This year was a big one for Star Wars and Lucasfilm, to say the least. From a certain major announcement to story developments in The Clone Wars, 2012 was a historic year for Star Wars.
The StarWars.com Team selected its highlights of 2012; find out what made the cut after the jump, and let us know what you think in the comments section!
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Tags: 2012
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“Luke, We’re gonna have company!” — Han Solo
If your starship can make the Kessel Run in less than 12 parsecs (I’m still trying to figure out how fast that is), set your hyperdrive for the Disney’s Hollywood Studios sector for May and early June, for the 2013 edition of Star Wars Weekends.
This year’s Force-filled fun will take place every Friday, Saturday and Sunday from May 17-June 9.
James Arnold Taylor and Ashley Eckstein share a laugh on-stage at Star Wars Weekends 2012. The pair will return as Celebrity Hosts in 2013.
8 Comments » | Tags: disney, Disney Weekends, disney's hollywood studios, walt disney world
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1 Comment » | Tags: Art, Christmas, Holidays, Katie Cook, Web Comics
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December 25th – provided that the world has not ended per the Mayan calendar – I’ll be flying to Hoth.
More specifically, I’ll be flying to Cordova, Alaska for the holidays, where I used to live before I came to work at Lucasfilm. It will be dark and cold and icy, and some of my dearest friends will be there. Somehow my Alaska friends carry on at full speed no matter how far the mercury drops down or the snow piles up. I used to be president of ye old Star Wars Online Fan Club when I lived there – a long time ago before StarWars.com was even born yet.
No Comments » | Tags: celebration europe II
Fans and Community | Permalink
If you take a moment to think about it, Star Wars and Christmas make very strange bedfellows, as this 1983 U.K. comic cover shows. There’s nothing in the movies themselves that comes close to a festive holiday except for the spontaneous galaxy-wide victory celebration at the end of Episode VI. The infamous 1978 Star Wars Holiday Special and its depiction of Life Day is nothing more than a botched attempt to create a Christmas simulacrum.
Now I may have missed them, but I don’t recall seeing sets of Mr. Spock and Captain Kirk holiday lights. Dr. Who tree toppers are probably stored away on the Tardis. And while there may be festive nutcrackers of Planet of the Apes‘ Cornelius and Dr. Zaius, I’ve never seen them.
So why Star Wars and Christmas? It’s just one more indication that Star Wars quickly became an all-encompassing, once-in-a-generation phenomenon — that kind of singular sensation that can’t be created by publicity, advertising, or marketing muscle. And as a long-lived, multi-generational phenomenon, we’ll still have Star Wars when Honey Boo Boo is in her 40s and people will be asking “Honey who?”
4 Comments » | Tags: Christmas, Collecting, Holidays
Collecting | Permalink
Bantha Tracks, the newsletter that has been “By the Fans; For the Fans” since it was reintroduced 10 years ago in 2002, receives contributions of Star Wars art from fans of all ages. We wanted to share submissions here as well as in Star Wars Insider magazine, where Bantha Tracks is a regular feature. Thus, we’re happy to present Bantha Tracks Art Galaxy, a new series on the Star Wars Blog showcasing even more exclusive fan art.
To submit your art, photographs, and Star Wars fan stories to Bantha Tracks, follow the submission guidelines at the bottom of this post. But first: art!
A striking original Darth Maul piece by artist Bill Pulkovski.
1 Comment » | Tags: Art, fan art
Creativity | Permalink
Star Wars fans love to eat. Or, at least it looks like it, according to all these pizza slices, green pea piles, and whipped dessert toppings found in the scenes submitted for The Empire Strikes Back Uncut.
The Empire Strikes Back’s many planets give fans ample reason to dig into their scene-setting skills: Hoth, Cloud City, that pesky space slug. As more people are re-imagining scenes for The Empire Strikes Back Uncut, it’s pretty clear that a lot of people paint in a palette of awesome-looking food groups.
Check out some of our favorite foodie fan-takes after the jump!
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2 Comments » | Tags: Food, foodie, Han Solo, Humor, luke skywalker, Star Wars Uncut, the empire strikes back, the force, Videos
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As The Clone Wars goes on, it continually advances the Star Wars mythos in new ways: it introduces new characters, it explores relationships, and it pulls back the curtain on things only glimpsed at or mentioned in the six-film saga. In 2012, The Clone Wars delivered these advances in spades.
The StarWars.com Team selected its top moments of the year for the groundbreaking animated series; check them out, and let us know what you think in the comments section. (Spoiler warning: Plot points will be discussed, so stop here if you are not caught up!)
9 Comments » | Tags: The Clone Wars
The Clone Wars | Permalink
Santa Trooper of the Redback Garrison
There’s something about this time of year that brings out the kid in all of us (which is great, because a guy in Stormtrooper armor isn’t fooling anyone the other eleven months of the year). The holidays are a silly time — one for crazy sweaters, sing-songy music, and wishlists of toys (figurative or literal). But it’s also a time of child-like wonder: seeing the world through new eyes, allowing ourselves to ponder the innocence that mankind is capable of, and being moved by the traditions that came before us. The trick is remembering we can learn a lot from kids. Judge them by their size, do not!
Fifteen years ago, the Ghost of Christmas Past paid me a visit. It told me the Star Wars trilogy was returning to the big screen and just like that my childhood flashed before my eyes. Suddenly I was back to being that eight-year-old waking up Christmas morning to find a Millennium Falcon playset. And as fast as you can say Tiny Tim I was buying my first set of armor with the crazy idea of being a kid again.
4 Comments » | Tags: Holidays, The 501st Legion
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If I press really hard into the corners of my brain, the earliest memory I have of Star Wars is a set of Return of the Jedi bed sheets and a Kenner Darth Vader figure, that I would imagine my mother bought for me. I was two years old when Jedi came out, so I’m not entirely sure at what age my parents decided to plop me down to watch the holy trilogy, but I do know that it put a significant stamp on my childhood and has stayed with me these past 30 years.
2 Comments » | Tags: Art
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