Try not to be totally surprised that Star Wars is #2 on Cracked’s list of seven terrible early versions of great movies. After reading the early drafts, some of the prequels less-stellar quirks make a lot more sense.
You can read early drafts of Star Wars for yourself at The Jedi Bendu Script Site, and see the (considerably less painful) Ralph McQuarrie concept art in Michael Heilemann’s Flickr collection.
That first Story Synopsis isn’t a synopsis. It’s Kurosawa’s “The Hidden Fortress” with the serial numbers filed off. Seriously, that’s almost a scene-by-scene cribbing. Samurai. With spaceships.