Star Wars: A New Hope premiered in the spring of 1977, followed by its two sequels:The Empire Strikes Back in 1981 and Return of the Jedi in 1983.^* It quickly became apparent that this was a science fiction trilogy unlike any previous movies of this genre, a fact emphasized by the way the movie shattered previous box-office records and won awards, including seven of the ten Academy Awards for which it was nominated.

The movies tell the story of Luke Skywalker (actor Mark Hamill) who—together with his Jedi mentors Ben "Obi-Wan" Kenobi (Alec Guinness) and Yoda, his friends Princess Leia Organa (Carrie Fisher) and Han Solo (Harrison Ford), and his two trusty androids C-3P0 (Anthony Daniels) and R2-D2 (Kenny Baker)—battles Darth Vader (David Prowse; voice, James Earl Jones) and the evil Empire to restore peace to the Galaxy.

The most obvious difference between Star...