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Star Wars is a science fantasy saga and fictional universe created by writer/producer/director George Lucas in the early 1970s, beginning with the film Star Wars, released in mid-1977. The film, later retitled Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope, led to a pop culture phenomenon, spawning five more feature films and an extensive collection of licensed books, comics, video games, television series, toys, and other spin-offs.

The Star Wars story employs archetypal motifs common to both science fiction and classical mythology, as well as musical motifs of those aspects. It is an excellent example of the space opera sub-genre of science fiction. The film series is widely considered to be the major impetus which launched the new era of high-budget, special-effects blockbuster movies that continues to this day.

In 2005, Forbes Magazine estimated the overall revenue generated by the entire Star Wars franchise (over the course of its 28-year history) at nearly US$20 billion, easily making it the most successful film franchise of all time.

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Conception

"Star Wars" began with a 13-page treatment for a space adventure movie which George Lucas drafted in 1973.

Star Wars creator George Lucas originally wrote summaries for fifteen stories that would make up the Star Wars saga. Out of these fifteen stories, Lucas originally planned to film only one of them as a feature film. Then, in 1978, following the success of the original Star Wars movie, he publicly announced that he would create a total of twelve films to chronicle the adventures of Luke Skywalker (the main character in the original film).

In 1979, Lucas retracted his former statement, saying that he would only make nine of those twelve films. Four years later, around 1983, having completed Episodes IV-VI of the series, Lucas announced that he was finished with Star Wars and no additional films would be made.

Finally, in 1995, Lucas suddenly announced that he would produce a trilogy of prequels (Episodes I-III), for a total of six films. He also claimed that he had always envisioned "the whole thing as a series of six films".

Lucas' history of different statements regarding his future and past plans for the Star Wars saga have caused a great deal of popular confusion, while drawing criticism from some. Many people still believe that Lucas' original plan was for a "trilogy of trilogies". For more information on the once-planned sequel trilogy, see Sequel trilogy.

Influences

Many different influences have been suggested for the Star Wars films by fans, critics, and George Lucas himself. For example, Lucas may have been inspired by the plot and characterizations of the 1958 Japanese film The Hidden Fortress, which was directed by Akira Kurosawa.

Prior to writing the script for Star Wars, George Lucas originally wanted to make a film of Flash Gordon. The rights for Flash Gordon, however, were held by Dino de Laurentiis, and Lucas decided to work on his own science fiction project instead.

Another influence in Lucas' creation of Star Wars were the writings of Joseph Campbell. Campbell's work explored the common meanings, structures, and purposes of the world's mythologies. Lucas has stated that his intention was to create in Star Wars a modern mythology based on Campbell's work. The original Star Wars film, for example, closely followed the archetypal "hero's journey", as described in Campbell's The Hero with a Thousand Faces.

Scripts

It has been reported that Lucas' original script was almost 500 pages long. The title, originally The Adventures of Luke Starkiller, was changed several times before becoming simply Star Wars.

Setting

Unlike the "traditional" science fiction films preceding it, the Star Wars world was portrayed as dirty and grimy rather than sleek and futuristic. In interviews, Lucas tells of rubbing the new props with dirt to make them look weatherworn, a concept he refers to as "a used future". He may have been inspired by Sergio Leone, whose 1960s films performed a similar function for the Western genre.

Each Star Wars film opens with the text, "A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away..." Lucas intended this as an allusion to the classic fairy tale opening of, "Once upon a time, in a faraway land..." To some, Lucas' allusion suggests that the films are to be interpreted as myths of the future, rather than literal events of the past. Lucas himself has intentionally left the details open to interpretation.

Although the film series itself spans the events of only two generations, other stories set in the Star Wars universe cover events over more than 7,500,000,000 years.

Films

There are a total of six Star Wars films. These six films are generally split into two trilogies: The "original trilogy" of Episodes IV-VI, released between 1977 and 1983, and the "prequel trilogy" of Episodes I-III, released between 1999 and 2005.

