Star Wars (film) is a former featured article. Please see the links under Article milestones below for its original nomination page (for older articles, check the nomination archive) and why it was removed.
	This article appeared on Wikipedia's Main Page as Today's featured article on May 25, 2007.
Article milestones Date Process Result September 3, 2006 Good article nominee Listed September 4, 2006 Peer review Reviewed September 7, 2006 Featured article candidate Not promoted October 15, 2006 Featured topic candidate Promoted December 3, 2006 Featured article candidate Promoted January 14, 2008 Featured topic removal candidate Demoted April 17, 2008 Featured topic candidate Promoted October 11, 2010 Featured article review Demoted August 6, 2012 Good article nominee Not listed Facts from this article were featured on Wikipedia's Main Page in the "On this day..." column on May 25, 2008, May 25, 2009, May 25, 2011, April 17, 2016, May 25, 2017, April 17, 2018, April 17, 2023, and April 17, 2024. Current status: Former featured article

This  level-5 vital article is rated B-class on Wikipedia's content assessment scale. It is of interest to multiple WikiProjects.

Star Wars Top‑importance This article is within the scope of WikiProject Star Wars, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of the Star Wars saga on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks.Star WarsWikipedia:WikiProject Star WarsTemplate:WikiProject Star WarsStar Wars Top This article has been rated as Top-importance on the project's importance scale. WikiProject Star Wars To-do: Here are some tasks awaiting attention: Assess : Tag the talk pages of Star Wars-related articles with the {{WikiProject Star Wars}} banner. Update the classification of articles in Category:Unassessed Star Wars articles and Category:Unknown-importance Star Wars articles. Citing sources : Jedi, Sith Cleanup : Remove any In-universe information at Category:Star Wars articles that need to differentiate between fact and fiction. Copyedit : Under Early Life. Fix grammar of "towns (plural) predominantly Protestant technical college" to "town's (possessive)..." Stubs : Category:Star Wars stubs Other : * See the things to do page Notability: Articles with notability concerns, listed at WikiProject Notability Film: British / Core / American This article is within the scope of WikiProject Film. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see lists of open tasks and regional and topical task forces. To use this banner, please refer to the documentation. To improve this article, please refer to the guidelines.FilmWikipedia:WikiProject FilmTemplate:WikiProject Filmfilm This article is supported by the British cinema task force. This article is on the project's core list. This article is supported by the American cinema task force. United States: Cinema Low‑importance This article is within the scope of WikiProject United States, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of topics relating to the United States of America on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the ongoing discussions. Template Usage Articles Requested! Become a Member Project Talk Alerts United StatesWikipedia:WikiProject United StatesTemplate:WikiProject United StatesUnited States Low This article has been rated as Low-importance on the project's importance scale. This article is supported by WikiProject Film - American cinema task force (assessed as Top-importance). Library of Congress Low‑importance This article is within the scope of WikiProject Library of Congress, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of the Library of Congress on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks.Library of CongressWikipedia:WikiProject Library of CongressTemplate:WikiProject Library of CongressLibrary of Congress Low This article has been rated as Low-importance on the importance scale. Science Fiction Top‑importance This article is within the scope of WikiProject Science Fiction, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of science fiction on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks.Science FictionWikipedia:WikiProject Science FictionTemplate:WikiProject Science Fictionscience fiction Top This article has been rated as Top-importance on the project's importance scale. California Mid‑importance This article is within the scope of WikiProject California, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of the U.S. state of California on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks.CaliforniaWikipedia:WikiProject CaliforniaTemplate:WikiProject CaliforniaCalifornia Mid This article has been rated as Mid-importance on the project's importance scale. Disney Mid‑importance This article is within the scope of WikiProject Disney, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of The Walt Disney Company and its affiliated companies on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks.DisneyWikipedia:WikiProject DisneyTemplate:WikiProject DisneyDisney Mid This article has been rated as Mid-importance on the project's importance scale. 20th Century Studios High‑importance This article is within the scope of WikiProject 20th Century Studios, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of 20th Century Studios and its affiliated companies on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks.20th Century StudiosWikipedia:WikiProject 20th Century StudiosTemplate:WikiProject 20th Century Studios20th Century Studios High This article has been rated as High-importance on the project's importance scale. Guild of Copy Editors This article was copy edited by Deadbeef, a member of the Guild of Copy Editors, on 27 December 2014.Guild of Copy EditorsWikipedia:WikiProject Guild of Copy EditorsTemplate:WikiProject Guild of Copy EditorsGuild of Copy Editors Previous copyedits: /  This article was copy edited by Onel5969 on 12 May 2014.

I notice my addition regarding computer animation was reverted (re-reading it, the sentence itself should probably have been rewritten). Since there already is a segment about the computer animation, the new information feels relevant, as it explains why the animation was made in the first place. Lucas could have used a miniature or traditional animation to make the short instruction video in the briefing room, but he wanted the audience to know they were looking at CGI, and for that purpose he decided to use wire-frame models, which is not a representation of what computers were capable of in the 70s (but it did take a lot of effort, about two minutes for each frame). Which explain his choice.

