Games

Movies
TV
Wikis

Search

My Account
START A WIKI
Wookieepedia
Wookieepedia
139,034
PAGES
ADD NEW PAGE
STATUS ARTICLES
NAVIGATION
COMMUNITY
CONTACT
EXPLORE
DISCUSS
Premium-Era-realPremium-Era-SprotectPremium-Era-Mprotect
in:
Real-world articles, Semi-protected articles, Move protected articles, and 3 more
Star Wars
VIEW SOURCE

SHARE
This article is about the franchise in general. You may be looking for the original
film: A New Hope. For other uses, see Star Wars (disambiguation).
"The greatest adventure series of all time."
?Ebert & Roeper[src]
StarWarsOpeningLogo
Star Wars logo
Star Wars is a science-fiction franchise comprising movies, books, comics, video
games, toys, and animated shows. It is a 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 subgenre 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. It is currently the third highest-grossing
film series behind only Harry Potter and the Marvel Cinematic Universe.[1] and the
second highest-grossing media franchise of all time (with only the Japanese
franchise Pokmon outranking it).
Contents[show]
Overview
Atathoth
AT-ATs on Hoth
"George Lucas has achieved what few artists do; he has created and populated a
world of his own. His 'Star Wars' movies are among the most influential, both
technically and commercially, ever made."
?Ebert & Roeper[src]
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
appear as a rational 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/fantasy film and TV series such as
Flash Gordon, 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 Searches, which 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) an "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.
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. The case was dismissed as having no merit in 1980 by a U.S. Federal judge.
History
Before Star Wars
Although George Lucas had made a name for himself among some industry insiders for
his work at USC, it was not until the release of American Graffiti in August of
1973 that he reached stardom. The film grossed over $115 million at the box office
and was dollar-for-dollar the most profitable film in the history of Hollywood at
the time. Lucas' profit participation in Graffiti earned him over $7 million. Lucas
was now a millionaire and one of the most sought after young directors in the
world.

Alan Ladd, Jr., then the head of Twentieth Century Fox, saw a smuggled print of
American Graffiti before it was released in theaters and was determined that Fox
was going to be the next studio to profit from Lucas' genius.
Lucas would later profit from an upcoming star in that movie: Harrison Ford. Star
Wars would place Ford higher into stardom.
Conception
Influences
Star Wars poster
Poster art for Star Wars: Episode IV A New Hope
Many different influences have been suggested for the Star Wars films by fans,
critics, and George Lucas himself. Lucas acknowledges that the plot and characters
in the 1958 Japanese film The Hidden Fortress, directed by Akira Kurosawa, was a
major inspiration. Lucas has said that the movie influenced him to tell the story
of Star Wars from the viewpoint of the humble droids, rather than a major player.
It also played a role in the conception of Darth Vader, whose trademark black
helmet intentionally resembles a samurai helmet.

George Lucas has often said that his original idea for the project that evolved
into Star Wars was to remake the Flash Gordon movie serials from the 1930s (a
"serial" is a movie shown in weekly installments of about 10-20 minutes each). The
license wasn't available, so Lucas moved on to other ideas, beginning with Akira
Kurosawa's film The Hidden Fortress and then Joseph Campbell's The Hero With a
Thousand Faces. Despite the plot changes the Star Wars films are still bursting
with influences from the Flash Gordon movie serials, including the Rebels vs. the
Imperial Forces, Cloud City and even the famous "roll up" which begins the movie.
The second major direction for Star Wars (used in the 1973 synopsis) was to use the
Flash Gordon "vocabulary" to create an outer-space version of the Samurai films of
Akira Kurosawa, primarily Kakushi toride no san akunin (The Hidden Fortress, 1958),
Tsubaki Sanjuro (Sanjuro, 1962) and Yojimbo (1961). Joseph Campbell's The Hero With
a Thousand Faces eventually gave Lucas a third and final major story direction, but
many elements from Kurosawa's work remain, including the two bickering peasants
(who evolved into the droids), and the queen who often switches places with her
handmaiden. The Darth Vader-like evil general who has a change of heart at the end
wears a kamon (a Japanese family crest) that looks very similar to the Japanese
Imperial Crest.
Lucas had already written two drafts of Star Wars when he rediscovered Joseph
Campbell's The Hero With a Thousand Faces in 1975 (having read it years before in
college). This blueprint for "The Hero's Journey" gave Lucas the focus he needed to
draw his sprawling imaginary universe into a single story. Campbell demonstrates in
his book that all stories are expressions of the same story-pattern, which he named
the Hero's Journey or the monomyth.
Lucas has often cited The Lord of the Rings series as a major influence on Star
Wars. Lucas learned from Tolkien how to handle the delicate stuff of myth. Tolkien
wrote that myth and fairytale seem to be the best way to communicate morality -
hints for choosing between right and wrong - and in fact that may be their primary
purpose. Lucas has also acknowledged in interviews that the Gandalf and the Witch-
king characters in the Lord of the Rings influenced the Obi-Wan Kenobi and Darth
Vader characters respectively.
The screenplays for the original trilogy
There are many myths surrounding the writing of Star Wars, many perpetuated by
Lucasfilm and George Lucas himself. Author Michael Kaminski tried to set the record
straight in his book The Secret History of Star Wars, as did Jonathan Rinzler in
The Making of Star Wars, both released in 2007.