Episodes I-III show the events involved in the downfall of the Old Republic and the Rise of the Galactic Empire, while Episodes IV-VI show the struggle of the Rebellion and the fall of the Galactic Empire. In these epic events, the lives and decisions of the Skywalker family were shown to have played key roles.

The Star Wars films
Poster		File:Star Wars Attack of the Clones poster.jpg	File:Star wars episode three poster2.jpg
Film	I: The Phantom Menace	II: Attack of the Clones	III: Revenge of the Sith
Year	1999	2002	2005
Director	George Lucas	George Lucas	George Lucas
Rating	PG / U / I	PG / U / I	PG-13 / 12A / IIA
Poster		File:Empire20strikes20back old.jpg
Film	IV: A New Hope	V: The Empire Strikes Back	VI: Return of the Jedi
Year	1977	1980	1983
Director	George Lucas	Irvin Kershner	Richard Marquand
Rating	PG / U / I	PG / U / I	PG / U / I

Opening Crawls

The Star Wars films use an opening text to give the audience the background to the story. Lucas emulated the Flash Gordon serials by having his opening text "crawl" up the screen from bottom to top at a high pitched angle, as if the text were disappearing into the distance.

In a May 15th, 2005 interview with the Chicago Sun-Times, Lucas described the creation of the distinctive crawl: "The crawl is such a hard thing because you have to be careful that you're not using too many words that people don't understand. It's like a poem. I showed the very first crawl to a bunch of friends of mine in the '70s. It went on for six paragraphs with four sentences each. Brian De Palma was there, and he threw his hands up in the air and said, 'George, you're out of your mind! Let me sit down and write this for you.' He helped me chop it down into the form that exists today."

Plot

For more detailed storylines, see the individual film articles.

Episodes I, II, and III chronicle Anakin Skywalker's rise as a gifted young Jedi and his eventual fall to the Dark Side of the Force as Darth Vader, under the influence of the evil Sith Lord Darth Sidious. Sidious manipulates the Trade Federation into invading and occupying Naboo and secretly orchestrates the Clone Wars, a conflict between the Galactic Republic and a Separatist movement, the Confederacy of Independent Systems, which Sidious controls from behind the scenes. At the end of the Clone Wars it is revealed that Sidious is actually the alter-ego of Palpatine, Chancellor of the Galactic Republic. After the final defeat of the Separatists and the near-extermination of the Jedi (with Vader's help), Palpatine declares himself Emperor of a new Galactic Empire.

Episodes IV, V, and VI center on Anakin's son, Luke Skywalker, during the time of the Galactic Civil War. After the murder of his aunt and uncle by Imperial Stormtroopers, Luke joins the ragtag Rebel Alliance in its struggle to overthrow the evil Empire. He trains to become a Jedi like his father, whom he believes was killed by Darth Vader, and is profoundly shaken upon learning that his father is actually Darth Vader himself. Luke successfully resists the efforts of Vader and the Emperor to turn him to the Dark Side; instead, he turns his father back to the Light Side, who then kills the Emperor, while the Rebel Alliance fleet scores a decisive victory to end the war.

Production and release

There were countless problems during the production of Episode IV, and few critics expected the film to achieve the measure of success it did. Many problems with effects work, editing, finding, and shooting caused the film to be pushed up from its expected release date of December of 1976. The production company, not to mention many involved in the actual production, had little faith in the movie. According to reports, it was a daily struggle merely to complete the film on time. Despite these difficulties, the first film was released on May 25th, 1977 and became a surprise hit. Though its novelization had hit the shelves a year earlier, the book had not seen nearly the amount of interest that the film would draw.

Episodes IV, V, and VI were shot at, among other locations, Elstree Studios, in Hertfordshire, England. The Phantom Menace was filmed at Leavesden Film Studios and the subsequent prequels were filmed in Sydney, Australia. Tunisia, and the sand dunes of Yuma, Arizona, have served as the location for filming scenes set on the desert planet Tatooine in A New Hope, Return of the Jedi, The Phantom Menace, Attack of the Clones, and Revenge of the Sith. The Palace of Caserta, Italy, was used to create The Palace of Theed, on the planet Naboo: Queen Amidala's home. Shooting in Italy also includes the Lake of Como. The outdoor scenes from the ice planet Hoth in Episode V were shot at Finse, Norway. Also, one shot of the Rebel Base on Yavin IV in Episode IV was of Mayan temples in Tikal, Guatemala.

