In celebration of the new Star Wars movie-for which I'm absolutely stoked for- I decided to write a post on the evolution of the Star Wars film saga.
The first ever Star Wars movie came out in 1977, it was entitled Star Wars: Episode IV: A New Hope. The plot of this film focused on the Rebel Alliance, led by Princess Leia played by Carrie Fisher and their effort to destroy the Death Star (the Galactic Empire's Space Station). This conflict interrupts Luke Skywalker's (played by Mark Hamill) quite farmland life, and he accidentally gets involved by taking robots that have plans for the potential destruction of the Death Star.
The sequel to Star Wars: A New Hope, The Empire Strikes Back was released in 1980. This followup is set three years into the future of A New Hope when the Galactic Empire's has fallen under the rule of Darth Vader and the Emperor Palpatine. Luke Skywalker's is taken under the wing of Jedi Master Yoda to study and master the Force. In the meantime, Darth Vader is on a mission to eliminate the Rebel Alliance whose purpose is to bring him and the Emperor Palpatine down. Ultimately, Luke has to decide whether to finish studying the Force and become a Jedi Knight or cast it aside and come to his friends' aid.
Star Wars: The Return of the Jedi (1983) takes place a year after The Empire Strikes Back, the dilemma in this one is now strictly the Emperor Palpatine whose plan is to build a second Death Star to get rid of the Rebel Alliance one and for all. Meanwhile, Luke (who always seems to be doing his own thing) is trying to bring back Darth Vader, who turns out to be Luke's father Anakin, a formerly fallen Jedi, from the Dark Side of the Force.