Lucas' original concept was a swashbuckling space adventure movie. He says "the
film was a good concept in search of a story." He first tried to have a child buy
the rights to remake Flash Gordon, but was unsuccessful.
In 1971, United Artists agreed to make American Graffiti and Star Wars in a two-
picture contract, though they would reject Star Wars in its early concept stages.
Graffiti was made first, and when it was completed in 1973, Lucas set to work on
making his space adventure movie. In early 1973, Lucas wrote a short summary called
"The Journal of the Whills," which told the tale of the training of apprentice C.J.
Thorpe as a "Jedi-Bendu" space commando by the legendary Mace Windy.
Frustrated that his story was too hard to understand, Lucas wrote a 13-page
treatment called The Star Wars, which was a loose remake of Akira Kurosawa's The
Hidden Fortress. By 1974, he had expanded the treatment into a rough-draft
screenplay, which added elements such as the Sith and the Death Star, and once more
had the protagonist as a young boy, named Annikin Starkiller. For the second draft,
Lucas made heavy simplifications, and also introduced the young hero on a farm,
with his name now Luke rather than Annikin. Luke/Annikin's father is still an
active character in the story at this point, a wise Jedi knight, and "the Force"
now became a supernatural power. The next draft removed the father character and
replaced him with a substitute named Ben Kenobi, and in 1976 a fourth draft had
been prepared for principal photography. The film was titled Adventures of Luke
Starkiller, as taken from the Journal of the Whills, Saga I: The Star Wars. During
production, Lucas changed Luke's last name to Skywalker and altered the title to
just The Star Wars and finally Star Wars.
At this point, Lucas was thinking of the film as the only entry that would be made
the fourth draft underwent subtle changes that made it more satisfying as a self-
contained film that ended with the destruction of the Empire itself, as the Death
Star was said to achieve; possibly this was a result of the frustrating
difficulties Lucas had encountered in pre-production during that period. However,
in previous times Lucas had conceived of the film as the first in a series of
adventures. The second draft contained a teaser for a never-made sequel about "The
Princess of Ondos," and by the time of the third draft some months later, Lucas had
negotiated a contract that gave him rights to make two sequels. Not long after,
Lucas met with author Alan Dean Foster and hired him to write these two sequels
as novels. The intention was that if Star Wars was successful and if Lucas felt
like it the novels could be adapted into screenplays. He had also by this point
developed a fairly elaborate backstory though this was not designed or intended
for filming; it was merely backstory. "The backstory wasn't meant to be a movie,"
Lucas has said.
When Star Wars was successful, and not just successful but the biggest hit ever
made at that time, Lucas decided to use the film as a springboard for an elaborate
serial, although he considered walking away from the series altogether. However,
Lucas wanted to create an independent filmmaking center what would become
Skywalker Ranch and saw an opportunity to use the series as a financing agent for
him. Alan Dean Foster had already begun writing the sequel as a novel, but Lucas
decided to disregard that for filming and create more elaborate film sequels; the
book was released as Splinter of the Mind's Eye the next year. At first Lucas
envisioned an unlimited number of sequels, much like the James Bond series, and in
an interview with Rolling Stone in August of 1977 said that he wanted his friends
to take a try directing them and giving unique interpretations on the series. He
also said that the backstory where Darth Vader turns to the dark side, kills Luke's
father and fights Ben Kenobi on a volcano as the Republic falls would make an
excellent sequel. Later that year, Lucas hired sci-fi author Leigh Brackett to
write "Star Wars II" with him. They held story conferences together, and in late
November of 1977 Lucas had produced a handwritten treatment called The Empire
Strikes Back. The story is very similar to the final film except Darth Vader does
not reveal he is Luke's father. In the first draft that Leigh Brackett would write
from this, Luke's father appears as a ghost to instruct Luke.
During this period, Lucas had now had time to attach a numeric figure to the amount
of sequels he revealed to Time magazine in March 1978 that there would be twelve
films altogether. This was then revealed in the official Star Wars fanclub
newsletter, Bantha Tracks. The figure of 12 was likely selected due to its
tradition in serial episodes.
Brackett finished her first draft of The Empire Strikes Back in early 1978; Lucas
has said he was disappointed with it, but before he could discuss it with her she
had died from cancer. With no writer available, Lucas had to write his second draft
himself. Here Lucas finally made use of the "Episode" listing in the film The
Empire Strikes Back was Episode II. As Michael Kaminski argues in The Secret
History of Star Wars, the disappointment with the first draft probably made Lucas
consider different directions to take the story in. Here he made use of a new plot
twist: Darth Vader says he is Luke's father. According to Lucas, he found this
draft enjoyable to write, as opposed to the year-long struggles of the first film,
and quickly wrote two more drafts in the same month April of 1978 which both
retained the new Vader-as-father plot. He also took this darker ending farther by
imprisoning Han Solo in carbonite and leaving him in limbo.
This new storyline where Vader was Luke's father had drastic effects on the series.
Michael Kaminski argues in his book that it is unlikely that this was a plot point
that had seriously been considered before 1978, or even thought of before then, and
that the first film was clearly operating under an alternate storyline where Vader
was separate from Luke's father; there is not a single reference to the Vader-as-
father plot point before 1978. After the second and third drafts of The Empire
Strikes Back, where Lucas first introduced this point, he reviewed the new
backstory he had now created: Annikin Skywalker is Ben Kenobi's brilliant student,
has a child (Luke) but is swayed to the dark-side by the Emperor (who was now a
Sith and not just a politician), battles Ben Kenobi on the site of a volcano and is
wounded but resurrected as Darth Vader; meanwhile, Kenobi hides Luke on Tatooine
while the Republic becomes the Empire and Vader has hunted down the Jedi knights.
With this new backstory, Lucas decided to film this as a trilogy moving The
Empire Strikes Back from Episode II to Episode V in the next draft. Lawrence
Kasdan, who had just completed writing Raiders of the Lost Ark, was then hired to
write the next drafts, and was helped by additional input from director Irvin
Kershner. Kasdan, Kershner, and producer Gary Kurtz saw the film as a more serious
and adult film, which was helped by the new, darker storyline, and brought the
series far away from the light adventure roots it had existed as only a year
earlier.
Lucas had also around this time developed a third trilogy as well, which took place
twenty years after Episode VI.
By the time of writing Episode VI Revenge of the Jedi, as it was then known in
1981, much had changed. Making The Empire Strikes Back was stressful and costly,
and Lucas' personal life was disintegrating. Burnt out and not wanting to make any
more Star Wars films, he vowed to be done with the series, as he makes explicit in
a May 1983 interview with Time magazine. Lucas' 1981 rough drafts of Revenge of the
Jedi had Darth Vader competing with the Emperor for possession of Luke and in the
second script, the "revised rough draft," Vader was turned into a sympathetic
character. Lawrence Kasdan was hired to take over once again, and in these final
drafts Vader was explicitly redeemed, and finally unmasked. This change in
character would provide a springboard for the "Tragedy of Darth Vader" storyline in
the prequels.
The cast and crew of Star Wars
3p-anthony
Anthony Daniels reflects (literally) on his portrayal of C-3PO
Since most major motion-picture companies no longer had special-effects teams or
they thought the American public was no longer interested in non-realistic films,
George Lucas had to create one from scratch. He eventually put together a team of
model makers and special-effects people to create Industrial Light & Magic. The
team worked in a run-down part of Sana Modesta in a cramped work space which no one
liked.

