Star Wars

The Wookiee Wins: Meet the Director of the Chewbacca Doc That Conquered Kickstarter

Happy Star Wars Day: Alton Brown, Blue Milk Death Star Tomatoes

Tomorrow is May the Fourth, which means it is Star Wars Day (say the date quickly if you don't get it, or go to the comic book store for Free Comic Book Day and say the line out loud. Surely someone will fill in the blanks (see also: Pee-Wee Herman in Texas)). Of course, if you, like Disney, would ... More >>

How a Star Wars Art Show Came to Be

See also: *Boba Fett as a Girl *The Creation of That Super Bowl Ad With the Imperial March Sung by Dogs The star of L.A.-based artist Lekit's Opheleia looks like she's had a brutal day. Her cheeks are sunken, her eyes dazed. Her dress falls off her shoulders, revealing an impressive tattoo collect ... More >>

Five Artsy Things to Do This Week, Including a Terrorist in the Museum

This week, an artist deconstructs the pom-pom, two holes get cut in gallery walls and an exhibition suggests the wrong man took the blame for murder 83 years ago. 5. Wallflower whirlpool Jen Stark cut a hole the shape of a water lily into the northernmost wall of Martha Otero gallery, then built u ... More >>

Argo Review: Ben Affleck's Film About the CIA Going Hollywood

Gods Like Us by Ty Burr: Our Book of the Week

According to the people who track these things, there are roughly 170,000 new books published each year in the United States -- an alarming percentage of which arrive, unbidden, at the L.A. Weekly office. Each week, we'll offer a snapshot of a newish book that's caught our attention. Just as there ... More >>

Star Wars Light-Up Lightsaber Chopsticks: The Force is Stronger with This One

"Not as clumsy or random as a blaster. An elegant weapon for a more civilized age," Obi-Wan Kenobi said, introducing Luke Skywalker to the lightsaber, the Jedi's weapon of choice. Which brings us to Kotobukiya's line of Star Wars Lightsaber Chopsticks, not as clumsy or random as a spork, an elegan ... More >>

Star Wars Light Saber Relay Heads From Santa Monica to Comic-Con San Diego This Summer

Legions of nerds will head to San Diego Comic-Con this summer not in their Scions, scooters or Priuses, as usual, but on-foot, with Star Wars lightsabers in hand. In probably the most physical activity geeks have ever embarked upon, the Course of the Force lightsaber relay will take these human cal ... More >>

Happy Star Wars Day: Use the Force to Make R2-D2 Ice Cubes, Stormtrooper Bento Boxes Other Ideas

If you want to amuse yourself, try calling Williams-Sonoma to ask what they're doing for Star Wars Day. You can imagine a nicely coiffed salesperson on the other end of the line, not completely understanding the question: "Star Wars what?" Or they'll laugh and ask if your kid put you up to this, t ... More >>

Boba Fett as a Girl: N.C. Winters Mashes Up Star Wars and My Little Pony in 'Abandoned Menagerie'

In "Abandoned Menagerie," open at Gallery 1988 through April 7, artist N.C. Winters delves deep into his childhood memory for a series of pieces based on pop culture figures of the 1980s. The Carlsbad-based artist paints characters from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Gremlins, The Muppets, Super Mari ... More >>

'Bark Side' Super Bowl Ad, With Star Wars' Imperial March Sung by Dogs: Director Keith Schofield Explains How He Did It

Have you seen that video of the dogs barking the Darth Vader song? Chances are, if you have a pulse and an Internet connection, you have. The viral video is a teaser for a Volkswagen Super Bowl commercial, so yes, that makes it a commercial for a commercial. It's bold new territory for advertising ... More >>

Close Encounters of the Wookie Kind

10 Movies We're Excited About in 2012

Sacha Baron Cohen is The Dictator​We know -- you're excited about The Dark Knight Rises. And The Avengers. And Hunger Games. So are we. We're also excited about a lot of other movies whose marketing campaigns have not inundated us with white noise (yet). Allow us to suggest a few more films to ... More >>

