1. Will there be any more Star Wars movies? When are they coming? Answer : It appears now that the first film will be released in 1998. On October 10th 1994, Lucas said, in an interview with Channel 13 in Los Angeles that it takes "about a year to write these scripts, a year to prep., a year to shoot and six months for post-production." In Premiere magazine last year, Lucas mentioned he would spend about $150 million on the three films ($50 million each). In Star Wars Insider, it says that Lucas is currently on a writing sabbatical, and that while there is no script yet, he is making real progress on the story. An art department was started, and Lucas meets with the department and Rick McCallum (the producer) about once a week.
2. Who is in the new movies? Answer: No one has been announced to be in the movies. Lucas denied a rumor that Kenneth Branagh would be in the new movies October 1994 TV Guide interview. Rick McCallum will be the producer for the new movies. He will film them back-to-back-to-back. It has not been determined if Lucas will direct the films yet. John Williams will most likely create the score for the new movies. A May 1995 Daily Variety said that Andre Lake Mayer, formerly of Viacom Consumer Products, is now director of licensing for LucasFilm.
3. What about the trilogy after Return of the Jedi? Answer: George Lucas has no real plans for these stories yet. It has been rumored that George Lucas asked Mark Hamill to appear in Episode 9. However, since there are no plans for Episode 9 yet, this seems to be only a rumor.
4. Who is writing the new Star Wars films? Answer: George Lucas has said that he would be writing the new Star Wars screenplays. However, he has not ruled out the possibility of a co-writer. The last two films of the original trilogy of Star Wars films were co-written by Lucas and Lawerence Kasdan. The original Star Wars screenplay had an uncredited polish by Gloria Katz and Willard Huyuck.
The Hollywood Reporter on January 23, 1995 said that Frank Darabont ("The Shawshank Redemption", "Mary Shelley's Frankenstein") is front-runner to script the first installment of George Lucas' upcoming "Star Wars" prequel. Darabont became a Lucas favorite by scripting six "Young Indiana Jones Chronicles". Darabont is committed to write two scripts for Castle Rock: "The Mist" and "Mine".
5. Will 20th Century Fox distribute the new trilogy? Answer: Most likely. DreamWorks SKG is another possibility. In the March 27, 1995 issue of Time Magazine, it says : "DreamWorks has the opportunity to create a whole new distribution system that may be a vast improvement over the old one," says George Lucas, who might be persuaded to allow the new company to distribute his next 'Star Wars' adventure, due out in 1998. DreamWorks has said that they will be handling domestic distribution, and they are contracting MCA/Universal to control foreign distribution.
It was stated in Premiere magazine that Universal City Studios helped with "Radioland Murders" to get in favor with Lucas, and perhaps show him that could handle the next trilogy to his liking.
6. Will the original Star Wars films be rereleased? Answer: A November 1994 press release says that Lucasfilm and 20th Century Fox will distribute a Special Edition of 'Star Wars' in 1997. There has been no mention of a rerelease of the other two movies. It will feature previously unreleased footage, new digital special effects, and a digitally remastered soundtrack. New creatures, vehicles, and droids will be added to the Mos Eisley scenes. Han Solo will confront Jabba the Hutt, a scene that was filmed in 1976 and can be found on the video "From Star Wars to Jedi". The rerelease will be four minutes longer than the original. With only four minutes, it does not look like any scenes with Biggs will be added in the movie (see Question 14).
7. Are Alec Guinness, Frank Oz, and Peter Cushing are dead? Answer: Sir Alec Guinness is not dead. His latest project was "A Foreign Field" made in 1993. Frank Oz is directing the film "The Indian in the Cupboard". Unfortunately, it is true that Peter Cushing passed away in late August 1994.
8. What other projects are LucasFilm, LucasArts, and ILM working on? Answer: LucasFilm is in preproduction on a film called "Red Tails", to be directed by Thomas Carter. The film, not currently set up at any studio, is about the first all black air squadron in World War II. LucasFilm also has a fourth Indiana Jones production waiting in the wings.
LucasArts latest addition is 'Dark Forces', and 'Full Throttle' will be out soon. Following that will be the release of 'Indiana Jones and his Desktop Adventures'. LucasArts plans on releasing the following titles for the Macintosh platform in 1995: Dark Forces, X-Wing Collector's CD-ROM, and Full Throttle.