Re-releases

Episodes IV, V, and VI were re-mastered and theatrically re-released in 1997 as Special Editions. For the re-release, in addition to extensive clean-up and restoration work, Lucas also made a number of changes to the films in order to "finish the film the way it was meant to be" (as Lucas said in a September 2004 interview with AP).

Many of Lucas' changes for the Special Editions were cosmetic, generally adding special effects which weren't possible with previous technology. Other changes, however, affected plot or characer development. For example, one of the more controversial of the changes is known by fans as "Han shot first": In the original release of the 1977 film, the character Han Solo shoots and kills a bounty hunter named Greedo, after Greedo threatens to kill him in order to collect a bounty which had been placed on Solo's head. In the Special Edition of the film, however, Greedo shoots first. Only after Greedo misses does Han return fire and kill the bounty hunter.

In 2004 the films were changed once again for their release on DVD. In these new versions of the films a few changes which had been made for the 1997 Special Editions were removed. Even more changes were made to the films, however, including a controversial change to the end of Episode VI: when the spirits of Obi-Wan Kenobi, Yoda and Anakin Skywalker look onto the Rebels' celebration. Anakin's face was changed to that of Hayden Christensen, the Canadian actor who played Anakin in Episodes II and III.

At a ShoWest convention in 2005, George Lucas demonstrated new technology and stated that he is planning to release all six movies in 3-D.

Box office performance

The worldwide box office grosses of each trilogy parallel each other. The first episode of each trilogy generated the highest box office gross, while the middle episode of each trilogy generated the lowest box office gross. Although the Episodes of the prequel trilogy had higher worldwide box office grosses than the original trilogy, this is not true if the figures are properly adjusted for inflation:

Major film characters

Major film locations

The Expanded Universe

Main article: Expanded Universe (Star Wars).

The "Expanded Universe" officially began with Alan Dean Foster's 1978 Star Wars spin-off novel, Splinter of the Mind's Eye. The term refers to all of the officially licensed Star Wars material outside of the two trilogies, including books, comics, games, and other forms of media. This material expands and continues the stories told in the films, taking place anywhere from 25,000 years before The Phantom Menace to 31 years after Return of the Jedi.

George Lucas retains ultimate creative control over the Star Wars universe. For example, the death of central characters and similar changes in the status quot must first pass his screening before authors are given the go-ahead. In addition, Lucasfilm Licensing devotes considerable effort to ensure continuity between the works of various authors across multiple companies.

Some purists reject the Expanded Universe, believing that only the events in the film series are part of the "real" Star Wars universe. However, elements of the Expanded Universe have been adopted by Lucas for use in the films. For example, the name of planet Coruscant first appeared in Timothy Zahn's novel Heir to the Empire.

Film and television

• The Star Wars Holiday Special: A two-hour television special which aired during the 1978 holiday season. It is particularly notable for introducing (in animated form) the bounty hunter Boba Fett and the Wookie homeworld of Kashyyykk (pronounced ka-SHEEK). In the special, Han Solo and Chewbacca must return to Kashyyyk so that Chewbacca can celebrate Life Day with his wife Mala, his son Itchy, and his father Lumpy. Throughout the special, numerous TV and music stars of the late 1970s made an appearance in variety show-type acts. The show was greatly anticipated by fans, but then was just as greatly reviled due to its meager plot, lack of action, and anachronistic musical numbers. Lucas, too, has expressed dissatisfaction with the special, and has suppressed re-release of the material.

• The Ewok Movies: Two movies featuring the Ewoks from Return of the Jedi were released in the mid-1980s: Caravan of Courage: An Ewok Adventure in 1984 and Ewoks: The Battle for Endor in 1985. In Caravan of Courage, a family is separated and marooned on Endor when their shuttlecraft crashes. Mace and Cindel, the son and daughter, are befriended by the Ewoks, who help them to rescue their parents from a giant known as Gorax. In Ewoks: The Battle for Endor the Ewoks must defend their village from the villainous Marauders.