Meanwhile, George Lucas was looking for actors for Star Wars. Lucas had decided to
go with a group of unknowns and went against his friend Francis Ford Coppola, who
had picked famous stage and screen actors for The Godfather. Hundreds of actors and
actresses tried out for the three main roles, Luke Skywalker, Princess Leia and Han
Solo. Actors like Burt Reynolds and actresses like Jodie Foster tried out for the
parts, but Lucas eventually chose 25-year-old Mark Hamill (who had only worked on
television) as Luke Skywalker and 19-year-old Carrie Fisher, daughter of Eddie
Fisher and Debbie Reynolds, as Princess Leia. Initially, Harrison Ford was not
eligible for the role of Han Solo because he had worked with Lucas on American
Graffiti but eventually swayed Lucas over after helping the other actors and
actresses with their lines and got the part.
After casting the initial group, Lucas had to find actors for two of the film's
droids, C-3PO and R2-D2. ILM had made some quaint remote-controlled robots, but
these parts would require living actors. In came three-foot comedian Kenny Baker.
Due to his shortness and the fact kids could not control this heavy machine, he got
the part of R2. Anthony Daniels, however, originally did not want the part of C-3PO
until he saw a drawing of C-3PO by McQuarrie, and he instantly wanted the part and
got it. Lucas eventually found Australia native Peter Mayhew, who was over 7 feet
tall, making him the perfect size for Han Solo's furry Wookiee counterpart,
Chewbacca. After casting all the characters, Lucas began production on Star Wars in
mid-1976.
Star Wars comes to life
The cast and crew of Star Wars began filming in Tunisia, North Africa where mid-
morning temperatures reached 105 degrees. Many crew members and cast workers
thought the movie was a joke and between problems on props and machinery, during
filming Tunisia had their largest rainstorm in many years. Through it all Alec
Guinness, the Academy Awardwinning actor who was cast as the wise mentor Obi-Wan
Kenobi, kept up a positive attitude and inspired the cast. The only silver lining
was that after Africa, the team would be filming at a more controlled area, Elstree
Studios in London.

After finishing up filming in Africa, the entire cast and crew of Star Wars finally
came together to film the action sequences on the Death Star battle station. While
this was happening, problems at ILM were far worse than the filming ones. Lucas
eventually had to supervise every day at ILM, causing him to nearly have a heart
attack. Meanwhile, Fox studios had had enough of George Lucas and his "kid's movie"
and asked Alan Ladd, Jr. to terminate the project. Instead, Alan told Lucas he had
only a few weeks to finish filming or have his movie fail. The last few climactic
scenes were finished quickly with Lucas biking from soundstage to soundstage.
Eventually, the film was finished, and the process to edit and fix his film began.
Problems Star Wars faced
When Lucas saw the first cut of his film, he was horrified. To make matters worse,
he had to fire his editor. Luckily, his replacements (including his then wife
Marcia) greatly improved the film, but Lucas still insisted on reshooting some
scenes. This, among other reasons, forced Fox to move the release date from
Christmas 1976 to summer 1977. After showing the film without its music score to
some of his friends, only Steven Spielberg, who had recently become an A-list
director with the release of Jaws, liked it. However, when Fox executives saw it
they loved it. With his film cut and most of the sounds for the film completed (and
with the help of Ben Burtt), Lucas started to think about his film's score. It was
Spielberg who recommended John Williams (who had just scored Jaws). This was
considered a gutsy move because thematic scores were out of style at the time, but
Lucas went ahead with it.

The pre-release of Star Wars

After the score was completed, Lucas began to market his picture. However, many
people thought it would be a flop, so not many people went with him. One company
that did, however, was the toy company Kenner Products, who decided to make a few
figures for the release. Eventually, Lucas's film was released on May 25, 1977. It
would be a day they would never forget.

The success of Star Wars

When Star Wars opened, it initially opened at a few theaters. A month after its
release, Star Wars played at almost every theater in the country and hundreds
worldwide. People, especially children, flocked to see the adventures of Luke
Skywalker, Han Solo and Princess Leia again and again and again. Lines stretched
for miles. Kenner, caught up in a vortex, ran out of toys by early fall of the
film's release. So, the infamous "Empty Box" scheme was formed. Fox's stock
rocketed up. Merchandise flew off the shelves by the thousands and Lucas became
very rich. Star Wars' run eventually ended by early 1978 with over 260 million
dollars, making it the most successful film in history at that time. It would be
re-released over the next 20 years, adding 220 million to its overall total.
Currently, it is the second-highest American grossing film of all time (in
inflation-adjusted dollars), second only to Gone with the Wind.

Star Wars was nominated for 10 Oscars including Best Picture and won 6 of them. But
just being nominated for it showed Fox and Lucas, who knew all along, that this was
not a "kids' film."
The sequels begin
The Empire Strikes Back
Empire strikes back old
In 1978, with George Lucas a millionaire, he began taking his screenplays for
Episodes V and VI and turning them into films. In early 1978, Lucas began working
on Star Wars: Episode V The Empire Strikes Back. Star Wars was also retitled Star
Wars: Episode IV A New Hope. However, this time Lucas left the Director's Guild,
and Irvin Kershner was the new director with Lucas as the producer. Filming began
in mid to late 1978 with the snowy planet of Hoth scenes being filmed in Norway.
However, during filming, as if a curse, Norway suffered their worst snowstorm in
many years. Mark Hamill, who was still recovering from his car accident injuries,
filmed in a scene in the snow while the crew stayed in their hotel rooms. After the
filming there concluded, the next part of the filming process turned to Elstree
Studios.

