From TARDIS Index File, the free Doctor Who reference.

Star Wars was a popular science fiction film series that ran over six movies released between 1977 and 2005.

The Doctor and Frobisher attended the American premiere of the first film at Mann's Chinese Theatre in May 1977. In the 1990s, the series' creator, George Lucas, reedited the first three films and added special effects, a move that was controversial with some fans, though the Doctor claimed to prefer the Special Editions. He also thought actor Peter Cushing (who played Grand Moff Tarkin in the first film, A New Hope) looked familiar. (PDA: Mission: Impractical)

References

• Returned to her old haunts in Perivale, Ace learned from Ange that their mutual friend Flo married a "brain-dead plumber" they had nicknamed Darth Vader (after one of villains from the Star Wars series). (DW: Survival)
• Sam Jones had Star Wars toys as a child. (EDA: Alien Bodies)
• The Doctor told Martha Jones that Jar Jar Binks' clan were "...good people...very hospitable." (NSA: Forever Autumn)
• Both Mr Grantham and Clyde Langer made reference to the series, the latter comparing himself to Luke Smith's mentor, like Obi-Wan Kenobi. (SJA: Warriors of Kudlak)
• Clyde said that he did a school history project on the Battle of Waterloo because his teacher had not allowed him to do one on the Battle of Hoth. (SJA: The Last Sontaran)
• At the end of a holographic communication left to Jack Harkness, another Time Agent, John Hart mockingly re-created the "Help me, Obi-Wan Kenobi, you're my only hope" line from the first film. (TW: Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang)

Behind the Scenes

• The Doctor's recognition of Peter Cushing was an in-joke referencing the fact that Cushing had played the film version of Dr. Who in the 1960s.
• Dave Prowse, who had a small role in DW: The Time Monster played the body (though not the voice) of Darth Vader in the first three films.
• The duel on the Sycorax asteroid in DW: The Christmas Invasion may take some cues the duel between Darth Vader and Luke Skywalker in The Empire Strikes Back. In both scenes, the hero (the Doctor in this case) loses a hand and the weapon held in it. Later, the destruction of the Sycorax asteroid by the Jathaa weaponry is similar to the Death Star's destruction of Alderaan in A New Hope. The Valiant had similar weaponry in DW: The Poison Sky.
• Star Wars creator George Lucas is an avid fan of the original Doctor Who series.
• Actor Harrison Ford (Han Solo) was offered the role of the Eighth Doctor in the 1996 Doctor Who television movie but turned it down rather than have a television commitment tie him down. (At the time, the movie's producers hoped to make it the pilot for a re-launched Doctor Who series.)
• The alien bar scene in The End of Time is very similar to the Mos Eisley Cantina scene in Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope.

See also

Doctor Who actors who appeared in Star Wars

External links

• Wookieepedia, a Star Wars wiki

Wikipedia has a more detailed and comprehensive article on

Star Wars

Memory Beta, the wiki for licensed Star Trek content.

Star Wars was a highly popular science fiction franchise in the late 20th and early 21st centuries.

Mrs. Davis, the counselor at Lewis Elementary School in 2003, did not know the difference between Star Wars and another similarly named science fiction franchise of the same period. (TOS short story: "Make-Believe")

External links

For info about the actual series.

• Star Wars article at Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
• Wookiepeedia the Star Wars wiki.

From Muppet Wiki

The Muppet Show episode 417.

Star Wars is the title of both the 1977 science fiction film and the entire epic six-film saga created by George Lucas. The other films in the cycle are The Empire Strikes Back (1980), Return of the Jedi (1983), The Phantom Menace (1999), Attack of the Clones (2002), and Revenge of the Sith (2005). The franchise also encompasses audio dramatizations, animated series (Ewoks and Droids in 1985, Clone Wars in 2003 and The Clone Wars in 2008), video games, comics, and other spin-offs. There are many connections between Star Wars and the Muppets, perhaps most notably the presence of Frank Oz's character Yoda, who has often been misidentified as a Muppet.

In an interview with Leonard Maltin, George Lucas discussed the process:

I went to Jim [Henson] and said, 'Do you want to do this?' And he said, 'Well, I'm busy, I'm doing this, and doing that, I'm making a movie and all that -- I really can't, but... how about Frank? You know, Frank's the other half of me.' And I said, 'Well, that'd be fantastic.' [1]

Oz went on to play Yoda in the four subsequent Star Wars films. The Yoda puppet was built by many veteran Henson designers who would go on to form the basis of Jim Henson's Creature Shop. In 1986, Lucas served as an executive producer on Henson's Labyrinth.

In 1999, an interviewer made the comment to Frank Oz, "There seemed to be a kind of natural synergy between Star Wars and the Muppets almost immediately," to which he replied in detail:

I think that's true. Certainly, they both had the vitality and purity and joy and dreaming, and there's certainly geniuses behind both of them. George and Jim worked together on Labyrinth, and I think that which got them together was that synergy. There was an awareness and an appreciation. They are both very unique individuals, and I think they both wanted to work with each other, because they were very similar - very smart, very quiet, very strong people. [2]

Star Wars Guests

Sesame Street episode 1364.

Gonzo looks at an X-wing in The Muppets Go to the Movies.

Muppet Babies, "Gonzo's Video Show."

Miss Piggy and Beauregard in front of Star Tours in The Muppets at Walt Disney World.

French poster

• In 1980, C-3PO (Anthony Daniels) and R2-D2 appeared in two episodes of Sesame Street, episode 1364 and episode 1396.

• Also in 1980, the stars of Star Wars guest-starred on episode 417 of The Muppet Show, including Luke Skywalker, Mark Hamill (Luke's cousin), C-3PO, R2-D2, and Chewbacca (Peter Mayhew). The show also featured Star Wars parody elements, including Gonzo as Dearth Nadir.

• In 1990, C-3PO and R2-D2 (in their Star Tours incarnations) hooked up a transmission for Tony Danza to interview Miss Piggy on Disneyland's 35th Anniversary Celebration.

References to Star Wars

• Gonzo makes his first of two appearances as Dearth Nadir in The Muppet Show episode 402, with a group of chickens as stormtroopers. He appears as Nadir again in episode 417, with First Mate Piggy dressed as Princess Leia.

• In 1980, ITC Distribution France released a poster print (and later, postcards) of the Muppet characters in a Star Wars spoof titled, "La Guerre des Muppets" (Muppet Wars). The scene is a take on the "Style A" theatrical one-sheet for the 1977 film with Kermit as Luke Skywalker, Miss Piggy as Princess Leia, Gonzo as Darth Vader, Fozzie Bear as C-3PO and Lew Zealand as R2-D2.

• The "Hey a Movie!" opening number of the 1981 special The Muppets Go to the Movies features brief film clips from famous movies, including a shot of an X-wing fighter.

• The cover of the Summer 1983 issue of Muppet Magazine featured Kermit (as Luke Skywalker) and Gonzo (as Darth Vader) having a light saber fight while Miss Piggy (as Princess Leia) looked on. Inside is a comic book parody called "Super Stars War" starring Link Hogthrob as Ham Solo, Miss Piggy as Princess Loina, Kermit as Fluke Shywalker, Gonzo as Barff McVader and Superschnozz, Dr. Julius Strangepork as Okiwan Fenokee, and Fozzie Bear as Chewbackwards.

• The Muppet Magazine cover was later titled "Star Chores" for Jim Henson's Muppet Trading Cards in 1993 and seen as a poster in Robin's room in the "Muppet Babies: Yes, I Can" series of videos in 1995. The title "Star Warts" was used for its appearance in the Muppet Movie Parodies 1999 Calendar and The Muppets at the Movies 2002 Calendar, and also appeared without a header in The Muppet Calendar CD-ROM (1995). The spoof was turned into a "Star Chores" poster in the show area for Muppet*Vision 3D in 2009.

• Footage from a Star Wars space battle is used in a montage of film clips at the beginning of The Muppets Go to the Movies.

• Muppet Babies has invoked Star Wars on many occasions. Baby Gonzo borrows Nanny's camcorder and makes a Star Wars parody in the 1984 episode "Gonzo's Video Show". Another first season episode is titled "From a Galaxy Far, Far Away", although that episode's plotline is actually a reference to E.T. - The Extra Terrestrial.

