Have a great Universal Day of the Jedi, and May the Force be with you all!

Also, today, the official Star Wars site has some big promotion focusing on the coming Star Wars Blu-Ray release. Be sure to check it out at MayThe4th.StarWars.com

Until next time, May the 4th be with you! 21 days until Universal Day of the Jedi!

]]> http://dayofthejedi.com/2011/04/25/udotj-motivator-iv-2011/feed/ 0 http://dayofthejedi.com/2011/04/16/angry-birds-meet-star-wars/ http://dayofthejedi.com/2011/04/16/angry-birds-meet-star-wars/#comments Sun, 17 Apr 2011 05:35:48 +0000 cGt2099 Anakin SkywalkerAngry BirdsAngry RebelsC-3POChewbaccaDarth VaderHan SoloImperial PigsImperial StormtroopersLuke SkywalkerObi-Wan KenobiPrincess LeiaR2-D2 http://dayofthejedi.com/?p=700 The most addictive game on phones has finally crossed over with Star Wars. Bite.ca came up with these awesome images, they have more of them at this link and they have t-shirts over at their web site as well! Check it out:

[Source: Bite.ca]

[Sources: CrunchGear | YouTube]

The footage released so far shows that the animators are slowly moving the Clonetrooper designs along to those we saw in Revenge of the Sith. We also will be seeing an adventure set underwater on Mon Calamari (also known as Dac), with one particular Mon Cal leader that could possibly be Ackbar himself. I hope it is him, and of course, we all hope that if it is that he utters that famous line of his.

At any rate, check out the two teasers below:

[Sources: TheForce.net | The Official Star Wars Site]

Consider the scene. It is 2001, and the fans are rabidly eating up any spoiler information they can for Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones. Many questions and speculations were being seriously considered. Are Sidious and Palpatine different people? Does Boss Nass have the opening line of the movie?

The official site was, of course, the first base stop for all news and spoilers. They had some great photo features, such as George Lucas Selects and Episode I Snapshot – on top of a feature where you could ask Lucasfilm staff anything you want. It was a pretty exciting time to be a Star Wars fan.

Well, on April 1, 2001, the crew behind Lucas Online launched their best gag ever. They completely redesigned the front page of the site, and turned it into what you see below. Be sure to click on the screenshot to see the whole site – yes, it is still active online:

I was blown away at the wonderful creativity the Lucas Online staff had when they put this online ten years ago, and it still remains my favorite to this day.

If you want to see 2011′s prank, click here to check it out.

[Source: The Official Star Wars Site]

[Sources: 4chan | Barackbar.com | DeviantArt | Extra Life | Facebook | Geekologie | halolz.com | JoeyStrawn.com | MemeGenerator.net | Nerdy Shirts | PopURLs | Slash Film | SplitReason | Woot]

Here’s a couple of samples from their post. Be sure to click the pics to see the original page with ALL the posters, and to see them in full size.

[Source: College Humor]

The guys are big Star Wars fans, and while in promotions for Paul, they decided to release this little video, Simon Pegg and Nick Frost’s Star Wars. Check it out:

[Source: College Humor]

The influence that McQuarrie had on Star Wars has been immense, and can be seen not only in the original movies, but into the prequels, television, comic books, video games, and beyond. In fact, some of his older unused concepts from the 1970′s and 1980′s have been resurfaced and reused for the current Clone Wars TV series.

Check out some of the artwork that either clearly defined memorable scenes, or portray what could have been a completely different trilogy of films… Click for larger versions…

Please note, these are some images I’ve saved over the years, so I don’t have sources to cite for them. If you know where some of these originated, I’d be more than happy to cite the sources, so feel free to contact me.

[Sources: Multiple, including Flickr, GeekStir, Naurunappula, Reddit. If you know any of the original sources, feel free to contact me]

Weird Al Yankovic: The Saga Begins
Amusing to many, iconic to geeks, and known to many as a Star Wars nerd at heart, The Saga Begins is not Weird Al’s first tribute to the films. He’s done a few songs, but what makes this one stand out is it came out just before The Phantom Menace – which proved one thing: just like most of us hardcore fans, Al was scouring the web for spoilers about the prequels. He did it so well; he used the plot synopsis as the basis for his song, written to the tune of American Pie:

Richard Cheese: Star Wars Cantina
For those who aren’t familiar with the name Richard Cheese, think of the swing version of Disturbed‘s The Sickness you heard in Zack Snyder‘s remake of Dawn of the Dead. That’s Richard Cheese. He’s done a whole bunch of tributes to the style of big band / swing sounds, but one of his lesser known tunes is the tribute he did to Star Wars. Sung to the tune of Barry Manilow‘s Copacabana, Cheese’s Star Wars Cantina captures the magic of Mos Eisley that only a true Star Wars geek could:

MC Chris: Fett’s Vette
The man known as MC Chris recently came to fame over the internet and via some appearances in media such as Aqua Teen Hunger Force. He carries on over a variety of topics, but like the above artists, he also regularly pays tribute to Star Wars. His best known effort in this regard is a tune known as Fett’s Vette (often mis-titled as My Backpack’s Got Jets) which follows the adventures of everyone’s favorite Mandalorian Bounty Hunter, and finally reveals his motivations behind the hunt – to finally finish doing up his Corvette:

