A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away Good and Evil battled to determine the fate of the Universe. The struggle is chronicled in STAR WARS, nine episodes which depict the reign of the Empire and a small, brave band of rebels who threatened to topple it. The middle third of the story was told in Star Wars: A New Hope, The Empire Strikes Back, and Return of the Jedi. We followed a young farm boy, Luke Skywalker, and his commitment to the Rebel Alliance. We watched as Luke learned about the Force from Obi-Wan Kenobi and Yoda, and felt his pain when he discovered that Darth Vader, the most highly regarded commander in the Imperial Navy, was his father. The STAR WARS saga actually begins 40 years before Luke has the pivotal meeting with Obi-Wan that sends him down the path to his destiny. The first three episodes begin with the friendship of a young Ben Kenobi and Luke’s father, Anakin Skywalker. When Ben meets Anakin, he sees that the talented pilot is very strong with the Force and decides to train Anakin in the ways of the Jedi. But the Emperor senses Anakin’s growing power, and determined to harness it for the Empire, sways the young Jedi to the Dark Side. Anakin Skywalker ceases to exist, and in his place Darth Vader emerges. The new movies will feature all the action of the first three. Much of the drama, however, will revolve around betrayal — between friends and within the Empire. In this part of the story, things are not always as they seem and you never quite know who the good guys and bad guys are. I plan to start the screenplay for episode one by the end of 1994, and release the prequels by the year 2000.

George Lucas

Pretty interesting look at George’s thought process at that point in time there. I’ve always wanted to have the giant book of drafts and scratch paper for the prequels, to see where some of the ideas in the movies came from. It intrigues me to think about the things not mentioned above, like Qui Gon Jinn or the fact that Anakin is some sort of messiah figure, and wonder why George felt the need to add them into the saga. I mean, does it really matter that Anakin is special? Or could it just be that he’s a pivotal figure, as human, or at least Jedi, as anyone else?

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/herocomplex/2009/09/darth-vader-storm-troopers-invade-d23-expo-for-star-tours-announcement.html

Week 2:

From Star Wars Weekend #2 2009

Week 3:

From Star Wars Weekends 3 2009

Edit: Updating the embedded video to a link to the video, since I can’t seem to figure out how to make their player not autoplay, and I hate videos that start playing as soon as you enter a site.

http://swtor.com/media/trailers/deceived-cinematic-trailer

From Star Wars Weekends 2009 001

The highlight of Sunday’s Q&A was all the guests re-enacting the climactic lightsaber battle from The Phantom Menace. Check out the pics to see more!

Darth Vader! Only he would be so bold.

http://www.starwars.com/fans/events/news20090427.html

What I’m truly excited to see is what they come up with to top the Hyperspace Hoopla from last year.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SXWTmDbcOD0