Star Wars: A New Hope hit theatres in 1977 — the same year that Apple moved from a garage to a real office building and Microsoft hired its first official employees. And the fact that it came out as consumer computers were truly hitting the mainstream shows.
Dino Ignacio — who, as readers point out, is a legendary gaming UI designer — took it upon himself to watch the classic and cut out every single instance in which a character interacts with an interface, whether soft- or hardware-based. That’s right, every time anyone used “machines, doors, screens, levers, knobs and buttons,” in Ignacio’s words, is included in this ridiculous supercut.
Beyond being a fun way to relive the movie, it’s a revealing exercise. This was a moment when GUIs, or graphical user interfaces, were still on the verge of becoming available to consumers. Apple’s Lisa — the first PC to integrate a GUI into the operating system — was still two years away. But thanks to companies like Xerox, which pioneered early graphics-based UIs, the public was familiar with the concept.
Lucas, clearly, was imagining what could be done with the UIs of the future. Check out the full video, it’s well-worth a close watch. [Vimeo]