The Tiger Who Came To Tea: Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope

It's just completely unbeatable, isn't it?

Ah, the real star of the Star Wars universe - John Williams.

Love that text "crawl". Great homage to those 30s serials.

BluRay I love you. Every last detail on 3PO and R2, the music, the sound effects.

So the neverending giant spearhead shaped ship swallows up the little 'un...

...and white armoured troopers storm the corridor.

Darth Vader sweeps in, giving it the old heavy breathing. What a presence.

I could do without the hands on hips though.

3PO and R2 leg it, but not before the hiding Princess has had a fiddle with R2's answerphone.

Vader interrogates the crew, not realizing Leioa's offloaded the plans on R2.

As Leia is captured...

...3PO & R2 make it away as the Imperials think their escape pod is empty.

Vader grills Leia & she obviously doesn't seem familiar.

Within 10 seconds of landing on Tatooine, 3PO becomes ridiculously filthy looking.

Pretty sure R2 just told 3PO to go screw himself.

3PO thinks he can hitch a lift...

R2 takes the high road...

and ends up in a rocky crevice...

where some scamps in hoodies give him a shock.

Rough neighbourhood.

Utini!

The Jawas' are basically the Steptoe & Son of droids. You dirty old Jawa.

The stormtroopers arrive. They're wearing white bloody uniforms & they're not half as mucky as 3PO!

"Do you think they'll melt us down?" 3PO's such an optimist.

There's a couple of Jawas that are actually almost as tall as 3PO there.

We meet Luke & his uncle Owen, who fancies a blinged up protocol droid and some red R2 knock off.

3PO sells himself by claiming to be a cunning linguist.

Red R2 blows a fuse minutes after they bought him - straight back to the shop!

What about that blue one? We'll take that one.

Luke is desperate to get away from the farm, and perks up at 3POs mention of the rebellion.

Luke perks up even more when R2's voicemail projector replays some old vine of Princess Leia.

R2 claims the message is for Obi-Wan Kenobi & Luke speculates he must mean old Ben.

Owen says "that wizard's just a crazy old man." and thinks Kenobi died round the same time as Luke's father.

Beru says he has "too much of his father in him." "That's what I'm afraid of," replies Owen.

Seems Luke's going nowhere...

...but R2's well away, just to rub it in.

Luke & 3PO take the hover car out to search for R2 the next morning...

...but there are growling locals in them thar hills.

"Sand people... or worse." Worse, eh? What else lives out there?

The Sand people knock Luke out...

...and vandalise his motor.

Then another hoodie-wearing wierdo scares them off.

Luke's been rescued by Professor Marcus.

He's not heard the name "Obi-Wan" in a long time.

He hasn't gone by the name of Obi-Wan since "before you were born" and doesn't "seem to remember" owning any droids.

They have to help 3PO pick up the pieces so they can head back to Ben's hermit cave.

Kenobi says his father wanted him to have his lightsaber.

Yeah, he wanted the son he didn't know he had to have that.

Kenobi explains about the force...

...and tells Luke a young Jedi, named Darth Vader, who used to be a pupil of his, betrayed and killed Luke's father.

R2's beeps at this point roughly translate as "cobblers!"

Kenobi gets the full message from Leia: R2 contains secret plans that must be smuggled to her father on Alderaan.

Luke must learn the ways of the force because "I'm getting too old for this sort of thing." Is Kenobi's body wearing a bit thin?

Aboard the Death Star, that there movie Dr. Who informs the crew that the Emperor's "dissolved" the senate.

Probably literally.

"I find your lack of faith disturbing," says Vader, but not so disturbing he can't force choke the guy just for a laugh.

The Moff seems senior to Vader in the 1st film; Vader stands apart from the military hierarchy, a more Rasputin-like figure.

Luke realizes that the stormtroopers will trace the droids back to the farm, but is too late...

Luke arrives at the farm to find that his uncle & aunt have been murdered; their smoking skeletons are horrible.

Back on the Death Star, Vader decides it's time to give Leia a bit of the old "enhanced interrogation".

They travel into Mos Eisely, a wretched hive of scum and villainy, where Kenobi hypnotizes some stormtroopers.

I love the clever little "they're for sale if you want them" before "these aren't the droids you're looking for."

The Cantina is full of right weirdos.

"We don't serve their kind here!" Love the idea that pre-Clone Wars bars were stuffed to the rafters with boozing droids.

Surely they'd be more anti-Clone than anti-droid?

He may claim to be getting on, but Kenobi can still slice someone's arm off in a bar fight if he has to.

Luke & Obi-Wan meet space pilot Han Solo & his 1st mate, Chewbacca the Wookie.

Han bigs up the Millennium Falcon & Obi-Wan agrees to break the bank in return for avoiding "imperial entanglements".

Luke says he's never coming back to this planet again. Oh yeah?

