After viewing two seasons of Andor and rewatching Rogue One, we may come away with a different perspective of A New Hope. Although the original movie still captivates audiences, we could see it as veering toward comedic grounds. We could see the Rebellion in a whole new light of outlandishness.
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The Premise of Hilarious
After watching Andor and Rogue One, we may find the premise of A New Hope outlandish and even hilarious. This Reddit discussion provides an interesting synopsis of how we could view the first original movie quite differently. We may even find it close to a space comedy, veering toward Spaceballs, if you will.
For starters, if you are a Rebel on Yavin 4, you would learn that in a short amount of time, “Luthen, Cassian, and dozens (if not more) of other skilled rebel fighters” have perished, and that the “Death Star is very real.” But it gets better, and we can add to the preposterousness.
With a changed perspective, we could see the Millennium Falcon as some “beat up hunk of junk spaceship” (which Han himself admits) coming out of nowhere with Princess Leia and the presumed plans to destroy the Death Star. We may think that Han and Chewie are akin to “two drug dealers” who want to get paid immediately and see Luke as a “desert” kid from a distant part of the galaxy.
Pausing with just this information, as a random Rebel fighter, we may fairly ask: what exactly is happening? This bewildering scenario coincides with how we frame the first Star Wars movie. As “a stand-alone coming-of-age tale of a farmer who follows his destiny to rescue a princess and defeat an evil empire,” the first film is based in a fantasy/science-fiction realm that lends itself to the incredible, and we are more apt to believe it.
If we view it more as Episode IV, though, the movie verges more toward “an epic space opera” across large intervals of space and time and makes it harder for us to believe this could all be pulled off. The saga that includes Rogue One and Andor is what tips it into potential outlandishness.
Back to the plot, the Rebel crew is next convened to discuss a “suicide mission” against the Death Star with the wild-eyed kid from Tatooine showing nothing but confidence. In the briefing scene, everyone but Luke looks incredulous about blowing up the Death Star. Luke confidently states to Wedge, “It’s not impossible. I used to bullseye womp rats in my T-16 back home.”
Once he takes to flight, Luke follows that line up by comparing the mission to flying in Beggar’s Canyon. As we know, Luke in fact does blow up the Death Star, a highly improbable, one-in-a-million shot even with the Force guiding him. Moreover, Han had shown up out of nowhere to blast away Vader and clear the path for the shot.
All of these story elements may sound outlandish after viewing the more recent installations.
Is the Story That Outlandish?
However, we can find ways to bring A New Hope back into the realm of reality and away from the outlandish. Comments in the opening Reddit discussion above indicate important points like how Luke proved Vader’s words to be true – “the ability to destroy a planet is insignificant next to the power of the Force.”
And, rumors had spread about Luke being the son of Anakin and how Obi-Wan is the one who brought him into the Rebellion. So, it has believable elements that help balance out the preposterous.
Likewise, A New Hope has all the ingredients to make it a long-lasting, great movie. As one fan stated here, “the story is actually brilliant” and can stand on its own and lend itself to the saga. The “great characters” and storytelling make it believable that these down-to-their-last-shot Rebels could pull out this otherwise unlikely comedic tale.
A New Hope After Andor and Rogue One
After watching Andor and Rogue One, we can certainly see how incredible/incredulous the story of A New Hope is. If we were one of the many looking to fight the Empire, we could find Luke, Han, Chewie, the Princess, and the whole idea of blowing up the Death Star unfathomable. All the same, the first movie has those tangible and intangible qualities that help lift it out of the absurd.