it separates the two, you know.

SPEAKER_03 24:27

Right, yeah, the two different because if they did bleeps and bloops, yeah, it was it still would have been like very one-tone, right?

Joe 24:37

Yeah, and it makes it kind of cool because like when you have C3PO and R2, and then you have Han Solo and Chewy, and Chewy's just kind of you know, you know, like and then Han Solo's like, yeah, Furball, you know, like he's like totally with it, right? Yeah, yeah. And then you feel like dumb because you understand Chewbacken, you know.

SPEAKER_03 25:02

So all

John Williams Lifts The Story

SPEAKER_03 25:04

right, Joe. I feel like we've got to talk about the music.

SPEAKER_02 25:07

Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_03 25:09

I mean, it's one of those things that like the main theme of it is just instantly recognizable.

Joe 25:16

Oh, yeah. Yep. And again, John Williams. Another epic soundtrack. I I love I love this one because you know, as we talked about the planets and John Williams, this one I actually did um we did we were doing trunk or treat and we did a Star Wars theme, and I actually mixed the planets with the Star Wars themes. Oh, did you? Yeah, nerd just to see if people would recognize it. And uh so yeah, I it peaked nerdom. Yeah. What I love about this too is like there's a lot of musical effects within the movie. Yeah. So I think it was the Death Star, something explodes. Then there's a couple times that it does this, but there's this huge explosion, but then there's these little like metallics in the music where where like it would be the the shrapnel kind of going into the air. And so you have these like like this this like deep symphonic stuff with the sparkly things on top. Yeah, you know, it's just it makes it just so cool, it just gives it an environment, you know, like a an audio environment to this visual thing that's happening, you know. And technically in space you wouldn't be able to hear anything, but the complete vacuum of space.

SPEAKER_03 26:46

Yeah. Another thing too is I feel I feel like the music just it it lifts the entire show. The entire movie, I should say.

Joe 26:57

Yeah. One of the things too is where the Cantina stuff, you know. Yeah, you know, it just these little like it gives it that environment of you know, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 27:09

Because you you totally you totally buy it. Because you're like, oh yeah, I'd I'd be listening to that if I was, you know, in a far-off world.

Joe 27:19

Yeah, with this alien band. Yeah, you know, we're a bunch of weird-looking aliens.

SPEAKER_03 27:24

Yeah.

Sci-Fi Fantasy Worldbuilding Explained

SPEAKER_03 27:25

Alright, so let's talk about the world of Star Wars. So, like, we were just talking about like the aliens. Yeah. And like I've heard talk about how Star Wars was kind of the ultimate mix of the sci-fi and fantasy.

Joe 27:42

Yeah. Yeah, it's definitely on the fantasy level of things because it doesn't like the whole the like the point in the beginning is in a galaxy far, far away, you know, a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away. So, like by the time you've watched it, this has already happened. Right. Ancient history. Yeah, it's ancient history. So, like, there is more lean leaning towards the fantasy, and like even like, you know, when I think of fantasy, like Lord of the Rings and you know, that kind of stuff. So there's more leaning towards that with the Jedi and the you know, lightsabers instead of swords and armor and these armies and and these kingdoms and and all this stuff, like it's all there in a science sci-fi, you know, right environment. Totally. Yeah. So yeah, it it's a really cool way to build a world. Obviously, after how many movies? Right.

SPEAKER_03 28:51

A very successful franchise. Yeah. But yeah, I mean, it's crazy, like with George Lucas's vision of the whole thing, that he's like, I have one shot to make this, so we're just gonna go pick the middle, middle one, yeah, right in the middle of it.

Joe 29:09

Start in the middle, and yeah, and he wrote all of these, you know, prequels and things just to build the characters for this one, yeah. So that you know, Ben Kenobi connected with Seneca or Darth Vader, and all the the under stories of you know with the uncle and and all that stuff was like all those things were already written. So the uncle was already like bitter and mad, like once he even mentioned about doing anything his dad did. And you know, it's just like there's this line where she's like, Oh, he's so much like his father, and he's like, That's what I'm afraid of, you know, because he knows and he doesn't want to say, like, this is what happened to your dad, yeah. And even Ben Kenobi kind of kind of jump skirts around the issue.

SPEAKER_03 30:02

Yeah.

