Star Wars on Jeopardy

Last night on Jeopardy, there was a Star Wars category. The questions are shown below with the answers in white text next to the question. Use your mouse and highlight the blank space to see the answer. This may be a little tough since they showed video as part of the clue during the show...

There's a vast array of props and costumes at this 2,300 acre facility named for a hero of the Star Wars saga. [QUESTION: What is Skywalker Ranch?]

This is a less terrifying Lucite version of this weapon, whose second version is being built during Return of the Jedi. [QUESTION: What is the Death Star?]

When George Lucas saw a preliminary version of what would become this Star Wars ship, he said, "Make it look like a hamburger". [QUESTION: What is the Millennium Falcon?]

Though he didn't look like this in the film, you don't need to use the force to know that these are early models of this good-natured Gungan. [QUESTION: Who is Jar Jar Binks?]

I don't know what the $1,000 question was. It was not on the Web site I found...
Grr.

New Star Wars Videos

Star Wars . Com has undergone an overhaul over the weekend. I like the new interface, plus the new videos that have shown up there recently.

I am really looking forward to the Star Wars special on Cartoon Network's Robot Chicken show. There are a few trailers that you can see. My favorite moment is Admiral Ackbar's cereal:

Their tongues can't repel flavor of this magnitude!

Another great Robot Chicken clip features the one and only George Lucas

The Kessel Run: Time & Distance

HAN: Han Solo. I'm captain of the Millennium Falcon. Chewie here tells me
you're looking for passage to the Alderaan system.
BEN: Yes, indeed. If it's a fast ship.
HAN: Fast ship? You've never heard of the Millennium Falcon?
BEN: Should I have?
HAN: It's the ship that made the Kessel run in less than twelve parsecs!
Ben reacts to Solo's stupid attempt to impress them with obvious
misinformation.

Ben Kenobi may have the right idea. You see, a parsec is a unit of distance defined as the distance from the Earth to a star that has moved one arc-second (a certain distance as observed while our planet orbits the sun). It is the unit of measure for one of the oldest methods of determining astronomical distances.

Some Star Wars apologists have argued that a parsec has a different definition in this far, far away galaxy from a long time ago. Unfortunately, Dexter Jettster of the diner on Coruscant, shot down that theory when he talked to Obi-Wan in Attack of the Clones:

OBI-WAN: Well, Dex, if droids could think, we wouldn't behere, would we?
(laughing) Kamino... doesn't sound familiar. Is it part of the Republic?
DEXTER JETTSTER: No, it's beyond the Outer Rim. I'd say about twelve
parsecs outside the Rishi Maze, toward the south. It should be easy to find,
even for those droids in your archive. These Kaminoans keep to themselves.
They're cloners. Damned good ones, too.

If you want to get really scientific, one could argue that time and distance are interchangeable when dealing with astronomical scales. According to Einstein's special relativity, twelve parsecs is equivalent to about forty Earth years. Of course that assumes you are traveling close to, yet definitely slower than, the speed of light. All bets are off when you assume the fanciful hyper-luminal speeds of Star Wars space vehicles.

The best explanation to me comes from the creator himself, George Lucas. On the audio commentary track of A New Hope DVD, Lucas explains that traveling through hyperspace requires precise calculations to avoid smashing into a star, planet, black hole, or any other large object. The Millennium Falcon is able to plot some of the shortest distances possible. Thus, the ship can arrive at its destination faster than vehicles traveling longer distances.

So what the heck is the Kessel Run?

There are some variations on this story, depending on which source of the Expanded Universe you reference. The Kessel Run is a dangerous path from the planet Kessel past the Maw Black Hole Cluster. It is a space lane frequented by smugglers transporting the illegal narcotic Glitterstim spice (fictitious of course!) from Kessel.

By the way, Threepio mentioned Kessel's spice mines earlier in A New Hope while still aboard the Tantive IV blockade runner: "They're heading in this direction. What are we going to do? We'll be sent to the spice mine of Kessel or smashed into who-knows-what!"

