When was the title Star Wars devised? It’s earlier than you might think

The title Star Wars as it appears in the film

Apart from its virtues as a film, Star Wars had one of the best titles ever to grace a movie.  But it could just as easily have been called The Adventures of Luke Starkiller. 

Today, we’re looking at the origins of the title Star Wars – and, at the same time, the meeting at Cannes that set George Lucas’s idea on the way to becoming reality.

Some unsung heroes of the 1977 Star Wars

The Star Wars effects team receive their Oscars from Joan Fontaine

When you read original, 1970s coverage of Star Wars, you come across a few names which are rarely mentioned today.

On the other hand, there are a few people who were not named much at the time, but who we later discovered to have been a key part of the film's success.

Defending George Lucas: Why you can't take away the credit for the original Star Wars

George Lucas directing Star Wars

Considering he's the creator of the most popular movies ever made, George Lucas takes a lot of crap.

I've criticised him myself, particularly for his refusal to release the unaltered versions of the original Star Wars.

But a lot of the criticism goes way too far, and it seems to me that some myths are taking hold on social media. So today, Episode Nothing finds itself defending George Lucas. 

40 years on: Star Wars at the Oscars – part three

George Lucas (bottom right) breaks into a smile as the winner of the Best Director Oscar is announced

Today, we conclude our look at the Academy Awards of April 3, 1978. It was one of the most controversial, often uncomfortable, Oscar ceremonies ever. 

As the biggest awards of the night loomed, how would Star Wars fare against Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Julia, The Goodbye Girl and Annie Hall? 

The original release of Star Wars: when it was seen and where

Star Wars mania at Mann's Chinese Theater

On the weekend of May 27-29 1977, many thousands of people were enjoying a film that was playing on hundreds of American cinema screens. The film took $2.7million at the box office that weekend. 

It was called Smokey and the Bandit. 

Meanwhile, people in a small number of major US cities had a chance to see a new science fiction movie called Star Wars. 

40 years on: Shooting on Star Wars ends with the film's opening scenes

Darth Vader arrives on the Rebel
blockade runner in Star Wars 

Forty years ago this Saturday – on July 16 1976 – George Lucas was able to call "It's a wrap" as principal photography on Star Wars finally finished. The final days of filming had been hurried, with multiple camera crews working under huge pressure. Yet they turned out to be some of the most memorable moments of the film. Episode Nothing looks at the scenes which were the last to be shot, but first in the film. 

7 key similarities between American Graffiti and Star Wars

Poster art for American Graffiti (1973) and Star Wars (1977)

Star Wars was George Lucas's third feature film. It couldn’t be more unlike his first, THX 1138 (1971). But it bears a surprising number of similarities to his second, the low budget smash hit American Graffiti (1973). Today, Episode Nothing explores the connections between Lucas's vision of small town California in 1962 and the galaxy far, far away. 

Star Wars: The Deleted Scenes #5: Han Solo's girlfriend and the streets of Mos Eisley

Han Solo and the quiz show hostess:
Jenny Creswell and Harrison Ford in a
deleted shot from Star Wars

In the latest post about the deleted scenes of Star Wars, we meet Han Solo's love interest – and learn that Greedo was intending to shoot first.

Mr. Star Wars - George Lucas in 1977

Quietly single-minded: George Lucas 
shooting Star Wars in 1976

What do we know about George Lucas – the young man with enough drive and imagine to make the most successful movie the world had ever seen?

Today, of course, he is a multi-billionaire , a retired company head, semi-retired film-maker, a philanthropist, and the object of roughly equal adoration and derision from Star Wars fans. But who was he back in 1977, when he turned 33 just before his long-planned space film was released?