“...when something like Star Wars becomes such an incredible phenomenon there's no way to explain it.”―George Lucas[src]
Star Wars is an epic science fiction, fantasy, space opera and fictional universe created by George Lucas. The Star Wars story is comprised of numerous archetypal motifs common to science fiction, political climax and classical mythology. Music, including musical motifs, played a large part in the telling of the story, according to Lucas and Star Wars composer John Williams. Starting with the original release of what is now-titled Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope, originally called Star Wars, the saga became one of the most commonly used examples of the space opera sub-genre of science fiction. Along with this, it became a large part of mainstream culture, particularly in the United States where it was conceived, and it has gone on to become one of the highest-grossing series of all time.
One of the contributions of Star Wars was the creation of a large Star Wars fan base, particularly on the World Wide Web. Websites such as TheForce.Net offer numerous news and fan postings on different aspects of the Star Wars Saga, and Wookieepedia has grown to become the largest Star Wars encyclopedia, as well as the largest Wikia Wiki, to document all available information from Star Wars. The Star Wars Fanon Wiki is also one of the largest Wikia Wikis, and it has grown to become a place where fan fiction authors and other creators of fan activities can post encyclopedic articles on their work. Websites such as FanFiction.Net and TheForce.Net also provide a haven for fan fiction, with the latter also providing space for fan films, fan audio and fan art.