- Back to the Star Wars 30th birthday special

As you're probably already aware, we're celebrating the 30th birthday of Star Wars over at AOL. So, with that in mind, check out these 30 facts - one for every year - on the greatest sci-fi movie of them all...

1 On the very first day of filming in the deserts of Tunisia, the country experienced its first major rainstorm in 50 years.

2 Darth Vader was the first character that George Lucas created for the story.

3 In one of his original scripts, George Lucas planned for the characters of Luke Skywalker and his aunt and uncle to be dwarves.

4 The character of Han Solo was also going to be a huge green-skinned monster with no nose and gills.

5 After seeing Star Wars, Titanic director James Cameron quit his job as a truck driver to enter the film industry.

6 Apparently, studio executives were unhappy that Chewbacca didn't wear any clothes and attempted to have the costume redesigned with shorts.

7 This is the only film in the series where David Prowse (who played Darth Vader) did the lightsaber fighting on his own. A double was used in the sequels because he kept breaking the poles that stood in for the blades.

8 Peter Mayhew worked as an orderly in a Yorkshire hospital prior to being cast as Chewbacca.

9 When Darth Vader crushes the neck of one of his officers, the actual sound you hear is of walnut shells being crushed.

10 The original name of the main character was originally going to be Luke Starkiller. It was changed to Skywalker on the first day of filming.

11 The engine sound of the Imperial Star Destroyer is actually a manipulated recording of a broken air conditioner.

12 Even though Chewbacca is only able to growl, he still gets the very last line of the film.

13 The scene in which Luke and Leia swing to safety was done by the actors themselves (Carrie Fisher and Mark Hamill) and not stunt doubles. They did it in one take too.

14 At the end of the film, most of the crowd watching the heroes receive their medallions are cardboard cutouts.

15 The sounds of the lasers came from striking one of the suspension wires of the original Severn Bridge.

16 The Millennium Falcon was originally modeled after a hamburger with an olive next to it

17 The cast and crew's nickname for Dave Prowse was Darth Farmer because of his heavy Bristol accent.

18 Peter Cushing, who played Tarkin, apparently found the boots that came with his costume extremely uncomfortable to wear because they were too small. Apparently, in the few shots in which his feet could not be seen he wore a pair of fuzzy slippers.

19 The sound of Darth Vader's breathing was made by placing a small microphone in the mouthpiece of a scuba diving regulator.

20 Chewbacca was modeled after George Lucas's dog, Indiana. Apparently, the dog would sit in the passenger seat of George's car and act as 'co-pilot'.

21 This was the only Star Wars movie to be nominated for the Best Picture Academy Award.

22 George Lucas originally wanted Orson Welles to speak for Darth Vader. He changed his mind, however, after he felt that Welles' voice would be too recognizable. Instead, he went for the lesser-known James Earl Jones.

23 The first line of the film was said by C-3PO. He says, "Did you hear that? They shut down the main reactor. We'll be destroyed for sure. This is madness."

24 The 'Episode IV: A New Hope' tag at the head of the opening scroll was not present in the original prints of the film. This was seen for the first time during the 1981 for the film's re-release.

25 George Lucas based the character of Han Solo on his friend, director Francis Ford Coppola.

26 The word 'Vader' translates from Dutch to mean 'father'.

27 Darth Vader and Luke Skywalker never actually meet face to face in this film.

28 The targeting grid used for the Millennium Falcon's laser cannon ws based on a paperweight that George Lucas saw on sci-fi author Arthur C. Clarke's desk.

29 This was the very first feature film to be screened in Dolby Stereo.

30 It was also the first film to make over $300,000,000.