• A more elaborate Muppet Babies spoof occurred in the 1990 episode "Muppet Babies: The Next Generation", with Baby Gonzo as Gon Zolo, Baby Fozzie as Fozz-Wocka, Baby Animal as Yodie and Animal Vader, Baby Scooter as R2-D2 and Baby Skeeter as C-3PO. Footage from Star Wars has also been used in other episodes, for example, when a character opens a door to reveal a threatening danger. A clip of a TIE-fighter chasing an X-Wing can also be seen in the opening credits of each episode.

• Miss Piggy and Beauregard go on the "Star Tours" ride in the 1990 special The Muppets at Walt Disney World.

• In the 1999 film Muppets from Space, the Cosmic Fish bid farewell to Gonzo saying "May the Fish be with you," a reference to Star Wars' famous line, "May the Force be with you."

• In the 2002 TV-movie It's a Very Merry Muppet Christmas Movie, Daniel attempts to bring Kermit to a world in which he was never born, but accidentally takes him first to an atmospheric realm inhabited by a Yoda Muppet, performed by Eric Jacobson.

• In a Movie Mania TV spot made for the Odyssey Channel, several Muppets (including Kermit, Fozzie, Bobo the Bear, Pepe the King Prawn, and Animal) "auditioned" for the role of Yoda in The Empire Strikes Back.

• Similarly, in a 2006 episode of Statler and Waldorf: From the Balcony, Bobo auditions for the role of Chewbacca in Revenge of the Sith, but insists on reading for other characters.

• For the July 2008 Star Wars Weekends in Disney World, a set of six PVC figures were released featuring the Muppets as Star Wars characters.

• In a 2003 episode of Sesame Street, Bob greets Elmo and Zoe (who are pretending to be aliens) with the Vulcan hand sign and the Star Wars line, "May the force be with you."

• A commonly referenced number by George Lucas is 1138, first used in a short film he made in college. The number is closely associated with Star Wars.
  • The flight taken by Big Bird in Follow That Bird is CTW 1138.
  • Kermit's excavator license number is 1138 in a 2010 appearance on Extreme Makeover: Home Edition.

Muppet Mentions

• In the comic book Star Wars Tales issue #14, "The Emperor's Court" examines the "Who shot first?" phenomenon between Han Solo and the alien Greedo created by George Lucas's later changes to his 1977 film. Emperor Palpatine presides over a jury including (among others) Super Grover and Kermit the Frog.
• A behind-the-scenes mention is also relevant to the discussion of creating a romantically realistic fight choreography sequence in the documentary From Puppets to Pixels. See Yoda for more.
• In the 2009 Star Wars reference book The Essential Atlas, Planet Koozebane is identified as a "real" planet in the Star Wars galaxy. Koozebane had previously been mentioned in passing in 1996 and 2001 issues of the Star Wars Insider magazine.

Connections

Robin's room is decorated with a "Star Chores" poster in "Muppet Babies: Yes, I Can".

T-shirt sold at Disney parks in 2009.

C-3PO and R2-D2 with Big Bird on Sesame Street.

In addition to Frank Oz and the aforementioned guests, many puppeteers, designers, and actors have worked in the Star Wars franchise as well as in Muppet/Henson productions.

• Ed Asner played Jabba the Hutt in the NPR radio dramatization of The Return of the Jedi (1996)
• Donald Austen assisted on Yoda in The Phantom Menace (1998)
• Kenny Baker played R2-D2 in all six films
• David Alan Barclay assisted in the building and performance of Yoda in The Empire Strikes Back (1980) and puppeteered Jabba the Hutt (mouth and arm) in Return of the Jedi (1983)
• Chris Barton worked as a designer on The Phantom Menace (1998) and Attack of the Clones (2002)
• Bob Bergen voiced Luke Skywalker in several LucasArts video games
• Ailsa Berk played Amanaman in Return of the Jedi (1983)
• Danny Blackner played an Ewok in Return of the Jedi (1983)
• David Bowers played Mas Amedda in Attack of the Clones (2002) and Revenge of the Sith (2005)
• Paul Brooke played the Rancor keeper in Return of the Jedi (1983)
• Julianne Buescher voiced Rianna in "Star Wars: Lethal Alliance" and Aaron Azzameen in "Star Wars: X-Wing Alliance" games
• Art Carney played Saun Dann in The Star Wars Holiday Special (1978)
• Alyson Court played Malani and Baby Nippet in the animated series Ewoks (1985)
• Oliver Ford Davies played Governor Sio Bibble in The Phantom Menace (1999), Attack of the Clones (2002), and Revenge of the Sith (2005)
• Warwick Davis played Wicket Warrick in Return of the Jedi (1983) and Wald and Weasel in The Phantom Menace (1998)
• Malcolm Dixon played an Ewok Warrior in Return of the Jedi (1983)
• Lindsay Duncan played the voice of TC-14 in The Phantom Menace (1998)
• Mike Edmonds played Logray and puppeteered Jabba the Hutt's tail in Return of the Jedi (1983)
• Peter Friedman played Dak in the radio version of The Empire Strikes Back (1983)
• Myra Fried played Hoona in Ewoks (1985).
• Stuart Freeborn served as make-up/creature supervisor on the original trilogy, and designed Yoda, Chewbacca, Jabba the Hutt, and others.
• Wendy Froud sculpted Yoda for The Empire Strikes Back (1980)
• Michael Gilden played an Ewok in ''Return of the Jedi (1983)
• Rusty Goffe played a Jawa, Kabe, GONK Droid, and others in A New Hope (1977)
• David Greenaway assisted on Yoda in Phantom Menace (1999)
• David Alan Grier played various roles in the NPR radio versions of Star Wars (1981) and The Empire Strikes Back (1983)
• William Hootkins played Jek Porkins in A New Hope (1977)
• Russell Horton played 2-1B in the NPR radio version of The Empire Strikes Back (1983)
• Samuel L. Jackson played Mace Windu in The Phantom Menace (1999), Attack of the Clones (2002), and Revenge of the Sith (2005)
• James Earl Jones played Darth Vader in the first three films and in Revenge of the Sith (2005)
• Harvey Korman played Krelman, Chef Gormaanda, and Amorphian instructor in The Star Wars Holiday Special (1978)
• Christopher Lee played Count Dooku in Attack of the Clones (2002) and Revenge of the Sith (2005)
• John Lithgow played Yoda in the NPR audio dramas of Return of the Jedi (1983) and The Empire Strikes Back (1996)
• Christopher Malcolm played Zev (Rogue 2) in The Empire Strikes Back (1980)
• Sam McMurray played various roles in the NPR radio drama of The Empire Strikes Back (1983)
• Kathryn Mullen assisted with Yoda in The Empire Strikes Back (1980)
• Liam Neeson played Qui-Gon Jinn in The Phantom Menace (1998)
• Rena Owen played Taun We in Attack of the Clones (2002) and Nee Alavar in Revenge of the Sith (2005)
• Eric Peterson played Teebo in Ewoks (1985) and Old Ogger in Droids (1985)
• Toby Philpott puppeteered Jabba the Hutt's head, body, and tongue in Return of the Jedi (1983)
• Natalie Portman played Padmé Amidala from The Phantom Menace through Revenge of the Sith (2005)
• Jack Purvis played a Jawa in A New Hope (1977), Chief Ugnaught in The Empire Strikes Back (1980), and Teebo in Return of the Jedi (1983)
• Wayne Pygram played Governor Tarkin in Revenge of the Sith (2005)
• Hugh Quarshie played Captain Panaka in The Phantom Menace (1999)
• Mike Quinn puppeteered Nien Nunb and others in Return of the Jedi (1983) and served as a CG character animator on Attack of the Clones (2002)
• Tim Rose played Admiral Ackbar, Salacious Crumb and others in Return of the Jedi (1983)
• Kiran Shah performed an Ewok in Return of the Jedi (1983)
• Katherine Smee assisted on Yoda in The Phantom Menace (1999)
• Jimmy Smits played Senator Bail Organa in Attack of the Clones (2002) and Revenge of the Sith (2005)
• John Stocker played Widdle and others in Ewoks and various villains in Droids (both 1985)
• Cree Summer played Princess Kneesaa in Ewoks (1985) and Luminara Unduli in the animated series Star Wars: Clone Wars (2004)
• Christopher Truswell voiced Gilramos Libkath, Shu Mai, San Hill and Wat Tambor in Attack of the Clones (2002)
• Billy Dee Williams played Lando Calrissian in The Empire Strikes Back (1980) and Return of the Jedi

Sources

1. ↑ "Casting a Legend" @ StarWars.com
2. ↑ Star Wars Insider #42, p. 70

External links

• IMDb
• StarWars.com
• Wookieepedia - The Star Wars Wiki

From Lostpedia

"A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away..."

