Experience the next great chapters of the Star Wars universe

This Friday, January 28th, Anakin will learn of the prophecy of the chosen one, spelled out in the Phantom Menace, and thus his fate. The episode, the first of a three part arc, will bring Obi-Wan, Anakin, and his teenage padawan Ahsoka Tano to a world inhabited by very powerful creatures of the Force. The family that they meet, especially the father, is convinced that Anakin is the one, the one that will bring balance to the force, just as Qui-Gon Jinn recognized in the films, and he tries to convince the young jedi to remain on the planet Mortis where he can help to forge a balance between the two sides.

There is no doubt that Anakin’s biggest influences at the start were Qui-Gon Jinn and his mother, Shmi Skywalker. And for these important episodes, which will mark a big revelation in Anakin’s life, they return. His mother pushed him to go into the stars with the Jedi and learn the ways of the force and her death pushed him toward the dark side, while the...

Before we’ve listed in the past, some really odd merchandise from the Star Wars universe. Things that made you wonder what LucasFilms was thinking when they licensed it, so we thought we’d look again and see what other bizarre things there are.

Since it’s going to be Valentine’s Day in a few weeks, why not treat your sweetheart to these valentines from Star Wars: The Clone Wars? Yes, there is nothing like a personal love note from Anakin Skywalker to get those feelings a flowing, which is an odd choice, especially considering that Jedi aren’t supposed to fall in love, but then it didn’t stop him from getting with Padme. But I digress. Amazon has a full range of card sets available for the Clone Wars and the movies. <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/search?ie=...;linkCode=ur2&camp=1789&creative=9325">Star Wars Valentines</a><img...

Qui-Gon Jinn, as many remember, died at the end of Phantom Menace, but as Obi-Wan showed us in the original trilogy, Jedi have the power to come back as spirits and in this case, young Obi-Wan’s mentor does just that. The reason? To make sure that Anakin is being trained and to warn his once apprentice that other’s see young Skywalker’s ability to fulfill the prophecy. The ghostly Jedi will make his appearance in two upcoming episodes of Star Wars: The Clone Wars animated series on the Cartoon Network on January 28th and February 11th. But the biggest news is that he will be played by none other than Liam Neeson, who played Qui-Gon Jinn in the films.

While the original movie that served as the springboard for the series was able to get stars like Samuel L. Jackson (Mace Windu) and Christopher Lee (Count Dooku) from the trilogy, the series has not been so fortunate. So Liam Neeson is a big deal here because he is virtually the only one that has reprised...

Okay, before you read the headline and freak out, there are no plans to remake any of the trilogies and that is a great thing. While we may have had our objections to the special editions, at least George didn’t authorize a full redo of the movies like some studios did with titles like Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory and Clash of the Titans. But we got to thinking, who would play in such a remake if they did decide to make one. While there are all sorts of stars we’d like to throw into the Star Wars universe, just for fun, we thought we’d stick to what might actually work, rather than fantasizing too much. We asked our staff and this is who we came up with. Agree or disagree, leave us a comment.

Luke Skywalker – Justin Bieber. Just kidding. Although he does kind of have the hair for it and we could see him crying on the pole when told that Darth is his father later on, but our candidate would be Tobey McGuire. He’s already got a lot of experience...

We start this week with Seth Rogen, who plays the Green Hornet, claims that during a meeting he had with George Lucas and Steven Spielberg, that Lucas believes that the world will indeed end in 2012. Being the futuristic visionary that he is, it seemed unlikely that the revelation was nothing more than humor, but after making his case, Rogen and Spielberg had no doubt that Lucas does in fact believe that the end of the world is at hand in 2012. Scary.

If you’ve often sat in your x-wing fighter wondering how to get to Dagobah to see Yoda or to complain about the Trade Federation and their taking over of your planet on Coruscant, you need a map. Fortunately, the guys at EW have felt your pain and created a super high resolution image that shows all the routes and how to get from place to place in the Star Wars universe. You can get the map by clicking here. No longer...

The big news, of course, this weekend is the announcement at this year’s Consumer Electronics Show that George Lucas has finally given the go ahead to release Star Wars on Blu-Ray. The bad news is that you’ll have to wait until September 2011 for the set.

In keeping fans up to date on the new MMO Star Wars: The Old Republic, the official website now features more bios of the characters that will appear in the game. In the latest installment, we are introduced to Jewl’a Nightbringer, the bounty hunter, a new republic supreme chancellor named Janarus, and Darth Jadus, an imperial officer. The game itself has been in development for quite sometime and is scheduled for release in 2011, although no specific date has yet been announced.

You can also watch the E3 2010 trailer for the game here.

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In a bit of fan fiction, an editor imagined what would have happened if...

