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Star Wars: A New Hope The Rewatchables
Star Wars: A New Hope poster
Star Wars: A New Hope

The Butch’s Girlfriend Award for the Weakest Link in the Film

No consensus emerges: Mark Hamill’s early performance is criticized and defended, while Porkins is an alternate.

In the discussion (5)
Approx. transcript time · 00:47:39Read transcript
  • The first response says, 'I couldn't think of one.'
  • Mark Hamill is criticized as limited beside Fisher and Ford and described as an intentionally young, whiny system quarterback.
  • The defense says Luke must begin uncertain and off-kilter so his confidence and scars across the trilogy register as growth.
  • Kurt Russell is acknowledged as a cooler alternate who may have brought too much confidence to early Luke.
  • Porkins is another answer because the pilot is immediately lost despite the rebellion’s thin roster.
Star Wars: A New Hope The Rewatchables
Star Wars: A New Hope poster
Star Wars: A New Hope

What’s Aged the Worst?

Retitling, representation, the reduced Fox slate, franchise alterations, and mishandled extensions dominate the criticism.

In the discussion (10)
Approx. transcript time · 00:52:19Read transcript
  • Adding A New Hope to the original Star Wars title is called unnecessary and irritating.
  • The movie is called a 'big sausage party' with only Leia and Luke's aunt identified as women.
  • The film’s assumption that fascism is obviously bad is jokingly said to feel less secure in 2025.
  • After Star Wars succeeded, 20th Century Fox reducing its annual slate from about twenty films to seven is criticized as a lost opportunity.
  • The original story’s incestuous tension is awkward in retrospect, though Luke does not know Leia is his sister.
  • A Marvel comic run ending after 107 issues is treated as a missed opportunity for continued storytelling.
  • Disney’s early rejection of the screenplay is contrasted with its later purchase of Lucasfilm for four billion dollars.
  • The film could have used more than twelve minutes of Vader, though his limited screen time may strengthen him.
  • Contemporary criticism of the film’s whiteness and of black imagery being attached to Vader is preserved as historical reception.
  • The special-edition alterations, Holiday Special, and empty early-bird toy boxes are cited as mishandled parts of the movie’s afterlife.
Star Wars: A New Hope The Rewatchables
Star Wars: A New Hope poster
Star Wars: A New Hope

Van Lathan Award for Did This Movie Need More Black People?

The lack of Black characters matters, while one participant also values fantasy as a temporary escape from real racial burdens.

In the discussion (3)
Approx. transcript time · 00:58:00Read transcript
  • Seeing Black people in fantasy is described as reassurance that imagined worlds have not erased them.
  • The counterpoint says this particular fantasy offers relief from thinking about real-world racial barriers.
  • Chasing Amy is praised for satirizing the racial politics of the original Star Wars.
Star Wars: A New Hope The Rewatchables
Star Wars: A New Hope poster
Star Wars: A New Hope

The Stephen A. Smith Hottest Take Award

An accidental Luke–Leia sexual relationship; Han mistreats Luke; Star Wars is great art and a damaging industrial precedent

Flex pick · Van Lathan

In the discussion (4)
Approx. transcript time · 01:01:11Read transcript
  • The trilogy is said to become darker and better if Luke and Leia unknowingly have sex before learning they are siblings.
  • The imagined guilt is argued to give Luke a stronger pull toward the dark side.
  • Star Wars is called both one of the best films ever and one of the worst things to happen to Hollywood because of its industrial influence.
  • Han is called a cock-blocking dickhead who pursues Leia and tells Luke not to get cocky after Luke's success.
Star Wars: A New Hope The Rewatchables
Star Wars: A New Hope poster
Star Wars: A New Hope

Casting What-Ifs

The original casting search is reviewed across Luke, Leia, Han, Obi-Wan, Vader, Chewbacca, and physical Vader.

