Star Wars for dummies

Star Wars junkie Jai Arjun Singh with a primer that might help you understand what really happened a long, long time ago in a galaxy far, far away.

Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith opens this weekend in movie theatres around the world, to the unbounded joy of millions of fans who have been following the series since 1977 "" but also undoubtedly to the confusion of millions of others who have had a hard time following the series.

If you're not a diehard fan, the puzzlement is understandable: apart from the many subplots and peripheral characters that clutter some of the films, there is the problem of the unchronological structure of the series.

So let's get that bugbear out of the way first. It's all really quite simple, as they say in quantum physics classes: the original trilogy of films, released between 1977 and 1983, were Episodes IV, V and VI (titled A New Hope, The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi respectively).

Like we said, there's much clutter spread through the Star Wars movies. But the basic story at the the heart of writer-director George Lucas's grand vision is a surprisingly simple one: a mythic, tragic tale about the fall and eventual redemption of a Jedi hero.

First, here's a quick synopsis of the basic story thread in the original trilogy:

Episode IV (A New Hope), 1977: The evil Empire has control over the Galaxy. Secessionists team up with a young farmboy, Luke Skywalker, to destroy the Empire's most powerful weapon, the Death Star.

The aging Jedi Knight Obi Wan Kenobi instructs Luke in the ways of the Force (capital letters are imperative, as any Star Wars junkie will know!), which will help him fight the tyrannical dark lord Darth Vader.

Luke is told that his father Anakin was a great Jedi hero who was killed by Darth Vader.

Episode V (The Empire Strikes Back), 1980: Generally considered the best film in the series. The battle between the secessionists and the Empire continues.

A climactic sabre-fight ends with one of the most famous revelations in film history: "I am your father," Darth Vader tells Luke.

We learn that Anakin Skywalker had betrayed the Jedi, crossed over to the Dark Side and become Darth Vader many years earlier.

The emotional stakes are raised to unanticipated new levels.

Episode VI (Return of the Jedi), 1983: Vader and his master, the evil Emperor Palpatine, try to seduce Luke to the Dark Side.

Luke resists, appealing instead to the good that he believes still exists in his father. Just when all hope seems lost, Vader/Anakin rediscovers his humanity and destroys the Emperor. Balance returns to the Force.

The new trilogy, which began in 1999, is a trilogy of prequels "" Episode I (The Phantom Menace), Episode II (Attack of the Clones) and the new film, Episode III "" all of which supply the back-story for the events depicted in the original series.

We learn about the Jedi order and their adverseries, the evil Sith Lords, and meet the young Anakin Skywalker, the Chosen One, who rises through the ranks to become a great Jedi "" before tragedy strikes.

Revenge of the Sith: a review

---

It's strange, given that the Star Wars films are dominated by sound, fury and special effects, that the most striking scene in Revenge of the Sith is a muted, underplayed one, with almost no precedent in any of the other movies.

Around halfway through the film, Chancellor Palpatine (who the informed viewer will know is really the evil Sith lord Darth Sidious) speaks with forked tongue to the young Anakin Skywalker with the aim of seducing him to the Dark Side.

Knowing that the young Jedi knight has lately suffered nightmares about the death of the woman he loves, Palpatine tells him about a Sith lord who mastered the art of beating back death.

Eventually, however, he says, the Sith lord was murdered by his own apprentice: "He saved the ones he loved, but he couldn't save himself," says Palpatine softly.

It's a deliciously complex moment, comparable with the best of Shakespearean or Greek tragedy: Palpatine is tempting Anakin into a fall while simultaneously revealing what the terrible consequences of such a fall might be.

This could be Iago whispering malice into Othello's ears, or the witches hissing into Macbeth's. Inevitably the fall occurs, and the price is paid.

The film ends with Anakin reborn as Darth Vader, one of the most famous of all movie villains, but his very first words are an acknowledgement of his tragedy: he has attained the power he sought, but in attaining it he has sacrificed his humanity and lost everything that was dear to him.

("He is more machine than man now," was a famous line in the original trilogy.)

Revenge of the Sith is the beating heart of the Star Wars story, the film that finally cuts through the clutter and deals with the central thread of the series.

And Star Wars fans can rejoice: after the disappointments of The Phantom Menace and Attack of the Clones, George Lucas has redeemed himself in style.

By sacrificing irritating characters (Jar Jar Binks, anyone?) and inconsequential sub-plots in favour of pure, magical storytelling, he imbues this film with the mythic qualities that drew so many viewers into the Star Wars saga in the first place.

Excepting only The Empire Strikes Back, this is easily the best of the films. (It's also by far the darkest. Parents take note: the final scenes are grislier and more visceral than anything you've seen before in a Star Wars film.)

So focused is this movie, so powerful its emotional kick, that it manages to be completely compelling despite the fact that every Star Wars junkie in the audience already knows how the story will turn out. So much for the prequels-don't-work theory.

P.S. Non-Star Wars junkies, you don't count; you won't understand any of this anyway.