ILM has started creating elements to be used in the "Star Wars Special Edition", to be released in 1997. Other projects include "Casper" for MCA/Universal, "Spawn" for New Line Cinema, "Indian in a Cupboard", "Mission Impossible", "Congo", and "Sabrina" for Paramount, "American President" for Columbia, and "Jumanji" for Tri-Star.
9. I have something called "Episode III : Fall of the Republic". Is it the real thing?
Answer: No. It was written by John Flynn. This is fanfiction. In reality, Episode III has not been written yet. John Flynn also wrote an article for CINESCAPE in which he tells the readers about Episodes I, II, and III, but he neglects to tell them that his sources are just his own fanfiction and his own speculations.
10. What are the black things on the Emperor in the Throne Room. Answer: Bad special effects. They tried to cover up parts of the Emperor's face with the black "white-out". These are known as the Emperor's slugs.
11. What are the Clone Wars?
Answer : The Clone Wars seem to be a war between the Jedi and some unknown enemy. The Timothy Zahn 'Star Wars' books say that there was a technology that could clone warriors to create legions of troops. However, this may or may not be used by Lucas.
12. Why is Star Wars called Episode IV?
Answer: The Star Wars saga as originally conceived by Lucas was much too large to be made into a single film or even a single trilogy so Lucas structured his ideas into three trilogies. He decided to make the middle trilogy first because he believed it had the greatest chance of being a theatrical success.
13. In A New Hope, why didn't the Death Star blow up the planet, or,
in the movie
Answer: Dramatic License. Remember, this is a legend, not a
historical account of an actual story.
14. What are the cut scenes from 'Star Wars : A New Hope'?
Answer: There were scenes filmed where Luke met his friend Biggs
on Tatooine. The scene is described in the book, and the storybook
has a picture of it. The scene is described in the Marvel comic
adaptation. It was _never_ released in the movie theaters. There
was a scene filmed where Luke met someone in the Rebel hangar that
knew Luke's father. This was also described in the Marvel comic
adaptation. There was a scene where Han met Jabba on Tatooine.
Originally, Lucas had a large actor in a fur suit as Jabba, and he
wanted to use special effects to place the creature of Jabba over the
actor. He did not like the results, so he cut the scene from the
movie. Partial unfinished footage of these scenes can be found on
the video "From Star Wars to Jedi : The Making of a Saga".
15. What are the differences in the soundtrack of the released
Star Wars and the currently available ones?
Answer: 1) When the stormtroopers chase Han and Chewie through
the Death Star, the original release had "Close the blast door,
close the blast doors!" and when they get trapped they say "Open
the blast doors, open the blast doors!". The currently available
version does not have this. 2) Aunt Beru's voice is lower in pitch
in the original movie. 3) In the original, at the cantina, the
stormtrooper says "The door is locked; move on to the next one".
In the currently available version, he says "It's secure; move on
to the next one." 4) Some of Chewie's lines are deleted from the
later version. 5) The chessboard critters make cuter noises in
the original. 6) A line spoken by C-3PO was added in later VHS
and laserdisc releases. He says "The tractor beam is coupled to
the main reactor in 7 locations."
16. Wasn't Return of the Jedi originally Revenge of the Jedi?
Answer: Yes. A lot of promotional material was printed with
this title. The title was changed because revenge is not Jedi-like,
and the studio wanted to avoid confusion with an upcoming movie
named "Star Trek II: Vengeance of Kahn", which later became
"Wrath of Kahn". While filming in certain locations, the workers
said they were making a film called "Blue Harvest : Horror Beyond
Imagination" to keep away Star Wars fans.
17. What Star Wars related items have appeared on TV?
Answer: Each movie had a "making of" TV special. They are :
"The Making of Star Wars" - hosted by C-3PO and R2-D2 (1977)
"SPFX: The Empire Strikes Back" - hosted by Mark Hamill (1980)
"Classic Creatures: Return of the Jedi" - (1983)
In 1978, "The Star Wars Holiday Special" aired for its only
showing. The special was about Chewie visiting his family on
his home planet. Most of the major movie characters had cameos.
There was a short cartoon in the middle which showed Boba Fett.