In the discussion (10)
Approx. transcript time · 01:05:10Read transcript
  • Lucas and De Palma auditioned actors together for Star Wars and Carrie, producing overlapping candidates.
  • John Travolta, William Cat, Robby Benson, Kurt Russell, and Charles Martin Smith are among the discussed Luke possibilities.
  • Andrew Stevens is said to have competed with Hamill for both The Oregon Trail and Star Wars.
  • Karen Allen, Amy Irving, Cindy Williams, Linda Pearl, and Joe Foster are discussed as Leia possibilities, with uncertainty around some claims.
  • Russell is said to have auditioned for both Luke and Han because his age placed him between the roles.
  • Jack Nicholson is an intriguing Han thought experiment, while James Kahn and Al Pacino later claimed to have declined the role.
  • Richard Dreyfuss was reportedly considered for the voice of one of the droids.
  • The lead actor from many Kurosawa films reportedly declined the mentor role because he feared it would diminish samurai cinema.
  • Orson Welles was considered for Vader’s voice but rejected as too recognizable; James Earl Jones was used without an initial screen credit.
  • Peter Mayhew and David Prowse were offered a choice between Chewbacca and physical Vader and selected the good and bad roles respectively.
Star Wars: A New Hope The Rewatchables
Star Wars: A New Hope poster
Star Wars: A New Hope

The Dion Waiters Award for Best Heat Check Performance

Darth Vader

In the discussion (4)
Approx. transcript time · 01:10:38Read transcript
  • Vader is selected for dominating the film in roughly twelve minutes.
  • The cantina ensemble and Greedo are proposed as compact alternatives.
  • The digitally inserted CGI gangster is rejected aesthetically but acknowledged as a significant one-scene character.
  • The officer choked by Vader is the final alternate.
Star Wars: A New Hope The Rewatchables
Star Wars: A New Hope poster
Star Wars: A New Hope

Half-Assed Internet Research

The research block covers an early Han design, Lucas’s directing style, crew resistance, practical discomfort, the lost cut, and studio notes.

In the discussion (7)
Approx. transcript time · 01:12:44Read transcript
  • An early script version made Han Solo a large green-skinned monster with gills.
  • Carrie Fisher recalled that Lucas gave little actor direction beyond faster or more intense.
  • The British crew reportedly disliked Lucas enough to stop promptly at quitting time even in the middle of a setup.
  • Hamill’s line about not seeing through the helmet was retained because he actually could not see.
  • The Chewbacca suit became foul after remaining wet following the trash-compactor sequence.
  • An early multi-hour assembly contained much more of Luke on Tatooine before later editors substantially tightened it.
  • Studio executives wanted Chewbacca to wear shorts, a note the panel considers disastrous.
Star Wars: A New Hope The Rewatchables
Star Wars: A New Hope poster
Star Wars: A New Hope

Apex Mountain

Science-fiction movies, galaxy adventures, fictional mythology, Mark Hamill, 20th Century Fox, and Apex categories: yes

Flex pick · Craig Horlbeck

In the discussion (11)
Approx. transcript time · 01:15:55Read transcript
  • Lucas’s apex is placed around 1981 after Empire and Raiders, though selling Lucasfilm for four billion dollars is another candidate.
  • Star Wars is judged an apex for science-fiction movies, galaxy adventures, and film-created fictional mythology.
  • The movie is accepted as Mark Hamill’s apex and a possible early apex for Carrie Fisher.
  • John Williams is difficult to pin to one apex, but Star Wars is preferred over later cultural competitors.
  • James Earl Jones is placed closer to Field of Dreams, Coming to America, or Mufasa than to his uncredited Vader voice.
  • Harrison Ford receives an explicit apex check and is rejected because his apex had already been named earlier.
  • The movie is an apex for 20th Century Fox because profits and stock value rose sharply.
  • The film is credited with beginning the cultural ascent of nerd fandom rather than representing its final apex in 1977.
  • Its sound effects remain exceptional, including Vader breathing, TIE fighters, droids, and lightsabers.
  • The saga is called a leading story of absentee fathers because Vader reappears only after Luke becomes powerful.
  • The film is declared the apex of Apex Mountain categories because so many people, crafts, objects, and institutions peak around it.
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