Han is waylaid by Greedo, collecting a debt for Jabba the Hutt.

HAN SHOOTS FIRST. That is all.

.

Ah, yes, that crappy scene with the cartoon Jabba from the prequels. The "wonderful human being" line does work better now though!

After a stalking squealer rats on them...

...the stormtroopers catch up with them...

...so the Falcon has to take off in a hurry.

There are Star Destroyers lying in wait...

...but Han and Chewie know a trick or two.

...and the Falcon tears away.

Leia recognised Governor Tarkin's "foul stench."

"Charming."

Carrie Fisher seems to be poshing it up at this stage.

Leia admits where the rebel base is...

but the Moff has Alderaan blown to bits anyway.

That's just how he trolls.

Luke plays on his lightsaber edition of Wii fit while R2 faces off against Chewie at holo-Streetfighter-Chess.

Kenobi feels a great disturbance in the force like what Spock did in that Star Trek episode 10 years earlier.

Han recommends R2 throw the match; Chewie's a bit of a sore loser, apparently. Han's such an enabler.

Obi-Wan makes Luke put on a blindfold.

Not sure where this is going.

Turns out Leia lied. Big shock.

The Falcon drops out of the Tom Baker title sequence to find Alderaan is dust.

They ward off a couple of TIE fighters but where did they come from?

"That's no moon..."

The Falcon is tractored aboard the Death Star.

Vader feels a presence; a presence he hasn't felt since... the last time he finished a sentence?

Han and the others are hiding in the smuggly bits of the smuggler ship.

The gang cosplay as stormtroopers, then find out that Leia is scheduled for execution.

"May the Force Be With You" at this point is a bit like "I'm going out now and I may be some time..."

Luke attempts to bribe Han.

Kenobi goes to shut down the tractor beam so they can escape, the others pretend Chewie's their prisoner.

The prison break is on...

...but Han can't be arsed when his late night radio show has an awkward caller.

Luke's rescued the princess.

Sort of. He's found her anyway, even if they are pinned down under laser fire.

Leia's very noticeably dropped the posh act now that the gang are all together.

Things have gone down the tubes somewhat, though.

"What an incredible smell you've discovered!"

There's something down there in the junk sewer with them; it drags Luke under the... ahem, "water."

There's an ominous clanking, and the creature releases Luke & scarpers.

Then the walls start coming in...

3PO manages to bullshit the stormtroopers but they leave a guard meaning he has to keep his mobile on silent.

3PO saves them in the nick of time...

...but Han still wants to avoid any more "female advice." (!!!)

Obi-Wan knackers the tractor beam.

Now Leia's dissing the Millennium Falcon. Why are they rescuing her again?

It's not long before they're pursued by Stormtroopers again.

Luke & Leia are caught behind a locked door with a chasm to cross.

Luke lassoes a pillar and they swing across...

But not before Leia's given him a quick snog for luck. Awkward.

Vader has been waiting for Obi-Wan.

"Now, *I* am the Master."

That's as maybe, but Obi-Wan won't obey him.

The tractor beam's down so now's there chance, but Luke is distracted...

...as Obi-Wan allows Vader to strike him down.

Vader knows something's not right as he shuffles Kenobi's empty cloak with his foot.

The gang escape the range of the Death Star...

...but there's barely a moment to mourn...

...as there are TIE fighters hot on their heels.

Han & Luke man the cannons.

Luke gets cocky.

Han gets even.

"We did it!" laugh Luke & Leia as if that's the end of the Empire.

Vader's put a tracking device on the Falcon, but Leia's only concerned with getting R2 back to base.

The rebel base in on the planet Yavin...

...where the rebels make their plans to exploit the Death Star's weak point.

Luke used to shoot small animals for fun back home. Psychopath. Gets that from his dad.

"Take care of yourself Han, I guess that's what you're best at, isn't it?"

Oh get over yourself, Luke.

Bear in mind that if Han leaves now and pays Jabba, a lot of the next 2 films goes a lot more smoothly for the rebels.

Without the bounty on Han, the Empire would have found it much more difficulty to locate the rebels in The Empire Strikes Back,...

...meaning Luke doesn't leave Dagobah to rescue Han & Leia from Cloud City, completes his training & takes on Vader before....

...the 2nd Death star is actually ready. Basically the trilogy would only be 2 films.

Instead, Han comes back to help, and is then forced to stay on the run with the rebels.

Though to be fair, if he doesn't come back at the end here, maybe Vader kills Luke and the rebellion is crushed here. So fair dos.

The rebel fleet approaches the Death Star for the showdown.

The X-Wings attack the trench...

...with TIE fighters breathing down their necks...

...and the Death Star edging ever closer to Yavin...

Vader takes to the skies.

The targeting computer is basically one of these...

There's only 3 X-Wings left now... Luke will be the one to take the shot, while the others hold off the TIE fighters.