Star Wars is an epic science fiction/fantasy film saga created by George Lucas. The first three films in the series were released in 1977, 1980, and 1983. Three prequels to the first trilogy were released in 1999, 2002, and 2005.

J.J. Abrams and Damon Lindelof have expressed their admiration of the Star Wars films. [1] The day they met to begin collaboration for Lost, Damon Lindelof was wearing an original official Star Wars fan club T-shirt and the pair found an instant connection as a result.

In Lost

Direct references

"The old Wookiee prisoner gag" ("Not in Portland")

• After Jack had helped Shannon through an Asthma attack by simply talking to her calmly, Hurley said, "Wow, man. That was awesome. I mean, that was like a... Jedi moment", as a reference to the Jedi mind trick. ("Confidence Man")
• While on the raft, Michael and Jin are arguing about the flare. They're arguing in two different languages (English and Korean), just like Han Solo and Chewbacca. Sawyer then said, “Hey, Han, you and Chewie want to slow down a second and talk to me here?" ("Exodus, Part 2")
  • "Chewie" was Chewbacca's nickname throughout the Star Wars series. Sawyer referred to Jin as "Chewie" twice more. ("Orientation")  ("Abandoned")
• Sawyer once called Hurley "Jabba". ("Fire + Water")
• Hurley’s imaginary friend Dave made a reference to movie special effects. After Hurley made a comment about the photo which Dr. Brooks showed him, Dave said, "What, do you think they really blew up the Death Star?" ("Dave")
• While attempting to rescue Karl from Room 23, Sawyer played a trick on Aldo that he called the "old Wookiee prisoner gag". ("Not in Portland") In Star Wars, Han Solo and Luke Skywalker dress up as stormtroopers and Chewie impersonates a prisoner in order to infiltrate Detention Block AA 23 where Princess Leia was being held.
• Sawyer once referred to Ben as "Yoda". ("Confirmed Dead")
• Jack accidentally stepped on Aaron's toy Millennium Falcon. ("Something Nice Back Home")

• In 1977, Star Wars had just opened in theaters, so Hurley decides to write the script to The Empire Strikes Back, "with a couple of improvements", and send it to George Lucas to make life easier, because "Ewoks suck, dude."("Some Like It Hoth")

Indirect references

• Ben's character is remarkably similar to Darth Vader/Anakin.
  • Both are responsible for the genocide of their people.
    • Darth Vader killed the Jedi.
    • Ben killed the DHARMA Initiative.
  • Both use power to seduce others into joining them.
    • Darth Vader tells Luke he can teach him about the force if he joins the dark side.
    • Ben tells Locke he can teach him about the island if he joins the Others.
  • Both carry out orders from a higher authority.
    • Darth Vader from the Emperor.
    • Ben from Jacob.
  • Both first join the good side, then betrays it, joining their enemies.
    • Darth Vader first joins the Jedi, then joins the Sith.
    • Ben first joined DHARMA, then joins the Others
  • Both have "super powers" of some sort.
    • Darth Vader is very good in Force using and light saber battling.
    • Ben have connection wth the Island and is a very, very good lier and manipulator.

Note the similar expressions on their faces

• Sawyer, in many ways, is a Han Solo-esque character throughout the series; they are both wisecracking, self-interested, ladies' man, antihero, reformed criminals.
• Michael seemed to understand Jin, even though Jin spoke Korean, in much the same way that Han Solo understood Chewbacca, even though he spoke in his native Wookiee language of otherwise unintelligible, animal-like grunts and roars. ("Exodus, Part 1")  ("Exodus, Part 2")
• Ben tried to convince John to kill his own father similar to how the Emperor tried to coerce Luke Skywalker to kill his own father, in Return of the Jedi. The aim was the same; to turn John/Luke over to the Others/Dark side. ("The Brig")
• Sawyer kills Anthony Cooper by choking him from behind with a chain, the same way Princess Leia kills Jabba the Hutt in Return of the Jedi. ("The Brig")
  • both scenes are very similiar in the art direction (lighting, set dressing/design, and camera placement)
• Jack and Claire are siblings, but do not know this till later in the series, much like Luke and Lea.

Shared dialogue

• While talking about moving to the caves, Sawyer said, "Well, that's the real trick, isn't it?" In Star Wars, Han Solo says this exact same line to Obi-Wan Kenobi when discussing the need to avoid Imperial entanglements on the Millenium Falcon's trip to Alderaan. ("House of the Rising Sun")
• When Charlie re-enters the cave to help Jack, he tells Jack, "I'm here to rescue you," just as Luke says to Leia in the Death Star in A New Hope. ("The Moth")
  • Faraday later says the same sentence to Jack and Kate, shortly after he parachutes onto the island. ("Confirmed Dead")
• When Sayid told Sawyer he found his boar situation funny, Sawyer replied, "Laugh it up, Mohammed," which may be a reference to Han's line, "Laugh it up, Fuzzball", in Empire Strikes Back. ("Outlaws")
• While they were working on the raft, Michael ran over to Jin, gesturing and shouting, "No, no! This one goes there, that one goes there!" In The Empire Strikes Back, Han says this exact same line to Chewie while they are repairing the Millennium Falcon on Hoth. ("Exodus, Part 1")
• Both Jack and Kate say, "Here we go again", which may be a reference to C3PO saying the same thing when leaving the forest moon of Endor in Return of the Jedi. ("Greatest Hits")
• On the way to the Temple, and just prior to a shooting ambush, Karl told Alex, "I've got a bad feeling about this". This is a well-known phrase throughout the Star Wars saga, heard eight times in the six films. ("Meet Kevin Johnson")

Shared themes

Parent issues

Main article: Parent issues

• Luke and Leia are both separately raised to believe their father is a dead, then later in life they find out that their father is alive and evil. John was lead to believe his father was dead, until he found out his father was alive and criminal.
• Luke and Leia are long-lost siblings who go through most of the story not knowing their connection. Jack and Claire are half-siblings who did not know they were related even though they were trapped on the island together.
• Luke Skywalker is raised by his uncle and aunt; Aaron is being raised by his uncle and aunt-to-be (Jack and Kate).

Black and white

Main article: Black and white

• The Dark side of the force vs. Light side of the force.
• Darth Vader dresses in black, while Obi-Wan and Luke are dressed in white/light colors.

Fate versus free will

Main article: Fate versus free will

• Anakin Skywalker is believed to be a prophesied hero of the Jedi.
• Darth Vader attempts to sway Luke towards the Dark Side, urging him to "fulfill his destiny."

Shared actors

• Billy Dee Williams played Mr. LaShade in the "Expose" TV series. ("Exposé") He is most famous for his role as Lando Calrissian in the Star Wars series.
  • In the DVD audio commentary, writers Eddy Kitsis and Adam Horowitz noted that the color scheme of Mr. LaShade's suit was intentionally made the same as Lando's costume in The Empire Strikes Back. ("Exposé")
• Bai Ling played Achara. ("Stranger in a Strange Land") She also played senator Bana Breemu in The Revenge of The Sith. Although most scenes with her character were cut and may only be seen on the DVD Disk 2 Deleted Scenes Section, she still appears on-screen, in the background, with no lines.
• Wayne Pygram played Isaac of Uluru. ("S.O.S.") He also had a small roll as Governor Tarkin The Revenge of The Sith.

