"A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away..." the world changed to the tune of another Academy Award, Golden Globe and Grammy Award-winning soundtrack by John Williams. It was May 1977 and a fledgling writer-director with aspirations of becoming a latter day movie mogul was readying his third feature film called Star Wars.

Budgeted at nearly $11 million George Lucas was saddled with a potentially infamous commercial flop that was not very well regarded in Hollywood. Most studios had balked at the project when it was first pitched to them because its many futuristic special effects were especially hard to imagine. Unsure if audiences would turn out for the science fiction epic inspired by movie serials and chocked full of mythological overtones, Lucas was forced to shoulder the burden of production entirely within his own company called Lucasfilm.

Months of work on the movie had left him sleep deprived, disconsolate and confused about his future as a filmmaker. Much of his early promise demonstrated in his debut THX-1138 and in his box office smash American Graffiti was wasting away beneath the heavy pressures surrounding Star Wars. Many viewed its derivative appeal from pulp movie genres and adventure stories as a foolish gamble and Lucas knew it.

In fact the film's distributor, 20th Century Fox, was so sure Star Wars would fail that executives came within days of selling their stake in the picture as a tax shelter. Positive audience feedback from an advanced screening caused them to change their minds and the movie's unprecedented profits ended up saving the studio from bankruptcy.

Before this turnaround in studio thinking, though, the idea had even come up in executive circles that the movie's undeniably groundbreaking special effects could be removed and recycled for greater effect in a hit TV show. Perhaps taking note of this idea one of the film's special effects artists, John Dykstra, later produced the TV show Battlestar Galactica that was noted for its state-of-the-art effects but slammed for its ridiculous dramatic elements.

While all these concerns jockeyed for attention during the pre-release days leading up to Memorial Day weekend, 1977, Lucas must have remembered how the original story idea for Star Wars had been germinating in the back of his mind since his days at the famed USC film school. Inspired by racecars and futurist leanings towards technology and its influence on humankind, Lucas had been thinking about a fictional world peopled with robots adventurers and fast-moving spacecraft. When added to his intense fascination with old movie serials like Flash Gordon and the film school curriculum with its focus on B-movies from the post-War period, Lucas was digesting influences and collecting them into one of the most influential fairy tales of our time.

In his original plot synopsis dated May 1973 and entitled "The Adventures of the Starkiller", Luke Skywalker was a general living in the 33rd century. Enjoying certain plot similarities to Dune, the filming of which had been canceled the previous year, his ideas were heavily rewritten in 1974 and a farm boy named Annikin Starkiller was introduced. That script also featured Annikin's father, Kane who was a Jedi Master, and his younger brother, Deak, who was called a learner. Annikin eventually became Luke Starkiller who was finally christened Skywalker in the script's final draft.

Other plot deviations ironed out in the rewriting process involved the Imperial Empire destroying Leia's home planet Organa Major with the Death Star and then taking her to the Empire's seat of power at Alderaan. The Death Star itself was first introduced in this script only when rebel soldiers attack it. Of course Alderaan eventually became Leia's home world, her last name was revealed as Organa, Coruscant was designated the Imperial Empire's seat of power and the Death Star became the prime setting of the resulting film, not just one of its climactic elements.

In yet another draft, perhaps one that now anticipates the current Star Wars prequels, there were three Sith Lords who drew their power from a "Kiber Crystal." Obi-Wan Kenobi survives a light saber duel with Darth Vader and steals the crystal for Luke who takes it with him during the attack on the Death Star.

With these story ideas mixing up so-called high and low culture elements Star Wars was a creative and financial gamble with very few hedges to guarantee a return. Although there was clear homage made to such masterworks as Metropolis, Throne of Blood and Triumph of the Will there were also connections to be seen with little known throwaway pictures like The Dam Busters and 633 Squadron. This overall hodge-podge in Lucasfilm's space opera and Industrial Light and Magic's first special effects bonanza were echoed in the film's unconventional casting. Without a meaty script to attract name actors and without wide studio backing there was virtually no name brand quality in any of the players to sell the picture to the public.

Never mind that Alec Guinness, Peter Cushing and James Earl Jones were in the supporting cast, the leads were virtually unknown. Though Christopher Walken and Nick Nolte were each considered for the part of Han Solo, and though Burt Reynolds was cast in the role but later backed out, it was the accident of on-screen alchemy and special effects that ultimately won over audiences. Mark Hamill starred as the central figure Luke Skywalker, Carrie Fisher was the troubled Princess Leia, Harrison Ford played the self-centered maverick Han Solo and the remaining cast was largely filled out with stuffed animal-like monsters and robots.