Quotes from the article:

"With Star Wars already in production, George Lucas issued a call for bids from companies and individuals to produce various bits of instrumentation animation — in particular the briefing room sequence. A number of computer artists and some cel animators responded. (The article later says: "The briefing room sequence is the only scene in Star Wars in which digital computer animation was used — other than for occasional background displays as part of the Deathstar set")

Some of the computer people had very sophisticated equipment capable of producing colored and shaded planes and forms. One computer artist even wanted to do most of the model sequences entirely on computers. George spoke with each of the artists and viewed their work, but Larry seemed to understand the kind of look that George wanted for the film.

On the screen the Star Wars audience sees the computer realization of the trench sequence in the form of a “wire cage’’ model rather than as a series of solid forms and planes. One of the early problems in computer graphics was the wire cage versus solid form display. At first computer programs could only call up figures in wire cage format. It was only a few years ago that programs were devised to remove the “hidden lines;’’ the program had to determine which lines would be “hidden’’ by a front surface or plane and remove those lines.

“When George Lucas specified the kind of animation he wanted for the scene, he knew enough about computer animation to ask for a true perspective without the ‘hidden lines’ removed. He wanted the trench and the Deathstar to appear as wire cage figures with all lines and vertices visible. George thought that this sort of image would suggest ‘computer animation’ by having a very mechanical look.”

Larry Cuba suggests that in the future computers will be able to generate pictures of such quality that they will look as though they had been photographed by a camera. In the case of Star Wars, it was thought that such photographic realism might be confusing to the audience, so a wire cage model was specified so that the audience would readily understand that the images were to have been created by a machine.

“I set up a Mitchell 35mm camera with an animation motor in front of the screen and connected it to the computer so that a signal from the program could trigger the animation motor when the image was complete.”

“I suggested that they wait and shoot the sequence in England blue screen; they could print the computer effects in later and have the thing perfect. But no, they wanted to rear project it so that the guys in the briefing room would play to the images while they were talking. Well, my first take worked. There were a couple of problems, but they edited around them.”

Also sounds like there was a little more CGI than just the briefing room, even if it's just some minor stuff. Silbad (talk) 10:55, 27 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks for the detailed post. However, I still don't see how this is notable enough for the article. It seems like something that only people very interested in animation would care about. Many readers who have seen the film are not going to remember the scene or the animation in question, so a discussion of the animation without supporting images is not going to be interesting or informative. Wafflewombat (talk) 10:43, 28 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Well, it was just a few words regarding Lucas' choice. Everything else in the post is just an explanation. But I have a couple additions in regard of the animation without expanding any further about the specific wireframe CGI. Silbad (talk) 22:34, 17 June 2024 (UTC)[reply]

I took a look at your newest contribution and made some changes, mostly to clarify things for the average reader. I also removed some content that seemed non-essential and would not be understood by the average reader. Please let me know if you find my edits acceptable, or if they have had a negative impact. Wafflewombat (talk) 06:47, 18 June 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Looks fine. But I changed "Yavin Prime" to "mother planet" as it feels like a better description. Silbad (talk) 05:03, 21 June 2024 (UTC)[reply]

I did a quick Google search, and I don't think "mother planet" is a common-enough phrase that we can use it in an encyclopedia. Also, when you say "traditional methods," what are you describing, exactly? Traditional methods of what? We might want to change it to "All the other computer monitors and targeting displays featured in the film used various methods, such as backlit gels, to simulate computer graphics." Wafflewombat (talk) 05:54, 21 June 2024 (UTC)[reply]

I checked by googling "moons" and "mother planet", and found articles from websites like BBC Science Focus Magazine, Harvard Gazette, Smithsonian Magazine, NASA, Science.org and Astronomy & Astrophysics using the phrase, and I also find it pretty self-explanatory. The "traditional methods" is a reference to the article about the creation of these effects, where John Wash explains: “Both Jay and I had done a lot of mimicking computer animation using downshooters, using animation cameras, backlit gels…”. The video the article is linking to calls the handcrafted techniques "old school graphics". Silbad (talk) 06:26, 21 June 2024 (UTC)[reply]

I'm okay with using "mother planet" since those sources are credible. But I just think it's a little unclear what "traditional methods" means on the page. If you don't feel that substituting the word "various" for "traditional" is appropriate, can you try re-wording the segment in another way so it's more clear? Wafflewombat (talk) 06:38, 21 June 2024 (UTC)[reply]

"Mother planet" is used as a reference to the planet its moon or moons are orbiting. Some articles that use the phrase: 20 of the most amazing moons in the Solar System, 21 moons ‘swarm’ planet Uranus, The Seven Most Amazing Discoveries We’ve Made by Exploring Jupiter, Sixty moons for Saturn, How the Moon Found Its Orbit, Asymmetric impacts of near-Earth asteroids on the Moon, Exploring planets and asteroids with 6DoF sensors: Utopia and realism, James B. Pollack and NASA’s Planetary Missions: a Tribute, Is there life on moons? and Pluto – a dwarf in the darkness. Traditional methods simply means pre-CGI methods. John Wash describes the process: "The attack we used was fairly similar to that done on DARK STAR. This was basically generating imagery from bottom-lit artwork which was generated conventionally on standard animation cranes Because things were in such a rush, we’d be briefed on what the shot was to be". Maybe one could describe it as "hand-drawn backlit animation" or "hand-drawn backlight animation" (some write it as backlight, others as backlit). Silbad (talk) 23:20, 21 June 2024 (UTC)[reply]