Producers' commentary

Cuse and Lindelof in front of a Star Wars poster

• Audio commentary on the Season 1 DVD made several references to Star Wars, such as a comparison of the British and American pronunciation of the name of the planet Hoth.
  • They also joked that Charlie would eventually will find his lightsaber. ("The Moth")
• During the audio commentary on the Season 2 DVD, Jack Bender joked that he was surprised that something as complex as Star Wars was made, seeing as how he had great difficulty just getting Hurley's bag to rip open. ("Dave")
• The 11/03/06 podcast was all about how Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse had a "Lost cross" involving George Lucas and their mutual love of Star Wars.
• There is a Star Wars poster in Damon Lindelof's office, visible in the DVD extra "Lost in a Day" on the Lost: The Complete Third Season (DVD), in the "6:42 pm Los Angeles" segment.
• In Season 4, when Daniel Faraday lands on the Island he takes off his helmet and says "I'm Daniel Faraday, I'm here to rescue you", just like Luke Skywalker, in the detention block in A New Hope. ("The Beginning of the End")

Outside Lost

In The Lost Experience

In the alternate reality game The Lost Experience, DJ Dan said in his podcast on September 24, 2006:

In Lost: Via Domus

• When Elliott asked what was in the cave, John answered, "Only what you take with you". This is the same answer Yoda gave to Luke Skywalker during a very similar situation in The Empire Strikes Back. ("Via Domus")
• Mikhail told Beady Eyes, "You are stupid as you are clumsy". In The Empire Strikes Back, Darth Vader said about Admiral Ozzel, "He is clumsy as he is stupid". ("Whatever It Takes")

Enhanced captions

Main article: Enhanced episodes

• The captions of the enhanced episodes explicitly note several Star Wars references; however, these captions were not written by the creative authorities of Lost, but by the production company Met/Hodder that was hired by ABC to produce these versions.

External links

• Star Wars official site
• Wookiepedia, the Star Wars wiki

From Marvel Database

This page contains a list of all the comics included in this volume of the series. If you have found something that is not seen on this page, please add it to this list. (This template will categorize articles that include it into Category:Comic Lists.) · Images from Star Wars Vol 1

Back to title selection : Comics S : Star Wars Vol 1

Along with the release of the movie Star Wars in 1977, Marvel released a comic version of the movie (Episode IV: A New Hope) over 6 issues. They then continued the story where the movie left off for another 101 issues (107 total). Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi were also made into comics, but were distinct miniseries.

Star Wars #1	Star Wars #2	Star Wars #3	Star Wars #4
Star Wars #5	Star Wars #6	Star Wars #7	Star Wars #8
Star Wars #9	Star Wars #10	Star Wars #11	Star Wars #12
Star Wars #13	Star Wars #14	Star Wars #15	Star Wars #16
Star Wars #17	Star Wars #18	Star Wars #19	Star Wars #20
Star Wars #21	Star Wars #22	Star Wars #23	Star Wars #24
Star Wars #25	Star Wars #26	Star Wars #27	Star Wars #28
Star Wars #29	Star Wars #30	Star Wars #31	Star Wars #32
Star Wars #33	Star Wars #34	Star Wars #35	Star Wars #36
Star Wars #37	Star Wars #38	Star Wars #39	Star Wars #40
Star Wars #41	Star Wars #42	Star Wars #43	Star Wars #44
Star Wars #45	Star Wars #46	Star Wars #47	Star Wars #48
Star Wars #49	Star Wars #50	Star Wars #51	Star Wars #52
Star Wars #53	Star Wars #54	Star Wars #55	Star Wars #56
Star Wars #57	Star Wars #58	Star Wars #59	Star Wars #60
Star Wars #61	Star Wars #62	Star Wars #63	Star Wars #64
Star Wars #65	Star Wars #66	Star Wars #67	Star Wars #68
Star Wars #69	Star Wars #70	Star Wars #71	Star Wars #72
Star Wars #73	Star Wars #74	Star Wars #75	Star Wars #76
Star Wars #77	Star Wars #78	Star Wars #79	Star Wars #80
Star Wars #81	Star Wars #82	Star Wars #83	Star Wars #84
Star Wars #85	Star Wars #86	Star Wars #87	Star Wars #88
Star Wars #89	Star Wars #90	Star Wars #91	Star Wars #92
Star Wars #93	Star Wars #94	Star Wars #95	Star Wars #96
Star Wars #97	Star Wars #98	Star Wars #99	Star Wars #100
Star Wars #101	Star Wars #102	Star Wars #103	Star Wars #104
Star Wars #105	Star Wars #106	Star Wars #107

See Also:

• Full list of comics from this series that are in the database.
  

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From Wookieepedia, the Star Wars wiki.

The opening logo to the Star Wars films.

Star Wars is an epic science fiction saga and fictional universe created by George Lucas. The Star Wars story employs archetypal motifs common to science fiction, political climax and classical mythology, as well as musical motifs of those aspects.

As one of the foremost examples of the space opera sub-genre of science fiction, Star Wars has become part of mainstream popular culture, as well as being one of the highest-grossing series of all time.

Overview

Main article: History of Star Wars

AT-ATs on Hoth.

The Star Wars story has been presented in a series of American films, which have spawned a large quantity of books and other media, which have formed the Expanded Universe. The Star Wars mythos is also the basis of many toys and games of varying types. The films and novels employ common science fiction motifs.

Whereas Gene Roddenberry's Star Trek, a science fantasy franchise that has enjoyed long-lasting popularity in American popular culture, is portrayed by its makers to take on a rational, scientific and progressive approach to storytelling, Star Wars has a strong mythic quality alongside its political and scientific elements.

Unlike the heroes of earlier space set sci-fi film and TV series such as Star Trek, the heroes of Star Wars are not militaristic types but romantic individualists. College literature professors have remarked that the Star Wars saga, with its struggle between good and evil, democracy and empire, can be considered a national epic for the United States. The film has many visual and narrative similarities to John Ford's "The Searchers" that also provides a clue to the relationship between Leia Organa and Luke Skywalker.

The strong appeal of the Star Wars story probably accounts for its enduring popularity; it has also been postulated that this popularity is based on nostalgia. Many Star Wars fans first saw the films as children, and the revolutionary (for the time) special effects and simple, Manichean story made a profound impact.

The Star Wars films show considerable similarity to Japanese Jidaigeki films, as well as Roman mythology. Lucas has stated that his intention was to create in Star Wars a modern mythology, based on the studies of his friend and mentor Joseph Campbell. He has also called the first movie's similarity to the film The Hidden Fortress (Akira Kurosawa) a "homage".

The Star Wars films portray a world full of grime and technology that looks like it has been used for years, unlike the sleek, futuristic world typical of earlier science fiction films. In interviews, Lucas tells of rubbing the new props with dirt to make them look weatherworn. Lucas may have been inspired by the Sergio Leone Spaghetti Western films of the 1960s, which performed a similar function on the Western many years earlier. It is tempting to speculate that this break from traditional science fiction film influenced the cyberpunk genre that emerged around 1984.

Officially-licensed Star Wars novels have been published since the original movie was released in 1977. Although these novels are licensed by Lucas (meaning he shares in the royalties), he retains ultimate creative control over the Star Wars universe, forcing Lucas Licensing to devote considerable ongoing effort to ensuring continuity between different authors' works and Lucas' films. Occasionally, elements from these novels are adopted into the highest tier of Star Wars canon, the movies. Books, games, and stories that are not directly derived from the six movies of Star Wars are known as the Extended or Expanded Universe (EU for short). Lucas has said that he does not deeply involve himself in the EU, choosing instead to concentrate mainly on his movies instead of "…the licensing world of the books, games and comic books."

The original (1977) Star Wars (A New Hope) has been selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry.

In 1978, Lucas sued the creators of Battlestar Galactica for its similarity to Star Wars, although the case was dismissed as having no merit in 1980 by a U.S. Federal judge.

Setting

The introduction to every Star Wars film.

The line "A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away.…", which appears at the beginning of every Star Wars film, is the only way the Star Wars galaxy has been defined in relation to the real world. It is alluding to the classic fairy tale line "Once upon a time, in a land far, far away…" and variations thereof. It may reflect that the films are to be interpreted as the myths of the future, as opposed to literally meaning that the events take place in the past. Lucas himself intentionally left the details open to interpretation.^[1]

The saga shows us an "ancient" galactic civilization thousands of years old. The setting is totally unrelated to Earth, our galaxy or reality, which gives it more liberty, in a sense. The Star Wars galaxy prominently features Human individuals that (coincidentally?) look like Terrans from Earth. Their civilization was able to develop space travel, terraform, build ecumenopoleis, and build space colonies 200,000 years "ago", according to the Expanded Universe.

The titular Star Wars originally referred to the Galactic Civil War which takes place in the Original Trilogy. However, when considering the prequels and the Expanded Universe, these events are only a portion of the millennia-spanning war between the Sith and the Jedi/Galactic Republic.

Star Wars also is considered to merge science with supernatural elements, that strongly relate to epic stories and fairy tales (eg. Magic, Knights, Witches, Princes, and 'whimsical' alien races such as Ewoks, Wisties, etc).

