Star Wars: 5 of the best moments from the seven previous episodes
"Star Wars: The Last Jedi" is finally here, and fans will now decide whether writer/director Rian Johnson has delivered an eighth episode that lives up to George Lucas' 40-year cinematic legacy.
These are, so far, my five favorite moments from the seven previous episodes:
5. Obi-Wan Kenobi abandons Anakin Skywalker on Mustafar ("Revenge of the Sith")
The much-maligned prequel trilogy hits a high point when Obi-Wan (Ewan McGregor) takes the high ground and defeats Anakin (Hayden Christensen) in their epic duel on this volcanic planet. Obi-Wan tells Anakin he loved him as a brother, only to hear Anakin - whose legs have just been severed and is about to be consumed by fire - scream "I hate you." Obi-Wan leaves Anakin to die, but soon Emperor Palpatine (Ian McDiarmid) arrives and rushes his new Sith apprentice into an operating room where that iconic robotic suit completes his transition into Darth Vader.
4. The Death Star trench run ("A New Hope")
The original film's space battle is still the best, even after George Lucas added 1997 digital effects to his 1977 masterpiece. The Death Star, a planet-sized superweapon, is such an irresistible plot device that it showed up again in "Return of the Jedi," "Rogue One: A Star Wars Story" and, in the even larger guise of Starkiller Base, "The Force Awakens."
3. Darth Vader reveals the truth to Luke Skywalker ("The Empire Strikes Back")
The most famous scene in the "Star Wars" saga, and possibly the most famous plot twist in movie history. Vader (voiced by James Earl Jones) tells Luke (Mark Hamill) that Obi-Wan (Alec Guinness) stretched the truth - Vader didn't kill Anakin Skywalker, Vader IS Anakin Skywalker. The line, "No, I am your father," has provided fodder for numerous YouTube reaction videos filmed by parents showing the movies to their kids for the first time.
2. Rey uses the Force to claim Anakin's lightsaber ("The Force Awakens")
The heroine of J.J. Abrams' Episode VII realizes her Jedi potential in the film's climactic battle with Kylo Ren (Adam Driver), the renegade son of Han Solo (Harrison Ford) and Leia Organa (Carrie Fisher). Kylo Ren easily defeats turncoat storm trooper Finn (John Boyega), who was given Anakin's lightsaber earlier in the film. Kylo Ren reaches for the saber, only to watch it fly past his face and into the hand of Rey (Daisy Ridley), thanks to The Force. This scene's implications for the sequel trilogy's story - and for the historically male-centric "Star Wars" saga - make it a milestone.
1. C-3PO tells the story of "Star Wars" to the Ewoks ("Return of the Jedi")
This could have easily been a silly, self-serving groaner: Protocol droid Threepio (Anthony Daniels) gathers a bunch of overgrown teddy bears around a fire to tell the story of how their new friends came to Endor. In Ewokese and sound-effect samples, the droid recounts the events of "A New Hope" and "The Empire Strikes Back" as his audience shrieks and squeals in terror and delight. In this scene, "Star Wars" declares itself a myth, a grand tale that will be told for generations. The scene works because, well, it is.
• Sean Stangland is a Daily Herald multiplatform editor whose favorite movie in the saga is "Return of the Jedi." You can follow him on Twitter at @SeanStanglandDH.