Joe 30:03

And like I said earlier, there's seven samurai and other Kurosawa movies that were that influenced it. Just every little thing. Just there were characters that he used in this movie that he thought, if I don't get a chance to use them in another movie, I want to at least put them in here. Yeah. And Chewbacca was one of one of them. Like that he originally had a different idea for what the Chewbacans or whatever, you know, would be like the Wookiees. And so he he envisioned like a world of Wookiees and like, you know, just kind of a different planet with Wookiees on it and all that, but it just wasn't gonna come out, you know, it just wasn't gonna come to fruition for this movie. So he's like, why wouldn't at least put a Wookiee in it and you know, have him be wow.

SPEAKER_03 30:56

So all right, so can you pick out a favorite scene?

Favorite Scenes And Big Set Pieces

Joe 31:01

Hmm. There's just a lot of good ones.

SPEAKER_03 31:05

Yeah, there are.

Joe 31:07

One of my favorite ones that I don't know, my wife and I laugh at a lot, and I've sent you memes is the one where he's like he's like, Yeah, we're fine here. We're we're all right now. Yeah, we're fine. How are you?

SPEAKER_03 31:26

It's me at work. Yeah, yeah, we're fine. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Joe 31:30

We we got a reactor leak. Yeah, don't come up here. Who is this? Boring conversation anyway. Chewy, we're gonna have company. Yes, it's just that a whole like Han Solo just, you know, he's just suave, he's cool, you know, getting ready to fire at Greedo, and you know, just like having the conversation, and you know, like bam.

SPEAKER_03 31:56

Uh what about you? Ooh, I would have to say, like the probably the Death Star, like seeing it blow up the planet.

SPEAKER_02 32:08

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 32:09

Like that was a cool moment. And like just imagining how much work went into making that happen.

Joe 32:22

Yeah. You know, it's funny because the least exciting part of the movie is the is the fight between Darth and Kenobi.

SPEAKER_03 32:39

Yeah. Yeah, because it's like it's really anticlimactic. Right. And then he's just like poof, gone. Yeah. And you're like, what?

Joe 32:50

Yeah. And it's it's kind of interesting how he wrote that because you have sawn the surface, and if you've grown up watching the other episodes, you're thinking, oh, this is gonna be an epic battle, and you know, blah blah blah. But you don't also realize that Ben Kenobi's like really old. Darth Vader is like a portion of the man he ever was, and so he's like part robot, yeah, and in this suit that he can barely move around. He's breathing out of a respirator. So, like the reason why that scene was written that way was because of that, because Ben's so old and Darth Vader is struggling, you know. So it's like this, yeah, they're very that's why he's very slow moving, and you know, obviously being in a suit like that would make anybody do be like that, you know. But it's funny though, because there are also elements of like jousting in it, you know, the way they move and things like that. It's just yeah, so it's not exactly a samurai fight of any kind.

SPEAKER_03 34:09

Yeah, it definitely kind of harkens back to like knights and sword fighting.

Joe 34:18

Yeah, the trash compactor scene's fun. That whole like that whole situation is like even when he goes he goes to help her and she's like, You're a little too short to be a stormtrooper.

SPEAKER_03 34:35

It's like, oh, sorry, and it's funny that he calls that out right away too, or she she does, yeah, yeah. She's like something's off here, yeah. Yeah, to to wrap that all off, like the the final tr trench run before blowing up the Death Star, that was good. And the R you know, R2 D2 gets shot down and then miraculously is okay later on, anyways.

Joe 35:14

Yeah, yeah, he gets he gets shot pretty bad.

SPEAKER_03 35:18

Yeah, he gets taken out, but then they repair him like two seconds later. You're like, oh, well, never mind. I'm sure that there is a lot of behind the scenes stuff going on with this movie, yeah.

Sound Design Secrets And Movie Magic

Joe 35:34

Yeah, there's a lot of sound design in this, aside from the music. Yeah, like I've always you know, and I think as a kid, you always make fun of you know, Darth Vader's voice as being like a respirator or something like that, and it was actually a scuba respirator that was used. Oh, I totally see that, yeah, yeah. And it's like you kind of think that it's not gonna be, and it was, you know. The voice of uh Chupac, those sounds there was a bear, they had like they found somebody who owned a bear named Pooh, and they recorded Pooh's voice in different moods and different in different sounds and things, and so they categorized all these different sounds into moods and expressions and things like that. And so anytime Chewy's doing that, it's this Pooh bear. That's awesome! I know. So it's like, yeah, it's this little bear. And then the sound designer was hiking one day, and I forget he was climbing on a fence or something, and some rod hit a like a radio tower line, like a guideline for a radio tower. And so then he started hitting it more, and it made the the this weird metal sound. Okay, and that was one of the sounds that they used for for the lightsaber. Oh ching, ching, ching, you know. Yeah, okay. So it's just all these like little happenstance things that they put together for sound effects. The the other, like when you have the lightsaber just kind of sitting there and you have that kind of hum. Yeah, it's this the hum of a 35 millimeter projector. It's like electric tube that is inside a projector, and that electric tube is what makes that hum sound, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 37:39

Yeah, oh, interesting.

