George Lucas's 1977 film introduced the world to Luke Skywalker, Princess Leia, and Han Solo and their struggle against the monolithic Galactic Empire. In an interview with CNN, TV host Stephen Colbert remembered what it felt like to see the movie for the first time. "We went to school the next day unable to explain to our friends how everything was different now," he said. A classic good-versus-evil battle and characters like the princess and the rogue mean that the movie is accessible to any viewer, no matter what age, and has ensnared the imaginations of millions. The movie's special effects changed filmmaking forever.
Lucas discussed with Rolling Stone how he worked with sound designer Ben Burtt to create the sounds emitted by lovable android R2-D2. "Ben had to write out the dialogue I never wrote," he said. "I just wrote, Threepio says, 'Did you hear that?' and the little robot goes 'beep-a-da-boop,' and Ben had to sit there and say, "Hmm, well, of course I heard that, you idiot.'"
