BEN You must learn the ways of the Force if you’re to come with me to Alderaan.

LUKE (laughing) Alderaan? I’m not going to Alderaan. I’ve got to go home. It’s late, I’m in for it as it is.

BEN I need your help, Luke. She needs your help. I’m getting too old for this sort of thing.

LUKE I can’t get involved! I’ve got work to do! It’s not that I like the Empire. I hate it! But there’s nothing I can do about it right now. It’s such a long way from here.

BEN That’s your uncle talking.

LUKE (sighing) Oh, God, my uncle. How am I ever going to explain this?

BEN Learn about the Force, Luke.

LUKE Look, I can take you as far as Anchorhead. You can get a transport there to Mos Eisley or wherever you’re going.

BEN You must do what you feel is right, of course.

– Ben (Alec Guinness), Luke (Mark Hamill), Star Wars: Episode 4 — A New Hope (1977), written by George Lucas

The Daily Dialogue theme for the week is refusal of the call, suggested by Ryan Smith who also suggested Star Wars.

Trivia: This is the opening sentence for a 13-page treatment George Lucas wrote in 1972: “…the story of Mace Windu, a revered Jedi-bendu of Opuchi who was related to Usby C.J. Thape, a Padawaan learner to the famed Jedi…” George Lucas spent nearly three years rewriting before he completed the script for Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope. Although most of that early script was ultimately unused, the character of Mace Windu and the term padawaan (with the spelling changed to padawan), both appear in the prequel trilogy. Mace Windu, of course, is one of the Jedi Council members, played by Samuel L. Jackson. And the term padawan is used to refer to Jedi apprentices.

Dialogue On Dialogue: Anyone care to dissect each of Luke’s line and track what he uses as the basis for his refusal (e.g., responsibilities, excuses, lack of conviction)?