Adventures of the Starkiller, Episode I: The Star Wars

A rebel starfighter was in flight from three pursuing Imperial Stardestroyers above Utapau and its five moons. One of the Imperial cruisers exploded, but the Rebel craft sustained damage.

Inside the stricken Rebel vessel were two droids, identified as Threepio and Artwo. The smaller droid directed his companion down a corridor. A blast originating from one of the Stardestroyers breached the ship's hull, resulting in Threepio being buried under debris. The Captain, Deak Starkiller, both an Aquillian Ranger and a Jedi, made his way to the robots to check on them. He advised his officers to prepare for an imminent boarding action, noting the presence of a Sith knight among the enemy. Deak could sense him through the Force.

Deak gave the order for a group of R2 units to board the ship's lifepods to seek assistance from his younger sibling, Luke Starkiller. Artoo was among those dispatched, accompanied by Threepio. Stormtroopers then boarded the Rebel ship, initiating an assault on the crew. Following a brief exchange of fire, Darth Vader, encased in armored spacesuit, entered the ship. Employing the Force, he hurled objects and debris at Deak, overwhelming the young Ranger. Ultimately, Vader extinguished Deak's life force, causing the Rebel to lose consciousness. Vader was under the impression that he had captured the Son of the Suns and prevented a victory for the Bogan.

In the interim, on Utapau, Jawas captured Artoo and Threepio, imprisoning them within a sandcrawler. After escaping from captivity, the droids fled, and received directions to the Lars homestead from a local. The same local, however, reported the droids to an Imperial spy, referred to as a Gray Tusken.

At the Lars moisture farm, the droids encountered Biggs Starkiller and his twin brother Windy. Also residing there were the Jedi Owen and his wife Beru Lars, the Starkiller brothers' guardians. Leia Lars was the 16-year old cousin of Luke, Biggs and Windy. When he was given the code word Angel Blue, Luke, who is practicing with his laser sword, stops his exercises and introduces himself to the droids as "The Skywalker," his Jedi title, though he was still an apprentice.

Artoo then projected a hologram from Deak explaining that Luke must take the Kaiburr Crystal, under Owen Lars' protection, to Ogana Major, which was under attack by the Empire. The Starkiller, father of all four Starkiller brothers, was defending Ogana, but they needed the Crystal to protect against the Bogan and its minions. Owen believed that Deak would have been taken to the Imperial capital of Alderaan. Despite Luke's incomplete training and his aspirations of becoming an archaeologist, he accepted the mission. That evening, he visited his mother's grave site, explaining to his younger brothers the history of the Jedi and the rise of the Empire.

Equipped with the Kaiburr Crystal, Luke and the droids journeyed to Mos Eisley in a landspeeder. En route, Luke spotted a pursuer, the Tusken, using his binoculars.

Within Mos Eisley, Luke encountered Han Solo, a youthful space pirate. Solo intervened during a brawl in the Mos Eisley Cantina, although Luke's laser sword proved more effective than Solo's laser pistol. Solo agreed to transport Luke to Ogana Major in exchange for a million credits upon delivery. As it happened, Solo was heavily indebted to Oxus, the captain of a TDF104 docked nearby.

Solo, feigning a reactor malfunction, commandeered Oxus's vessel. Only three crewmembers chose to remain with them: Montross Holdaack, the science officer, a cyborg, and Chewbacca, the Wookiee. The ship departed from Mos Eisley and engaged hyper-skip toward Ogana Major.

However, their intended destination had been obliterated by the Empire. The cause remained unknown. Luke instructed Han to navigate the ship to Alderaan, hoping to rescue Deak. The ship docked at the floating city, and Luke and Han acquired stormtrooper armor as a disguise. Chewbacca would pose as their "prisoner." They located Deak, who was dying from torture, and carried him away, evading both the garrison and the strange Dai Noga creatures. As they escaped the Imperial capital, four TIE/LN starfighters pursued them. Luke employed the Kaiburr Crystal to sustain Deak's life.

Upon reaching their destination, the moon Yavin 4, site of the secret rebel base, they discovered that a massive space station had tracked them. Ejecting from the pirate ship, the heroes landed on Yavin in lifepods. At the Massassi outpost on Yavin, they underwent debriefing. General Dodana explained the dangers and weaknesses of the Death Star.

Miraculously, The Starkiller, Luke's father, had survived the destruction of Ogana Major. With the Crystal, the ancient Jedi is revived. He explained that Luke would complete his training with him.

Luke joined the strike force assembled to attack the Death Star, but despite a payment of 8 million credits, Han declined to help. With Bail Antilles, Artoo and Threepio, and the Crystal, Luke flew his fighter toward the space station. Other Rebel pilots targeted the station's poles.

However, Darth Vader sensed the Crystal and pursued Luke in his personal starfighter. He was on the verge of destroying Luke and his crew, but unexpectedly, Han, Montross, and Chewbacca intervened, saving the young Jedi. Vader piloted his ship into the pirates' craft, dying, but seriously damaging the larger vessel.

Luke successfully maneuvered the Rebel ship into position, and Antilles and Threepio fired the turrets into the exhaust port. The Death Star exploded as Luke's ship flew past a lifepod from the pirate ship; Han and his crewmates had survived.

The Empire had suffered a serious defeat.

The screenplay commences with a quotation, akin to the "A long time ago..." opening of the finished films:

This particular version of the script marked the initial inclusion of the Force as a supernatural power. Previous iterations portrayed the Jedi solely as skilled warriors.

Furthermore, this script was the first to initiate and center around the two droids. By opening with the assault on the Rebel vessel and the evacuation of C-3PO and R2-D2, Lucas revisited the opening he had conceived in The Star Wars: Story Synopsis, although in that version, they were aboard an Imperial ship facing destruction. This concept was inspired by Akira Kurosawa's The Hidden Fortress.

However, diverging from The Hidden Fortress and his earlier drafts, he now designated Luke Starkiller as the primary protagonist, rather than the General or the Princess.

This script introduced the Kiber Crystal, a MacGuffin, or item that everyone wants, providing essential motivation for movement and action, but that is not relevant to the film as a whole. The Kiber Crystal later appeared as the Kaiburr crystal in the Legends novel Splinter of the Mind's Eye, and still later as kyber crystals the Star Wars: The Clone Wars television series, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, and other canon works.

Following the completion of the second draft, Lucas considered altering Luke's character to a female, possibly due to the absence of significant female characters in Adventures of the Starkiller. This alteration was ultimately not implemented in the subsequent synopsis, and Leia was reintroduced as a major character in the third draft.

• The Cinema of George Lucas
• " Unknown Origins " — Star Wars Insider 92
• The Making of Star Wars: The Definitive Story Behind the Original Film

• Adventures of the Starkiller, Episode I: The Star Wars on www.starwarz.com (archived from the original on August 18, 2024)
• Helander, Jan. The Development of _ Star Wars _ – As Seen Through the Scripts by George Lucas , Luleå University of Technology , 1997. (web archive)