A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away… news of the new Star Wars Ep VII: The Force Awakens was announced in October 12, 2013, when the franchise was bought by Walt Disney Studios.
However, you might not be acquainted with the story arc of the Star Wars universe: which covers two trilogies (Original trilogy is Darth Vader stuff, second is Darth Vader before he gets the suit) and formerly included a large Expanded Universe going back (in the star Wars universe) thousands of years and 149 years after the first movie (after purchasing Lucasfilm, Disney restricted the scope of what was considered canon). Consider this article your acquaintance. So, power up your hyperdrive (not Star Wars-related, but you might also need a time machine), and head off for a galaxy far, far away.
Before we begin, we will need to go over the basics of the Star Wars universe. Firstly, the entire saga (at least, I to VI) is the story of Anakin Skywalker (aka as Darth Vader later in life), and he plays the role of the fallen redeemable hero. He is force-sensitive human, which means he can sue the Force. There are two general demarcations of force users: the Light Side (the Jedi, who are the good guys) and the Dark Side (the Sith, who are the villains). Another thing to understand is the political structures of the galaxy: in the prequels, the main one is the Galactic Republic and the “rebellion group” is the Confederacy of Independent systems, or CIS; in the original trilogy, the main one is the Galactic Empire and the “rebellion group” is the Rebel Alliance. The Republic becomes the Empire as a result of the Clone Wars between the Republic and the CIS, with the clone trooper army becoming the backbone of the Empire’s Stormtrooper force (which was expanded by conscription). This and more is elaborated in the vast (and formerly canon) body of the Expanded Universe (EU). On a further note, the series makes a lot of allusions to history; like the fall of the Roman Republic and Third Reich (Order 66, in which it is ordered that all the Jedi are to killed, has some resemblance to the proscriptions that were issued when the second triumvirate took control of Rome and the uniforms of the Empire’s officers resemble those of Nazi Germany, for example). Yoda also talks as though he’s speaking Latin, with the verb at the end of the sentence (object – subject-verb).
Now to jump in.
Episode I: The Phantom Menace
Qui-Gon Jinn and Obi-Wan Kenobi are the main Jedi featured in this film. The entire episode revolves around the conflict between the planet of Naboo and the Trade Federation.
At the beginning of the movie Jinn and Kenobi (his padawan) are sent to negotiate with the Federation to ease tensions. The Jedi arrive at a Trade Federation ship to negotiate, unfortunately they arrive on the ships just prior to a droid invasion of Naboo; however, their ship is destroyed in the hangar and they’re forced to head for the planet’s surface.
As the Jedi land on Naboo they meet Jar-Jar Binks, a native of the planet. Binks, who feels in-debted to the Jedi, shows the Gugan underwater city. The Jedi attempt to persuade them to fight the droids, but fail to convince Boss Nass, the Gungan leader, who is angry at the humans of Naboo for thinking they are superior.
The Jedi go to rescue Queen Amidala and fly her through the Trade Federation blockade in her royal starship, but the ship is damaged in the process but is repaired by the astromech driod R2-D2 —but it still requires a new hyperdrive, forcing them to land on the remote planet of Tatooine.
On the planet, Jinn, R2-D2, and Amidala (who has disguised herself as one of her handmaidens) go to find parts to repair the ship. While they do this they meet Anakin Skywalker, a slave boy who works as a mechanic. He displays exceptional aptitude for the force which interests Jinn.
The boy who is an amateur pod racer also has built a protocol droid, C-3P0. With a pod-race coming up, Jinn bets with Anakin’s Master for his freedom if he wins the race.
When Skywalker enters the race he is underplayed and sabotaged by a rival racer. Ultimately Skywalker wins and is able to win his freedom and buy a hyperdrive for Jinn & Co., Anakin goes with the Jedi, hesitantly leaving his mother, Shmi, behind.
As they leave the planet Jinn enters a lightsaber duel with Darth Maul, an apprentice of a Sith lord (specifically Darth Sidious also known as Palpatine), but they manage to escape to Coruscant.
There, Amidala resquests a no-confidence vote on the Chancellor Valorum, thus putting Senator Palpatine in power. While this is happening there is skepticism within the Jedi Council as to whether or not Anakin is the Chosen One, the one who will fulfill a prophecy that will “bring balance to the force,” after much debate within the Council Jinn vows to train him as his apprentice.
On Naboo, Amidala reveals herself as the Queen of Naboo and persuades Nass to fight the droid army. While the Gungans and the Droids meet head to head, pilots of the Naboo engage the blockade around Naboo to disable to Droid army.
Accidently, Skywalker joins the fight in a fighter on autopilot with R2-D2 as the fighter’s maintenance droid. Skywalker unintentionally destroys the main ship of the blockade from the inside out, rendering the droid army disabled.
