New Stuff at Ralph McQuarrie's Site

RalphMcQuarrie.com has been recenlty updated with some new stuff, including a "new" 1977 poster that artist Lawrence Noble finished based on an original McQuarrie design. Too cool.

Steampunk Empire Strikes Back Figures

Over at Sillof.com, there are some most excellent photos of the steampunk versions of characters from The Empire Strikes Back. Also, if you have not seen them, check out the original steampunk Star Wars and the Star Wars: 1942. (Hat tip: Wanna Know.)

An evil GALACTIC EMPIRE we can believe in!

From www.wecanbelievein.com. Sorry, I couldn't resist.

Splinter of the Mind's Eye

Now that over thirty-one years have passed and we have six Star Wars movies in the can and the Star Wars empire has been a huge success, it’s hard to imagine that it would have turned out any other way. But imagine if Star Wars had not been a huge hit in 1977. What if something went wrong in the production or editing or suppose the moviegoers weren’t in the right mood for it? What if it tanked? Or what if it was just good, but not great? What if it went the Planet of the Apes route, with sequels that explored more of the Star Wars universe, but didn’t have ever-increasing budgets and technology? Splinter of the Mind's Eye was originally written by Alan Dean Foster as a sequel to Star Wars that would have been used if the 1977 film was sequel-worthy, but not a huge hit. With its lack of the full cast of original characters, brief outer space action and setting on and beneath the surface of a dark, foggy planet, it was a sort of "Battle Beneath the Planet of Star Wars". But, just as the Ape movies have their own brilliance and high points, Splinter of the Mind’s Eye is a fun read and had lots of items that showed up in later Star Wars Movies:

Splinter of the Mind’s Eye:
Luke Skywalker and Artoo crash land on Mimban, a dark, swampy, foggy planet.
The Empire Strikes Back:
Luke Skywalker and R2-D2 crash land on Dagobah, a dark, swampy, foggy planet. Leia and C-3PO crash on the same planet at a different site.

Splinter of the Mind’s Eye:
Luke meets Halla, a seemingly crazy person who is actually a minor user of the Force.
The Empire Strikes Back:
Luke meets Yoda, a seemingly crazy person who is actually a major user of the Force.

Splinter of the Mind’s Eye:
Luke fights a lightsaber duel with Darth Vader. Luke cuts off Vader’s right arm and then Vader falls in a deep hole, but does not die. Luke uses the Force to sense Vader’s survival.
The Empire Strikes Back:
Luke fights a lightsaber duel with Darth Vader. Vader cuts off Luke’s right hand and then Luke falls in a deep hole (the shaft in Cloud City), but does not die. Vader uses the Force to sense Luke’s survival.

Splinter of the Mind’s Eye:
The rebels join forces with the primitive Coway, who use their home turf advantage to defeat a technologically superior Imperial force.
Return of the Jedi:
The rebels join forces with the primitive Ewoks, who use their home turf advantage to defeat a technologically superior Imperial force.

So, there is a lot of good material in the book, partly due to its place in the primeval “expanded universe”. It is also just plain fun.

On a final note, check out the cover of the book (featuring an excellent painting by Ralph McQuarrie). Note that it claims to be “From the Further Adventures of Luke Skywalker”.

Nowhere on the cover do the words “Star Wars” appear. It was added on later printings, but it is just not there on the early editions. Hmm.

Star Wars Song of the Week: Droid by Selby Tigers

This week's Star Wars song is Droid, by Selby Tigers. Download the MP3 here, buy the album here and find out more about the band and watch the video here.

More Star Wars Wisdom From My Wife

As I said before, my wife sometimes comes up with deep insights into Star Wars. Today's installment is:

Droids are like cars.

In that they have different models and paint options, it seems correct to me.

35,310 Lego Star Wars Clone Trooper Army Invades Earth

Over at Gizmodo.com, there are some excellent photos of an army of Lego clone troopers. Why build an army of clone troopers? Because it's cool. Um, I mean it's for charity.

Star Wars Song of the Week: Bill Murray on Saturday Night Live

Bill Murray sings "Star Wars".

Star Wars Wisdom From My Wife

My wife is not as big a Star Wars fan as I am, but she sometimes watches the movies with me. She also occasionally has some simply stated but deep observations. Such as:

What good is stormtrooper armor? It doesn't keep them from getting killed.

Indeed.

George Lucas on Capitol Hill

George Lucas showed up on Capitol Hill this week to talk about free interwebs for schools. Both parties took the opportunity to make cringe-worthy Star Wars jokes. Lucas' visit also injected Barack Obama (I can't shake him!) back into Star Wars news. When asked if Obama would be a Jedi, Lucas responded, "I would say that’s reasonably obvious.” The full articles are over at /Film and Examiner.com.

Eight Things That Were Made Up Between Movies

When watching Star Wars sequels and prequels for the first time, did you ever notice some things that just didn't feel right and jarred your sense of continuity? Yeah, me too. So, here is my list of eight things that were made up between movies. Enjoy.

• Darth Vader is Luke Skywalker’s father. (between episodes IV and V)
• Under the Old Republic, Naboo was a democracy with royal titles given by election. (between I and II)
• All the Sith Lords, not just Darth Vader, are called “Darth”. (between VI and I)
• Darth Vader is C-3PO’s father. (between VI and I)
• R2-D2 can fly. (between I and II)
• Anakin Skywalker/Darth Vader is the central character in the series, not Luke Skywalker. (between VI and I)
• The word “younglings” exists. (Between II and III)
• Midichlorians. (Between VI and I)

Winnie the Pooh vs. Luke Skywalker

Barack Obama has shown up in Star Wars news again. This time one of his advisers got stuck in wacky metaphor mode and suggested the United States should be more like Winnie the Pooh in order to fight terrorists, who want to be like Luke Skywalker. Umm... OK. Read the whole atricle over at the Telegraph.

Graffiti AT-AT

Over at /film there is yet another juxtaposition on Star Wars imagery and pop culture, this time in the form a graffiti-tagged AT-AT.

31-year-old Star Wars mystery solved?

From an article by Jennifer Moody in the Albany Democrat-Herald:

I first saw “Star Wars” at the Capitol drive-in during the summer of 1977. I was 8. I went on to see that movie in the theater four more times, something I’ve never done before or since (I had understanding parents and gullible babysitters, I suppose).
This was, of course, before cable movie channels and pay-per-view and VCRs. When Showtime first aired as a channel, it spent a week or so giving free broadcasts to entice people to buy in. One of the movies shown was “Star Wars.” Happily, I settled down in front of our TV to watch my favorite movie, only to find myself spluttering, a few minutes in: “They cut it! They cut my movie!” The scenes with Biggs, the scenes I remembered on Tatooine and on the Rebel’s moon base, weren’t there.

What happened and how did she see those "cut" scenes? Read the article and find out.

A New Hype

From AFP:

George Lucas has created legendary film heroes like Luke Skywalker and Indiana Jones, but the US director says that in real life, his hero is Barack Obama.
Lucas was in Japan on Wednesday to promote his latest film, "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull," as Obama clinched the Democratic Party's nomination for president.
"We have a hero in the making back in the United States today because we have a new candidate for president of the United States, Barack Obama," Lucas said when asked who his childhood heroes were.