Since Lucas wanted this movie to be bigger and more spectacular than Star Wars,
more sets were made and new characters were introduced, which included the first
black Star Wars character, Lando Calrissian, played by Billy Dee Williams, and a 2-
foot puppet named Yoda voiced by Frank Oz. It was also the first time that Han Solo
and Princess Leia kissed. But the biggest surprise was Darth Vader's revelation to
Luke. A few minutes before shooting that scene, Kershner told Hamill that Vader was
his father. However, they did not tell David Prowse, the man in the Vader suit, so
when they recorded Vader's dialogue with James Earl Jones the line was "No. I am
your father" (helpinfo) instead of "No, Obi-Wan killed your father." This line
would later spark the lightsaber duel in Episode VI and all the prequels.
Many people believed that the sequel would not be as good as Star Wars, but
audiences didn't think so. The Empire Strikes Back took in 6.4 million dollars of
the weekend of May 21, 1980. It was also considered the darkest Star Wars movie
until Star Wars: Episode III Revenge of the Sith was released. However, its gross
in the U.S. ended at 290 million dollars, making it the lowest-grossing Star Wars
movie.
Return of the Jedi
Return of the jedi old
Before beginning the production of Episode VI, Lucas, using the profits from Star
Wars and Empire, made Skywalker Ranch, a place where friends of Lucas could hang
out and work on movies, mostly Star Warsrelated things. It would be used more
during the making of the prequel trilogy.

In early 1982, Lucas still out of the director's chair, Richard Marquand began
shooting Revenge of the Jedi. Some of the new things in the films included a
speeder-bike chase, a second Death Star and one of the most controversial groups of
characters in Star Wars history, the Ewoks. Also, to keep the title of Episode VI
from leaking out, the title Blue Harvest: Horror Beyond Imagination was the working
"title" of the movie. After filming for Jedi completed, a few months before the
film's release, Lucas changed the title to Return of the Jedi, stating, "revenge
was not a quality of the Jedi," although some industry insiders attribute the
title's change to Star Trek II : Wrath of Khan being released around the same time
and Fox, and possibly Lucas, not wanting audiences confused between the similar
titles. The "Revenge" title would eventually be used for Episode III.
After Jedi broke single- and opening-day box office records on May 25, 1983, six
years after the original Star Wars opening, George Lucas's wife divorced him,
leaving him to raise his children. Afterwards, Lucas established several Lucasfilm
companies including THX Sound and Picture, the Pixar Animation Studios (which would
later be sold to Disney), and several others. In May 1987, ten years after the
first movie's release, Lucas announced a second trilogy and hinted at a third. In
mid-1996, with all the technology necessary, Lucas began working on the Star Wars
movies the way he wanted them, adding new scenes and changes along with THX Sound
and excellent picture quality.
The Expanded Universe
Beginning with Splinter of the Mind's Eye, the Star Wars Expanded Universe was
populated by a slow trickle of novels, comic strips and television specials.

Almost a decade after the release of Return of the Jedi, Star Wars merchandising
sales had ground to a halt. In an effort to revitalize interest and capitalize on
the success of other franchises in books, Bantam Spectra and Lucas Licensing
planned a four-year publication run that would include several Star Wars novels.
Heirtotheempire
Heir to the Empire re-ignited the Expanded Universe in 1991.
It was 1991's Heir to the Empire that sparked the success of the first run of new
novels and signaled a renaissance in Star Wars publishing. The Thrawn Trilogy by
Hugo Awardwinning author Timothy Zahn would become one of the most popular
science-fiction series to date, and introduced some of the Expanded Universe's
best-known characters, like Grand Admiral Thrawn, Mara Jade and Gilad Pellaeon.
Bantam would continue to publish dozens of books across a number of eras, leading
to the use of era markers after Bantam was sold to Del Rey.

But books were just the beginning. In the same year as Zahn's success, Dark Horse
Comics released Dark Empire, the first serious Star Wars graphic novel. It too
would be followed by dozens of comic series.
Star Wars video and computer games also contributed to the Expanded Universe, but
1996's Shadows of the Empire multimedia campaign marked a turning point. The
simultaneous release of a novel, video game, comics, soundtrack, toys and other
promotional tie-ins set the standard that would later be followed for the
merchandising efforts of the prequel trilogy and expanded upon for the Clone Wars.
The Special Editions
SpecEditionLogo
The Special Edition logo
In the 1990s George Lucas realized he could change his Star Wars films and began
altering them. Some new scenes included a dramatically altered Mos Eisley sequence
from Episode IV among other things. New scenes in Episode V and VI were also added.

From early to mid-1997, Lucas released the Special Edition versions of Star Wars
into cinemas, adding more money to their overall totals. Some changes caused
uproars in the fan community (Greedo shooting at Han in Episode IV), while others
caused a cheer (improved Mos Eisley and Bespin sequences). However, this was not
the last of Star Wars movie changes.
The prequels begin
Development
After getting a divorce in 1983 and losing much of his fortune, Lucas had no desire
to return to Star Wars, and had unofficially cancelled his sequel trilogy by the
time of Return of the Jedi. However, the prequels, which were quite developed,
remained fascinating to him. After Star Wars became popular once again, in the wake
of Dark Horse's comic line and Timothy Zahn's Thrawn Trilogy novels, Lucas saw that
there was still a large audience. His children had begun to grow older, and with
the explosion of CG technology, he was now considering returning to directing. By
1993 it was announced, in Variety among other sources, that he would be making the
prequels. He began outlining the story, now offering that Anakin Skywalker would be
the protagonist rather than Ben Kenobi and that the series would be a tragic one
examining his transformation to evil. He also began to change how the prequels
would exist relative to the originals at first they were supposed to be a
"filling-in" of history, backstory, existing parallel or tangential to the
originals, but now he began to see that they could form the beginning of one long
story: beginning with Anakin's childhood and ending with Anakin's death. This was
the final step towards turning the franchise into a "Saga."