If you ask around on rec.arts.sf.starwars, you can usually find
someone who will sell you a copy of this.
There were two Ewok movies. They were The Ewok Adventure:
Caravan of Courage and The Ewoks: Battle for Endor. There was
a season of animated comic "The Ewoks and Droids Adventure
Hour." In the second season, the show became the half-hour
"Ewoks" show.
In 1985, PBS aired "From Star Wars to Jedi: The Making of
a Saga" which is now available with the boxed set of the trilogy.
18. What is Hardware Wars?
Answer: Hardware Wars is a thirteen-minute, very funny, very low
budget parody of Star Wars. It has been spotted for rent at
some Blockbuster Video stores, on a tape called "Hardware Wars
and other film farces," which also contains three other short
films: "Closet Cases of the Nerd Kind", "Bambi Meets Godzilla",
and "Porklips Now", which, like Hardware Wars, were made by Ernie
Fosselius. For more information, point your WWW browser to
"http://www.earthlink.net/~mwp/mwp.html".
19. What is the Journal of the Whills?
Answer: This is mentioned in the intro to the Star Wars
novelization and hardly anywhere else. Its significance is
unclear, but it might be similar in concept to the Red Book
of Westmarch, the fictitious book from which Tolkiens' Lord
of the Rings story supposedly comes.
20. How did Mark Hamill and Harrison Ford get their scars?
Answer: Mark Hamill was in a car accident after 'A New Hope'
was released. He went through the windshield of his BMW in
California. Harrison Ford received his two-inch scar in a
one-man car accident in his early twenties.
21. Why did Han Solo refer to parsecs as a unit of time?
Answer: He was lying to Ben and Luke and trying to make himself
look good. This is shown in the novel adaptation of A New Hope.
If you look at the movie, Ben gives Han a disbelieving face after
this line. Kevin Anderson gives an alternate answer in his Star
Wars books.
22. Why is a B-wing called a B-wing?
Answer: It is shaped like a "B"lade.
23. What is Shadows of the Empire?
Answer: In 1996, LucasArts will unveil its own video game
platform and its first game, 'Star Wars : Shadows of the Empire'.
Their arrival will be promoted as a major media event in a
year-long program with Bantam novels, a Dark Horse comic series,
Kenner action figures, and other merchandise tied into the
characters and events of the game.
24. Was Cliff Claven from Cheers in a Star Wars movie?
Answer: John Ratzenberger, who portrayed the Cliff Claven character
on Cheers, was Major Derlin in "The Empire Strikes Back". He tells
Leia that "there's nothing more we can do tonight. The shield
doors must be closed." Later, before the battle on Hoth, Derlin
instructs the fighters "Okay. Everybody to your stations. Let's go!".
25. Did you know the stormtrooper hit his head?
Answer: Yes, we all know that. Every month or so, someone drops
in with this question. It happens so often that it's now a joke
with r.a.s.starwars. When the stormtroopers find the droids in
the Death Star, the stormtrooper on the right of the screen bumps
his head...pretty hard too.
26. What is GONK?
Answer: A long time ago, in rec.arts.sf.starwars, the Gonk Wars
raged. Gonk is the power droid that you can see throughout the
movies. It is a black cube with silver legs that says "Gonk".
You can see Gonk best in the Jawa's Sandcrawler in 'A New Hope'.
Many Star Wars fans believed that Gonk was a God and that the whole
movie was about him and the characters of Luke, Leia, and Han
were just bit parts. In any case, we hope never to have a Gonk
War again since it took up so much traffic in r.a.s.s.
27. Is there Hebrew lettering on Darth Vader's chestplate?
What does it say?
Answer: Yes, there is Hebrew lettering. There has been much
speculation on the wording, but no definitive translation has
been made. When and if a translation becomes available, it will
be added to the FAQ.
28. In Kevin Anderson's books, it refers to a time when the
Emperor was resurrected? In which book did this occur?
Answer: Not quite a book, but a comic. If you are only purchasing
the books, you are missing part of the Star Wars story. The
Emperor is resurrected in Dark Horse's "Star Wars : Dark Empire"
comic series. You can try to find the six issues separately.
I suggest you buy the trade paperback which places all the issues
into a single book, and has some extra information.
Hit Imperial Rewind to Return to the Cantina