Moviegoers of the times weren't entirely keen on the project either. Previews attached to other films weren't consistently attractive to spectators, the wide release pattern pioneered with Jaws was still being refined, older audiences were lukewarm towards fantasy projects in general and the appeal Star Wars would hold for youth audiences was unknown.

Still, there was an excitement afoot as motion picture screens opened to the crashing brass of Williams's score and the vague premonition, "a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away…" Much to the surprise of all involved, perhaps even Lucas himself, audiences turned on to his adventure story and returned to theaters again and again and again. Lucky for him he had earlier refused to sell his ancillary rights to the title so Star Wars became a merchandising boom as well as a commercial smash that literally rewrote the record books and made George Lucas an overnight sensation.

All told the original Star Wars was released multiple times, as much to earn more money for Lucasfilm as to herald new films in the series and sponsor later special edition copies of the franchise. Eventually grossing some $461 million in domestic box office receipts with an additional $337 million abroad, Star Wars grew into becoming a generational keynote since 1977. It launched the most successful movie franchise in history and ushered in a new method for packaging movies not just as filmed entertainments but also as lifestyle choices, playtime settings and virtual realities to be enjoyed through toys, clothes and whole series of parallel books and related movie titles.

I was one of the many millions of children who lived their childhood through the idealized forms of Luke, Leia, Han, Chewie and the assortment of odd characters collected over the years. Though there were many more boys than girls who participated in the phenomenon it became one standard for judging the behavior of others very much like the, "where were you when?" game in more historically oriented groups of people. Becoming a fan was also a sign of the times since it let the movie bleed over into playtime to spin its web of extratextual life forces, worlds and unrelated stores.

Plus there is the undeniable economic pressure of an entertainment empire that is capable of earning $2.8 billion at the box office. Even before considering such industries as toys, clothing, games, foodstuffs, music and character licensing agreements, Star Wars has earned as much money as 1,410 people working for 40 years each at the annual salary of $50,000. No small accomplishment from the imagination of nerdy guy named George who wears flannel shirts as his trademark along with white tennis shoes.

Although Lucas often claims Star Wars was always part of a preplanned series consisting of nine chapters but occasionally limited to just six, producer Gary Kurtz claimed differently in a 1999 interview. According to him Star Wars was meant as a standalone film. Only after its incredible success was the idea of sequels considered with any real conviction. Support for his position is found when remembering that the episode number and subtitle, "A New Hope", did not appear in the original Star Wars opening crawl but were added in a later re-release to match The Empire Strikes Back.

In fact Kurtz reports that it was his tandem effort working alongside Lucas that established the idea of Star Wars as the fourth story of a nine-part series each portion of which were organized in outline form. After releasing The Empire Strikes Back in 1980, Lucas went on to produce Raider's of the Lost Ark with his friend, the director Steven Spielberg. That film's success convinced Lucas to increase his emphasis on action in the sixth Star Wars episode, eventually called Return of the Jedi.

Intending the search for Han Solo to be the main plot point of Return of the Jedi, the Emperor wasn't originally going to appear until episode 9, Luke and Leia weren't going to be brother and sister and there was no second Death Star. Solo was going to die in the film's final battle, Luke was going to continue his Jedi training and Leia was going to resume her position as Queen of her people, separating the major characters in a downbeat ending similar to Episode 5. Kurtz strongly objected to Lucas's changes and insisted they should stick with their original plans. Lucas, however, just as strongly disagreed and the two parted company for good after successfully breathing life into two Best Picture-nominated films, American Graffiti and Star Wars.

To one way of thinking these arguments about whether or not the franchise was a well-ordered idea from the early '70s on doesn't really matter at all. Kurtz and Lucas both enjoyed the success of their collaboration and it's clear Star Wars, and its progeny, will certainly outlive them. So too will any arguments about where the franchise was founded since such a legend was likely built around the cult of George Lucas to buttress him against critics and increase the sway of potential fans attracted to the idea of far flung genius.

What remains to us in spite of these arguments over points of origination is a body of work so elaborately organized that it's now quite difficult for me to think of Star Wars as just a single phenomenon. Instead it's very much like a set of chapters from the book of my life wherein I grew through my boyhood into being an adult, all along the way feeling my travails and successes punctuated by Lucas's most famous creation.

The story of, "a girl, a boy, and a galaxy", isn't any more or less complex a live action cartoon today than it was in 1977. But even as it was so many years ago the crush of enthusiastic audiences is directed at the most accessible and impressive entertainments available. Thus Star Wars broke the mold and returns every few years to ensure its memory by attracting new audiences who embrace it the world over.