Star Wars: Fan for Charity

Here is a man who walked across Australia for nine months as a storm trooper raising money for charity. Check it out!

Star Wars: Copycats

The article below was written by Robert McLaughlin and demonstrates copycats of Star Wars.

http://www.denofgeek.com/movies/841130/11_films_and_tv_shows_that_tried_to_be_star_wars.html

Star Wars: Convention

Star Wars attracts a huge fan base who attend conventions all over the world. Here is one of the biggest upcoming events of the year.

1) August 23rd to 26th- Orlando Florida
Tickets: $55 per day

http://www.starwarscelebration.com/

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The countdown is on for Star Wars Celebration VI, coming August 23-26, 2012 to the Orange County Convention Center. This stunning fan festival will commemorate the magic of the entire Star Wars Saga: all six movies; The Clone Wars television series; books; comics; collectibles; toys; entertainment and more. There is so much to celebrate, and all four days of the show will be full of choices of things to do, from morning until night.

Some of the scheduled events are: Speed Dating, Pregnant Costumes, Collecting, Art Show, and Fan Programing. Our friends at Disney have teamed up to give you the ultimate Star Wars vacation. To book at disney click here: http://disneyworld.disney.go.com/parks/hollywood-studios/special-events/star-wars-weekend/?CMP=KNC-WDWFY12_STDDOM_SWW_GOO%7CG%7C4121520.ST.AM.C3501.03

Hope to see you there!

Star Wars: Chewbacca

One of Star Wars's most beloved characters of all time is Chewbacca. He is a wookie, or fury looking beast, and best known as Han Solo's first mate. In the story line, we are first introduced to Chewy in episode 3. There he is on the wookie planet of Kashyyyk fighting against the droid armies along side the republic. His duty was to guard master Yoda. In episode 4, he is seen as Han Solo's buddy and first mate on the Millennium Falcon.  Chewy stays along side the Han Solo throughout the entire original trilogy. Some even said he was like that faithful dog.

In 2004, my family drove to Chester, Connecticut to pick out a Bearded Collie puppy who we later named Chaster. Bearded Collies are very unique. For starters, they were orriginaly from Poland and were bread as herding dogs. Unlike a Boarder Collie, a Bearded Collie was bread to herd sheep without commands. They are very independent animals. However, like most collies, they are very loving, sweet, and loyal dogs. As Chester grew from a puppy into a full forty-five pound dog, his love for crawling into my lap remained. As I sat there one day, I started rubbing his ears in the living room chair. As I rubbed it sounded like muffled growls were coming from him. But, when I stopped, he pawed at me until I started rubbing again. Over time these growls evolved into "wookie speak." He sounded like Chewy.

After a while my dad started reading up on Bearded Collie's only to find that Chewy was a character inspired by George Lucas's own Bearded Collie named Indiana. The dog also inspired George Lucas's charter Indiana Jones. Lucas said that if he were flying the Millennium Falcon, he would want Indiana next to him. Below is a clip of how Chewy sounds in the movie.

Star Wars LEGO

Star Wars is now the largest franchise on the planet worth $22 to $30 billion. Action figures line selfs. Every kid wants a toy lightsaber when they are young. Rides at Disney World take you through simulated worlds found in the movies while C3PO narrates where you are going. But, the true test of a franchise, is if LEGO adopts it as a theme for their sets. Not only is Star Wars one of five movie themes adopted by LEGO, but it is by far the most successful. The first LEGO set I ever got was the original Millennium Falcon LEGO set. It was so cool. I still remeber opening the box for the first time and building. I was six and in first grade. From there, I collected LEGOs over the course of the next ten years. I have played endlessly with them telling the stories over and over through playing with the mini figures. Here are some pictures of my favorite Star Wars sets from each episode.

For a Lego Fan site, click the link below:

http://legostarwarsclub.blogspot.com/


"Introducing the 24/7 Wall St. Wire." 247wallst.com. Web. 09 Apr. 2012. <http://247wallst.com/2012/02/10/the-force-star-wars-franchise-worth-over-30-billion-and-growing/>.

Star Wars: Family Guy

Family guy has released a number of star wars parities. Here is a clip from the first one. Enjoy!

Caution: Explicit Language

Star Wars Episode 4: Movie Review

Star Wars Episode 4: A New Hope captured the worlds imaginations in 1977. At the time, new special effects and unique camera tricks made this film the most technologically advanced movie ever. But, as technology has advanced, is the original episode of Star Wars still as good as it was in 1977? In 1995 the first computer genorated movie ever emerged from Pixar. This set off a chain movie revolutions. Today, one can not tell the difference between computer generated images and reality. In episode 4, it is clear that R2D2 and C3PO are on a sound stage with hand painted backdrops. One can easily make that distinction that the sets are cardboard. But, does that make it cheesy or not a good movie by todays standards?

