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Star Wars was one of the first films that really did a booming business in the merchandising department and opened up a whole new avenue of income for movie producers to tap into. But because this wasn’t a big thing when contracts were originally signed, many wound up being left out of the revenue flow. Carrie Fisher, for instance, who arguably is the most memorable actress in the original films, with her strong portrayal of Princess Leia, apparently did not get on the gravy train according to an interview she did with The Daily Beast.

It was an interesting revelation. Most would assume that the actors in Star Wars, especially the big three, would be rolling in cash since their likeness is literally on millions of things, but they aren’t. Because they didn’t sign any sort of deal that would allow them to get such royalties. Perhaps that is why Harrison Ford is so bitter. Oddly enough, though, the least likely to have merchandise, the old Obi-Wan Kenobi, Sir Alec Guiness did...

This week we look at fan protests over blu-ray changes, darth, er dick cheney on Leno, and star wars toothbrushes.

Protests are breaking out across the internet as Star Wars fans react to the changes that Lucas has made in relation to new Blu-Ray editions coming out soon. Some are calling out for a boycott of the series, while others are just standing in disgust over why Lucas has to keep messing with his work. Many wonder if he cares at all about the fans or he’s just doing this to be vane or satisfy his own insecurities over the films. The biggest crime, as we reported, is adding dialogue to Vader’s destruction of the Emperor. The “Noooooo!” seems to be the same one that Vader yelled when he was told that Padme was dead back in Revenge of the Sith. And we can certainly see why there would be such a fuss about it. It literally changes the whole meaning of the scene and in the end, makes Vader look like a whining wimp instead of the bad ass that he’s...

We haven’t done a Star Wars stuff article in a bit, so we thought we’d look at some more weird items that have come out from the Star Wars universe, which will no doubt excite many of the fans out there.

Do you ever have moments in life where a Star Wars quote at just the right time in the voice of the original character would come in handy? Say you are trying to convince your child to do better in school. What better way to do that than by Yoda telling him he needs to do or do not, that there is no try? And you can by using this keychain to hang your keys from and have six different sound clips at your disposal to use in your every day life. For instance, what if you were in a business meeting and the boss is saying how sales are way down? A little comedy relief with C3PO saying “We’re doomed!” may lighten the mood, or your wallet when you get fired, but wasn’t it worth it? They also come with a light saber sound and the creepy breath of Darth Vader’s...

Today's news features Star Wars: The Old Republic opening with a limited run of copies, an R2-D2 Planetarium, and Star Wars meets Mexico's Day of the Dead.

Fans who are eagerly awaiting Star Wars: The Old Republic may find themselves waiting a bit longer when the game does ship, which is expected to be around Christmas of this year. The reason is that Bioware is now saying that they will only be allowing so many copies to be sold at first to ease the servers into the traffic. This is actually not a bad idea. With the demand as high as it’s been, having millions of people suddenly flooding the system may not be the best idea in a live format. So instead, they want to make sure that the launch goes as smoothly as possible, learning their lesson from other MMO’s that have started out on very shaky ground. So far, no one has said how many that will be specifically, nor how much the MMO will be after you buy the initial copy, if anything.

Remember that R2-D2...

A new trailer is out for Season 4 of Cartoon Network’s popular show Star Wars: The Clone Wars and it looks to be a pretty exciting season indeed…

One of the big events of the new season appears to be the undersea battle for Admiral Akbar’s home Mon Calamari. Count Dooku apparently orders his army of separatists to take over the submerged city, but the Calamari are not going without a fight and get the help of the Jedi and the clones. The story, which will play out over three episodes, is a continuation from the online MMO Clone Wars Adventures that debuted earlier. The game is not only fun to play, but because of the dedication in keeping the stories consistent from one to the other, will serve as a very good introduction to the new season. Producers said it was important that the two entities play in the same universe and what happens in one will have consequences in the other.

Anakin is still being haunted by his inner demons, pushing him further away...

Unless you live on the furthest reaches of the Empire, you’ve no doubt heard that the Star Wars Saga, all 6 movies, will be released on Blu-Ray on September 16th. There is a new trailer to whet your appetite while you wait until next month to pick these up.

This new look at the set as a whole delves a bit more into the 40 hours of bonus content that will be featured, which will no doubt be of more interest to the fans than seeing the movies once again. There are scenes showing the younger Obi-Wan in front of a green screen as he strikes down the droids, Harrison Ford kissing a woman that doesn’t look like Carrie Fisher in a candid on set moment, 3D models of the ships, demonstrations on compositing scenes together such as putting the AT-AT models on the snow covered background of Hoth, and other never before seen images and clips.


You may want to keep in mind that if you are...

