Word: detoo
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Dates: during 1977-1977
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...Director George Lucas and some partners share the rest) stands to gain $30 million. Add in Fox's share of cult merchandise already inspired by the film -model spaceships, T shirts, 640,000 sound-track record albums, figurines of the movie's fantastic characters, such as Artoo-Detoo and Chewbacca-and the company stands to stash away a lot of cash. On top of that. Fox has in distribution several other movies that are hot at the box office, including The Other Side of Midnight and Silver Streak...
...Artoo Detoo, on the other hand, is a manly little machine. He responds to Threepio's complaints with a variety of impatient beeps and whistles and when busy, chirps and burbles like a mobile Mr. Coffee machine. When he gets zapped by Darth Vader, it is almost as traumatic for kids as that awful moment in Bambi when the little fawn's mother is slain by hunters. Fortunately for Artoo Detoo, however, not to mention the youngsters, there are replacement parts back in the shop...
...Chewbacca (he doesn't), the 8-ft.-tall wookie. A lithe and elegant simian, Chewie is co-pilot of the Millennium Falcon, the souped-up space freighter that takes the intrepid rebels to their battle with the dread Death Star. Like Artoo Detoo, Chewie is voluble without actually being able to talk. In a voice that is somewhere between a hoarse lion's roar and the braying of an outraged donkey, he bullies little Artoo or retreats, in moments of danger, to a position of forthright cowardice. Inside the fur is Peter Mayhew, a porter at London...
...real wonder of Star Wars, however, is not the robots or the monsters, good as they are. It is rather the wizardry special effects, many of them never attempted or never possible before. Artoo Detoo, for instance, routinely delivers his message from Princess Leia by beaming a foot-high holographic projection of her, moving and talking in 3-D, right into the room. Later, in one of the movie's funniest scenes, Artoo and the wookie play a variant of chess with holographic figures. Instead of a bishop capturing a knight, a little dinosaur jumps a small, ectoplasmic...
...money arrayed against it, Star Wars has one clear advantage: it is simple, elemental, and therefore unique. It has a happy ending, a rarity these days. Princess Leia is saved, the Death Star is vaporized-oh, come on, you knew it all along-and Luke Skywalker, Han Solo, Artoo Detoo and Threepio receive the gratitude of freedom lovers everywhere. For most audiences the only sadness in the climax is that the film ends and cannot go on and on and on. It is surely one of the swiftest two hours on celluloid...