• Star Wars: Droids/Star Wars: Ewoks: These two animated TV series debuted in 1985. Ewoks features the adventures of the Ewoks prior to Return of the Jedi, while Droids follows C-3PO and R2-D2 between Episodes III and IV.

• Star Wars: Clone Wars: This animated series debuted on the Cartoon Network in 2003 and depicts events between Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith. The series received an Emmy Award and proved popular enough that it was extended for a second series.

• Future Film and Television Projects: On April 23, 2005, at the Celebration III fan-convention, George Lucas announced that two new television series would be produced. The first will be a fully 3-D, half-hour length series continuation of the Clone Wars cartoon. The show will be produced by Lucasfilm Animation, with locations both in California and Singapore. The show is scheduled for a tentative Fall 2007 debut. The second show will be a live-action, hour-long series, and will take place between Revenge of the Sith and A New Hope. It will focus on very minor characters from the films, with the possibility of cameos by some of the main characters. The live-action show is expected to make its debut sometime in 2008.

Radio

A New Hope, the radio adaptation (BBC 1981), was written by science fiction author Brian Daley. It was followed by adaptations of the next two films of the original trilogy: The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi. Adaptations of the prequel films have yet to be made.

• See also: Star Wars (radio)

Books

Star Wars-based fiction predates the release of the first movie, with the 1976 novelization of "A New Hope" (ghost-written by Alan Dean Foster and credited to George Lucas). However, Foster's 1978 novel, Splinter of the Mind's Eye, was the first Expanded Universe work to be released. In addition to filling in the time between the movies, this additional content greatly expanded the Star Wars timeline before and after the film series.

Star Wars fiction flourished during the time of the original series (1977-1983), but slowed to a trickle afterwards. In 1991, however, Timothy Zahn's celebrated Thrawn Trilogy debuted, sparking a new interest in the Star Wars universe. Other notable books include The X-Wing Series, by Michael A. Stackpole, and the New Jedi Order series, by various authors. Another series of books is the Young Jedi Knights, by Kevin J Anderson, which follow the adventures of Jacen and Jaina Solo and their friends.

• See also: List of Star Wars books

Comic books and strips

Marvel Comics published Star Wars comic book series and adaptations from 1977 to 1986. 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 Poratio, Jo Duffy, and Ron Frenz. Some fans, including some officials at Lucasfilm, no longer consider the Marvel series story canon, although some events have been mentioned in Star Wars reference books. In the 1980s, as part of their Star Comics line aimed at young children, Marvel also published the short-lived series Ewoks and Droids, based on the two Saturday morning cartoons of the same name.

Star Wars was also a daily newspaper comic strip from 1979 to 1984. Among the creators were Russ Manning, Archie Goodwin and Al Williamson.

Starting in the 1990s, Dark Horse Comics has published a large number of original adventures set in the Star Wars universe. These include Star Wars Republic, Star Wars Empire, Star Wars Tales and Star Wars Tales of the Jedi. Dark Horse has also published the Marvel series in a collection entitled Classic Star Wars. In addition, the company has reprinted several Japanese manga-interpretations of the films which retell the stories using the artistic devices and idioms of the form.

• See also: List of Star Wars comic books

Board games and Roleplaying games

• Star Wars: The Interactive Video Board Game (1996)

For this game from Hasbro, which is set during the era of the original trilogy, new live-action scenes were shot of Darth Vader on the Death Star around the events of Return of the Jedi. The footage was made available on a special VHS tape, included in the box of the game. When playing the board game, the players could put in the tape, which would play while they were in a game. David Prowse reprised his role as Vader, and James Earl Jones as the voice of Vader. Some of the original crew for A New Hope even came back to shoot these scenes.

Two Star Wars role playing games have also been published, and in 2005, Hasbro developed and released a DVD TV Game based on Star Wars and utilizing the Trivial Pursuit game-play format.

