Star Wars Articles

One of the big draws is obviously going to be the chance to test your skills against others in the ring of battle and The Old Republic will have three facilities in which to get your war credibility in the game against other live players in group and in individual duels. [video=youtube;FO-QCW1IH2U] We’ve already discussed Huttball, the new sport created by the Hutts that is a cross between American Gladiators, Wipe Out and Instant Death. It’s an arena whose object is very simple. Get the ball into the other team’s goal. But to get there is very hazardous with all sorts of things that will kill you like firepits, electric shocks, and of course, the defenders. The main rule is to survive. Violence is not only allowed, but...

Going to be a sitcom, there is. Funny, it will be. Sorry, I was suddenly possessed by Yoda. But there is a situation comedy being mapped out by Seth Green with the endorsement of the man himself, George Lucas, or at least his licensing department. And the target date is in the next two years, give or take a year or so. Green wouldn’t be more specific. If you haven’t heard the name Seth Green, he is quite the accomplished actor doing stints in movies like Scooby Doo and playing Oz in the ever popular Buffy the Vampire Slayer TV series, but he’s probably best known these days for two things. One is that he is the voice of Chris Griffin in Fox’s irreverent comedy Family Guy and he is the co-creator of Cartoon Network’s Robot...

This week we have EA’s response to worry that their servers for Star Wars: The Old Republic may not hold up, Mac users get Lego Star Wars III: The Clone Wars and Yoda was arrested for drunk driving in Germany. Wait. What? As you may have heard, the Battlefield 3 servers, which are also run by publisher EA, had some serious downtime this week, taking offline thousands upon thousands of users on the PC, PS3 and Xbox 360 platforms. This, of course, caused major outrage and a lot of pie on the face of the software giant, but it also shed doubt on their ability to maintain Star Wars: The Old Republic. EA was quick to point out that there is an entirely different PC only configuration involved in the SW:TOR servers and that the same...

Now we all know how protective we are about our Star Wars memorabilia. When people come over, we don’t even want them to touch that brand new Darth Vader bust. But when a Thai woman destroyed a 30 year old man’s Luke and Vader collection, he got all Sith Lord on her and choked her, but not using the force, just force. Now this might be what Jimmy Buffett would call a Jedi Crime of Passion, but it’s actually much more complicated than that. When he was arrested after killing her, he had already had a history of being abused by the woman, even seeking help from a domestic abuse center. And she had vowed to make his life a living hell, threatening to leave him and return to her native country, but apparently did not have time to make...

The University of South Florida Polytech has been under fire lately for spending too much and using their money for what two Sunshine State senators call unnecessary expenditures. So when they purchased a seven foot Darth Vader statue, an Imperial Stormtrooper that needs a new hand, Captain Kirk’s chair from Star Trek and an ET replica for $10,000, they were bound to catch even more blaster shots from the legislature. But as a fan, one has to appreciate the college’s rebuttal to their critics. They say that the items in question are part of a bigger picture in which they are trying to spur inspiration and creativity among students in the same way that Google offices bring forth their imaginative ideas. The search engine giant is...

I’ll say one thing for Bioware. They sure aren’t letting any grass grow under their feet in their daily quest to make sure that everyone on the planet is interested in their soon to be released MMO, Star Wars: The Old Republic. Usually we see maybe two or three trailers for a game, but Bioware releases one just about every day or so it seems like. Now, I’m not saying there is anything wrong with that. In fact I applaud their courage as it gives new fodder for their critics to tear apart, and I really enjoy seeing what is possible in the new worlds of the Lucas Empire. Their latest trailer focuses on the battle techniques and differences between the Sith Inquisitor and the Republic Trooper. These two characters stand in stark...

We found a few new stories today that we thought we’d share with you. Star Wars: The Old Republic’s producers announced their plan for early access to the game for pre-order enthusiasts, Star Wars snowboards, and a little factoid about Carrie Fisher from her new book. It’s pretty common knowledge that pre-order customers of Star Wars: The Old Republic will get some degree of early access, but up until now they didn’t really have any idea of just how early that would be. Well sources at Bioware are now saying that it could be as early as five days before, but it could also be one day or less even. It all will depend on when you entered in your pre-order code into the website. They didn’t say how the timing would affect that though...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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 –...

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...

The film Empire Strikes Back in the Star Wars series is one of the most endearing films of the trilogy and a lot of that has to go to the vision of Irvin Kershner. He directed Episode V and really sealed the role Star Wars had in culture. It is rare that one can take a middle of sequence film which had no beginning and no end and turn it into one that is fondly remembered as the best. George Lucas knew that in order for Episode V to work, it would have to rely more on emotions than action and special effects. After all, this is where Luke would learn of his true nature and what it meant to help his friends. The story just oozed character interaction and George wanted someone who knew what he was doing, but wasn’t tainted by...

Since 1977, people have been fascinated by the Star Wars Universe and to this day, there is still so much information to be learned and enjoyed about this classic series. Today we will look at some recent reference books that have popped up that would be perfect for your holiday gift list. Unlike the series, the Art of Star Wars, this book goes the opposite direction. Instead of showing the conceptual artwork that was used as inspiration for set and character designs, this one asks 100 artists, to give their interpretation of any part of the Star Wars universe. What results is a rich array of visual styles and subjects such as Darth Maul as a baby and Lucas standing at the bar with a fruity drink at Mos Eisley spaceport. The artists...

Here is a list of 40 most memorable lines from the first film in the original trilogy. We never realized how many great lines Carrie Fisher had as Princess Leia. 40. Where did you dig up that old fossil? – Han asking about Obi-Wan 39. They’re coming in too fast! – Luke talking about the tie fighters attacking the Millenium Falcon. 38. And I am C-3PO, human-cyborg relations. And this is my counterpart R2D2. – C3PO introduces himself and his partner 37. This is some rescue. You came in here, didn't you have a plan for getting out? 36. I am not a committee! – Leia to Han during the argument on the Millenium Falcon 35. Traveling through hyperspace isn’t like dusting crops, boy! – Han Solo to Luke 34. Put that away. You’re going to get us...

So many people grew up watching the movies, reading the books, visiting the theme park attractions, and it’s become such a legacy. But what does the story teach us and teach our kids? In this article, we’ll explore that question. First off, riches are of no value if you don’t have friends to share it with. When Han wants to just leave with his promised loot, he feels that it’s in his best interest. But by the end of the film, he realizes that he’d become friends with Luke and Leia and they were more important than just the riches. Money isn’t everything. If it was, you wouldn’t see so many rich people doing drugs and alcohol. Secondly, be brave in the face of fear. Yoda sends Luke into the cave to face his biggest enemy, Darth Vader...

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...