I did a little more editing on the segment. Let me know if you find it acceptable. Thank you for being willing to collaborate on this 🙂 Wafflewombat (talk) 00:56, 22 June 2024 (UTC)[reply]

No problem. The edit looks OK. If hand-drawn backlit animation was the only method, or if they also used others, is difficult to find any info about (unlike articles about the digital CGI). Unless more details are found or becomes available (there is probably something in some old Cinefex issue or other magazines that is not yet available online), the present edit is probably the best way to describe it. Silbad (talk) 16:54, 22 June 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Like Special effects of The Empire Strikes Back, I do think the special effects of Star Wars are notable enough in their own right for a separate article. In fact, you could make an article that covers both the original film's special effects (models, matte paintings, etc.) and all the extra CGI from the Special edition onwards... – zmbro _{(talk) (cont)} 11:09, 28 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Agree, the movie had such a noticeable production in regard of effects that books have literally been written about it. It should be more than enough material for a whole article about how it was made. Should anyone face the challenge about creating it, one could always add some contributions. Silbad (talk) 22:34, 17 June 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Earlier I made an edit in the plot about the TIE fighter dogfight, however, it was deemed unnecessary as it was supposedly 'not essential for a summary'. However, I believe it should be mentioned. It's a scene of its own nevertheless.

The other edit was about Luke referring to Obi-Wan as Ben Kenobi, and at the beginning of the movie, Luke is confused about the name Obi-Wan. I believe Ben Kenobi should be mentioned somewhere, and is revealed to be Obi-Wan. One place it could be is here: "He is rescued by Obi-Wan, an elderly hermit. Obi-Wan tells Luke about....". It was removed because of the little leeway on grammar.

Also, one last suggestion is to add a link to Obi-Wan's name in the current plot. This was not from my original edit.

Thank you for your time Auser468 (talk) 08:19, 18 July 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks for taking the time to post. I added the "Obi-Wan Kenobi" link that you suggested. As far as the TIE dogfight, I wanted to offer a couple quotes from the page How to write a plot summary:

"The objective point of a plot summary is to condense a large amount of information into a short, accessible format. It is not to reproduce the experience of reading or watching the story, nor to cover every detail. For those who have not read or seen the story, it should serve as a general overview that fills in on the major points. For those who have, it should be detailed enough to refresh their memory, no more."

"A plot summary is not a recap. It should not cover every scene and every moment of a story."

I hope this helps explain my decision to remove the TIE segment. If not, please let me know. Wafflewombat (talk) 18:25, 18 July 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Thank you, that makes sense. Auser468 (talk) 21:57, 18 July 2024 (UTC)[reply]

I added the Obi-Wan revelation in a way that is concise and (I believe) grammatically correct. Let me know if you like this version. Wafflewombat (talk) 07:48, 21 July 2024 (UTC)[reply]

The intro says "Luke Skywalker acquires stolen architectural plans of the Death Star and sets out to rescue her". He sets out to Alderan to deliver the plans to Leia's father. He sneaks aboard the Death Star, finds out she's there, and then sets out to rescue her. 2600:8807:5400:7000:169:3A35:6C8:7ABF (talk) 22:37, 25 November 2024 (UTC)[reply]

This article appears to be well sourced but it is in the category "Articles lacking reliable references from March 2024". The B-class criteria (#1) states: The article is suitably referenced, with inline citations. It has reliable sources, and any important or controversial material which is likely to be challenged is cited.

There are currently eight links in the "External links" section. None is needed for article promotion.

• ELpoints #3) states: Links in the "External links" section should be kept to a minimum. A lack of external links or a small number of external links is not a reason to add external links.
• LINKFARM states: There is nothing wrong with adding one or more useful content-relevant links to the external links section of an article; however, excessive lists can dwarf articles and detract from the purpose of Wikipedia. On articles about topics with many fansites, for example, including a link to one major fansite may be appropriate.
• ELMIN: Minimize the number of links.

Other:

• External links This page in a nutshell: External links in an article can be helpful to the reader, but they should be kept minimal, meritable, and directly relevant to the article. With rare exceptions, external links should not be used in the body of an article.
• Second paragraph, acceptable external links include those that contain further research that is accurate and on-topic, information that could not be added to the article for reasons such as copyright or amount of detail, or other meaningful, relevant content that is not suitable for inclusion in an article for reasons unrelated to its accuracy.
  • Please note:
• WP:ELBURDEN: Disputed links should be excluded by default unless and until there is a consensus to include them.

I do not see that TCM Movie Database or AllMovie adding anything "extra" according to External links guidelines. -- Otr500 (talk) 15:34, 10 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]