Flickering Myth’s writing team are counting down to the release of Star Wars: The Force Awakens by discussing their most memorable Star Wars moments. First up is Gary Collinson with the Binary Sunset…
There was a time, around the Blu-ray release of The Complete Saga, that I was ready to give up on Star Wars. For as long as I can remember, I’d been obsessed with the galaxy far, far away, and despite three mediocre Prequels, the love affair continued. But, the franchise was over, my wallet was sore, and I had the movies – not the original, original movies, but still the movies – in the best viewing format available to me. I could let the Prequels gather dust, while occasionally bringing out the Original Trilogy to relive my childhood. I was happy.
Then Disney bought Lucasfilm, and everything changed.
Like many, I’m sure, the prospect of seeing my childhood heroes back on the big screen has rekindled not only my love for Star Wars, but my excitement for the franchise as a whole. In just a few short weeks, Star Wars: The Force Awakens will explode into cinemas around the world. It looks like a great movie, but more importantly it looks – and feels – like Star Wars. It has the nostalgia factor in spades, and I have no doubt that when the opening crawl begins, there’ll be a tear in my eye (and not just because I miss the 20th Century Fox fanfare). The marketing campaign has been fantastic, and there’s little doubt in my mind that it’s the most anticipated movie of all time. Now all it has to do is deliver.
To celebrate the return of Star Wars, the writing team here at Flickering Myth have decided to pick their most memorable moment from the Saga. It’s a tough ask. A very tough ask. Star Wars is crammed with some of the most memorable moments in all of cinema. Even the Prequels, for all their faults, contain some exceptional scenes. Narrowing it down to five – or even ten – would be difficult. But if I have to pick one scene, one moment that captures the entire essence of Star Wars and everything that’s great about the Saga, then I have to go with the Binary Sunset.
Running for around half a minute, it’s such a simple scene. One that’s free of any dialogue, yet tells us so much. One that’s devoid of all the technical wizardry that Star Wars is synonymous with (well, almost), yet delivers one of the most striking and iconic visuals in all of cinema history. Young farmboy Luke Skywalker gazes out over the Tatooine desert, its twin suns setting in the distance as he yearns for an escape from his mundane life, dreaming of adventures among the stars as John Williams’ rousing Force Theme sends chills down our spines and makes the hairs on our arms stand up. In this one short moment, everyone in the audience can empathise with Luke Skywalker. Many of the audience are Luke Skywalker.
George Lucas has come in for a lot of criticism over the years, and some of it – i.e. Jar Jar Binks – is completely warranted. But the Binary Sunset is masterful filmmaking. It’s an astoundingly well-crafted scene in every sense: the framing and composition, the pacing, and of course the score from John Williams. I genuinely can’t think of a more perfect scene, not just from Star Wars, but from any movie.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kyqxWU1QkrE
What’s your most memorable Star Wars moment? Let us know in the comments below…
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Gary Collinson is a writer and lecturer from the North East of England. He is the editor-in-chief ofFlickeringMyth.com and the author of Holy Franchise, Batman! Bringing the Caped Crusader to the Screen.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?list=PL18yMRIfoszEaHYNDTy5C-cH9Oa2gN5ng&v=1KO8-kbSyfQ
Originally published November 25, 2015. Updated November 29, 2022.