Meanwhile, Jinn and Kenobi run into Darth Maul and engage him. Jinn and Kenobi are separated, Allowing Maul to slay Jinn. Kenobi then defeats Maul by bisecting him at the waist (Maul comes back in the CGI-animated Clone Wars cartoons with robotic legs).
A big celebratory event takes place in the capital of Naboo; there is a solemn funeral for Jinn and Kenobi takes Anakin as his apprentice to honor Jinn’s dying wish, thus ending the movie.
Episode II: The Attack of the Clones
10 years after the Trade Federation invasion of Naboo, The Republic suffers a new threat in teh form of the Separatists led by Count Dooku, an ex-Jedi Master who was Yoda’s apprentice (and taught Jinn) and is Palpatine’s new apprentice.
Amidala, now a Galactic Senator, visits Coruscant to vote on a piece of legislation that would erect a standing army to fight this new threat. However, upon arrival an attempt is made on Amidala’s life, causing the Jedi Council to assign Kenobi and Skywalker to protect her.
By now Anakin and Amidala haven’t met for 10 years, which makes for some awkward tension between the two, since Anakin loved Amidala in the episode prior to a certain degree.
After another foiled attempt on Padme’s life, the two Jedi have a wild-goose-chase after the shape-shifting assassin. The Jedi wound her and ask who hired her, and her employer, Jango Fett, kills her with a toxin dart and escapes.
While Obi-Wan Kenobi traces the toxin dart to Kamino, Anakin escorts Amidala back to Naboo where the two awkwardly fall in love. On Kamino Obi-Wan discovers the creation of a Clone Army being manufactured for the Republic, which confuses the Council as they have no idea who ordered it. Fett serves as the genetic model for the clones. When Fett attempts to leave he and Kenobi battle it out on the landing platform. Fett escapes, but Kenobi throws a homing beacon onto Fett’s ship, Slave I, which is traced to Geonosis.
While that is happening, Anakin experiences dreams of his mother suffering. Disobeying direct orders to stay on Naboo with Padme, Anakin leaves with (Amidala) to find out what happened to his mother.
When they arrive, he finds out that his mother had been sold to another family. Cliegg Lars, the new owner explains that Tusken Raiders had taken her, and that she has been missing for a week.
Anakin, in the dead of night, infiltrates the Raider camp to rescue his mother. He finds his mother tortured and she dies moments later. Anakin, out of pure rage, kills all the Tusken Raiders in the camp.
On Geonosis, Obi-Wan Kenobi uncovers the construction of another droid army. Kenobi transmits to Anakin and tells him to relay his message to the Council, but he is captured mid-transmission. Anakin and Padme travel to Geonosis to rescue Obi-Wan, but they are also captured. Palpatine is voted emergency power and an army of clones and Jedi, led by Yoda and Mace Windu, is sent to rescue the three and to attempt to deliver a fatal blow the the Separatists.
While the battle rages, Dooku flees via speeder to his hangar and Kenobi, Anakin, Amidala and some clones follow him via shuttle. Amidala and a clone fall out of the shuttle, whihc is destroyed by a driod fighter upon arrvial and right after Kenobi and Anakin jump out. Both Jedi become incapacitated, with Anakin’s right arm being severed. Yoda arrives to help. Dooku, who is unable to defeat Yoda, flees in his ship to Coruscant to deliver plans for the Death Star to Lord Sidious, who is Palpatine’s alter ego. This signifies the start of Clone Wars.
Also, Anakin and Amidala marry.
Episode III: Revenge of the Sith
The movie begins with a space battle between the Galactic Republic and the Separatists over the planet of Coruscant.
Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker lead a sortie to rescue Chancellor Palpatine from the cyborg General Grievous, who commands the Separatist forces. Once the Jedi land in Grievious’s ship they defeat large numbers of droids to get to the Palpatine. Once they reach Palpatine, they engage in a lightsaber duel with Count Dooku which ends with Anakin executing the Count on Palpatine’s command.
With the ship falling apart, Grievous jettisoned all escape pods, forcing Anakin to land the ship on a landing strip on Coruscant.
When Anakin returns home, he is met with news of Amidala’s pregnancy and premonitions of her dying in childbirth.
Palpatine appoints Anakin as his representative in the Jedi Council, which disconcerts the rest of the Council. Despite being on the Council, Anakin is not given the rank of Jedi Master, and he is ordered to monitor the Chancellor’s actions. This clearly upsets Anakin and as a result makes him lose trust in the Council.
Palpatine meets with Anakin and tells him about the Dark side of the Force and gains Anakin’s attention when he tells him that he can save Amidala from death. Anakin, alarmed, reports this to Windu. Windu, in the company of a couple other Jedi, attempts to arrest the Chancellor on the account of being a Sith lord. All other Jedi are killed, except for Windu. Anakin is confronted with a choice to save Sidious/Palpatine or side with Windu. Anakin kills Windu to save Sidious. Anakin is named Darth Vader by Sidious.