While the scope of Star Wars history spans many thousands of years among all of the Star Wars history recorded and over 5,100 in all the fiction produced to date (from Tales of the Jedi to Star Wars: Legacy), the films span only two generations.

Later novels from a series dubbed The New Jedi Order opened up the Star Wars setting with alien beings known as the Yuuzhan Vong that came from a different galaxy, much to the surprise of some fans. All species and events prior to this series considered only one single galaxy.

Films

The original trilogy (Episodes IV, V, and VI) takes place during the Galactic Civil War, in which the ragtag Rebel Alliance battles the menacing Galactic Empire in an epic struggle between good and evil. Young farmboy Luke Skywalker, training to become the last (and the first of a new generation) of the mystical warriors known as the Jedi, may be the only person who can stand against the Dark Lords of the Sith, Darth Vader and his master Emperor Palpatine.

The prequel trilogy (Episodes I, II, and III) portrays the events leading to the Galactic Civil War, with the fall of the Galactic Republic and the rise of the Empire, from the Battle of Naboo between Naboo and the Trade Federation through the Clone Wars against the Confederacy of Independent Systems. These wars are secretly orchestrated by the Sith under the mysterious Darth Sidious, who secretly controls both sides. The prequel trilogy specifically tells the tale of Anakin Skywalker, Luke and Leia's father, who is trained as a Jedi after the Battle of Naboo but gradually turns to evil and becomes Darth Vader.

The films draw extensively on archetypal figures and themes of classical literature. They are based on the concept of "the Force", an energy that can be controlled by someone born with innate ability and trained to perfect his, her, or its skill. The Force can be used to move objects, read or control minds, or even influence the outcome of large battles. A person trained in the use of the "light side" of the Force for good is a Jedi; someone trained in using the "dark side" for evil is either a Sith or a Dark Jedi.

The original idea for Star Wars was conceived in the early 1970s and went through many revisions, providing plenty of material for the films. The original Star Wars movie (Episode IV) was first released in 1977, but the novelization was released a year earlier, in 1976. The sixth Star Wars film (Episode III) was released in 2005. There were originally to be nine films in three trilogies (some accounts claim twelve films in four trilogies); however, Lucas has stated that he does not intend to make any more Star Wars films after Episode III.

All of the original films were shot at, among other locations, Elstree Studios. Episode I was filmed at Leavesden Film Studios and the subsequent prequels were filmed in Sydney, Australia. Tunisia has served as the location for filming scenes set on the desert planet Tatooine.

All 6 movies have made a grand total of $4,327,000,000 in the box office.

• Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace (May 19, 1999)
• Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones (May 16, 2002)
• Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith (May 19, 2005)
• Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope (May 25, 1977)
• Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back (May 21, 1980)
• Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi (May 25, 1983)

Re-releases

See also Special Edition, Star Wars DVD releases

George Lucas has tinkered repeatedly with the original trilogy. Episodes IV through VI were remastered and re-released as Star Wars Trilogy (Special Edition) (both theatrically and on VHS) during 1997, and again on DVD re-release (with further changes to the 1997 editions) in September 2004. The films underwent extensive clean-up and restoration work, and Lucas took advantage of this opportunity to make a number of changes and addition of effects. In 2006, Lucas finally released the original trilogy in unaltered form on DVD.

At a ShoWest convention in 2005, George Lucas demonstrated new technology and stated that he was planning to release all six films in a new 3-D film format, beginning with A New Hope in 2007.

Lucas also hinted in the past that he will release his definitive, often called "archival" editions of all six Star Wars films in one set on a next-generation home-video format in 2007. This release was to coincide with, and celebrate, the 30th anniversary of the Star Wars saga, but this has yet to come into fruition.

Motifs

• Lightsaber combat occurs in each of the films, usually around a control room.
• Loss of limbs (in every movie except The Phantom Menace; instead, Darth Maul's entire body was cut in half). While at first it seems to be somehow cruel for such fantasy and youth-oriented movies, it seems in the world of Star Wars it is not that tragic; lost limbs are almost always replaced with next-to-perfect cybernetic parts. Also, the usage of lightsabers prevents bleeding, immediately cauterizing wounds (except Ponda Baba's in Episode IV).
• The phrase "I have a bad feeling about this" which is more like an Easter egg.
• The number 1138 appears in each Star Wars movie (in Return of the Jedi it exists on a prop but is not visible onscreen) as an Easter egg for Lucas' first movie, THX 1138.
• In the second installments of both the prequel trilogy and the original trilogy (Attack of the Clones and The Empire Strikes Back respectively), there was a chase through an asteroid field.
• Also, the second installments of both trilogies prominently featured bounty hunters.

The dianoga peeks above the garbage.

• In all of the films with the exception of Revenge of the Sith, the heroes are faced with a monster-like creature:
  • A New Hope - Luke Skywalker vs Dianoga
  • The Empire Strikes Back - Luke Skywalker vs Wampa, Han Solo vs Exogorth
  • Return of the Jedi - Luke Skywalker vs Rancor, Luke Skywalker vs Sarlacc
  • The Phantom Menace - Qui-Gon Jinn, Obi-Wan Kenobi, and Jar Jar Binks vs Sando aqua monster, Colo claw fish, and an Opee sea killer
  • Attack of the Clones - Anakin, Obi-Wan, and Padmé vs Reek, Acklay, Nexu
  • Revenge of the Sith originally had a nos monster that Obi-Wan Kenobi faced on Utapau, but the scene was cut from the final version of the film.

Similarities

There seem to be certain repeated elements between the original and prequel trilogies.

• The opening crawls of all even-numbered movies have words in all-caps to show emphasis; the odd-numbered films do not.
• Each movie of the prequel trilogy opens with a shot featuring a Republic starship (Republic Cruiser, Naboo Cruiser and a Republic attack cruiser respectively) while all three original trilogy movies open with a shot of an Imperial Star Destroyer—this latter theme was copied by Timothy Zahn to open the three books of his Thrawn trilogy.
• In Episode I & IV, Obi-Wan meets the youngest male Skywalker.
• In Episode I & IV, the main protagonist helps win a battle at the end of the film (Anakin destroys the Trade Federation Droid Control Ship and Luke destroys the Death Star).
• The subtitles of each Episode are similar when comparing the trilogies - 'A New Hope' and 'The Phantom Menace' make no explicit mention of events, whereas 'Attack of the Clones' and 'The Empire Strikes Back' do. The titles 'Revenge of the Sith' and 'Return of the Jedi' are also similar.
• In the first part of each trilogy (Episodes I & IV), the mentor of the main protagonist is killed by a Sith Lord (Qui-Gon is killed by Darth Maul in Episode I, Obi-Wan is killed by Darth Vader in Episode IV).
• In Episodes I and IV, there is a starfighter battle to destroy a key installation (Death Star, Droid Control Ship). In Episodes II and V there are land battles. In Episodes III and VI, there are major starfleet battles.
• In the second part of each trilogy (Episodes II & V), the main protagonist suffers the loss of his right hand (Anakin in Episode II, Luke in Episode V)
• At the end of the middle episodes in the trilogy (Episodes II & V), the main protagonist (Anakin in II, Luke in V) put their arm around the main female character (Padmé in II, Leia in V) beside the two droids R2-D2 and C-3PO.
• In the second part of each trilogy (Episodes II & V) the main characters have to escape from an asteroid field (Obi-Wan Kenobi in II & Han Solo and Princess Leia in V).
• In the third part of each trilogy (Episodes III & VI), Palpatine encourages Anakin and Luke, respectively, to finish off their defeated opponents (which happen to be Palpatine's apprentices) - except that Anakin gives in to Palpatine's wishes, while Luke doesn't.
• In the third part of each trilogy, Anakin is the observer to a life-or-death struggle between Palpatine (who is using Force Lightning) and another opponent (Mace Windu in III, and Luke in VI). In both cases, Anakin/Darth Vader comes to the aid of the weaker combatant (Palpatine himself in III, Luke in VI) begging him for aid while being electrocuted by Palpatine's Force Lightning.
• The Fetts play crucial roles in the films (Jango Fett is the template for the Clone Army, Boba Fett captures Han Solo)
• "Attack of the Clones" and "The Empire Strikes Back" both refer to the galactic government mounting a military attack against a rebellion, while "Revenge of the Sith" and "Return of the Jedi" both refer to the ultimate victory of a decimated, Force-based religious order. Also, "The Phantom Menace" and "A New Hope" echo a mysterious enemy of the major galactic order.
• Cantinas filled with several creatures are frequented in Episodes II & IV.
• In episodes II, IV, V, VI someone bangs their head Jango Fett in II, a Stormtrooper in IV, Luke Skywalker in V and Lando Calrissian VI.
• In the second installment of each trilogy (II & V) the main love relation is established (Anakin and Padmé in Episode II, Han and Leia in Episode V).
• Each film was released in May.
• In each film, someone states "I have a bad feeling about this..."
• In episodes II & IV, Obi-Wan cuts someone's arm off in a cantina.
• In all odd-numbered movies the antagonists seem to win (Ep. I Young Anakin's mentor is killed, Ep. III Order 66 kills all the Jedi, Ep.V Luke loses his hand and the Rebels lose on Hoth) and in all even-numbered movies the protagonists seem to win (Ep. II The Galactic Republic makes a grand army to fight the Seperatists, Eps. IV and VI a Death Star is destroyed plus Palpatine and Vader in VI).

