As fans of the Star Wars franchise the world over prepare to celebrate this year’s May the 4th, I found myself giving serious consideration to writing something for Geeks of Doom in order to commemorate the occasion. After racking my brain for several constantly interrupted hours, I drew nothing but blanks.
It’s difficult for me to get excited about anything Star Wars-related this days; I’ve written news stories about the continuing developments behind the upcoming Episode VII even though I have little interest in them, but that’s part of the reason why I’m on the writing staff of this website. The stories have to be reported even though I may not care much about them because one or more of our readers certainly will. But the staggering drop in allure regarding the dauntless heroes and dastardly villains who inhabit the expansive universe that sprang forth from George Lucas‘ euphoric imagination more than four decades ago in my view wasn’t something that happened overnight. It took many unpleasant, heartbreaking years.
However, I came not to talk about how much Star Wars has disappointed me over time. May 4th is meant to be a day of remembrance and celebration. With that in mind I will instead document in brief to the best of my abilities the role Lucas’ creation has played in inspiring me to embrace my own evolving sense of wonder and take control of my intellectual maturation.
Some new Star Wars: Episode VII information has been announced, including some character details and when the movie will be set, as well as when the movie officially begins shooting.
In the announcement it has been revealed that Episode VII takes place around 30 years after the end of Return of the Jedi, and that the characters will include a trio of young new leads and some familiar faces. This is all in line with what’s been expected; being set 30 years after the events of a movie that came out just over 30 years ago allows for the expected appearances of characters like Han Solo (Harrison Ford), Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill), and Princess Leia (Carrie Fisher) without any aging issues.
In addition to the new information, it’s also been revealed that the movie will officially begin filming just a couple of months from now in May. The first day of filming for every Star Wars movie has been well-documented, and you can read about all six of those first days below.
In the second Star Wars film, The Empire Strikes Back, Luke Skywalker leaves his Jedi Master Yoda on Dagobah to try and save his friends. The problem is, he hadn’t yet completed his training.
In the next film, Return Of The Jedi (the final of the original trilogy), Luke, who’s wiser and more practiced, returns to Dagobah to finally finish his Jedi training and to get some answers from his Master about his paternity, but finds Yoda old and dying.
A delete scene from Return Of The Jedi, which had been included in a laserdic version decades ago, is now online which reveals that Luke’s mentor, Obi-Wan Kenobi, actually did want to tell him the truth about his family.
This year’s Star Wars Celebration, the massive Star Wars fan convention, kicked off in Essen, Germany, this weekend. The event will see plenty of appearances from Star Wars saga alumni, autograph and photo ops, special memorabilia, a costume contest, and much more.
Some of the main cast members for Return of the Jedi reunited for a press conference to launch this year’s event. Here below, you can check out the photo of the reunited cast, which was tweeted out by the official Star Wars Twitter account.
Return of the Jedi, which completes the original Star Wars trilogy, celebrated its 30th anniversary this year back in May.
Here’s a good one for a laugh. There’s been a whole bunch of awesome Star Wars humor videos on the web, most of them using excerpts from the films and re-edited by fans. This one is of “NO” exception, as it features every single time the word “no” is mentioned in all six movies. It’s worth a look, so check it out at the bottom of the post.
Although the obvious classic (and/or groan-worthy) NO’s are featured in the video, you’ll be surprised how much the word is actually used in the movies. It may probably fuel the George Lucas Haters’ vocal detestation of his writing, but haters gonna hate!
The Star Wars NO video was edited by Chris Haynes, and uploaded to YouTube by HughesnBeuks.
Anyway, take a look, and leave your thoughts in a comment below.
Students of the Unusual™ comic cover used with permission of 3BoysProductions
The Mercuri Bros.™ comic cover used with permission of Prodigal Son Press