You may not have been aware of this, but Lego Star Wars also has two online games that you can play for free as a promotion for the actual game. Ace Assault pits you up against your favorite bounty hunters as you try to destroy their ship in this Asteroids like adventure. The other, the Quest for R2-D2, takes you on a quest through various missions to find the elusive droid that is calling for help while carrying the plans to a new weapon.

Ace Assault allows you to first pick and customize your pilot. You can give your guy a name, a chosen helmet, weapon, pants and shirt. There are a lot of different options. The face ones, for example, give you different expressions. Once you’ve chosen what your character looks like, you’ll be given a chance to choose a ship. Each ship has different strengths that will effect how you do against your foes. Some ships are locked until you reach certain goals, presumably getting through the three rounds of combat presented...

Well as we mentioned in earlier articles, there were several panels surrounding Star Wars and the revelations were interesting to say the least about the Lucas empire. We’ll touch on a few of them right here.

Of course, the big news for gaming fans was Kinect Star Wars, which was finally given a release timeframe of Christmas 2011 although there was no specific date. They showed off a new portion of the game that included pod racing where gamers could race as any of the characters and over 20 pods on a variety of courses. In this one, you’ll even be able to play the Sebulba trick of actually throwing things at your opponent to wreck their racer. You can do all of this, as well as yielding a light saber, driving a flying car, and more with the Kinect motion tracking system that is only on the Xbox 360. The Star Wars Bundle, announced at the show, will include a R2D2 modded Xbox 360, a C3PO modded controller and a white cased Kinect to match, as well as two...

As you all know, Lucas is releasing all six Star Wars movies on Blu-Ray in various packs on September 16th, but one thing that they have in common is around 40 hours of extra bonus features such as the making of, etc. But for those who can’t wait and have an iPad or iPad 2, you can now download a free app from the iTunes app store that will let you get a sneak peek at the bonus footage that will be included. iPod Touch and iPhone users will have to wait a bit longer for the peek as the app won’t be ready until next month. But that is still long before the release date.

So what is in the app? Basically a very spiffy well intentioned interface that is touch driven, giving access to each of the films and their related content. That content includes a ton of concept art and rare never before seen photos with notes on what it all meant, a QuicktimeVR like viewer with props, costumes and maquettes (which are mockup statues) that you can view from all angles, and...

At San Diego Comic-Con that officially starts tomorrow, there will be a panel for Star Wars: The Old Republic, the much anticipated MMO from Bioware and EA. And during that panel, there was to be a huge announcement about the game. But a polish game store website named Empik placed in their store a TOR collectors set that it was taking pre-orders. Could this be what they were going to reveal?

The shop talked about the details of this set, giving the added features you will get over the lowly droids that just buy the regular game, such as a CD of the TOR soundtrack, of course a fancy box for which it all comes in, a map of the Old Republic galaxy, the game discs in metal cases, a Darth Malgus statue, a custom Security Authentication Key (which we aren’t exactly sure what it opens) and a journal by Master Gnost-Durai with notes by Satele Shan (who we are sure will have relevance in the game).

The set also features in-game enhancements, which is interesting...

In our continuing series to tell you what’s going to be at Comic-Con for those attending in relation to Star Wars, we present Friday’s (July 21st) schedule for all things Lucas related…

10am – 11am Lego Star Wars
Ever wanted to find out what it takes to bring Star Wars and Lego together? Well now you can with the team from the game company, where you will be able to ask questions and hear the answers from some of the coolest developers around. The panel will also feature Emmy award winning writer Michael Price. There will also be the revealing of a new Lego Star Wars event.

11am – 12n Hasbro Star Wars
Of course, everyone knows that Hasbro makes a ton of Star Wars toys, fun props and action figures. In this panel, guests from the marketing and design teams will be on hand to talk about what is in store for the franchise with a sneak peek at next year’s offerings.

12n – 1:00pm Star Wars Books
Publisher Del Rey and LucasBooks will discuss the 20th anniversary...

San Diego Comic-Con International is one of the biggest comic book, and now pop culture events in the country. It’s where movie companies, comic book publishers, authors, artists, game developers, and even toy manufacturers, not to mention fans come together, 130,000 in all for the four day event. And Star Wars is right in the middle of it, with actually a lot of different events going on despite not having much in the way of new content except for Clone Wars’ new season coming soon.

Thursday:
10:00am – 11:00am Star Wars Kinect
The title that has been much awaited for the Xbox 360 and Kinect controller will have a panel in which participants will get to hear from lead producer Craig Derrick from LucasArts and studio head Jorg Nuemann from Kinect Publishing. Participants will get a free poster for attending.

3:30pm – 4:30pm Star Wars: The Old Republic
We’ve talked about the new massive multiplayer online world before here and Bioware will be on hand, along...