Computer and video games

Since 1983, over 120 video games have been published bearing the Star Wars name, beginning with Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back published for the Atari 2600 by Parker Brothers. Other early titles include the Star Wars Nintendo Entertainment System game (published by JVC) and three other titles for the Atari 2600. The Rogue Squadron and Dark Forces series were published more recently by LucasArts.

Atari produced arcade games based on the original trilogy, beginning with Star Wars and The Empire Strikes Back, which were both 'flight sim' style games that utilized vector graphics. The third, Return of the Jedi, used more traditional raster graphics.

Star Wars has also, and not surprisingly, opened the way to a myriad of Space-flight simulations that take the space wars of the saga in a more serious manner, teaching the player to fly various Star Wars Universe starfighters along the lines of more traditional 'Modern Aircraft' flight simulators. The first among these were 'X-Wing' and its expansion 'B-Wing', dealing with the Rebellion's side of the war, taking place in the period right before, and up to, the destruction of the first death star. The second was "Tie Fighter", respectively dealing with the Empire's starfighters at the time prior to Episode VI. Both games were released for DOS. Newer simulators are also available, with 'X-Wing Alliance' in the lead.

Star Wars: Rebellion allowed players to compete in the Star Wars universe on a larger scale, focusing more on the strategic aspect of handling (or defeating) a rebellion, with resource management and agent-allocation, as well as large-scale conflicts between entire fleets of starships.

Other games are: Knights of the Old Republic by BioWare, Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords by Obsidian Entertainment, Battlefront, Galactic Battlegrounds, Republic Commando, Episode III: The video game, the loveable Lego Star Wars, Jedi Outcast and Jedi Academy, Star Wars Galaxies, and soon to come is Empire at War.

• Star Wars Jedi Knight: Dark Forces II (1997)

A video game which had a few cutscenes which were live action footage of certain EU characters, such as Kyle Katarn.

• See also Star Wars computer and video games and List of LucasArts Star Wars games. and List of Star Wars toys.

Shadows of the Empire

In 1996 an ambitious multimedia project was created by Lucasfilm. Dubbed "a film without a film", Shadows of the Empire told the story of the events between The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi and introduced a new villain named Prince Xizor. It included a novel written by Steve Perry, multiple comic book series, a soundtrack, a video game, concept art, action figures, and the like.

Mockumentaries

• Return of the Ewok (1982)

A 24-minute fictional mockumentary-style movie, focusing on Warwick Davis's decision to become an actor and act as Wicket in Return of the Jedi. The show begins with Warwick trying to decide what to do in life, and as he becomes Wicket, he searches the sets of the feature film and interacts with the characters until he finally finds where he needs to be and "becomes" Wicket.

• R2-D2: Beneath the Dome (2002)

A 20-minute mockumentary-style movie, focusing on the "true" story of R2-D2's life. This was actually an alternate, made-for-fun movie by some of the crew of Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones. This was, unlike the other made-for-fun mockumentary, released on DVD.

Toys

In addition, many other toys have been made. The Star Wars toy phenomenon began in 1978 with the original action figures, toy lightsabers and blasters, twelve-inch figures, toy vehicles, and much more products. These toys are known as the vintage Star Wars toys. Today many of these vintage figures are quite rare and hard to find. Many are also worth a lot of money. Recently, a toy line called Star Wars: The Original Trilogy Collection, brought back elements of the original vintage toy line, such as vintage packaging. With the coming of Star Wars: Episode I, Lego began creating little (and quite large) buildable Star Wars characters and scenes. Recently, the Lego creators have invented light-up lightsabers for their figures. Lego even made a video game (metioned above).

All kinds of toys have been made. Very cool Darth Vader helmet and voice changers now inhabit the shelves, usually right next to the Ultimate Lightsaber Kit, which contains parts to design and assemble your own functional lightsaber toy.

• See also List of Star Wars toys.