Sidious transmits a message to all clones to execute Order 66, which orders the killing of all Jedi. However, Yoda and Obi-Wan Kenobi survive Order 66 and they reconvene on Senator Bail Organa’s ship (Organa is an old friend of theirs) and they land on Coruscant to investigate what happened.
They find out that Anakin, leading a legion of clones, killed all the Jedi in the Jedi Council building. Amidala, after finding out what has happened rushes to the Mustafar system, where Anakin is located. However, Kenobi has hid in her ship with the objective of killing Vader.
Meanwhile, Yoda confronts Palpatine. The duel between Yoda and Palpatine ends in a stalemate, forcing Yoda to retreat.
When Vader finds out that Padme (unintentionally) harbored Kenobi, he chokes with the Force until she falls unconscious. Kenobi and Vader then engage in a lightsaber duel, which ends with Vader lying mortally wounded on the bank of a lava river. Palpatine recovers Vader and puts him in his famous suit.
Meanwhile, Amidala is brought to a hospital by Kenobi, where she gives birth to Luke Skywalker and Leia Skywalker. Luke is given to her the Lars family on Tatooine, while Leia is adopted by Senator Organa.
Episode IV: A New Hope
This movie starts in the middle of the Galactic Civil War (19 years after Episode III), with Leia and her crew fleeing an Imperial Destroyer with Darth Vader aboard. The Star Destroyer catches them, and the Imperial forces board the vessel with minimal casualties. Leia, who possess the plans for the Death Star, a planet-destroying superweapon, manages to load them onto R2-D2, and has it and C-3PO (a protocol droid who had a very minor and unimportant role in the prequels and whose memory was wiped at teh end of Episode III) head down to the Tatooine, the planet below, and locate Kenobi, who has been living as a hermit watching over Luke Skywalker. R2-D2 and C-3PO take an escape pod down, which the Imperial troops notice and have a division sent down to the planet surface, as the plans are probably in the jettisoned pod.
R2-D2 and C-3PO end up on the surface of Tatooine, and, after separating, are kidnapped by Jawas — think midget gysy-like creaturess who roam the deserts of Tatooine and and buy and sell robotics. They are eventually bought by Owen Lars, Luke’s step uncle and foster father. After giving the droids a wash, R2-D2 leaves to locate Kenobi, and Luke and Threepio go after him, locating him near a gorge, and then Luke is attacked by Tusken Raiders, who Kenobi scares off.
He takes Luke into his hovel, and tells him a bit of history. R2-D2 then plays the message that Leia saved for Kenobi, and Kenobi decides to help out and wants to take Luke along (Luke wants to leave Tatooine by the way). They head back to Luke’s family’s homestead to discover that the squad sent down killed his caretakers (and the group of Jawas too).
They head off afterwards to Mos Eisley, where they encounter Han Solo and Chewbacca, and hire them as pilots. They then head off to Alderaan, because that’s where Leia wanted them to go. Obi-wan gives Luke some basic training in the Force during the flight.
However, at the Death Star, the commanders in charge (and Vader) decide that the station is fully operational, and decide to use Alderaan’s existence as a bargaining tool to get the location of the Rebel’s base. They bring Leia, who they’ve interrogated without result, and the chief of the station states that he will order Alderaan’s destruction if Leia refuses to reveal where the base is. She says the former location, but the Grand Moff Tarkin, the main commander, decides to destroy it anyways to “keep the local systems in line.”
Shortly afterwards, Luke and the other arrive in the Millennium Falcon, Solo’s ship. They are confounded as to why there is no planet, and are caught in the Death Star’s main tractor beam, and drawn into the station’s main hangar. They hide in a secret compartment while Imperial troops board and scan the vessel.
They then sneak out (Luke and Han in disguises) and search the vessel for Leia, and Kenobi goes off and de-activates the tractor beam. They rescue Leia, and Kenobi runs into and does battle with Vader and sacrifices himself so that the others can escape, as there is a large body of troopers watching the battle.
The others escape and head off to Yavin IV, which is where the rebel base is. However, the Falcon has a tracking device on it, so the Imperials are able to follow them and locate the actual Rebel base. The Rebels , after reviewing the plans, discover the Death Star’s sole weakness: an imprudently placed exhaust port that leads straight to the main reactor.
Solo decides to leave, as he’s a smuggler, and takes Chewbacca with him (as he owes Solo a “life debt”), despite the others urging him to stay.