The Star Wars Cookbook vs. Food That's Actually Star-Warsy

ThinkGeek.com​Like the Salad Shooter or the electric quesadilla maker, some items that deserve to fade away -- and almost succeed in doing so -- experience a Frankenstein-like revival every Christmas shopping season. The 1998 Star Wars Cookbook is one of these things. While we've come to acc ... More >>

George Lucas' Star Wars Camera Breaks Records With $625,000 Sale at Debbie Reynolds' Profiles in History Auction

Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope. A world record. Thanks to Debbie Reynolds.​Who knew Debbie Reynolds was the gatekeeper of all things Hollywood? And who knew that Debbie Reynolds had anything to do with Star Wars ? (Okay, okay, aside from the fact that her daughter starred in it... that's coi ... More >>

Long Beach Comic and Horror Convention: The Place to Go for Your Comic Book Education

Liz OhanesianClint and Dawn Wolf of Zombie Ranch​Two years ago, Clint and Dawn Wolf launched their comic, Zombie Ranch, at Long Beach Comic Con. The couple returned to the convention -- now called Long Beach Comic and Horror Con -- last weekend, where they sat on the "Tips and Tricks for Indy ... More >>

Music Picks: Ravi Shankar, Marilyn Scott, Duran Duran, Burkina Electric

Also, Emmylou Harris & Her Red Dirt Boys, Odd Future, Gillian Welch and others

Star Wars: The Clone Wars Launches Season 4 on September 16

Liz Ohanesian​On the Saturday before the one-hour premiere of season 4 of Star Wars: The Clone Wars, we headed to Long Beach's Aquarium of the Pacific for a special screening of the first two episodes, "Water War" and "Gungan Attack." The location may seem odd for a show set in a "galaxy far, ... More >>

Simon Pegg's New Autobiography: Well Done, Nerd!

​ Since he and Edgar Wright unleashed their horror-comedy masterpiece Shaun of the Dead on audiences in 2004, Simon Pegg has become as in-demand a performer here as in his native Britain, not to mention something of an alpha geek amongst genre fans. His deeply-rooted boyhood love of the Star W ... More >>

Star Tours Revamp at Disneyland, the LA Weekly Review: The Force is Strong with This Ride

©2011 Disney Enterprises, Inc./Lucasfilm Ltd.Make sure all tray tables are in the upright and locked position.​ The crowds were thick on the opening weekend of Disneyland's newest offering Star Tours -- The Adventures Continue, with throngs of fans sporting prehensile Yoda backpacks plopping ... More >>

10 Geeky Hollywood Artifacts Sold at Auction Over the Weekend, from Empire Strikes Back, Star Trek, Willy Wonka, Walt Disney and Others

Courtesy of Profiles in HistoryCar from Chitty Chitty Bang Bang​ An auction of big-name Hollywood geek porn organized by Profiles in History at the Saban Theater in Beverly Hills this past weekend grossed more than $5.8 million. We bring you the highlights: 10. An original film cel from the c ... More >>

Star Wars Day: May the Fourth ( A Thematically Appropriate Cake) Be With You

pixelbitesHan Solo Frozen in Carbonite (and Cake)​ Being an avid reader of Wookiepedia, the proud owner of a plastic light-saber you keep holstered next to your cell phone, and a fan of the much-maligned 1978 Christmas special, you probably know this already: Today, May 4th, is Star Wars Day. ... More >>

Star Wars Street Art: Free Humanity Talks Barack Obama, Akira Kurosawa and Mr. Brainwash

Keith Plocek​See more posters at "Star Wars Street Art: The Works of Free Humanity."​Jabba the Hutt and Salacious Crumb, stenciled on top a page of the Wall Street Journal with the words "Greed is good." Boba Fett, standing alone with "I'm sorry for the deaths of the innocent but that happen ... More >>

Anime Babes from Sailor Moon to Rei Ayanami: This Isn't Cosplay, This Is Burlesque

