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Mark Hamill

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Star Wars: A New Hope poster
Star Wars: A New Hope

Apex Mountain

Star Wars: A New Hope The Rewatchables

George Lucas, the franchise’s craftspeople, multiple actors, science-fiction lore, sound, and blockbuster culture receive separate apex checks.

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.
Star Wars: A New Hope poster
Star Wars: A New Hope

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

Star Wars: A New Hope The Rewatchables

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 poster
Star Wars: A New Hope

What’s Aged the Best?

Star Wars: A New Hope The Rewatchables

The film’s influence, Leia, practical craft, mythmaking, Darth Vader, Obi-Wan, world-building, and cultural afterlife form a long field.

In the discussion (15)
Approx. transcript time · 00:27:58Read transcript
  • Interconnected cinematic universes and ILM are credited as foundations of contemporary Hollywood storytelling.
  • Leia is praised as a fearless hero rather than a passive damsel, with particular importance for young viewers.
  • Lightsabers update the durable screen appeal of sword fighting through a futuristic design.
  • The fast spaceships are traced to hot-rod culture and Lucas’s American Graffiti experience.
  • The Force works especially well as an almost-forgotten spiritual discipline practiced by a few remaining believers.
  • Minor details such as squadron check-ins and a stormtrooper hitting his head became durable shared lore.
  • The trench run is treated as an enduring aerial-attack template copied by later action films.
  • Darth Vader is the leading answer because he expanded from mysterious villain into the franchise’s most recognizable tragic figure.
  • Introducing Vader immediately is defended because later stories reveal the saga to be partly his story and the Emperor to be the deeper evil.
  • The secret that Vader is Luke’s father is praised for leaving subtle retrospective possibilities without revealing itself.
  • Obi-Wan is praised as an archetypal mentor and every Vader entrance retains power.
  • The strange creatures, villains, opening crawl, and constant parody produced a distinct world with an unusually long cultural life.
  • The long-concealed Carrie Fisher and Harrison Ford affair is offered as something that aged well because their chemistry remains visible in the film.
  • Blasters age well relative to bullets because their clean impacts make the movie accessible to younger viewers and avoid ammunition-count questions.
  • Carrie Fisher’s advice that she and Mark Hamill should accept their defining roles is praised as a healthy view of fame.
Star Wars: A New Hope poster
Star Wars: A New Hope

The most "year the movie came out" thing

Star Wars: A New Hope The Rewatchables

Practical effects, primitive laser bursts, creatures in suits, and Mark Hamill’s television haircut define 1977.

In the discussion (4)
Approx. transcript time · 00:26:26Read transcript
  • Some laser blasts and explosions resemble sparklers despite the overall effects achievement.
  • Practical creatures played by people in suits are selected as a defining 1977 quality.
  • Hand-drawn imagery, matte paintings, models, and optical effects are praised as practical craft that remains appealing.
  • Mark Hamill's period haircut and his departure from the Eight Is Enough pilot are offered as another marker.
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Films in the archive

Star Wars: A New Hope

1977

Rewatchables episodes featuring their films

Star Wars: A New Hope poster

Star Wars: A New Hope

1977 film

Bill Simmons · Chris Ryan · Sean Fennessey · Van Lathan

Aired May 6, 2025

Displaying 1 episode