Lucas struggled to meld many diverse influences into one story: swashbucklers, comic books, science fiction—and creature features, such as The Wolfman (1941). Tod Browning’s Freaks (1932) had been banned in the U.K. for thirty years and in many cities and states in America, but was notably revived during the 1960s, when it played in the LA area at the Cinema Theatre.
Still in a state of dissatisfaction, knowing it was still far from a shooting script, Lucas finished his second draft on January 28, 1975. A copy in the Lucasfilm Archives features a red cover with a Frank Frazetta–like illustration of a man holding a sword with an adoring, voluptuous woman wrapped around his leg.
A STARTLING SPACE FORTRESS
Lucas had clearly made major changes to the structure of his story between the first and second drafts. It’s at this point that the well-known break occurred, when, having written something that was far too long for one movie in the first draft, he decided to begin the second draft in the middle of the first—at the moment the robots escape. In the first draft, they flee the Death Star; in the second, now on the side of the good guys, they flee a besieged rebel starship. One of his notes summarizes Lucas’s thinking: “Whole film must be told from robots’ point of view,” a further development of the device of the two peasants in Hidden Fortress.
While at one time Lucas contemplated making two movies out of the first draft—ending the first with the escape from the Death Star, and having the second start with the crash landing on the jungle planet, and close with the attack on the space fortress—instead he combined and juxtaposed many of the more exciting scenes into a shorter, tighter single film. Another of his notes on structure reads, “time lock” to add suspense: “the empire has a terrible new weapon, a fortress station so powerful it can destroy a planet, possibly even a sun. It must be stopped before it can be put to use.” By transforming the space fortress from a floating, somewhat meandering locale, in the first draft, into a horrific planet-destroying weapon, Lucas turned it into a character as well as an all-important structural element.
Though augmenting the role of the two robots, he jettisoned other Hidden Fortress elements. The general is no longer a major character, literally sleeping through some scenes, and the princess has disappeared completely; in their place, the character of Justin/Annikin, now Luke, has taken center stage. His adventures with the robots, while still picaresque, form the line that goes through the story. Indeed, the character of the young Jedi Annikin/Justin has been split in two: Han Solo takes on his womanizing ways and cavalier attitude, while Luke embodies his serious side, his metaphysical side. Both possess the attributes of the time-honored bildungsroman character—the one who comes of age before our eyes.
Luke’s journey is told in part through his relationship with the Force, which in the second draft is more thoroughly analyzed. It now has a dark side, which the bad guys can use—thus enhancing their power to almost equal that of the good guys, conforming to Alfred Hitchcock’s observation that the greatness of a hero is defined by the magnitude of the villain he or she must overcome.
Adventures of the Starkiller, Episode I: The Star Wars, Second-Draft Summary, January 28, 1975
This time the story opens with a prophecy and a different roll-up.
“… And in the time of greatest despair there shall come a savior, and he shall be known as: THE SON OF THE SUNS.”—Journal of the Whills, 3:127
The REPUBLIC GALACTICA is dead. Ruthless trader barons, driven by greed and the lust for power, have replaced enlightenment with oppression, and “rule by the people” with the FIRST GALACTIC EMPIRE.
Until the tragic Holy rebellion of 06’, the respected JEDI BENDU OF ASHLA were the most powerful warriors in the Universe. For a hundred thousand years, generations of Jedi Bendu knights learned the ways of the mysterious FORCE OF OTHERS, and acted as the guardians of peace and justice in the REPUBLIC. Now these legendary warriors are all but extinct. One by one they have been hunted down and destroyed by a ferocious rival sect of mercenary warriors: THE BLACK KNIGHTS OF THE SITH.
It is a period of civil wars. The EMPIRE is crumbling into lawless barbarism throughout the million worlds of the galaxy. From the celestial equator to the farthest reaches of the GREAT RIFT, seventy small solar systems have united in a common war against the tyranny of the Empire. Under the command of a mighty Jedi warrior known as THE STARKILLER, the REBEL ALLIANCE has won a crushing victory over the deadly Imperial Star Fleet. The Empire knows that one more such defeat will bring a thousand more solar systems into the rebellion, and Imperial control of the Outlands could be lost forever …
The story begins with a small rebel space fighter that is being overwhelmed by four giant Imperial Star Destroyers. The smaller ship manages to destroy one of them.