Dovetailing Live Action Series with A New Hope

This is pure speculation on my part, but I think it would be an excellent way to end the live-action television series that is set to debut in 2009. Hopefully, the series end will be many years past 2009! In the opening crawl of A New Hope, the second sentence hints at a victorious battle:

It is a period of civil war. Rebel spaceships, striking from a hidden base, have
won their first victory against the evil Galactic Empire. During the battle, Rebel spies managed to steal secret plans to the Empire’s ultimate weapon, the DEATH STAR, an armored space station with enough power to destroy an entire planet.

However, despite all the movies, books, comics, and video games that have been released over the past thirty years, there has been no word what this first victory was. What better way is there to end the television series than to show the Rebels victorious and the Tantive IV rushing out to Tatooine to recruit the old general Obi-Wan Kenobi?

The Wilhelm Scream

We can thank the genius of Ben Burt for the original and iconic sound effects of the Star Wars saga. Even the most casual fan can recognize the buzz of a lightsaber, the blast of a laser rifle, or the roar of the Tie Fighter flying by.

However, there is another sound effect in the films that Ben Burt did not create himself, but rather inserted as an homage to his childhood love of sound effects. As a kid he listened to and studied the audio of countless movies, many of them Westerns. He noticed that the same sound effects, including a particular scream, was used many different movies.

As a young sound editor, he inserted the scream into A New Hope (a stormtrooper falls off a ledge just before Luke and Leia swing across the chasm in the Death Star). The scream makes an appearance in every Star Wars film, as well as every Indiana Jones film, and a bunch of other places. You will never forget this scream after watching this compilation of Wilhelm Screams in movies on You Tube!

You can learn more about the history of the scream and Ben Burt's involvement in its use by following these links.

Never too old for Star Wars toys, right?

My own way of celebrating the 30th anniversary of A New Hope was to buy some Star Wars toys - err - I mean "collectibles."

I bought a Stormtrooper Combat Engineer action figure a month ago. I think this is my first Star Wars action figure purchase since the 1980s. My young son found it and carried it around with him everywhere. The helmet is actually removable (how cool is that!) and since then he loves to walk around wearing the stormtrooper helmet like a thimble. I love it!

Speaking of my son, I am glad to see the Galactic Heroes action figures, I started stocking up on this line of toys when my wife was pregnant and he his just now at the age of playing with toys like these. His first favorite character is also my favorite figure as a kid - Boba Fett. A few days ago, he lost the figure. My little boy was going around the house calling, "Boooh-bah! Boooh-bah!" I am so proud! (He did find him in the end)

A couple of days ago, I bought the Tie Fighter vehicle. This brought back a lot of memories. I had a Tie Fighter as a kid and loved the spring action wings that would pop-off. That toy is now long gone, lost or thrown away with countless other toys. So, I thought I'd get the latest and greatest version, for old time's sake.

Of course, I had to get something related to the more recent trilogy, so I picked up Darth Vader's Sith Starfighter. This vehicle wasn't in the movies, but it is obviously the vehicle he used immediately after Revenge of the Sith. The style is very similar to the Jedi Starfighter but is taking on more of a Tie Fighter look. 'Course I had to buy a Darth Vader figure to go with the fighter.

Oh and how friggin' cool is this?! I wish they had a toy like this when I was a kid and buying all the Return of the Jedi stuff. Kids these days are so spoiled! I had to use a broomstick and my imagination.

Happy Birthday, Star Wars!

On May 25, 1977, the first Star Wars movie - later to be renamed Episode IV: A New Hope - debuted in a mere 32 theaters. The movie became a cultural phenomenon that continues to propagate into the 21st Century.

Fans from all over the world have converged in Los Angeles for the ultimate Star Wars convention - Celebration IV. Sadly, for a variety of reasons, I couldn't go to CIV. But, thanks to the guys at The Forcecast, I can at least get a taste of what it must be like. There was also a two-hour special on the G4 channel covering the event. Maybe I can go to Celebration V, but who knows when or where that will be!

I expect there will be some major announcements made at CIV, so I will be watching The Force . Net and Rebelscum . Com for the latest updates. Star Wars . Com is also planning a major announcement this Memorial Day weekend, so stay tuned to that site too!

Be sure to head over to your local post office and buy the new Star Wars stamps! Later this weekend they will be announcing the Star Wars stamp that received the most votes during the month of May. The two finalists were Yoda and Darth Vader. You've gotta love that! The winner is YODA! Way to go light side!