In 1994, Lucas began writing the first screenplay, titled Episode I: The Beginning.
At first the plan was to write and then film all three prequels at once, but this
was changed, possibly because the writing process took much longer than first
thought. Although Lucas initially planned on having others write and direct, he
kept writing on his own, and eventually decided to direct the film as well. In
1999, Lucas announced he would be directing the next two films as well, and began
working on Episode II at that time. The first draft of this was completed just
weeks before principal photography, and Lucas hired Jonathan Hales, a writer from
The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles, to polish his draft. Unsure of a title, Lucas
had jokingly called the film Jar Jar's Big Adventure. By now the backstory had
undergone large changes Ben Kenobi had discovered Anakin as an adult in Episode
I's first draft, but he was changed to be a young student, and Anakin a child, and
in Episode II the Clone Wars were decided to be a personal manipulation of
Palpatine's. At the time of the original trilogy, Lucas had many ideas for this
war: in The Empire Strikes Back it was decided that Lando was a clone and came from
a planet of clones that caused a war, but later a different version was decided
wherein "Shocktroopers," including Boba Fett, waged war against the Republic from a
distant galaxy but were then repelled by the Jedi Knights.
Lucas began working on Episode III even before Attack of the Clones was released,
offering concept artists that the film would open with a montage of seven Clone War
battles. As he reviewed the storyline that summer, however, he says he radically
re-organized the plot. Michael Kaminski, in The Secret History of Star Wars, offers
evidence that issues in Anakin's fall to the dark side prompted Lucas to make
massive story changes, first revising the opening sequence to have Palpatine
kidnapped and Dooku killed by Anakin as a first act towards the dark side. Lucas'
first draft was written in 2003, and is largely similar to the film, though much
simplified. After principal photography was complete in 2003, Lucas made even more
massive changes in Anakin's character, rewriting his entire turn to the dark side
he would now turn out of a quest to save Padm from dying, rather than the previous
version where that was one of many reasons and genuinely believed that the Jedi
were evil and plotting to take over the Republic. This fundamental rewrite was
accomplished through editing and many new and revised scenes filmed in additional
pick-ups in 2004.
George Lucas has often exaggerated the amount of material he had written for the
series, most of these exaggerations stemming from the post-1978 period where the
film grew into a true phenomenon. Lucasfilm often indicated that he had written
twelve stories to be filmed, and Lucas was quick to tell how Star Wars was always
Episode IV that was meant as a middle chapter. Lucas also began to claim that Darth
Vader's parentage of Luke and redemption was always a major part of his plan from
early on, and even that this was his very first script or treatment. As Jonathan
Rinzler and Michael Kaminski show, this is demonstrably false. Kaminski
rationalizes that these exaggerations are part publicity device and part security
measure with the series and story radically changing throughout the years, Lucas
would emphasize that its current embodiment was the original intention; with the
series previously existing as different and often contradictory forms, this makes
audiences view the material only from the perspective that Lucas wishes them to
view the material, and it also may protect against outrage that such a popular
storyline was being changed post-release after being cherished by so many.
Information on the screenplays comes from many sources. Most of the drafts of Star
Wars were leaked to the public in 1977 and have circulated since then. 1987's
Annotated Screenplays thoroughly documented the early drafts of the trilogy, and
Rinzler's The Making of Star Wars supplemented this info with even more detail,
including drafts which had not yet been publicly leaked, as well as Lucas' personal
notes. Information on the prequel scripts is comparatively more scarce, but a
number of making-of books give insight into the writing process and early drafts.
The prequels' drafts are largely similar to the final films due to Lucas exploring
ideas in the art department rather than on paper.
The Phantom Menace
EPI TPM poster
Poster art for Star Wars: Episode I The Phantom Menace
In 1994, George Lucas began writing his prequel trilogy, which was to be made in
the coming years. In 1997, production for Star Wars: Episode I The Phantom Menace
began. Lucas would revisit Tunisia, Africa and have more problems there as his Star
Wars past came to haunt him. However, this time Lucas filmed all non-location
photography in Leavesden Studios, England.

After wrapping up filming, Lucas started finishing the special effects and other
small things. This would eventually be his last film filmed on regular film.
Meanwhile, while Lucas was wrapping up his film, the first Star Wars: Celebration
took place, which celebrated the release of Episode I and would recur for Episodes
II and III.
After his film was released on May 19, 1999, Lucas soon started writing Episode II
while The Phantom Menace broke box-office records and grossed more than 900 million
dollars worldwide, despite poor reviews and reaction to the acting and general
appearance of characters, in particular the much-maligned Jar Jar Binks.
Attack of the Clones
Attack-Clones-Poster
Poster art for Star Wars: Episode II Attack of the Clones
Filming for Star Wars: Episode II Attack of the Clones started at Fox Studios,
Sydney, Australia with new actors like Hayden Christensen and the return of the
now-famous Ewan McGregor and Natalie Portman along with a fully digitized Yoda.

However, when the film was released, many people criticized Lucas's many love
scenes and Hayden's portrayal of a whiny Anakin. The film was grossed less than
Spider-Man and was the # 2 film of the year grossing only 311 million dollars and
becoming the second lowest grossing Star Wars film of all time.
Revenge of the Sith
EPIII RotS poster
Poster art for Star Wars: Episode III Revenge of the Sith
In late 2002, Lucas began writing the screenplay for his last Star Wars film, Star
Wars: Episode III Revenge of the Sith, what would be the darkest Star Wars film.
Anakin turns to the dark side, the Jedi Order is destroyed and Palpatine becomes
Emperor. It would be a heartfelt moment when the last scene was finished and the
cast left on their separate ways foreseeable the premiere in May 2005.

The film not only received the praise of the critics as well as fans. Revenge of
the Sith broke midnight, opening, three-day and five-day records, becoming the
fastest film to reach $100 million and $300 million. It has so far grossed $848
million and became the second highest grossing film of 2005 in a year of letdowns
at the box office.
The future of Star Wars
CelebrationIV
The logo for Celebration IV
The sequel trilogy began with Episode VII, The Force Awakens, released on December
18, 2015. Episodes VIII and IX have been announced. Star Wars: Episode VIII The
Last Jedi is scheduled for release on December 15, 2017, while the as-yet-untitled
Star Wars: Episode IX is scheduled for release on May 24, 2019.

Meanwhile, in the works are several Lucasfilm projects, including the anticipated
Star Wars live-action TV series and the animated series Star Wars Rebels.
In 2007, Lucas originally planned to release all six of the Star Wars films in 3D,
along with a possible "Saga boxset." Test scenes were rendered in 3D, including the
Coruscant speeder chase; Star Wars: Episode I The Phantom Menace was released to
theaters in 3D on February 10, 2012, and the entire saga on Blu-ray was released
September 16, 2011.
Disney-Lucasfilm trilogy
Star Wars Episode VII The Force Awakens
Poster art for Star Wars: Episode VII The Force Awakens
Blue Glass Arrow Main article: Sequel trilogy
On October 30, 2012, it was announced that The Walt Disney Company would acquire
Lucasfilm for US$4.05 billion, half in cash and half in shares of Disney. Privately
held Lucasfilm would become a unit of Disney, like Marvel Entertainment and Pixar.
As part of the announcement, Disney announced that Star Wars Episode VII would be
released in 2015; additional Star Wars films would then be released every two or
three years. Lucasfilm already had Episode VII in early-stage development. Disney
chief executive and chairman Bob Iger told the Financial Times that the deal would
slightly reduce returns to shareholders over the next two years, but that it would
become profitable for them in 2015, once Episode VII was released.