The chaos of battle echoes through the narrow, main passageway of the starfighter. An explosion rocks the ship, and two construction robots, ARTOO DETOO (R2-D2) and SEE THREEPIO (C-3PO) struggle to make their way through the shaking, bouncing passageway.
The two robots are blown under a computer console; from there they see only the legs of their captain, Deak Starkiller, when he arrives. R2-D2 now communicates through beeps and whistles, which only another robot can understand. Meanwhile, one of the Star Destroyers maneuvers above the rebel ship close enough so that it can be reached through space.
With fascist precision, ten stormtroopers wearing ominous armored spacesuits drop onto the top of the disabled rebel craft.
A fight ensues between the rebels and stormtroopers, with neither gaining the advantage, until a mysterious stranger appears:
The second draft had several mock-up covers, including a gold-colored one.
At the far end of the passageway, a door swings wide revealing a rebel warrior wearing a breath mask and dressed in the distinctive uniform of an AQUILLIAN RANGER. A long, deadly laser sword glows in his right hand, while several chrome ping-pong sized balls magically appear in his left. Tiny antennas project from the chrome balls, and before the stormtroopers can raise their weapons, the balls fly out of the ranger’s hand. One of the balls stops in the middle of the troops and explodes. Three other balls shoot through the hole ripped in the side of the ship.
One of the balls blows up the hovering Star Destroyer—but the Ranger falls in battle. Realizing his situation is desperate, Deak sends a number of R2 robots from his starship to the surface of the nearby desert planet Utapau to search for his brother Luke at the home of Owen Lars. R2-D2 is one of those sent, and he embarks with the ever-complaining C-3PO in a lifepod. Back on the ship, Deak and his comrades do battle with the stormtroopers, until…
The remaining stormtroopers bow low toward the doorway. An awesome, seven-foot BLACK KNIGHT OF THE SITH makes his way into the blinding light of the cockpit area. This is LORD DARTH VADER, right hand to the MASTER OF THE SITH. His sinister face is partially obscured by his flowing black robes and grotesque breath mask, which are in sharp contrast to the fascist white armored suits of the Imperial stormtroopers …Taking a deep breath, he raises his arms and every object that isn’t bolted down is picked up by an invisible force and hurled at the young Jedi …Slowly Deak is forced to his knees as all his energy is drained from his being. Finally, he collapses in a heap. The sinister knight lets out a horrible, shrieking laugh …
Deak is taken prisoner by Lord Vader, who assumes that he is the son of the suns (Starkiller) and that they have altered the prophecy. On Utapau, R2-D2 and C-3PO argue and separate; the former is eventually captured by dwarf-like Jawas and put in a sandcrawler—where he discovers his companion, who had been found earlier. Other prisoners in the sandcrawler organize a break, and, in the confusion, the robots escape to a small settlement. A slimy mechanic directs them to the house of Owen Lars; however, he also reports their presence to a “gray Tusken.”
The robots eventually find their way to a moisture ranch owned by Luke’s uncle and aunt, Owen and Beru Lars. They meet there Luke’s young twin brothers, Biggs and Windy, and his six
teen-year-old cousin, Leia, the daughter of Owen and Beru. The robots explain that they are looking for “Angel Blue,” the code name for Luke. When they meet Luke Starkiller, he interrupts his laser sword training to introduce himself as “the Skywalker.”
