The 1930s sci-fi serials Flash Gordon and Buck Rogers were released in a strict format: 20-minute chapters, each closing on impossible cliffhangers to entice youngsters to return to the theater the following weekend. Decades later, a young George Lucas spun his love for these episodic chronicles into blockbuster gold, updating the space opera for a jaded ‘70s culture hungry for an innocent saga of wizards, damsels, and rogues that took full advantage of modern special effects.
Star Wars (retitled Episode IV – A New Hope in 1981) was just the first course. Although you could probably comb through the 1977 film and insert “To be continued…” at a dozen perilous moments, it’s not until The Empire Strikes Back that we learned how compelling serialised storytelling could be for the saga.
