Back in 1980, if you were a kid leaving the theater after just witnessing The Empire Strikes Back’s multitude of unanswered questions – is Vader really Luke’s father? Will Han escape from the carbonite? Did the ice-cream-maker guy escape Cloud City? — then you may have been inspired like artist/illustrator Dave Lowe, who at 14 years old drafted up his own comic version of the saga’s final chapter three years before its release.

It’s not the Revenge, er, Return of the Jedi we know, but it is surprisingly competent – both artistically and narratively – for a 9th grade Star Wars fan in 1980.

Head on over to Dave’s blog for a list of the chapters — don’t scroll down below the list, though, or you’ll spoil the ending!

Brian Heiler over at toplessrobot.com recently posted a cool article about blatant ‘70s Star Wars rip-off toys – you know, those quasi-Star Wars wannabes that got you teased on the playground when trying to pass off that “S.T.A.R. Team” villain for Darth Vader or the “Star Hawk” for a Y-wing.

Check out the article here.

Coming soon to Walt Disney World in Florida is an all new series of large Star Wars-Disney crossover figures that should be available sometime this Fall. Included are Donald Duck as Darth Maul, Goofy as Jar Jar, Mickey as Anakin, and Minnie as Queen Amidala.

The retail for each will be $200 with an edition size of 600. 500 of each will be available for guests of Walt Disney World while the remainder (100 of each) are heading west to Disneyland.

See more pics after the jump!

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Rebelscum recently updated with a fascinating look back at a little-known Star Wars ad campaign staged for Panasonic back in the late ‘80s, a campaign that endowed Threepio with a butterfly net, Yoda with ear buds, Chewie with daffodils, Ewoks with leafy produce, and the Maker himself with his own wood-cut sea-faring dragon.

A great, thoroughly-researched article that includes posters, TV ads, behind the scenes imagery and more, all of which have rarely been seen here in the US. Head on over to Rebelscum to check it out.

(Harvey Korman as Chef Gormaanda)

By Bonnie Burton

When I think back on some of the first movies I saw with my dad, or hours spent at home as a latch-key kid watching comedy skit TV shows, it’s full of memories involving comedic actor Harvey Korman. I remember giggling at his klutzy Hedley Lamarr character in the movie Blazing Saddles. I recall my afterschool ritual of getting comfy on the living room couch, with Little Debbie oatmeal pies in hand, and snort-laughing at Korman’s crazy antics on “The Carol Burnett Show.”

I can still remember being on the edge of my seat in the movie theater watching Korman as Captain Blythe in Herbie Goes Bananas. Heck, I even liked him during my full-blown Goth days when he played Dr. Jack Seward in Dracula: Dead and Loving It.

So it really shouldn’t be a surprise when years later, I was brave enough to admit in a crowded Lucasfilm marketing meeting that I was a big fan of the “Star Wars Holiday Special.”

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Weezer’s new video “Pork and Beans” pays tribute to every Web celebrity and viral video you can think of from the Coke-Mentos experiment to Charlie the Unicorn. Of course, Star Wars fans Ryan vs. Dorkman and lightsabers in general make the usual cameos!

See if you can name all the guest stars and shout-outs!

VIDEO: Weezer - “Pork and Beans”

Ironicsans.com recently posted some unusual Star Wars artwork constructed from bolds, italics, punctuations, and other hunt and peck fare. Inspired by a line from Star Wars – “Darth Vader. Only you could be so bold” – the artist composed a striking portrait of the Sith Lord using various letters and symbols found on the keyboard:

I started out trying to literally depict [the Vader/Leia] scene from Star Wars using letterforms, intending to use bold letters for Vader and light letters for Princess Leia. I loved the idea of the @ sign filling in for Leia’s hair bun. But after a few attempts I concluded that I’m no LIDA when it comes to making art from letters. I just couldn’t get the fabric to look like fabric without making the entire thing out of parentheses and tildes of various sizes. And that kind of misses the point. The letter “M” sort of did what I wanted, but not really. It’s too rigid.

Check out the full post here.

As the campaign trail for the next President of the United States heats up, there’s bound to be quite a few fan films floating around for the candidates. We couldn’t help but take notice of this tribute to Barack Obama reimagined inside the Star Wars universe.

VIDEO: The Empire Strikes Barack

(Chewie has no need for pants!)

In honor of No Pants Day (May 2), we figured even if you’d rather not go trouser-less, you might appreciate this list of lines from Star Wars just seem funnier with the word “pants” substituted for the original words.

The Best Star Wars Lines with Pants:

1. These pants may not look like much, kid, but they’ve got it where it counts.
2. I find your lack of pants disturbing.
3. These pants contain the ultimate power in the Universe.
4. I used to bulls-eye womp-rats in my pants back home.
5. TK-421. . . Why aren’t you in your pants?
6. Governor Tarkin. I recognized your foul pants when I was brought onboard.
7. You look strong enough to pull the pants off of a Gundark.
8. Great, Chewie, great. Always thinking with your pants.
9. Your pants betray you.
10. But I was gonna’ go down to Toshi Station to pick up some power pants!

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The Millennium Falcon’s come home to roost in San Francisco it would seem. Flickr poster Kevin Collins caught a rare photo of the Millennium Falcon – the tugboat, that is – towing a barge through one of Golden Gate City’s many waterways.

We have to wonder if this Falcon’s got any hidden “special modifications” – point-five past yacht-speed, perhaps?

Check out Kevin’s photostream here.