Joel McNeely: Main Theme / Xizor’s Theme / Night Skies
In 1996, the Lucasfilm team decided to take on their first biggest multimedia project, known as Shadows of the Empire. The concept behind the project was to put out the merchandise associated with the release of a major Star Wars film: novels, comics, action figures, video games, and so on – everything except the movie itself! It was a major success. The novel was well-received, and the video game was one of the highest selling and reviewed games on the Nintendo 64 (and PC for those who remember). As a part of the project, Lucasfilm decided to even release a soundtrack. Known for his work on The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles, Joel McNeely took on the job for the music, and while he included elements of John Williams‘ score, he created a new sound for the expanded universe. Here is a mix of the main Star Wars titles, the theme of main villain Prince Xizor, and Night Skies which includes elements of the Force theme and the Imperial March:

Star Wars Gangsta Rap
There’s not much I can really add to this one. It’s extremely well known across the web, and there’s been a variety of video versions on the web. The song became so popular on the web that it has its own Wikipedia entry, which highlights that the origins of the song lie in a winning entry to the official Star Wars Fan Film Awards:

Chris Bodily: Pretty Fly For A Jedi
Loosely based on The Offspring‘s Pretty Fly For A White Guy, Chris Bodily’s parody became well known on the web. Like Weird Al Yankovic’s The Saga Begins, the song mainly focuses on the events of the prequels and follows mainly the character of Obi-Wan Kenobi. Most importantly though, the song is a lot of fun, and worth including on this list:

Supernova: Chewbacca
Like Weird Al, Kevin Smith is one of the biggest (pardon the pun – sorry, Kev) Star Wars fans out there. In every single movie he has released, there is always a reference to Star Wars – sometimes it’s small and quick; other times it’s very explicit and an essential part of the movie. Who could forget the Jedi vs. Hobbit commentary in Clerks II? Or what about the Star Wars related cameos and references in Jay And Silent Bob Strike Back? There’s even Tracey Morgan‘s mention of lines from some of the Star Wars films in Cop Out as well. But Smith’s first effort was Clerks, and there were some very explicit Star Wars references in that film – one in particular is the debate between the main characters of which movie is the best. Here’s a song from the Clerks soundtrack that embraces that moment, Supernova’s Chewbacca:

Meco’s Star Wars Disco
This list would be incomplete without this inclusion. Released in late 1977, Meco’s Star Wars Mix was released in the right place at the right time. The first movie was an amazing smash, and in some places across the world, would screen in some theaters for longer than a year. Disco was the rising trend in the music scene (much to the dismay of many rock fans and metal heads). Marrying the two together was a winning combination for Meco, and not only helped the Disco scene, but also contributed to the continuing rise of Star Wars and its influence on pop culture:

[Source: Flickr]

[Source: BuzzFeed]

]]> http://dayofthejedi.com/2011/03/05/star-wars-motivators-v/feed/ 0 http://dayofthejedi.com/2011/03/04/release-date-for-3d-edition-of-the-phantom-menace-announced/ http://dayofthejedi.com/2011/03/04/release-date-for-3d-edition-of-the-phantom-menace-announced/#comments Fri, 04 Mar 2011 14:41:19 +0000 cGt2099 3DAvatarBattle of NabooDarth MaulGeorge LucasILMIndustrial Light and MagicJames CameronJediLucasfilmNabooPhantom MenacePodracesPodracingSan Diego Comic ConStar Wars 3DTatooineThe Phantom MenaceTwentieth Century FoxYoda http://dayofthejedi.com/?p=509 Lucasfilm and the Official Star Wars site have made the official announcement for the theatrical release of the 3D version of Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace. The first chapter of the saga will be released to theaters on February 10, 2012.

George Lucas first made the announcement of Star Wars 3D last year, with a plan to release one movie each year beginning with Episode I. The news was met with some mixed reactions across fandom, though this is to be expected any time there is a major announcement like this.

The announcement from Lucasfilm reads as follows:

Lucasfilm Ltd. and Twentieth Century Fox announced today that the 3D theatrical launch of Star Wars: Episode I The Phantom Menace now has an official release date — February 10, 2012! Set against the thrilling and exotic backdrop of a “galaxy far, far away,” Star Wars is perfectly suited to the immersive 3D theatrical experience, and Episode I delivers some of the Saga’s most stunning and spectacular sequences — from the Naboo invasion to the Tatooine Podraces to the climactic lightsaber battle between Darth Maul and the Jedi.

Supervised by Industrial Light & Magic, the meticulous conversion is being done with utmost respect for the source material, and with a keen eye for both technological considerations and artistic intentions.

Lucas has had so many different releases, editions, and versions of the Star Wars saga out there, and as with previous issues there is the potential for some updates and changes to the finished product. There has been some footage of a CGI Yoda seen on previous DVD releases speaking lines from The Phantom Menace – one has to wonder whether this will be an inclusion on the 3D release as well.

Personally, my real concern is the fact that these releases are (obviously) being post-converted to 3D… they weren’t filmed with the same 3D camera tech used by James Cameron with Avatar, which I found to be truly an immersive experience. I can’t say the same for other films that boast the 3D buzzword.

One can only hope that ILM are treating the films with the respect they say they are. Either way, I would imagine we are going to hear much more about Star Wars 3D through 2011, and I would guess there’s going to be some surprise footage being shown at events such as San Diego Comic Con this year.

Sources: [The Official Star Wars Site | ComingSoon.net]

[Sources: Incredible Cross Sections of Star Wars | Wookieepedia: Images from Incredible Cross Sections | FMBoschetto.it | Wookieepedia: Millennium Falcon]