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? 

How George Lucas gave us glimpses of a Star Wars bigger universe - part two

We’ve been looking at how Star Wars cleverly gave us glimpses of a bigger galaxy than we saw on screen. In the conclusion of this two-part post, I’ll turn to what the film told us about droids and alien species, and the life of Luke Skywalker.

Things we DIDN'T see in Star Wars: How George Lucas hinted at a bigger universe

Obi-Wan Kenobi tells Luke about the
Old Republic and the Jedi Knights

The Kessel run. Spice freighters. The Clone Wars. The Old Republic. There’s a lot in Star Wars that’s mentioned but never explained. In the first half of a two-part post, Episode Nothing considers how George Lucas cleverly hinted at a much bigger galaxy than he showed on screen.

5 ways things might have been different if Star Wars had not been a hit

A young George Lucas 

George Lucas believed there might just be enough science fiction fans in the world to ensure that a film with a title like Star Wars was at least modestly profitable.

If Star Wars had been just that kind of minor success, or even a failure, the history of cinema since then might have looked very different. But so would the course George Lucas’s subsequent career. Oddly enough, even the films he made before Star Wars would be different today. 

Luke Skywalker and his father figures: What Star Wars has to say about dads

Some Star Wars Father's Day cards from 2016

The pictures above are the Father’s Day cards I received from my two sons last weekend. There are no festivals that Star Wars does not reach. 

They set me thinking about the role of fatherhood in Star Wars. Released at a time of sharply rising marital break-up, the 1977 film was the tale of a fatherless young man looking to find his place in the universe. Today, Episode Nothing considers how Star Wars dealt with the subject of fatherhood.

Did Alec Guinness really make a young fan burst into tears? The story of the boy who saw Star Wars 102 times

Alec Guinness as Obi-Wan Kenobi

Today, Episode Nothing returns to the subject of Sir Alec Guinness and the contempt he came to show for Star Wars. 

It turns out there is a fascinating postscript to his story about the time he made a child promise never to see the film again. And it might just shed some light on the great actor’s complicated relationship to his most successful film.