See also Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith - Mirroring in other Star Wars films.

Spin-offs

Splinter of the Mind's Eye.

Main article: Expanded Universe

The Expanded Universe (or EU) is the continuing story of the movies. One can read books from the prequel-era, between the movies, or post-Episode VI. There are also several books dealing with the lives of Han Solo and Lando Calrissian just before the movies. There are even books about the briefly shown Wedge Antilles. Some notable EU characters include the twins Jaina and Jacen Solo, the strong but angry Mara Jade, the pilot-turned-Jedi Corran Horn, and the tactical genius Grand Admiral Thrawn.

The books set during or after the Star Wars Original Trilogy follow Luke Skywalker, Princess Leia, Han Solo, and other minor characters, as well as the growth of the New Republic. The Truce at Bakura by Kathy Tyers is the first book chronologically set after Return of the Jedi, but the first Expanded Universe story written was Alan Dean Foster's Splinter of the Mind's Eye.

In the Expanded Universe, the Galactic Empire suppresses alien species because most Imperials are xenophobic, but this idea appears in the films only subtly (or, arguably, not at all). The idea of the Empire enslaving aliens is an analogy to racism. In the Young Jedi Knights series, there is even an example of reverse discrimination, when a group of aliens form the "Diversity Alliance" to get revenge on all Humans, by means of a viral plague, for the crimes of the Empire. Young Jedi Knights also deals with drug abuse, the homeless, and effects of disability; it is more prone to discussing modern issues than any other Star Wars series.

The post-Episode VI EU has often been criticized as being too dark and depressing, such as the Yuuzhan Vong invasion that kills several major characters, and trillions of deaths in the war. Critics often point to the fact that George Lucas wanted a saga with an ultimately happy ending, yet the current direction of the EU indicates a revival of the Sith that even Luke Skywalker cannot stop.

Radio adaptation

• Star Wars the radio adaptation, NPR 1981, was followed by adaptations of the next two films of the series. These adaptations were written by science fiction author Brian Daley, who also wrote three novels detailing the adventures of Han Solo and Chewbacca prior to their appearance in Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope.

Related movies

Chewbacca, along with Luke, Leia, Han, and the droids, celebrates Life Day by the Tree of Life in The Star Wars Holiday Special.

• The Star Wars Holiday Special (1978)
• Caravan of Courage: An Ewok Adventure (1984)
• Ewoks: The Battle for Endor (1985)
• The Official Star Wars Fan Film Awards
• Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008)

Several made-for-TV films have been made about Star Wars. The first was The Star Wars Holiday Special, which became famous for the first appearance of bounty hunter Boba Fett. An originally minor detail, the Wookiee food of wookiee-ookiees, became a cult symbol in the Star Wars fan universe, spawning plays on its name such as wookiee-cookiees (a Star Wars-themed dessert) and the term Wookiee Hooky (the act of skipping school to see a Star Wars film, particularly if it has just been released).

After Return of the Jedi, two films about a family marooned on the forest moon of Endor were made.

Spaceballs (1987) is a Star Wars parody movie by Mel Brooks.

The Official Star Wars Fan Film Awards is a Lucasfilm sponsored contest of short films made by Star Wars fans about, referencing, and parodying the Star Wars phenomenon.

Animated TV shows

The Clone Wars television series official poster.

• Star Wars: Droids
• Star Wars: Ewoks
• Star Wars: Clone Wars
• Star Wars: The Clone Wars
• Untitled Star Wars animated television series (forthcoming)

Five cartoon series have been based on Star Wars. The first two began in 1985, Clone Wars in 2003 and The Clone Wars in 2008. Ewoks featured the adventures of the Ewoks prior to Return of the Jedi. Droids featured the adventures of C-3PO and R2-D2 between Episode III and Episode IV. Clone Wars and The Clone Wars features the adventures of the Jedi as they fight against the Confederacy of Independent Systems in the Clone Wars, set between Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith.

Live-action TV shows

• Untitled Star Wars live-action television series expected in 2010.

Books

Star Wars-based fiction predates the release of the first movie, with the novelization of "A New Hope" (by Alan Dean Foster but credited to George Lucas) released some months before the film itself. In 1978, Foster wrote the first original Star Wars novel, Splinter of the Mind's Eye, inaugurating a very successful literary spin-off franchise.

The six Star Wars movies have provided a basis for over 100 novels. The novels have been officially authorized by Lucasfilm, and were previously published by Bantam Books (with a few early titles published by Ballantine), though Del Rey now holds the contract again. The stories told in these books reach back thousands of year's before The Phantom Menace to several generations after Return of the Jedi. Books authorized by Lucas are written by fans of the films, and are part of a collection known as Expanded Universe. The first books considered to be part of the Expanded Universe began to appear in the late 1970s.

The Expanded Universe experienced a revolution in the New Jedi Order (NJO) series, which recently concluded with The Unifying Force. The NJO tells the story of a horrific invasion by the extragalactic species known as the Yuuzhan Vong, and includes the passing of several well known and loved characters.

Some fans of the original Star Wars movies reject the literary works of the Expanded Universe, and insist that only the films and the statements made by George Lucas interpreting his own works can be accepted as canonical. However, numerous statements made by employees at Lucasfilm Ltd. and comments made by Lucas himself indicate that a majority of the works of the Expanded Universe are indeed part of the official universe.

Most of the novels that have been written take place after the events of the films. With a few that take place between the movies, and a growing number set in timelines before the films. For fans, these can be more exciting stories, as it opens up the narratives for many characters that only have a minor roles, or are only briefly seen in the movies. Every character has their own in-depth tale. One of particular note is Steve Perry's Shadows of the Empire, which is set between The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi. In addition to focusing on relatively minor characters, it bridges some events between the two films. It also includes more scenes of Darth Vader and Emperor Palpatine scheming together, offering a greater understanding of their relationship (the nature of which is only now becoming clear in light of episodes I through III).

Perhaps the most widely acclaimed contribution is the Thrawn Trilogy by Timothy Zahn, which many fans had hoped would be the basis for Episodes VII, VIII, and IX. These novels are considered to have captured the essence of the original movie trilogy and drew upon existing published works from other Star Wars-based fiction writers.

Also, many elements first introduced in the Expanded Universe were later included in the films. The best examples are Coruscant, Boba Fett or Aayla Secura.

Other books which detail things about the Star Wars universe and the films in a "non-fiction" style and reveal many details that cannot fit into a story. and include such titles as The Wildlife of Star Wars: A Field Guide, Inside the Worlds of Star Wars, and the Visual Dictionaries,

Comic books and strips

See also: List of comics

Star Wars: Empire to the Last Man cover.

Marvel Comics published adaptations of the original trilogy as well as a Star Wars comic book series which lasted from 1977 to 1986, a total of 107 issues. A wide variety of creators worked on this series, including Archie Goodwin, Howard Chaykin, Al Williamson, Carmine Infantino, Walt Simonson, Michael Golden, Chris Claremont, Whilce Portacio, Jo Duffy, and Ron Frenz. In the 1980s, as part of their Star Comics line oriented towards young children, Marvel also published the short-lived series Ewoks and Droids, based on the Saturday morning cartoons.

Star Wars was also a daily newspaper comic strip from 1979 to 1984, written for the bulk of its run by Archie Goodwin and drawn by Al Williamson.