The actual title of the film was later revealed to be Star Wars: The Force Awakens.
[2] The film received critical acclaim and went on to become the highest-grossing
sequel of all time. It is the third highest-grossing film of all time when not
adjusted for inflation.
TheLastJediTheatricalPoster
Poster art for Star Wars: Episode VIII The Last Jedi
The second film in the trilogy, marketed as Star Wars: The Last Jedi, is set to be
released on December 15, 2017 and is written and directed by Rian Johnson.

Star Wars Legends and canon

Blue Glass Arrow Main articles: Star Wars Legends and Canon
On April 25, 2014, Disney announced Star Wars Legends. Effective immediately, the
only Star Wars information considered canon was material from the six original
films, the the Clone Wars film, the The Clone Wars television series, certain
material from the official Star Wars website, and material released after that
date, with certain noted exceptions, generally products that continued stories that
had begun in the Expanded Universe, but had not yet finished. Writers of future
titles would be able to draw upon material from the Expanded Universe for their
stories, but this material would only be considered canon within its new context.
The Lucasfilm Story Group was created to ensure that for the first time all
material released would fit together as part of an official canon, rather than the
previous system of material released outside of the films containing obvious
contradictions. A large slate of new releases was announced, including various new
novels and games.[3]

Setting
"A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away."
?the saying at the beginning of every official Star Wars movie, show, game, etc.
[src]
A long time ago
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.[4]

The saga shows an "ancient" galactic civilization thousands of years old. The
setting is totally unrelated to Earth, the Milky Way Galaxy or reality, which gives
it more liberty, in a sense. The Star Wars galaxy prominently features humans that
look like those 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 merges science with supernatural elements that strongly relate to
epic stories and fairy tales (e.g., 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 36,100 years in all the fiction produced to
date (from Dawn 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.
Franchise
Films
"I've never seen the movies as any kind of phenomenon because I have to live with
them and work with them and they're just another movie that I make. It's no harder
or easier than anything else I do. It's just that they became really popular for
whatever reason while something else didn't. But I like all the movies I make, and
I put just as much work into all of them. And it's hard to tell why some of them
really become popular and some of them don't. I mean I know the basic rules, yet
when something like Star Wars becomes such an incredible phenomenon there's no way
to explain it."
?George Lucas[src]
The original trilogy (Star Wars: Episode IV A New Hope).

The prequel trilogy (Star Wars: Episode I The Phantom Menace) 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, a former Tatooine slave
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 a Sith.
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
six months 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.
On October 30, 2012 The Walt Disney Company along with the announcement of the
acquisition of Lucasfilm, announced plans for the production of a new series of
films, beginning with Star Wars: Episode VII The Force Awakens in 2015, and plans
for additional films. George Lucas announced he would not be directing the films
but would serve as a "creative consultant." There has been no indication as to what
the content of the films would be.
All of the original films were shot at, among other locations, Elstree Studios.
Episode I was filmed at Leavesden 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.
Together, all seven movies in the main saga have made a grand total of
$6,382,255,249 worldwide at the box office with two more on the way.
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)
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 VII The Force Awakens (December 18, 2015)
Star Wars: Episode VIII The Last Jedi (December 15, 2017)
Star Wars: Episode IX (December 20, 2019)
Re-releases
Blue Glass Arrow See also: The Star Wars Trilogy Special Edition and Star Wars home
video releases
George Lucas has tinkered repeatedly with the original trilogy. For the Special
Editions of Episodes IV through VI, the films were extensively cleaned up and
restored, and Lucas took this opportunity to make a number of changes, adding
previously cut scenes and new effects. The Special Editions were released in
theaters in early 1997, and on VHS later that year. Further changes were made for
the films' initial DVD release in September 2004. 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 3D film format,
beginning with A New Hope in 2007. This did not materialize, but on September 28,
2010, the official site announced the 3D release of Star Wars: Episode I The
Phantom Menace coming to theaters in 2012.
Lucas also hinted in the past that he would 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.[source?] This release was to coincide with, and
celebrate, the 30th anniversary of the Star Wars saga. These "archival" editions
were never released, or announced.
Walt Disney Studios has owned the digital distribution rights to all the Star Wars
filmsexcluding A New Hopesince April 2015.[5] The Walt Disney Company is
currently negotiating with 21st Century Fox to acquire Fox's filmed entertainment,
cable entertainment, and direct broadcast satellite divisions, and the distribution
rights to the first Star Wars film.[6][7][8][9][10][11] Both companies expect to
announce the merger on December 14.[12]
Expanded Universe
SOTME Cover
Splinter of the Mind's Eye
Blue Glass Arrow Main article: Star Wars Legends
The Expanded Universe (or EU) is the continuation of the movies. It plays a major
role in the storyline. 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 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" seeks 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.
Story
The saga chronologically begins with the so-called Big Bang, the creation of the
universe. Over billions of years, the galaxy slowly formed.

The earliest Expanded Universe stories chronologically are those in Dawn of the
Jedi. Novels such as the Darth Bane trilogy, The Old Republic: Revan, and Knight
Errant feature both the Galactic Republic and the Jedi Order.
Thousands of years later, series about the training of Obi-Wan Kenobi and the Naboo
Crisis introduce the characters and situations that form the backbone of the story
told in the films. The story then revolves around the Skywalker family and their
friends and adversaries. The Skywalkers are involved in every important event from
that point forward. They go through numerous wars, the last known being Cade
Skywalker and the Second Imperial Civil War.
Radio adaptation
Star Wars, the NPR radio adaptation (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
There are five official feature-length works besides the primary films of the three
trilogies.

The Star Wars Holiday Special (1978)

Caravan of Courage: An Ewok Adventure (1984)
Ewoks: The Battle for Endor (1985)
Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008)
Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016)
The first three of these are live-action, and were originally made for TV, though
the 1984 Ewok film was shown in theaters in some locations outside the U.S. Star
Wars: The Clone Wars is an animated theatrical feature kicking off the 2008 TV
series. Rogue One is a live-action standalone film.

