Star Wars: A New Hope hit theaters 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]
