UPDATE: The 'Fourth' is strong with this one
Posted Tuesday, May 4, 2010 at 4:07 PM Central
Last updated Wednesday, May 5, 2010 at 2:51 PM Central
by John Couture
Happy Star Wars day!
May the 4th, get it? Yeah, we rolled our eyes when we first heard it too. But, since we love all things Star Wars (OK, most things, sorry Jar Jar), it didn't take too much convincing for us to fully embrace this "unofficial" Star Wars holiday.
To celebrate, we decided to scour the ends of the galaxy far, far away to give you a few minutes of Star Wars nirvana on this, the day of "force." So, sit back and kick up your heels and enjoy some of the best and worst things from George Lucas' double trilogy space opera.
To kick things off, we had to share this video that we previously posted on our Facebook page. Sure, it's a bit creepy and weird, but it's also geeky cool. If you or someone you know is expecting (especially twins), make sure you show them this!
According to this blog all of the stormtroopers were left-handed because the ammunition magazines were on the left side and it was simply easier to hold for the actors to hold the gun in their left hands.
The U.S. Postal Service announced that they were going to produce a Boba Fett stamp (below). I don't know about you, but I bet this things will become as scarce as a bounty hunter in a sarlacc pit.
Did you know that Boba Fett's first appearance in the Star Wars universe actually took place in the Star Wars Holiday Special? No lie, Fett appeared in an animated sequence when the special aired on November 17, 1978, a year and a half before he made his big screen debut in The Empire Strikes Back.
In the Star Wars galaxy, we actually see Boba Fett as a child in the prequel, but we don't like to talk too much of those movies. Surprisingly, Star Wars Holiday Special has never been released to the public. Could it find its way up on the rumored Blu-ray release of the movies?
Star Wars is one of the most often imitated movies or subject of "fan films." This teaser of "TK421" shows that some fans really take the whole level of detail to another level.
As with all things Star Wars, the initial toy line brought out by Kenner toys soon became something valued by collectors. It could also have something to do with the scarcity of the toys. Did you know that the demand was so great and the supply so short that in order to deliver something for kids to open up on Christmas morning in 1977, Kenner sold empty boxes with vouchers to deliver the toys later. The last voucher was fulfilled sometime in March of 1978.
Remember those prequels that we weren't going to talk about? Well, they had so many fans up in arms calling for George Lucas' head on a platter, that a Star Wars convention in Japan took it upon themselves to give fans the next best thing.
"Oh. They've encased him in Carbonite. He should be quite well protected. If he survived the freezing process, that is."
Did you know that despite being perhaps the "best" film of the franchise and certainly many fans' favorite, The Empire Strikes Back is the only film not to surpass $300 million in domestic box office revenue? It's currently stuck at $290 million and some change. I'm sure it will hit the milestone when it's re-released in theaters for either the 3D release or to commemorate the Blu-ray release.
Finally, in perhaps the most ambitious project to date, the people over at Star Wars Uncut have cut the movie up into 15 second segments and they are asking fans to recreate those segments in any way they see fit using any style. Then, they are going to cut the best ones back together to truly create a fan-made Star Wars that will surely trump all others.
Check out the trailer below!
Star Wars: Uncut Trailer from Casey Pugh on Vimeo.
So, is there any other cool Star Wars things out there that we missed? I'm sure there are. Let us know which favorites of yours that we missed and we'll update the story.
UPDATE: There's just way too many cool things to include. But, I found this Lego 2 minute version of the original trilogy and in many ways, it's better than the movies.
Sources:
TampBay.com blog
UsefulTrivia.com
Distracted By Star Wars
IMDb
YouTube
Star Wars Uncut