Star Tours

In 1987, Lucasfilm and Disney, utilizing the power of ILM, teamed up to produce Star Tours, an amusement park simulator ride through the Star Wars galaxy. The ride is advertised as an opportunity to take a tour to the forest moon of Endor via the Starship 3000. The ship is controlled by a robot named Rex (voiced by Paul Reubens of Pee Wee Herman fame), who happens to be new at giving the tours, and your riding experience happens to be his first time at the controls. Along the way, the rider encounters many mishaps, including run-ins with Imperial star destroyers, and near collisions with asteroid fields, until their ship finally makes it safely back into the port. A Star Tours II has been announced by George Lucas, to be based on prequel situations. Although exactly when it will begin production or its opening date are as of yet to be confirmed.

• See also: Star Tours

Major EU Characters

Major EU Locations

Major themes and influences

The Star Wars saga has been influenced by ancient mythology, philosophy, and religion.

Mythology

Many of the themes within Star Wars reflect elements of Greek tragedy, Arthurian Legend, Roman mythology, and Japanese chambara such as the prominence of prophecy and the inability to control one's destiny. For example, Luke's relationship with his father shows evidence of influence from Greek tragedy, while the original film contained elements which were interpreted by some as analagous of the Arthurian myths: Luke's lightsaber (a "magic sword") was inherited from his father, just as Excalibur once belonged to Arthur's father; the wise mentor, Obi-Wan Kenobi, can be seen as a Merlin figure; and a "round table" appears aboard the Millennium Falcon.

The Star Wars films also show considerable similarity to Asian Wuxia "Kung Fu" films. In films of this genre, the protagonist almost always begins with a clear objective to avenge the death of someone dear (an old master, his father, or his entire family). Starting as an apprentice, he grows to become the most powerful Master of his art in Kung Fu and rightfully settles old scores inflicted to his loved ones. The influence of Japanese pathos is obvious in the technique of the lightsaber being similar to the use of the Japanese Samurai swords, and the etiquette-conscious Jedi humility to the Japanese bows in greetings. The Jedi also live by a code of conduct and battle similar to the Samurai Code (or Bushido) as well as providing protection without being soldiers for a particular Nation or Government.

Philosophy and religion

The essential trademark of Star Wars' philosophy is its reliance on the Force. (See main article: Force (Star Wars)).

Star Wars stresses the self-destructive nature of fear, 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"), 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."

This aligns with the philosophy of most religions, which emphasize rational thought and meditation as the path to enlightenment, as opposed to the "Dark Side", of violent passion and emotion. It also aligns with secular Enlightenment thought, based in reason (the light side) and passionate and often violent pre-WWI romanticism (the dark side).

Undoubtedly, however, the strongest influence was the Taoist-philosophy. The Force is also very similar to Qi. The practitioners of Qi according to the Taoist annals can live upwards of 200 years. Many true Taoist masters eventually became "san" or spirit-like beings, immortals who could partake and interact in the day-to-day earthly activities, not unlike what Obi-Wan and Yoda became after their passing, in their tutorials with Luke. Taoism emphasizes smooth flow of the Qi being the balance of the Yin and Yang forces to all manifestations including the human anatomy and the environment, again not unlike the duality of the Sith and Jedi being the dark and light extremes of the Force.

The sequel started in Episode IV with the obvious cliché — Darth Vader in matte and shiny black outfit, with Leia Organa in pristine white robes, alluding to the concepts of Good versus Evil. With the exception of Anakin in the teenage years in Episodes II and III (although one could arguably say that he was a bit "destined" for the Sith, so maybe this does not count as an exception to the rule) and Luke Skywalker in Episode VI, black costumes seem to be reserved exclusively for the darker Empire and its Emperor. Whether intentional or not, the use of language was dramatized — the Empire minions almost always spoke with British accents whilst most of the Rebels spoke unadulterated American English. Likewise, all Imperial officers were outfitted in tailor-cut Nazi-like uniforms, with the Rebels in looser and more ascetic overalls. It has been suggested as well that the Imperials/Rebels axis could also be a reference to real-world Reactionaries vs. Revolutionaries, but it's all speculation.

• Star Wars
• Space opera