See more photos in Shannon Cottrell's gallery "Devil's Playground Presents Anime Babes." Over the course of the past two years, we've seen the burlesque performers from Devil's Playground channel fan favorite characters like Link and Zelda (Video Game Girls), Catwoman (Comic Book Vixens), and, of c ... More >>

Street Art, Travel Posters and Burlesque: Our Favorite Star Wars Finds of 2010

If the fact that we have a Style Council category devoted specifically to Star Wars weren't already an indication, we have a confession to make. A few of us on this arts/pop culture blog team are Star Wars fans. We've been known to spend hours looking at fan art online and chasing down cosplayers at ... More >>

Star Wars Nativity Scenes: In A Manger Far, Far Away

A long time ago, in a manger far far away...people were revising their Christian iconography to fit a Lucasfilm agenda. Check out these Star Wars themed nativity sets. Sacrilegious, but crafty. 1. What Rebel Child Is This? Are these Stormtroopers Mary and Joseph? Or are they inspecting the newborn ... More >>

Bwana Spoons Takes on Kenner's Star Wars Toys in Spoonful of Star Wars

See more photos in "DesignerCon @ Pasadena Convention Center." The first thing we noticed when we walked around the Pasadena Convention Center for DesignerCon this year is that there was a lot of Star Wars. From Free Humanity's posters to Super7's Super Shogun Stormtrooper, there was no question th ... More >>

Free Humanity's Thought-Provoking Star Wars Street Art at DesignerCon

Booth 105 at DesignerCon was a little different from most of the vending stations at last Saturday's toy and art convention when we passed it. There was no one standing behind the table to answer questions or sign autographs, no huge crowd looking for discounted items. There was, however, a lot of t ... More >>

Nightranger: Star Bright

Daniel Logan Talks Playing Boba Fett in Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones and Star Wars: Clone Wars

Sunday afternoon, we met Daniel Logan at the Shrine Auditorium, where he was a guest for the Los Angeles Comic Book and SciFi Convention. Amongst Star Wars fans, the New Zealand-raised, California-based actor is best known as the young Boba Fett in Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones and, mor ... More >>

Cool Costumes, Props and Memorabilia from 'Resident Evil: Afterlife,' 'Inglourious Basterds,' 'Return of the Jedi' and More up for Auction

Saturday morning at 11 a.m., Premiere Props will be hosting a massive prop and costume auction that will be broadcast live on its site. The centerpiece of the auction is the collection of items from Resident Evil: Afterlife, including what Dan Levine of Premiere described as "hero props," items that ... More >>

Jabba Mania: Collecting the Hutt (With Some Thoughts On Jabba's Love Life)

All photos courtesy of icruise​The 35 year-old Central Illinois man known as "icruise" has a thing for Jabba the Hutt. By day he is a Japanese-language translator. By night icruise collects anything and everything Jabba, Jabba, Jabba. Why do you like Jabba so much? That's kind of a difficult ... More >>

Victorian Star Wars Paintings: Greg Peltz Imagines Vader as Civil War Officer, Jabba as Robber Baron

​These gorgeous Victorian-styled paintings of Star Wars characters--hello! Jabba the Hutt as a 19th century robber baron!--were done by 23-year-old Alameda resident Greg Peltz. Peltz is technical director at Pixar. I like that Civil War painting of Vader. Do you think Vader would have fought ... More >>

Top 10 Star Wars Cakes: Let The Force (of Frosting & Fondant) Be With You

WasabimonStorm Troopers Like Cake, Too​ Cake is one confection that will never, ever go out of style. Witness shows like Duff Goldman's Ace of Cakes, Cake Boss, Amazing Wedding Cakes and now, Cupcake Wars, which not only engineer cakes, but make them, as Goldman says, "Bigger, badder, awesome! ... More >>

Wookiee Brains: Deconstructing the Star Wars Breakfast Cereals

For those of you who haven't been following the Star Wars collecting beat, just FYI, wookiee brains now come in cereal form. ​ According to StarWars.com, 16 types of Star Wars-themed cereal boxes (400 of each) will be given away at this August's "Celebration V" at the Orange County Conventio ... More >>

