8 People More Important Than George Lucas In Making Star Wars Great

4. John Williams Composed The Movie-Dominating Scores

No movie in the history of cinema has been quite so elevated by its score than Star Wars. John Williams music is timeless, rarely diverging into soundtrack traits of the time period (and if it does, that's likely only due to Williams proliferation and influence) and instead invoking classical music such as Holst's The Planets; from the very first blast the saga felt grand and epic. The films really steer into Williams theme, letting him set the tone for the big moments and ensuring that those he's absent from (a key confrontation in The Force Awakens, for example) are all the more impactful for it. His work is so good that even determined prequel-bashers must relinquish that his scores for Episodes I-III are masterful - Duel Of The Fates, Across The Stars and Battle Of The Heroes match anything seen in the originals. Does he have as big an impact as George Lucas though? Composing the music may not seem like the most defining element, but given how intrinsic it's become, it's hard to argue otherwise. It may be a little jokey with its echoey footsteps and pithy roar, but hearing the ending of A New Hope sans-score shows just how much the pieces infer on the films' tone.