THE SAGA CONTINUES
No one gets between a “Star Wars” fan and his love for the lightsaber.
No one, that is, except for George Lucas.
It’s a common belief that Lucas’ magnum opus of a sci-fi epic originally was planned to span at least nine films. Thursday’s release of “Episode III” brings the tally of films thus far to six.
But hark! What’s this disturbance from camp Lucas?
The father of The Force told MTV that he never intended the series to be a nine-parter – despite what he and original “Star Wars” cast members have been rumored as saying in the past.
What’s more, Lucas claimed that neither he nor anyone else will wear the “Star Wars” cinematic crown again – “Episode VI – Return of the Jedi” is the end of the Skywalker storyline.
But that’s not what’s being reported on the Internet. Fan sites are calling foul, wondering why Lucas would leave Luke Skywalker’s story untold.
And many Web pages (including movie site inlandempirestrikesback.net) have transcripts from a recent conference appearance during which Mark “Luke Skywalker” Hamill claimed Lucas mentioned episodes VII, VIII and IX – along with X, XI and XII – while filming the original trilogy. Yep, 12 movies – that’s four trilogies total.
But hey, if Lucas says no more, we have to believe him – at least until he gets the marketing itch again.
In the meantime, here are a few ways to satisfy that fiendish desire for The Force:
Use the books, Luke
“The Thrawn Trilogy”: Widely believed to be the best of seemingly hundreds of available “Star Wars” novels, these three offerings (“Heir to the Empire,” “Dark Force Rising” and “The Last Command”) from Hugo Award-winner Timothy Zahn pick up where “Return of the Jedi” left off. Without being too specific, it’s worth reading these to find out what happens to your favorite characters.
Comics
Come to the Dark Horse side: For more than a decade, the folks at Dark Horse Comics – you might remember them as the folks who published Frank Miller’s “Sin City” graphic novels – have ruled the “Star Wars” comics universe.
These tales range from reprinted classic ‘80s tales to modern “Clone Wars” titles (drawn in the same style as the animated cartoon listed below).
As any comics fanatic will tell you, the truckloads of titles force readers to wade through some mediocre storylines. But when they shine, they really shine.
TV
“Clone Wars”: Fans consider this series of short cartoons to be a brilliant arm of the “Star Wars” galaxy. But of course, if you caught the marathon on Cartoon Network last weekend, you already know that.
If you missed it, they’re available on DVD.
More on the box: Web sites such as www.slashdot.com are reporting announcements from camp Lucas regarding plans for a full 3-D animation series based on the “Clone Wars” shorts.
Lucas also reportedly has planned a live-action TV series to fill the gap between episodes III and IV.
Time to invest in TiVo.