Tv star wars holiday special life day

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 became famous for featuring Boba Fett's first
appearance. An originally minor detail, the Wookiee food wookiee-ookiees became a
cult symbol in the Star Wars fan universe, spawning plays on its name such as
wookiee-cookiees (a Star Warsthemed dessert) and the term "Wookiee Hooky" (the act
of skipping school or work to see a Star Wars film, particularly if it has just
been released).

Additionally, other filmmakers with no connection to Lucasfilm have made films that
salute, document, parody, or unofficially extend Star Wars.
Mel Brooks' Spaceballs (1987) parodies Star Wars and some other science-fiction
works.
The documentary The People vs. George Lucas is a platform for fans to talk about
their take on many Star Wars matters.
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
CloneWarsPoster
Star Wars: Clone Wars television series official poster
Star Wars: Droids
Star Wars: Ewoks
Star Wars: Clone Wars
Star Wars: The Clone Wars
Star Wars Rebels
Star Wars Detours (postponed)
Five cartoon series have been based on Star Wars. The first two began in 1985,
Clone Wars in 2003, The Clone Wars in 2008, and Rebels in 2014. Ewoks featured the
adventures of the Ewoks prior to Return of the Jedi. Droids featured the adventures
of C-3PO and R2-D2 between Star Wars: Episode III Revenge of the Sith and A New
Hope.

Live-action TV shows
In 1984 and 1985, George Lucas executive produced two live-action television
episodes of a short series called Ewok Adventures. These take place before the
Battle of Endor and follow the brief adventures of the Towani family after they are
marooned on Endor. The two episodes were named Caravan of Courage: An Ewok
Adventure and Ewoks: The Battle for Endor, and Warwick Davis returned to once again
play the plucky Ewok Wicket W. Warrick. One odd thing in this series was that
Wicket was taught to speak English, an ability he did not reveal at all during
Return of the Jedi.
Star Wars: Underworld (postponed)
A live-action TV show was announced by Lucasfilm in 2008, but little more has been
heard since then.

On November 9, 2017, Disney chairman Bob Iger revealed that a new live-action Star
Wars television series was to be released on its new streaming service set to
launch in 2019.[13]
Books
Blue Glass Arrow See also: List of books
Star Warsbased 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. Foster also wrote the first original
Star Wars novel, Splinter of the Mind's Eye, the 1978 publication of which
inaugurated a very successful literary spin-off franchise.

