Movies

Awhile back we told you the story of Andrew Ainsworth, the UK prop designer. Ainsworth was responsible for designing and creating the stormtrooper helmets that were in the original 1977 film. Since then, he has taken those rare molds and tools he’d used and made replica helmets for collectors and cosplayers in the UK and abroad. But the question was whether or not the replicas constituted infringement on Lucas’ intellectual property or not. Lucas had filed a lawsuit, when he alleged that they discovered that the company was selling to the US market. But Ainsworth has denied doing so.

The case went all the way to the British high court and they ruled in favor of Ainsworth stating that replicas are not works of art and therefore are not covered by copyright in the UK. This means that the company is free to continue to make and sell the helmets, as well as other Star Wars replicas, just not to those in the US. This is fine for the prop designer. He says...

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...

One of the most interesting, but perhaps the least known of the original Star Wars trilogy cast is Boba Fett. For someone who barely talked in the original movies, but had a cool jet pack, and grew up in the prequels, he was a character that gained a lot of notoriety from his mysterious nature. Expanded universe novels have tried to fill in the gap on how he became a bounty hunter and most portrayed him not as evil, but someone trying to survive and do his job for the money, just as Dog the Bounty Hunter does on TV each week. Of course, Boba Fett’s clients are questionable, but they pay well. But for those who haven’t read the novels and only seen the movies, there is a huge space in time which a lot of stories could come from and now one man is petitioning Lucas to either make the film himself or allow someone else to make the movie that would finally offer an official timeline of the hunter.

The man asking is not just some random fanboy that is on the net...

As every fan knows by now and we’ve announced here that Phantom Menace will be the first of the six movies to be re-released in 3D. John Knoll, a veteran in visual effects for Industrial Light and Magic, as well as a co-creator for Adobe Photoshop, will be leading the project. He was the original Visual FX Supervisor for Episodes I, II and III and one of things he talked about in doing the conversion was that since he was in charge then, he knows what kind of depth there was in each scene. This should make it easier and more accurate, assuring that it will look correct in the final project.

But it’s pretty clear that LucasFilms recognizes the hesitation in the fan’s hearts over this. After all, everyone remembers the fiasco around the conversion of Clash of the Titans, which basically ruined the movie. Lucas released a video on YouTube that talks to John Knolls and he goes through some of the challenges of the project and how they plan to overcome them...

Comic book fans are familiar with Dark Horse’s Star Wars: Knight Errant, but we thought we might introduce those that haven’t seen it to this interesting series.

The upcoming Old Republic game will focus on the time 1000 years into the past, before the events of the movies, and so does Star Wars: Knight Errant. This is a dark time for the worlds, a kind of wild west of space when everyone is trying to get their own piece of the action and there is no governing empire to look over the whole thing. It is strictly every man and every district for themselves. The Sith are the power in the galaxy and the Republic and the Jedi are struggling groups trying to get on top of the situation to bring order to chaos. Evil is everywhere and no one is safe. A far cry from the civilized events of the Imperial Senate.

But one woman warrior has a plan to take down the Sith. Her name is Kerra Holt and she is a headstrong lady who has decided to take it upon herself to rid...

No matter which Lego series it was, whether it was Harry Potter, Indiana Jones or Star Wars, the games have always had a tongue in cheek look at the films that they are portraying. And in this case, Lego Star Wars III is right up there with their take on the wildly popular animated series. Along with the major battles and supercool gameplay, some of the plot points are just hilarious. Such as when Anakin crashes the fighter into the hanger bay and Obi-Wan just puts his head in his palm.

The action will be both localized and on a massive scale. If you’ve seen the series, huge battles are a big part of the show and in the first trilogy, there were incredibly complicated and epic. Lego Star Wars III is not going to disappoint in this regard. From just the trailer, we can see that incredible scale of war from space against large star destroyers to the mass Jedi attack on planet Geonosis. Some will require a one man army, while others put you in charge of a...

Back in 1981, National Public Radio (NPR) Playhouse featured radio dramas that relied on good acting, sound effects and musical scores to tell their stories. Some of these were science fiction, but the most notable was Star Wars in 1981 and Empire Strikes Back in 1983. The films were adapted to extended episodes (13 and 10 respectively). Return of the Jedi was to be made as well, but NPR’s rocky relationship with their government benefactor at the time shelved the series. It would be 13 years before NPR would return to finish the original trilogy with a 6 part series that reunited cast and crew.
You know, the story of a young person finding out they are a future hero is as old as Hollywood itself and in all fairness, it didn’t start with George Lucas or end with JK Rowling. But since both film series are such icons in film culture, we thought it would be interesting to do some comparisons between them.

Let’s start with Luke and Harry Potter. Luke is an older...

Every fan of the series has wanted one thing besides seeing more of Leia in her slave bikini or Jar Jar hung from the rafters and that is to wield a real life light saber. In this quest, people have tried to use various items as pseudo sabers including things like fluorescent overhead bulbs which are quite dangerous if they break and are not recommended. And of course there have been plenty of toy versions like those sold in the stores and at carnivals that have the plastic that lights up and extends out when you swing it. Those might be durable enough for battle, but they look really hokey.|
Truly one of the most legendary villains in film history, Darth Vader is the epitome of evil. He is the character over the years we’ve all loved to hate. But from his early beginnings as Anakin Skywalker to his rise to become Darth Lord of the Sith, he’s had many actors play him.

Starting with the voice of Darth Vader in all the films, James Earl Jones is the most...

Star Wars is considered science fiction, but like its adversary Star Trek, the George Lucas universe had foreseen many real technological breakthroughs. These innovative achievements showcase the vision that went into making the films and how the future would come to pass. Here are some examples:

In Empire Strikes Back, Luke loses his hand in the battle with Lord Vader at the Cloud City. He is seen later in the film getting a new hand put back on. Inventors like Dean Kamen (of Segway fame) have created a bionic arm that provides amputees with functional fingers where they can pick up and manipulate things much easier. While still not as agile as Luke’s arm, they can go a long way to helping the handicapped be able to do tasks that before were quite difficult if not impossible.
The Force Unleashed II continues the story of Starkiller, despite the fact that he was killed in the first game. Darth Vader, upset that his apprentice did not finish the job of helping...

It's hard to imagine that back in 1971 when the idea of Star Wars, a sort of spaghetti western in space, was pitched to Universal, that such a film almost didn’t see the light of day. Even though it had been greenlighted along with American Graffiti as a two film deal, the initial scripts were rejected. George Lucas had to fight for its very creation with rewrite after rewrite and wondered even after it was complete whether it was worth it to continue.

So how did this worrisome experiment turn into a multi-billion dollar empire and cult classic still thrilling people? Well like Walt Disney, Lucas knew that good moviemaking started with a great story. No film becomes as memorable as Star Wars on special effects alone. People have to care about the subject matter, relate to it. Themes such as fighting the establishment, death, friendship, betrayal, and redemption are timeless subjects that live on. They draw us into the film, instead of strictly being spectators...