Joe 37:41

The crawl took three hours to shoot.

SPEAKER_03 37:44

Three hours, yeah.

Joe 37:46

Three hours to shoot.

SPEAKER_03 37:48

Oh my goodness.

Joe 37:49

Why? I think they physically had to do it. So is this a new hope or not? See, I think the Death Star was like three feet across, and it was you know, it was the size of a planet.

SPEAKER_03 38:08

Yeah, there was no way it was three feet. The magic of filmmaking. Magic of filmmaking.

Joe 38:15

Yeah, so those are just some of the few things that I haven't talked about. Kind of cool little things here and there.

SPEAKER_03 38:23

Could you imagine like just having that? You're like, oh yeah, this is the the Death Star Yeah that the be hanging up in my house.

Joe 38:34

Yeah. Well, I mean, that's the crazy thing, is uh some of these props and effects and things like either end up at a producer's house or sometimes end up in some random pawn shop or something, you know? Yeah, it's like you're stories all the time of like, oh yeah, this is the original time machine from you know, like yeah, so you never know what you're gonna find, you know. Right. Especially from this movie, it's just incredible because a lot of the effects and things were painted mattings and and things like that. Yeah. Where you know, you have blue screen and and these, you know, pre-painted glass mats that they put in front. Yeah, yeah. And I love the fact that these explosions were real as well, and they were just filmed differently, you know from a different perspective. And like, you know, like I think the Death Star was shot like kind of like up upside down, so the camera's on the bottom shooting up, yeah, and the Death Star's on top, and then everything's coming towards the camera.

SPEAKER_03 39:41

Oh, that's cool. Yeah, because obviously in space they could just go out from it.

Joe 39:47

Right. So that's great. Yeah. So you have to angle things a certain way, and like you can't just, you know, go on the computer and be like, go to this angle, you know.

SPEAKER_03 39:58

Right.

The Weird Trailer And Unexpected Legacy

SPEAKER_03 40:00

Do you think they realized how big of a legacy that they would have on their hands?

Joe 40:05

Carrie Fisher said she just wanted to do a cool little indie film. That's what her thought was. Yeah, that's that's what that's what they thought was going on. I mentioned this before, but we were talking about the trailer and just how like it didn't seem like the people who made the trailer had a concept of what the movie was even about.

SPEAKER_03 40:27

Oh, at all.

Joe 40:28

It's just like, what what did you watch? Right, you know, right?

SPEAKER_03 40:32

What gave you that impression?

Joe 40:34

Yeah, it's like I I have no idea. Another world. You know, it's just like this kind of ominous voice, really like almost a thriller-esque type soundtrack to it. Yeah, just did not, and so when that trailer played, Mark Hamill was in the theater watching something else, and it said, coming, you know, soon to a theater near you. And a guy in the back goes, and coming to Saturday afternoon, you know, television, which was like the equivalent of like straight to video at the time. Oh man. So he was like, Oh, like he at first he was proud of this thing, and he was like, Oh no, what did I do? That's crazy. I don't think everybody thought that it was gonna be as big as it was, but you had the peop people behind it that were you know around for that saw the vision, yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 41:35

Yeah, because I mean now it's like it's such a like a big cultural thing that like even if you haven't seen the movies, you still know the movies.

Joe 41:52

Right, yeah, yeah. They're so culturally in embedded, like you can't avoid like Family Guy, they did three spoof movies on Star Wars, yeah. On the different, like, you know, like there, you know, one one is like Star Wars, the other one's like Empire, and the other one's like Jedi, but they're all these spoofs of so after watching a new hope, Star Wars Episode four, a New Hope. Does it live up to the hype?

SPEAKER_03 42:28

Oh you know, like yeah, it's one of those things that like I I knew about it, but never really had much of an interest to like go out of my way to watch it. And now I'm like I get that, you're like, yeah, yeah, like you totally understand that.