'Star Wars', 'Star Trek' or 'Battlestar Galactica'? We Ask at Wumpskate's 'Star Skate'

Monday night, fans of Obi-Wan Kenobi, Spock, William Adama and more outer space heroes congregated at monthly roller rink party Wumpskate for "Star Skate." The theme party brought together science fiction tunes (S.P.O.C.K.'s "Dr. McCoy," The Timelords "Doctorin' the Tardis") with costumes and dozens ... More >>

'The Vader Project': 100 Different Renditions of Darth Vader's Helmet

See more photos in Shannon Cottrell's slideshow. It's hard not to notice "The Vader Project" as you walk down Melrose Avenue. The display window is a traffic-stopper. There's Darth Vader as a samurai, Darth Vader with rainbow flags and, if you strain your eyes just a bit, there are rows and rows of ... More >>

Star Trek: The Motion Pictures

Reevaluating the Enterprise enterprise, midnights at the Royal

Top 5 Classic Sci-Fi Characters That Would Have Looked Even Cooler with Mustaches

Lando pimped the 'stache even in a galaxy far, far away​We're nearing the end of Mustache May and as people across the web compare facial hair, we couldn't help but wonder if some of our favorite, classic sci-fi characters would look even cooler with a little (or a lot) of fuzz above the lip. ... More >>

Courtney Cruz: The Fempire Strikes Back

The Empire Gives Back: Red Carpet 30th Anniversary Screening of 'The Empire Strikes Back'

Erin BroadleyHarrison Ford (Han Solo) and Peter Mayhew (Chewbacca) together again​ Last night, stars and fans of The Empire Strikes Back gathered at Hollywood's Arclight Theater for a one-night-only screening of the classic film. The Empire Gives Back, a benefit for St. Jude's Children's Hospi ... More >>

Steampunk Star Wars Cosplayers Lose Bus, Costumes in Nashville Flood

You might recall that we recently posted about an amazing steampunk Star Wars cosplay that we saw on Facebook. Based in Atlanta, Outland Armour, has recreated characters like Boba Fett and Princess Leia in a neo-Victorian sci-fi aesthetic. Dim Horizon Studio​

Mash-Up: Star Wars vs. The Big Lebowski

Have you ever wondered what Mos Eisley Cantina might be like if it were Lebowski-fied? We haven't, but YouTube user mrdreamisasleep did. ​

MIMOBOT's New Star Wars Flash Drives Feature Jawa and Obi-Wan

One of the first things L.A. Weekly spotted at San Diego Comic-Con last summer was a tiny, limited edition MIMOBOT flash drive that looked like Darth Vader, but revealed itself to be Luke Skywalker. Like most MIMOBOT flash drives, it was cute, reminiscent of chibi anime characters. I almost had a ge ... More >>

Dagobah Jedi Frog Habitat: Yoda's Houseguest Is An Amphibian

​Someone came up with a frog habitat based on Yoda's house in the Dagobah swamp. Why? Who knows! But it is awesome. I suppose the serious Star Wars nerd could build his or her own version of Frogobah out of the model toy Yoda house, which was never intended for the keeping of live frogs.  ... More >>

Galaxina: Lost in Space

Playmate-turned-actress-turned–murder victim Dorothy Stratten's last role was in this cult not-quite-classic

Star Warz Burlesque Returns with New Characters R2-D2, Chewbacca and Death Star

See more photos in Josh "CuriousJosh" Reiss' gallery. Check out our coverage of Devil's Playground's first Star Warz Burlesque show. It's only been two months since L.A. burlesque troupe Devil's Playground first took on the characters of Star Wars (Episodes IV-VI), but since then, a lot has happen ... More >>

Aging Stormtroopers, Bland Blockbusters and Ingénues

Things to chew on this Memorial Day weekend

Disney Goes to the Dark Side

The Battle for the Mouse’s heart and soul reaches epic proportions