The six Star Wars movies have provided a basis for over a hundred novels. The
novels have been 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 years
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 New Jedi Order: 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 before the
films. For some fans, these can be more exciting stories, as they provide
narratives for many characters who only have a minor roles, or are only briefly
seen, in the movies. 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 was further explored in 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.
Some consider these novels to have captured the essence of the original movie
trilogy.
Also, a few elements first introduced in the Expanded Universe were later included
in the films. The best examples are Coruscant, Boba Fett, and Aayla Secura.
Aside from books providing narratives, there are also reference books which detail
things about the Star Wars universe in a nonfiction style, revealing details that
cannot fit into a story. Examples include The Wildlife of Star Wars: A Field Guide,
Inside the Worlds of, and the Visual Dictionaries.
Comic books and strips
Blue Glass Arrow See also: List of comics
SWEMP16-FC
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 and 3
annuals. A wide variety of creators worked on this series, including Archie
Goodwin, Howard Chaykin, Al Williamson, Carmine Infantino, Walter Simonson, Michael
Golden, Chris Claremont, Whilce Portacio, Mary 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. In the
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 scene in A New Hope, 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.
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 (1993) was the first PC game of the "new generation" of games
released by LucasArts. 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 Star Wars: 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 last 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.
SWroguesquad1
Star Wars Rogue Squadron N64 box cover
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 released a MMORPG sequel
to Knights of the Old Republic I and II called Star Wars: The Old Republic on
December 20, 2011, set approximately 300 years after the events of Knights of the
Old Republic II.
Star Wars Galaxies, an MMORPG developed by Sony, was released on June 26, 2003 in
the United States, November 7 in Europe, December 23, 2004 in Japan, and in 2006 in
Australia. The game was set after the events of the Battle of Yavin, and allowed
players to create characters of a variety of species and specializations (such as
Bounty Hunter and Smuggler) and choose to ally themselves with the Rebel Alliance
or the Galactic Empire.
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, a real-time strategy game, was developed by Petroglyph
Games and released on February 16, 2006, and an explansion pack, Star Wars: Empire
at War: Forces of Corruption, was released in 2007.
LEGO Star Wars is 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. LEGO Star Wars
III: The Clone Wars is a LEGO version of the Clone Wars animated series, taking
place during seasons 1 and 2.
Three role-playing games set in the Star Wars universe have been published: a d6-
based game from West End Games, a Wizards of the Coast game using the d20 system on
which their popular Dungeons & Dragons is based, and a game from Fantasy Flight
Games.
Characters
The plot revolves 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 Ackbar | Admiral Piett | Anakin Skywalker | Bail Organa | Beru Lars | Boba
Fett | C-3PO | Chewbacca | Count Dooku/Darth Tyranus | Darth Maul | Darth
Sidious/Palpatine | Darth Vader | General Grievous | Han Solo | Jabba the Hutt |
Jango Fett | Jar Jar Binks | Lando Calrissian | Luke Skywalker | Mace Windu | Nute
Gunray | Obi-Wan Kenobi | Owen Lars | Padm Amidala | Princess Leia | Qui-Gon Jinn
| R2-D2 | Shmi Skywalker | Tarkin | Watto | 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 Alec Guinness, Peter
Cushing, Christopher Lee and Oliver Ford Davies. 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" (helpinfo)) 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. Lucas has identified the idea of a democracy becoming a dictatorship
as the fundamental idea of the saga. He has stated that the saga raises such ideas
as the people giving up their power in desperation, and betrayal by their leaders
who may think they are doing the right thing while sacrificing freedom. In this
way, Star Wars is a cautionary tale in which Lucas, by his own admission, warns
people of the danger that is always present to democracy and freedom and has been
demonstrated throughout history.
There appear to be anti-technological messages in the films: the primitive Ewoks
defeating technological adversaries, and the general idea of technology opposed to
humanity, fitting with Lucas' vision. Lucas explicitly attributed the Ewoks' defeat
of the Galactic Empire to the exploits of the Vietnamese National Liberation Front
(otherwise known as the Vietcong) that operated during the Vietnam War. 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
See also
Timeline of galactic history
Language
Star Wars Technical Commentaries
TheForce.Net
Wilhelm scream
Wookieepedia
Notes and references
? Briers, Michael (December 29, 2016). Star Wars Overtakes James Bond To Become
Third Highest-Grossing Movie Franchise. We Got This Covered. Retrieved on December
30, 2016.
? TwitterLogo @starwars (Star Wars) on Twitter. "Star Wars: The Force Awakens has
completed principal photography. #StarWarsVII #TheForceAwakens"
? SWCustom-2011 The Legendary Star Wars Expanded Universe Turns a New Page on
StarWars.com (backup link)
? SWicon Ask the Lucasfilm Jedi Council on StarWars.com (content now obsolete;
backup link)
? SWCustom-2011 The Star Wars Digital Movie Collection Coming April 10 on
StarWars.com (backup link)
? Roston, Brittany (2017-12-03). Disney restarts 21st Century Fox acquisition
talks. SlashGear.com. Retrieved on December 3, 2017.
? Butler, Sarah (2017-12-03). 21st Century Fox 'restarts talks' for possible sale
to Walt Disney. The Guardian. Retrieved on December 3, 2017.
? Faber, David (2017-12-05). Disney and Fox are closing in on deal, could be
announced next week: Sources. CNBC. Retrieved on December 5, 2017.
? Andreeva, Nellie (2017-12-06). Disney-Fox: What Happens To FBC, Will Disney
Become OTT Powerhouse & How Will Teams & Cultures Mesh If Deal Makes. Deadline.com.
Retrieved on December 7, 2017.
? Littleton, Cynthia (2017-12-08). Disney, Fox Huddle With Bankers as Deal Talks
Progress. Variety. Retrieved on December 8, 2017.
? Littleton, Cynthia (2017-12-11). Disney Nearing Finish Line With 21st Century Fox
as Comcast Bows Out of Acquisition Hunt. Variety. Retrieved on December 11, 2017.
? Faber, David (2017-12-12). Fox, Disney on 'glide path' for Thursday deal
announcement: Sources. CNBC. Retrieved on December 12, 2017.
? Littleton, Cynthia (2017-11-09). New 'Star Wars' Trilogy in Works With Rian
Johnson, TV Series Also Coming to Disney Streaming Service. Variety. Archived from
the original on November 9, 2017. Retrieved on November 9, 2017.
External links
Wikiquote
Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to:
Star Wars
SWicon Official Site on StarWars.com (content now obsolete; backup link)
Official Site (Germany)
SWicon The Urban Legends of Star Wars on StarWars.com (content now obsolete; backup
link)
SWCustom-2011 The Star Wars Digital Movie Collection Coming April 10 on
StarWars.com (backup link)
SWYTlogo The Star Wars Digital Movie Collection - Trailer on the official Star Wars
YouTube Channel
IMDb favicon Star Wars at the Internet Movie Database
WP favicon Star Wars on Wikipedia
TwitterLogo @starwars (StarWars.com) on Twitter
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 Star Wars: Episode II Attack of the Clones.
4loms, A fan describing his trip to many of the filming locations.
starwarslocations, A site devoted to Star Wars filming locations.
Starkiller: The Internet home of the original drafts & screenplays of the Star Wars
saga
WP favicon Star Wars sources and analogues on Wikipedia, An article examining
cultural influences on George Lucas
Star Wars Origins
The Secret History of Star Wars
Star Wars on Facebook
Star Wars on Instagram
Star Wars on Tumblr
Star Wars on YouTube
StarWarsOpeningLogo
Episodic films
I: The Phantom Menace II: Attack of the Clones III: Revenge of the Sith
IV: A New Hope V: The Empire Strikes Back VI: Return of the Jedi
VII: The Force Awakens VIII: The Last Jedi IX
Spin-off films
Canon:
The Clone Wars Rogue One Solo Untitled film Untitled trilogy
Legends:
Holiday Special Caravan of Courage The Battle for Endor
Television series
Canon:
The Clone Wars Rebels Forces of Destiny Untitled live-action series
Legends:
Droids Ewoks Clone Wars
Other:
Underworld
Other media
Audio dramas Books Comics Multimedia projects Parodies
Roleplaying games Theme park attractions Video games
[hide] [edit]
In other languages
?????????DanskDeutsch????????EspaolFranais???HrvatskiBahasa
IndonesiaItalianoLatinaMagyar????Norsk (bokml)?PolskiPortugus???????
SlovencinaSvenskaTrke??????????
Categories: Real-world articlesSemi-protected articlesMove protected articlesPages
needing citationReal-world termsStar Wars
Recent Wiki Activity

Dennogra
A FANDOM user 50 seconds ago
LEP servant droid
A FANDOM user 2 minutes ago
Star Wars
AdamDeanHall 3 minutes ago
Imperial Navy
Tommy-Macaroni 4 minutes ago

Help us grow Wookieepedia!

GET STARTED
Trending FANDOM Articles

Unite Your Tastebuds With These Delicious Justice League Cupcakes

Unite Your Tastebuds With These Delicious Justice League Cupcakes
Who Is the Strongest Avenger in the MCU?
Who Is the Strongest Avenger in the MCU?
John Cena Reacts To All The John Cena Memes We Can Throw At Him
John Cena Reacts To All The John Cena Memes We Can Throw At Him
Why Being a Statesman Is So Much Cooler Than Being a Kingsman
Why Being a Statesman Is So Much Cooler Than Being a Kingsman
The Far Cry 5 Animals List: When to Tame, and When to Aim
The Far Cry 5 Animals List: When to Tame, and When to Aim
Games
Movies
TV
Explore Wikis
Follow Us

Overview

About
Careers
Press
Contact
Wikia.org
Terms of Use
Privacy Policy
Global Sitemap
Local Sitemap
Community

Community Central
Support
Fan Contributor Program
WAM Score
Help
Can't find a community you love? Create your own and start something epic.
START A WIKI
The FANDOM App

Take your favorite fandoms with you and never miss a beat
Advertise

Media Kit
Contact
Wookieepedia is a FANDOM Movies Community. Content is available under CC-BY-SA.
10 Essential Gamer Holiday GiftsPUBG MomentsXbox GiftsStar Wars 9
The FANDOM 100 From Luke Skywalker to Pickle Rick, breaking down 2017s most
iconic characters from movies, TV and video games.