R2-D2 projects a hologrammic message from Deak, who asks Luke to take the Kiber Crystal (a plot device similar to the ring in J.R.R. Tolkien’s trilogy) to their father, “The Starkiller,” on Ogana Major. In council with Owen, Luke learns that their planet is under siege by the Imperial Legions of Alderaan, and that his brother is probably imprisoned on Alderaan itself. Owen has trained Luke, but he is not yet a Jedi, though he is a good pilot. Luke’s feelings are divided: He’d like to stay and complete his archaeology studies, but he decides to accept the challenge. He visits his mother’s grave as the twin suns of Utapau set. He then has a frank talk with his twin brothers:
LUKE
The time has come for me to tell you of your heritage, as Deak told it to me and as his older brother Cliegg told it to him. In another time, long before the Empire, and before the Republic had been formed, a holy man called the Skywalker became aware of a powerful energy field which he believed influenced the destiny of all living creatures …
BIGGS
The “FORCE OF OTHERS”!
LUKE
Yes, and after much study, he was able to know the force, and it communicated with him. He came to see things in a new way. His “aura” and powers grew very strong. The Skywalker brought a new life to the people of his system, and became one of the founders of the Republic Galactica.
WINDY
The “FORCE OF OTHERS” talked to him!?!
LUKE
In a manner different from the way we talk. As you know, the “FORCE OF OTHERS” has two halves: Ashla, the good, and Bogan, the paraforce or evil part. Fortunately, Skywalker came to know the good half and was able to resist the paraforce; but he realized that if he taught others the way of the Ashla, some, with less strength, might come to know Bogan, the dark side, and bring unthinkable suffering to the Universe. For this reason, the Skywalker entrusted the secret of THE FORCE only to his twelve children, and they in turn passed on the knowledge only to their children, who became known as the Jedi Bendu of the Ashla: “the servants of the force.” For thousands of years, they brought peace and justice to the galaxy. At one time there were several hundred Jedi families, but now there are only two or three.
Undated notes reveal Lucas’s thinking about character and environment.
WINDY
What happened to them?
LUKE
As the Republic spread throughout the galaxy, encompassing over a million worlds, the GREAT SENATE grew to such overwhelming proportions that it no longer responded to the needs of its citizens. After a series of assassinations and elaborately rigged elections, the Great Senate became secretly controlled by the Power and Transport guilds. When the Jedi discovered the conspiracy and attempted to purge the Senate, they were denounced as traitors. Several Jedi allowed themselves to be tried and executed, but most of them fled into the Outland systems and tried to tell people of the conspiracy. But the elders chose to remain behind, and the Great Senate diverted them by creating civil disorder. The Senate secretly instigated race wars, and aided anti-government terrorists. They slowed down the system of justice, which caused the crime rate to rise to the point where a totally controlled and oppressive police state was welcomed by the systems. The Empire was born. The systems were exploited by a new economic policy which raised the cost of power and transport to unbelievable heights. Many worlds were destroyed this way. Many people starved …
BIGGS
Why didn’t the “FORCE OF OTHERS” help the Jedi to put things right?
LUKE
Because a terrible thing happened. During one of his lessons a young PADAWAN-JEDI, a boy named Darklighter, came to know the evil half of the force, and fell victim to the spell of the dreaded Bogan. He ran away from his instructor and taught the evil ways of the Bogan Force to a clan of Sith pirates, who then spread untold misery throughout the systems. They became the personal bodyguards of the Emperor. The Jedi were hunted down by these deadly Sith knights. With every Jedi death, contact with the Ashla grows weaker, and the force of the Bogan grows more powerful.
WINDY
Where are the Jedi now?
LUKE
They’re hidden; but many are still fighting to free the systems from the grip of the Empire. Our father is a Jedi. He is called “The Starkiller” and is said to be a great and wise man, and tomorrow I am on my way to join him and learn the ways of the “FORCE OF OTHERS.”