I recently re-watched Star Wars Episode 4: A New Hope and review the plot. The evil empire is chasing Princess Leia Organa across the galaxy when they finally intercept her ship which is allegedly carrying the secret blueprints of the death star. The death star is the empires ultimate weapon that is capable of destroying entire planets. Princess Leia immediately stores the plans in an astro-droid known as R2D2 and sends him down to the planate of Tatooine in an escape pod with a protocol-droid known as C3P0 before she herself is captured by Darth Vader. They end up in the hands of Luke Skywalker, a farm boy who lives with his aunt and uncle. Luke discovers a message intended for one Obi-Wan Kenobi. R2D2 is intent on finding Obi-Wan and ventures out on his own to find him. Obi-Wan finds them when they are attacked by sandmen and takes them in. He tells Luke that his father was a Jedi who served in the Clone Wars against the empire and convinces Luke to join the rebellion. They now must see R2D2 safely to the planate Alderaan so that the rebellion may be able to find a weakness in the death stars plans. At a bar in the nearby port Luke and Obi-Wan meet Captain Han Solo and his first mate Chewbacca of the Millennium Falcon. They hire them for the trip to Alderaan. But, there is just one problem: the empire has destroyed Alderaan and when they arrive where the planet should be they just encounter astroids. They head for what appears to be a small moon. It turns out to be the death star and when they try to fly away, the tractor beam pulls the ship in. Obi-Wan goes on a mission to disable the tractor beam so that they may escape. Luke, Han, and Chewy head to rescue the princess who is a prisoner on board. They encounter many stormtroopers but in the end they escape. But, unfortunatly Obi-Wan is struck and killed by Darth Vader. Eventually the gang arrives at a hidden rebel base. There they plan there attack on the death star. They discover a design flaw and when a certain target is hit, it will blow up the entire station. But, the empire has discover the rebel base and is ready to attack. In the end Luke blows up the death star. and the good guys win.

I found that this is still one of the most entertaining movies ever made. If you compare it to other 70's films, it is so ahead of its time. The quality, both in sound and picture are still perfect. George Lukas is a true genius. Even in todays high-tech world, it does not matter that the one can tell that Tatooine is in a sound stage. It is the story. It is the acting. It is the adventure. It is a true masterpiece of the ages.

This may explain the fan base. Looking back to the late 70's and 80's we see a huge increase in space movies and TV shows. It changed our very culture. http://www.space.com/8917-star-wars-changed-world.html has more information on this.

Star Wars: The Episodes

          In 1977 the first episode of Star Wars was released. It grossed $797,900,000 in the box office making it one of the most successful movies of all time. Originally, the movie was called Star Wars intending to be one movie. But, due to its success, it was later named Star Wars Episode 4: A New Hope. In 1980 Star Wars Episode 5: The Empire Strikes Back was released grossing $538,375,067. By this time the story was headed in a different direction than what the original story intended. The plot twisted with the revelation of Darth Vader being Luke's father. In 1983 Star Wars Episode 6: Return of the Jedi grossed $475,106,177. These box office hits were known as the original trilogy. George Lucas decided to make a prequel trilogy of Star Wars. In 1999 He released Star Wars Episode 1: The Phantom Menace which grossed $1,026,114,219. This was the highest grossing movie in all of the series. In 2002, Star Wars Episode 2: Attack of the Clones was released grossing $649,398,328. One movie was left to close the gap and complete this epic series. Star Was Episode 3: Revenge of the Sith completed the series in 2005 grossing $848,754,768. Many critics only regarded episode 4 as a true master piece while others only liked the entire original trilogy. Some like all the episodes. Fan fiction has been written filling in the plot gaps between the movies. With such popularity and success Star Wars is the most successful movie franchise in history.

Here is a link to a fan site who only supports the original trillogy:

http://originaltrilogy.com/



Work Cited
"Star Wars (1977-2005) - Box Office Mojo." Box Office Mojo. Web. 04 Apr. 2012. 

Star Wars: A Beginning

I have decided to study Star Wars and decide if it classifies a a cult or not. The most famous franchise of all time came from humble beginnings to become the epic adventure that it is known as today. In 1977 when Harrison Ford, Mark Hammil, and Carrie Fisher took the screen, crowds of people lined up at the theaters. People of all ages attended Star Wars conventions and viewings. People even get married at these fan gatherings. When the last movie came out in 2005, fans were paying $500-$1000 per ticket to see the movie one day before airdate. A cult is define as a small demographic of people who emotionally enjoy or are against something. There is one key element of a cult that Star Wars does not have. Cults are not enjoyed by the majority of people as Star Wars is. But, we can still consider Star Wars a cult because it shares all other elements. As it is largely enjoyed by almost everyone, Star Wars has a small group of people who follow the culture religiously. These people by every book, action figure, and idea that comes out. Star Wars is a cult!