Battle ensues. Luke uses the force to guide two torpedoes into the main reactor, destroying the station and all of the personnel aboard (only survivor is Vader, whose fighter careened out of control due to a shot from the Falcon (as Solo and Chewbacca chose to come back)). Thus ends A New Hope.
Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back
The Empire Strikes Back begins three years after A New Hope. The Rebels had moved their base form Yavin IV to Hoth (an ice planet), as the Empire now knee where their old base was. During the intervening years, the Vader was given his own personal mile-long Star Destroyer (and a small support fleet to boot), and decides to hunt down Luke (whose identity he has discerned due to spies and interrogations).
One of their probes discovers the location of the base, and fleet heads off to exterminate the Rebels. Upon arrival, the Imperial fleet approaches too close to the planet, so the Rebels have time to prep their defenses and ready their escape vessels; however, he Imperial force lands and overpowers the Rebel forces.
The main heroes nevertheless escape: Solo, Leia, and Chewbacca head off to Bespin to meet with a friend of Solo’s, while Luke heads to Dagobah to meet with Yoda, per the ghost of Kenobi’s instructions. There is a bounty on Solo’s head which was placed by his former employer Jabba the Hut, and Vader knows this, so he hires some bounty hunters (including Boba Fett) to locate Han.
Luke ends up on Dagobah and Yoda agrees to tutor him, with the ghost of Kenobi’s urging. He begins intensive training.
Han and the rest go to Bespin to meet up with Han’s friend Lando Calrissian, but Fett has already tracked them there and alerted the Empire, and Vader has already made a bargain with Calrissian.
The Imperials then go off and freeze Solo and Fett leaves with frozen Han. Calrissian decides to backstab the Empire (he was kinda forced into helping), and frees Leia, Chewbacca, R2-D2 and C-3PO (who is now a bunch of parts in Chewbacca’s knapsack). They end up escaping.
Luke, in his training, sees that his friends are in danger and leaves his training — much to Yoda’s chagrin — and heads for Bespin. He ends up meeting Vader and does battle with him. He loses his hand. Vader asks him to join the dark side with him and rule the galaxy together.
Luke flat-out refuses and jumps out of an air shaft, and ends up on top of the Falcon, as he sends a telepathic plea to Leia, who urges the rest of the crew to go back and rescue Luke. They escape and Luke is given a robotic hand.
Episode VI: Return of the Jedi
One year later, Luke & Co. decide to rescue Solo from Jabba The Hut. They get captured and are sent off to the Sarlacc Pit to be sacrificed as entertainment. They end up defeating Jabba’s crew and Fett ends up in the pit (Fett fanboys may rejoice in the fact that he escapes in the EU — or, at least, formerly-canon EU).
After that, Luke goes off to Dagobah to confer with Yoda, who is dying. There, he learns from Obi-Wan’s ghost and Yoda that Vader is indeed his father and Leia is his twin sister. Yoda then dies of extremely old age.
While everyone is else is with the other Rebels, it is discovered that the Empire is building a second Death Star above one of the planet of Endor’s moons, and the Emperor himself is personally overseeing it. It is decided that an attack on the station and its shield generator will be the perfect opportunity to destroy the Empire.
Using a captured Imperial shuttle, Luke and a strike team arrive and gain the trust of a local Ewok tribe, and decide to attack the shield generator protecting the second Death Star. Luke also tells Leia that he is her sister and Vader is their father, and that he must confront Vader, so he goes off and has himself captured.
Vader takes him to the Second Death Star per the Emperor’s orders, and tries to make him join the Dark Side again. He fails.
The emperor tries to make Luke join the Dark side, and reveals that the station is fully operational and that the Rebel fleet is in a trap. On the moon, the strike team is captured, but the Ewoks come and the battle continues.
The rebel fleet arrives and discovers that the Death Star II is still protected by a shield and that is fully operational when it blows up one of their ships (and that the Imperial fleet has surrounded them). Space battle ensues.
The Emperor continues to tempt Luke to the dark side and has Vader and Luke do battle. Luke defeats Vader, and the Emperor urges Luke to kill him, but Luke refuses. Infuriated, the Emperor blasts Luke with force lightning. Vader saves Luke by throwing the Emperor into an pit leading to the reactor.
While this is going on, The rebels manage to turn off the shield generator and the defeat the troops guarding it, and Calrissian manages to enter the Death Star’s superstructure with the Falcon, and blow up its reactor core. This basically puts everyone on board the station in “evacuate immediately” mode, and Luke takes the dying Vader to the hangar, where they re-connect for about two minutes and then Vader dies. Luke takes his body down to Endor’s forest moon to celebrate the Rebel’s victory.
To further acquaint yourselves with the Star Wars universe, you can view this map of the galaxy, and check out Wookiepedia, a fan-made Star Wars wiki. And here’s Disney’s site for it.
May the force be with you.
