What’s So Special About… Star Wars?

I believe the release of the trailer for Rogue One is reason enough to discuss the film that started it all. Star Wars: A New Hope, the ultimate B-movie, has altered popular culture to an extent that no single movie, franchise, or medium has accomplished since it first lit up the silver screen thirty-nine years ago. Not even Marvel, the current titan of the multiplex, has the appeal or presence of George Lucas’ original space-opera. But why? Surely there are better sci-fi films out there? How could a film with lines like “But I was going to Tosche Station to pick up some power converters!” be one of the pinnacles of Hollywood cinema? Today, Star Wars goes under the knife (or in this case the lightsaber) as I try to figure out why it has enjoyed the kind of success most filmmakers can only dream of.