Beginning in the 1990s, Dark Horse Comics has published a large number of original adventures set in the Star Wars universe. As of 2006, these mainly include Star Wars: Republic, Star Wars: Empire, Star Wars Tales, Star Wars: Jedi, Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic and Star Wars: Legacy. Dark Horse has also published collections of the Marvel series in seven volumes and the comic strip as Classic Star Wars.

Games

Since 1983, over 120 video games have been published bearing the name of Star Wars, beginning with 'Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back' published for the Atari 2600 by Parker Brothers.

The first games based on the franchise were released on the Atari 2600, the very first, The Empire Strikes Back (1982), the player drove a snowspeeder during the Battle of Hoth, destroying AT-AT walkers. While simplistic, the game captured the essence of the movie as well as technology allowed. Several other games appeared, like Return of the Jedi: Death Star Battle (1982), where the player controlled the Millennium Falcon in a mission to destroy the second Death Star, and Jedi Arena (1983), the first game to attempt to simulate a lightsaber battle (in this case, clearly inspired by the A New Hope scene, where Luke Skywalker trains with a seeker). Also in 1983, Star Wars was released based on A New Hope. In this game the player takes on the role of Luke Skywalker towards the end of the film in which Luke battles through many TIE fighters in an attempt to destroy the first Death Star.

Star Wars Rogue Squadron N64 box cover

Due to the video game crash of 1983, which killed the home console market, no further games based on the franchise were released until 1991, when the platformer Star Wars was released for both the NES and Game Boy, and one year later, Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back reused the engine with the plotline of the fifth episode of the saga. It would be still in 1992 that Super Star Wars was released for the SNES (the Super prefix was often used in remakes of 8-bit games), followed by the remaining games in the trilogy: Super Star Wars: Empire Strikes Back (1993) and Super Star Wars: Return of Jedi (1994).

Other early titles include the game Star Wars for the Nintendo Entertainment System (published by JVC) and three other titles for the Atari 2600.

Video game pioneer Atari produced arcade games based on the original trilogy, beginning with Star Wars and The Empire Strikes Back, which were both flight simulator-style games that utilized vector graphics. The third, Return of the Jedi, used more traditional raster graphics and a '3/4' perspective.

Star Wars: X-wing was the first PC game of the 'new generation' of officially released by LucasArts games in 1993. It returns to the space fighter combat gameplay not seen since the Atari arcade games. Players generally played as a pilot for the Rebel Alliance, completing a variety of goals, culminating in the destruction of the Death Star. This game had sequels, in the form of Star Wars: TIE Fighter, and Star Wars: X-wing Alliance.

The longest running series of computer games is the groundbreaking Dark Forces series. This first person shooter series began in 1995 with Star Wars: Dark Forces. The next in the series was Jedi Knight: Dark Forces II, which allowed the player to play as a Jedi. The third game in the Dark Forces series, Star Wars: Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast, focused more on a third person Jedi adventure than the previous games. And the fourth and latest release was Star Wars: Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy, which originated as an expansion pack for Jedi Outcast, but evolved into a game of its own.

Another long running video game series began with Star Wars: Rogue Squadron for the Nintendo 64 and continued in Star Wars: Rogue Squadron II: Rogue Leader and Star Wars: Rogue Squadron III: Rebel Strike for the Nintendo GameCube. The first title was also available for PCs, and all were developed by Factor 5 and published by LucasArts. Rogue Squadron III featured emulated versions of the original Atari Star Wars arcade games.

Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, published in 2003, won "Game of the Year" recognition from several prominent gaming magazines, websites, etc. A sequel, Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords, was released for the Xbox in December of 2004 and the PC in February of 2005. Bioware is currently making a MMORPG sequel to KOTOR I & II called "Star Wars: The Old Republic" set approximately 300 years after the events of KOTOR II.

Star Wars: Battlefront was released in 2004 and is a first/third person shooter game capable of online play where you can play in both trilogies, as all factions, in many different battlefields. Its sequels, Star Wars: Battlefront II, Star Wars Battlefront: Renegade Squadron and Star Wars Battlefront: Elite Squadron were released in 2005, 2007, and 2009 respectively.

Star Wars: Republic Commando is a tactical shooter computer game featuring the elite commandos of Delta Squad and set during the Clone Wars. It was released on March 1, 2005.

Star Wars: Empire at War, an RTS game, was developed by Petroglyph Games and released in February 16, 2006.

LEGO Star Wars, a Lego spinoff series in which the characters of Star Wars and most other vehicles and objects are made of LEGO bricks. The second game of the series is LEGO Star Wars II: The Original Trilogy. The third game of this series, LEGO Star Wars: The Complete Saga, combines the first two games.

Two role playing games set in the Star Wars universe have been published: a d6-based game from West End Games and a Wizards of the Coast game using the d20 system on which their popular Dungeons & Dragons is based.

Characters

The plot evolves around a small team of certain individuals. The Star Wars movies are unique in providing cast names even to minor characters, whose name is not even mentioned in the dialogue lines, even non-speaking ones that appear for few moments. The characters' backstory or importance is revealed in the Expanded Universe sources. Such examples include Boba Fett and Mon Mothma.

See Category:Individuals for more extensive listings.

Major

Admiral Piett | Anakin Skywalker/Darth Vader | Bail Organa | Boba Fett | C-3PO | Chewbacca | Count Dooku | Darth Maul | Darth Sidious/Palpatine | General Grievous | Govenor Tarkin | Han Solo | Jabba the Hutt | Jango Fett | Jar Jar Binks | Lando Calrissian | Luke Skywalker | Mace Windu | Nute Gunray | Obi-Wan Kenobi | Padmé Amidala | Princess Leia | Qui-Gon Jinn | R2-D2 | Shmi Skywalker | Watto | Wedge Antilles | Yoda

Minor

Bounty hunters | Droids | Imperials | Jedi | Rebels | Separatists | Sith | Clones

Cast and crew

The cast of the movies feature notable actors. Many of them are only guest-starring in brief, even non-speaking roles, like Sofia Coppola and Keisha Castle-Hughes. Notable supporting roles played by acclaimed actors include Sir Alec Guinness, Oliver Ford Davies, and Christopher Lee. In the prequel trilogy, professional models did the non-speaking minor character roles.

• Cast of Star Wars
• Crew of Star Wars

Themes

Star Wars stresses the self-destructive nature of anger and hate, summed up in Yoda's words ("Fear is the path to the dark side: fear leads to anger, anger leads to hate, hate leads to suffering" (help·info)) as well as placing one's feelings for certain people aside. For example, Luke Skywalker is told to remain on Dagobah to complete his training rather than rescue his friends from Cloud City, because doing so will "destroy all for which they have fought and suffered."

Star Wars seems to advocate democracy over dictatorship, although it offers no alternative for the corrupt Republic's government. Some people believe that Star Wars instead advocates monarchy over democracy, although this is not supported by much evidence in the films, as the only monarchs portrayed are democratically elected ones.

There appear to be anti-technological messages in the films - the primitive Ewoks and Gungans defeating technological adversaries, and the general idea of technology opposed to humanity - fitting with Lucas' vision. This site explains this theme and others in its analysis of the writing of Star Wars.

The galactic setting of Star Wars is never given a name and is called simply "the galaxy." Since the characters never venture beyond the galaxy and the power of both the Republic and the Empire ends at its borders, the galaxy can be said to serve as a microcosm of both Earth as a whole and an individual nation.

The main story arc in the films traces the rise, fall and redemption of Anakin Skywalker, mirrored by political events occurring on a galactic scale. As Anakin is seduced by the dark side, the Republic slides into despotism and war; when Anakin reclaims the Jedi values of peace and justice, the evil Empire that supplanted the Republic is overthrown by the Rebel Alliance.

Lists

• List of planets
• List of weapons
• List of locations
• List of organizations

Notes and references

See also

• Star Wars cultural references
• Timeline of galactic history
• Languages
• The galaxy
• Star Wars Technical Commentaries
• TheForce.Net
• The Force
• Wilhelm scream
• Wookieepedia

External links

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to:

Star Wars

•  Official Site on StarWars.com (backup link on Archive.org)
• Star Wars at the Internet Movie Database
• Star Wars on Wikipedia
• TheForce.Net, one of the largest and oldest Star Wars fan sites
• HoloNet News A "news" website based on the Star Wars prequels. It brought readers "current" events from the Expanded Universe of Star Wars. Inactive as of the release of Attack of the Clones.

The Star Wars wiki of fan invention.