He then takes the diamond-like Kiber Crystal from his uncle. He also loads the robots into his speeder. On the way to the spaceport, he stops and uses his binoculars to check if they’re being followed—they are, by the Tusken agent. At Mos Eisley, Luke meets two key characters…
Luke is standing next to HAN SOLO, a young Corellian pirate only a few years older than himself. He is a burly-bearded but ruggedly handsome boy dressed in a gaudy array of flamboyant apparel …Han turns to his companion, CHEWBACCA, an eight foot tall, savage-looking creature resembling a huge gray bushbaby-monkey with fierce “baboon”-like fangs. His large yellow eyes dominate a fur-covered face and soften his otherwise awesome appearance. Over his matted, furry body, he wears two chrome bandoliers, a flak jacket painted in a bizarre camouflage pattern, brown cloth shorts, and little else. He is a two-hundred-year-old “WOOKIEE,” and a sight to behold.
The fight in the cantina, this time, has Solo ineffectively trying to defend Luke, who then lights his “laser sword” and dispatches the bad guys. Solo agrees to take Luke and the two robots to Ogana Major—if Luke’s father will pay him a million credits on arrival; for Han, it turns out, is in debt to someone called Oxus, who is of “the grossest dimensions.” Han does not, however, have a ship of his own, so he fakes a reactor overload on a pirate ship he serves on, causing the captain and other crew members—including one Jabba the Hutt—to flee in terror. Han then steals the ship, maintaining Chewbacca and science officer Montross Holdaack as his only crew. Holdaack is almost entirely robotic, with only his head and right arm organic. Luke and the two robots climb aboard and the starship heads for Ogana Major, making the jump to “hyper-skip.”
But Ogana Major has mysteriously vanished—destroyed in an enormous attack—so Luke asks Han to head instead for Alderaan, where Deak is being held. Within a city suspended in a sea of cirrus methane, Luke and Han steal the white uniforms of Imperial stormtroopers and, with Chewbacca posing as their prisoner, they rescue the dying Deak. They have a close encounter with vicious Dai Noga creatures in the bowels of the city and almost get squashed, while fleeing two Sith Knights, in a huge trash compactor. Back in their stolen ship, they are pursued by four fin-winged Imperial TIE fighters, but they again make the jump to hyper-skip. The Kiber Crystal keeps Deak alive on the journey to their next destination—the rebel stronghold on the fourth moon of Yavin—but they are now being pursued by a giant space station.
Instead of landing—which the dense jungle terrain won’t allow—the heroes use lifepods to descend to the Massassi Outpost, where Luke and his friends meet three Aquillian rangers, one of whom is Bail Antilles. During a big meeting, General Dodana debriefs the rebels on the imminent attack against the approaching Death Star…
The GRANDE MOUFF TARKIN, a thin, bird-like commander of the outland Kesselian Dragoons, stands, and Dodana sits down, revealing behind and to one side of him a wizened old man with long silver hair—THE STARKILLER. He is apparently asleep; but as the Grande Mouff rises, the Starkiller’s crystal-clear eyes open knowingly. An aura of power radiates from the ancient Jedi that almost knocks Tarkin over. The Starkiller is a large man, but shriveled and bent by an incalculable number of years. His face, cracked and weathered by exotic climates, is set off by a long silver beard and penetrating gray-blue eyes. Luke stares at him in awe. He’s at once proud, moved and slightly fright
ened …
The Kiber Crystal revitalizes Luke’s father, who tells his son that he intends to train him as a Jedi. Luke joins the combat mission to strike at the exhaust port on the surface of the Death Star, which they learn was responsible for the destruction of Ogana Major. Han receives eight million in payment for his services, but refuses to join the rebels.
Luke flies toward the Death Star, with C-3PO, R2-D2, and Antilles aboard his ship. He keeps the Kiber Crystal in his pocket, as the rebels concentrate their attack on the dual poles of the fortress. Darth Vader leads the defense of the Death Star, ordering the men to their ships, but he soon senses the presence of the Kiber Crystal. He and his cohorts blast away at their enemies, and they nearly trap Luke’s ship when Han, Chewbacca, and Montross come to the rescue. Vader crashes into Han’s ship, kamikaze-like, killing himself and disabling the pirate craft. As Luke pilots his ship with expert precision, aided by the robot’s advice on the necessary angle for a successful shot, Antilles and C-3PO fire the blasts that enter the exhaust port and destroy the Death Star.
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