A long time go in a galaxy far, far away ... they made a movie which has endured in our cultural memory for almost half a century. And on May 4 or, to deviate from newspaper style, May the fourth - fans all over the world will quietly mark Star Wars Day.

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Some of us of a certain age, will remember when, 49 years ago, we first saw those opening words in crawl text appear and gasped in wonder as the imperial destroyer filled the screen above our heads, making us feel as if we were going to be crushed under its impossible bulk.

It was a cinematic moment impossible to forget, and one enjoyed by generations since.

Much has changed in the half century since Star Wars: A New Hope first captured the world's imagination. The Star Wars franchise has grown to be one of the biggest in cinema history, with box office earnings over US$10 billion and merchandise generating US$20 billion. But the box office takings and toys tell only part of the story.

The story itself - the endless battle between light and dark, good and evil - has stuck with audiences for decades, through most iterations and despite some dodgy prequels. The eternal struggle is failsafe storytelling fare. It's the rollicking good humour and cuteness of the characters which give the allegory its timeless appeal.

It would be hard to find a child anywhere who can't identify the sound of a light sabre and a blaster or doesn't know the difference between a Wookie and an Ewok or an AT-AT and AT-ST.

It would also be hard to find a child who has seen the early Star Wars movies in the manner in which they were meant to be experienced - on a huge cinema screen with sound that courses through your body, the energy of a spellbound audience and that abiding sense of occasion.

The giant flat screen TV and surround sound at home, the remote that can pause the action when nature calls or the microwave that pings to tell us the popcorn is ready, the streaming services which provide movies on demand, are all well and good but they somehow diminish the magic of the........

© Canberra Times