Joe 42:56

Yeah, I culture, you know, culturally for me, I loved going to Disneyland for star tours because it was just another taste of of Star Wars, you know. And as you would get off the ride, there was all the posters for all the planets and stuff, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 43:14

Yeah, yeah, just the the overall world building is what got me, like really, yeah. Or world deconstruction and the death.

Joe 43:25

You're right, yeah. However you go about it. But they yeah, all the beings and aliens and and all that, and yeah, yeah. And that Cantina scene was one of the last shots, yeah. They went back and they they filmed what they could with the actors that were there, but then they went back with other actors and they grabbed as many costumes and props and masks and everything, and just like filled filled it up with yeah, the different shots, so it seemed like one cohesive thing. Yeah, that's why like there's a random. Like devil guy in there, like yeah, yeah. Where did he come from? Yeah, it's just like they're like, okay, this looks cool, let's put it in. Right.

SPEAKER_03 44:09

You know, well, and that's one of those things that I appreciate about it too, is that they never met an alien that was like, Oh, you're weird looking.

Joe 44:19

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 44:19

It was always like, Oh, this is totally normal. Like, I'm walking down the street.

Joe 44:24

Yeah. Except for the fact that they didn't serve your kind. Yours.

SPEAKER_03 44:30

Yeah, we don't serve droids. Your kind here. Yeah, that was kind of random.

Joe 44:35

Yeah, yeah, exactly. It's like we're seeing animosity for the droids here. Like, why what did they do?

SPEAKER_03 44:43

Well, and like it's definitely seemed like droids were kind of a big part of your life there.

Joe 44:50

Yeah. And I don't know if it was like because they're like sort of indentured servants or something. Like, I don't know what they were going for.

SPEAKER_03 44:59

Yeah, I really don't know. But

Ratings, Final Thoughts, And Goodbye

SPEAKER_03 45:02

I would say overall, I would probably rate this movie. I'd probably give it a six.

Joe 45:13

Six, huh?

SPEAKER_03 45:14

Yeah. Wow. Wow. Wow. I would say I I'm I would Christ, English. Not my first language today.

Joe 45:27

Homeschool.

SPEAKER_03 45:29

Yeah, I would give it a six just because I did feel like a lot of the acting was not there. Like it kind of felt like it lacked the emotion of it.

Joe 45:42

It was a little dry.

SPEAKER_03 45:44

Yeah. Yeah. And you're like, this should this should feel like a big emotional moment, and it just wasn't there.

Joe 45:51

Yeah, it's interesting too because the way Luke's character kind of, I feel like maybe Mark Hamill got a better grasp on the character as they were filming or something, but he's very kiddish in the beginning, like very like Yes. Oh man, I was gonna go in here. Right. You know, it's like that kind of thing. It's like, oh man. You know, he just seems like really immature, and then all of a sudden he's like, Oh, you're so you know, what is what did you say we used to uh I don't know, the like he basically it's like he he ages too quickly or something or matures too quickly between yeah the first scene and then grew up really fast right there. Yeah, yeah. It's like if there was a timeline that would have said, like, you know, this was three years later or something, I'd be like, okay, right, he's been fighting the Empire for this long, or they've been going through the but it seems like this happened like within a couple of days. Yeah, you know. But I get it, like you know, his uncle and aunt were killed, and now he wants blood.

SPEAKER_03 47:09

Right. I mean, that'd make anybody grow up quickly, but yeah. What would you rate this?

Joe 47:16

Oh man. I'll go seven because I don't want to get shot by anybody. Yeah, I I think like knowing where it came from, growing up with it, and having that be my only option at to a certain point, like that was sci-fi, that was you know, cutting edge technology, you know. And it it really was for the time, and that's where kind of industrial light and magic came from and Lucasfilms and all of this just was the beginning of of THX and and all those things that came out of it. So just yeah. One little film.

SPEAKER_03 48:12

All right, anything else? Good. All right, well. Thank you for listening to Have You Seen the Movie Podcast.

Joe 48:24

Make sure to follow the show on your favorite podcast app, and if you're enjoying it, leave us a five-star rating. It really helps us grow.

SPEAKER_03 48:31

And we want to hear from you. Text us your name and a movie suggestion using the link in the description.

Joe 48:37

You can follow all of our socials in the description as well. Everything you need is right there.

SPEAKER_03 48:42

We'll be back next week with another movie premiere.

Joe 48:46

Use the full still.

SPEAKER_03 48:48

Hey, don't get cocky. You got a bad motivator.