Star Wars is an epic science fiction, fantasy, space opera and fictional universe created by George Lucas. The Star Wars story is comprised of numerous archetypal motifs common to science fiction, political climax and classical mythology. Music, including musical motifs, played a large part in the telling of the story, according to Lucas and Star Wars composer John Williams. Starting with the original release of what is now-titled Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope, originally called Star Wars, the saga became one of the most commonly used examples of the space opera sub-genre of science fiction. Along with this, it became a large part of mainstream culture, particularly in the United States where it was conceived, and it has gone on to become one of the highest-grossing series of all time.

One of the contributions of Star Wars was the creation of a large Star Wars fan base, particularly on the World Wide Web. Websites such as TheForce.Net offer numerous news and fan postings on different aspects of the Star Wars Saga, and Wookieepedia has grown to become the largest Star Wars encyclopedia, as well as the largest Wikia Wiki, to document all available information from Star Wars. The Star Wars Fanon Wiki is also one of the largest Wikia Wikis, and it has grown to become a place where fan fiction authors and other creators of fan activities can post encyclopedic articles on their work. Websites such as FanFiction.Net and TheForce.Net also provide a haven for fan fiction, with the latter also providing space for fan films, fan audio and fan art.

See also

• Star Wars on Wookieepedia, the Star Wars Wiki

From Teletraan I: The Transformers Wiki

How can you strangle that which does not breathe?

Star Wars is the catch-all banner for an intergalactic conflict between several factions of humanoid aliens and robots engaged in a galactic war.

Known factions include Bounty Hunters, Empire, Jedi, Rebel, Republic, Separatist, and Sith.

Battle mechs

Many "star warriors" fight using Transformer-like battle mecha that change from vehicles to large combat robots. These mecha are piloted from within and are not sapient beings like true Cybertronian Transformers. The pilots trigger their vehicle's transformation by summoning something called "The Force" or "the dark side". The nature of this mechanism is unclear, but we do know that vehicle-to-robot conversions are a "new technology" for them.

Rather unique to this conflict, many of the key figures in these Star Wars pilot clearly customized mecha whose robot modes are based closely on their own physical appearance. Based on the possible size of the star warriors relative to the average Transformer (see below), their transforming ships may be on a scale with massive city-bots like Fortress Maximus.

Size matters not?

Megatron is not Luke Skywalker's father. Probably.

Perhaps similar to the inhabitants of Femax, these fearsome beings, though in many cases strikingly human-like, might be of a gigantic stature, equaling the size of many Transformers. Rare images of star warriors battling against Transformers from the Unicron Trilogy have been uncovered, though the context is unclear. It has also been speculated that perhaps the Transformers themselves had been somehow reduced in stature for this conflict, or the star warriors' size similarly increased from their normal standard, but without further context, it is impossible to determine which holds true.

Fiction

Generation One

These aren't the droids we're looking for.

A pair of mechanoids similar to two droids that are known participants in the Star Wars have been seen in a Generation One universe at the Schaeffer Energy plant, suggesting either dimensional travel, or the existence of alternate universe analogues of at least some of the star warriors, or bloody amazing coincidence (actual scientific term). Since these droids only appear in the far foreground of a scene containing a human child, Micromasters, and Star Saber behind them, it is impossible to determine their heights.

At around the same time, Star Saber travelled to the settlement of Iron Town on an unnamed planet. The population there included the Ewok and Jawa alien species involved in the Star Wars.

The tall golden droid (or robots that resemble him) has also been seen in another Generation One universe. One was a citizen of the Dead End of Cybertron, its appearance (and poor state of repair) recorded for posterity as Scrounge rolled through on one of his spy missions. It also bears a striking resemblance to the Chromite mechanical aliens.

Unicron Trilogy

Indications are that the star warriors are native to a galaxy within the Unicron Trilogy family. In the Attacktix conflict, they are in an "Intergalactic Showdown" with Omega Sentinel and those continuities' then-current versions of Optimus Prime and Megatron. Given the name of their encounter and the lack of any scrap of a reference to travel between universes, Occam's razor indicates we should assume that these characters are from another galaxy in the same universe. Since a galaxy outside the Milky Way is by definition far, far away from Cybertron, Earth, and other planets local to the Transformers, encounters with the star warriors being an extreme rarity is no surprise.

Hopefully some day more information on this conflict and its other participants may come to light, though the inclusion of numerous Generation One and Movie multiverse Transformers in the conflict casts an odd light on the issue.

Movie

In the Sector Seven game universe within the Movie continuity family, Seymour Simmons and John Ho attended the premiere of the film Star Wars at Grauman's Chinese Theater on May 25, 1977. This is the same universe in which the film Transformers (July 4, 2007) is part of a counter-intelligence campaign by Simmons' Sector Seven organization to discredit claims of the existence of alien robots. Make of that what you will.

Toys

Attacktix

Intergalactic Showdown (Multi-pack, 2006)

• AT-RT with Clone Pilot
• Darth Vader
• Luke Skywalker

Crossovers/Star Wars Transformers

Bounty Hunters

• Boba Fett / Slave 1 | 2006
• Jango Fett / Slave 1 {redeco of Boba Fett) | 2007

Galactic Empire

• AT-AT Driver / AT-AT | 2007
• Darth Vader / TIE Advanced Fighter | 2006
• Darth Vader / TIE Advanced Fighter (2-pack light-gray repaint) | 2007
• Darth Vader / Sith Starfighter (remolded redeco of Obi-Wan Kenobi) | 2006
• Darth Vader / Death Star | 2007
• Emperor Palpatine / Imperial Shuttle | 2006
• Emperor Palpatine / Imperial Shuttle (black deco) | 2009
• TIE Pilot / TIE Bomber | 2008

Jedi Order

• Anakin Skywalker / Jedi Starfighter (remolded redeco of Obi-Wan Kenobi) | 2006
• Anakin Skywalker / Jedi Starfighter (remolded redeco of Saesee Tiin) | 2009
• Mace Windu / Jedi Starfighter (remolded redeco of Obi-Wan Kenobi) | 2007
• Obi-Wan Kenobi / Jedi Starfighter (Episode III model) | 2006
• Obi-Wan Kenobi / Jedi Starfighter (2-pack blue repaint) | 2007
• Obi-Wan Kenobi / Jedi Starfighter (remolded redeco of Saesee Tiin) | 2008
• Saesee Tiin / Jedi Starfighter (Episode II model) | 2007

Rebel Alliance

• Han Solo and Chewbacca / Millennium Falcon (combiner) | 2007
• Luke Skywalker / X-wing Fighter | 2006
• Luke Skywalker / Snowspeeder | 2007

Galactic Republic

• Clone Pilot / ARC-170 Starfighter | 2006
• Clone ARC Pilot / ARC-170 Starfighter (tigershark redeco) | 2006
• Clone Pilot / Republic Gunship | 2007
• Clone ARC Pilot / Republic Gunship (tigershark redeco) | 2008
• Clone Pilot / V-19 Torrent | 2009
• Commander Cody / Turbo Tank | 2007

Confederacy of Independent Systems

• General Grievous / Wheel Bike | 2006
• General Grievous / Grievous's Starfighter | 2008

Sith Order

• Darth Maul / Sith Infiltrator | 2006

Notes

• One of the "star warriors", a Han Solo, bears a passing resemblance to movie star Harold Edsel. Whether his co-star Karen Fishook also has a star warrior counterpart is unknown.

• It was partially owing to Hasbro's enormous product glut with their Star Wars: Episode I toyline that the Transtech line was scrapped.

• The Star Wars Transformers toys from 2006 through 2008 all feature little pilot mini-figures that sat in the toys' cockpits. Originally, this was done to make sure kids would not be confused and think that the giant robots were not piloted mecha but living robots like the Transformers. Starting with 2009's new Crossovers product, however, the pilot mini-figures were dropped from the toys, and the "carryover" older toys were packed with the pilot figures already in the cockpits. Hasbro cited this as being both a cost-saving measure (thanks to rising manufacturing costs) and a move born of their discovery through play-testing that kids really weren't getting "piloted mech" and "living robot" confused ^[1] (also the likely reason such figures were not included for the Marvel Comics Crossovers toys).

References

1. ↑ Hasbro Star Wars Q&A on ActionFigs.com, August 15th 2008

External links

• The Official Star Wars Website
• Wookieepedia, the Star Wars wiki