In our games of 2011, we mentioned the relationship that Star Wars has had in the Lego Universe. There are lots of different building sets based on the work of George Lucas, not to mention the numerous video games. The connection has been noted in Legoland California with themed days and costumed characters like stormtroopers and Obi-Wan. But up until now, the park has focused on real world objects, people and locations, all in exquisite detail and all made of the little plastic blocks and speciality pieces. That is all about to change on March 31. The 128 acre park, which is already in the midst of a large expansion that includes a water park, and several rides and exhibits, will unveil the Star Wars area in it’s Miniland section. Working closely with LucasFilms, the scenes will surely showcase the films with much precision and care.

Sharing the area of the park with the incredible reproductions of New York and Las Vegas, the tribute to the work of Lucas...

2010 brought some lackluster news for Star Wars gamer fans. Force Unleashed II did not live up to its potential and Kinect Star Wars got pushed back to 2011. But there is a lot of hope in the galaxy that the future will shine like a well lit lightsaber and make up for the past with the release of several great titles we’ve been waiting for. Here we will look at this year’s announced games so far.

Star Wars has always had a relationship with Lego from the physical blocks and models found in their toy sets to games and software where Lego characters live in the virtual world of George Lucas. And now TT Games is working on putting the finishing touches on Lego Star Wars III, their latest adventure. This time, the action will focus on the Clone Wars taking various elements from not only the film Attack of the Clones, but also the animated series that has been running with great success on the Cartoon Network. The game features a new engine with updated...

Bioware, who created Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, will be releasing a full MMO called Star Wars: The Old Republic. Rumored to have cost over 100 million so far, the game is set to be released in Spring 2011. It will feature fully realized interactive worlds that takes place 3500 years before Episode IV when the Sith and the Jedi are at odds, even despite a peace treaty, in which battles are still raging on, threatening the ability to end the war.

Upon entering the world, the player will choose their character class and have the ability to change the look and race of their avatar based on the class they have chosen. Classes include Jedi Knights, Sith Warriors, Jedi Consulars, Smugglers, Troopers, Sarlacc Enforcers, Bounty Hunters, Imperial Agents, and Sith Inquisitors. The one you select will put you initially on the light side or dark side, but your fate isn’t locked in at the start. The decisions you make throughout the game will also determine...

It was quite a roller coaster this week for the Star Wars universe with a few ups and downs, but that can be said for any iconic universe I suppose. Here are the highlights.

First up, Grant McCune, Oscar winning special effects and master model builder, died this week at age of 69 with pancreatic cancer.

The visionary brought us not only such characters as R2D2 for the first Star Wars, but had built models for at least 100 films including Rambo, Star Trek: The Motion Picture, Speed, and Ghostbusters 2 in a career that spanned over 30 years. You can even catch a glimpse of him in A New Hope as a Death Star Gunner, although he was uncreditted.

Star Wars: Force Unleashed II was released, but it hasn’t been going too well with players and critics alike. They seem to find the game a bit monotonous from level to level, despite having a strong story and Star Killer (Darth Vader’s apprentice) possessing some great powers, but that was all put to waste in what is...

You may have seen our article on Star Wars in the kitchen, but there are so many other crazy contraptions and uses of the characters, some hard to believe that someone even thought of them.

Tauntaun Sleeping Bag – In 2009, ThinkGeek thought it would be funny to have a sleeping bag based on the tauntaun from Empire Strikes Back. You remember the tauntaun? That is the creature that Han Solo got into in order to remain warm and he commented how he thought they smelled bad on the outside. Well, there were so many requests on where to buy one that a company actually made it for real and now they are available to the public. They go for around $80-100 and sell at such places as ThinkGeek.com and Skymall.

Dark Side Roasted Coffee – Ever wonder how Darth Vader stays awake so long and you never see him sleeping. It’s probably due to his choice of coffee. Yes, the Lord of the Sith only drinks Dark Side Coffee, available at ThinkGeek.com for 14.99 for a 12...

It’s been 30+ years since the trilogy and most of the actors that were in the original films are still around acting or doing conventions. We thought we’d look into some of their current projects and see what they are up to.

Mark Hamill (Luke Skywalker) has not done much in the way of film roles since Star Wars, partially because of a bad scar on his face, but he hasn’t disappeared. He is the voice of many characters that we know from the cartoons. He played Klaw from the Avengers, the Joker from the Batman: Animated Series, Red Skull from the Marvel Super Heroes, and a host of others. And it was just announced that he would reprise his role as the Joker in the newest Batman game.

Carrie Fisher (Princess Leia) has a one woman show coming to HBO in which she talks about her sometimes dysfunctional life, providing tidbits into not only her character in Star Wars, but her famous parents Eddie Fisher and Debbie Reynolds. She can also be seen in Wright vs. Wrong, a...