Star Wars Turns 30!

Posted • May 25, 2007 • Comments Off

30 years ago today “Star Wars” premiered and fans are celebrating around the world.

Los Angles is expecting more than 20,000 “Star Wars” fans to converge on downtown the next few days.

“Star Wars Celebration IV” at the Los Angeles Convention Center, which is open to the public Friday through Monday. The celebration kicked off Wednesday with a marathon screening of all six films — includes live entertainment, cast-member appearances, film and video presentations and an exhibit of movie props and costumes.

“Star Wars” was nominated for 10 Academy Awards in 1978 and won six. In 2005, the American Film Institute named John Williams’ iconic score the most memorable of all time. The film has shown up on additional AFI lists, including the “100 Greatest American Movies” list, where it ranked No. 15.

Of course Warner will be taking advantage of the publicity by including a preview of a new video game, “The Force Unleashed,” which will be available on multiple game platforms in early 2008. In the game, the player takes on the role of Darth Vader’s secret apprentice.

“Star Wars” and George Lucas began a new era of geekdome with his groundbreaking visual effects techniques.

TechRepublic even has a post entitled TechRepublic’s best of Star Wars. There is even a list of every blog post on the subject.

The best of the best stuff, however, is listed below:

• Idiot sci-fi question: Why do X-Wing fighters have…um…wings?
• Who’s who of great lightsaber duels
• Vader to Palpatine: “About that Death Star…”
• Video Mashup: Star Wars vs. Monty Python
• The physics behind the Death Star superlaser
• Everything that’s wrong with the Death Star trash compactor
• Top 10 Star Wars Lines Improved By Replacing A Word With “Pants”
• Video: The (animated) origin of Boba Fett
• Poll: The greatest sci-fi film of all time (isn’t Star Wars)
• Video: Star Wars super-parody on the way
• Photos of “Star Wars: Where Science Meets Imagination”
• Photos: In the shadow of ‘Star Wars’
• Geek Trivia: Besides THX 1138, what other numerically named film reference has George Lucas ‘hidden’ inside the original Star Wars?
• Geek Trivia: What movie has the highest inflation-adjusted U.S. box office gross since the advent of television?
• Geek Trivia: What celestial object in our solar system bears a strange resemblance to Star Wars‘ Death Star?
• Geek Trivia: Which fan-favorite character debuted in the infamous 1978 Star Wars Holiday Special?
• Geek Trivia: What other famous science-fiction spaceship forced a redesign of the original Millennium Falcon model for the original Star Wars film?
• Geek Trivia: Which famous horror film shared casting sessions with Star Wars?

Here is a great video space battle between the USS Enterprise and the Death Star.

What were you doing when Star Wars premiered?

May the Force be with you,
Gary

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