Star Wars

Star Wars. How does one start with such a big topic as Star Wars?

In terms of nerd-dom franchises, Star Wars stands in the top tier, challenged only by others of its level such as Star Trek, The Lord of the Rings, Doctor Who, etc. The incredibly ardent fandom is spread worldwide and has a strong presence in popular culture, many of the characters of Star Wars, such as Darth Vader and Yoda, becoming ironic to the public. Why is this the case? Well Star Wars is accessible. It has plenty of well constructed action of a variety of flavors at the right level to be both acceptable for kids and and engaging for adults, a good number of background details in a few hours of movie going.

The basic concept

Star Wars is a series of epic sci-fi operas that take place in a far away galaxy in the far future. The original trilogy followed a young man who's destiny it was to wield the Force, the living life energy that is created by and represents all things in the universe. To wield the Force is to be a Jedi, a mystical warrior monk who seeks to serve the Force and preserve it's balace. Using the Force the young man, Luke Skywalker, seeks to overthrow the evil Galactic Empire, which is secretly led by the Sith, evil force users who use the Dark Side of the Force for personal power.

The Prequel Trilogy goes years back in time and follows the times of Luke's father, Anakin Skywalker, who becomes the unwitting pawn in the Siths' plans to destroy the Jedi Order and take over the galaxy.

Characters

Luke Skywalker: All-round good guy and idealist, Luke wishes to learn the ways of the Force to defeat the Emperor and save the galaxy. A Jedi prodigy, he can lift heavy ton space fighters with just his force powers. By the time of Return of the Jedi, Luke was well on the way to become a wise and powerful Jedi.

Yoda: Anicent wise master of the Jedi Order who is a tiny green a.lien. Because of his size and age, most assumed he was just a harmless old teacher, like your nice old granddad. His pulling out a lightsaber and engaging a Sith Lord in combat at the end of Attack of the Clones stands as one of the most surprising and popular fan fights of the movie series. Became the mascot of Star Wars despite being meant to be a wise master.

Darth Vader: The face of evil and the most well known villain from Star Wars, he had become an iconic figure due to the menace his robotic form gives. He is secretly (spoiler!) Anakin, Luke's father, thus causing to be able to say the most memorable line in the film series 'Luke, I am your Father!' Abaddon wishes he could be this sinister.

Han Solo: Loveable rogue who bags himself a prince. Not a bad day's work. His ship, the Millennium Falcon, deserves a mention as being as iconic as he is.

The Emperor: A creepy old wrinkly dude who sits down muttering just as planned constantly. Built a giant planet destroying weapon, causing Abaddon to file a complaint for superweapon copyright. He is very clever and schemed and outwit everyone in the first three episodes, moving them all into place so he could take over the galaxy (although he still needed a big superweapon anyway to hold onto said power).

The rise of the original trilogy

A long long time ago, in a galaxy far far away....etc etc you all know the lines.

A man called George Lucas had the idea to create a series of epic sci-fi space operas that became more successful that Disney took notice and long gave it the franchise fluttering eye lashes, trying to seduce it.

He decided to start with the fourth movie in the series he envisioned, for at the time he didn't have the special effects to create the first three to the standard he wanted. So Episode Four A New Hope was created (simply titled Star Wars at the time) and it is not an exaggeration to say it changed the face of sci-fi, bringing a new era of special effects and imagination to cinema and changing the lives of many who would go onto to become dedicated fan boys.

Lucas had kept the merchandising rights from the studio, so Lucasfilm ended up rolling in dosh, and with Episode Five The Empire Strikes Back and Episode Six The Return of the Jedi, the legend of Star Wars and it's place in cultural history was assured.

The coming of the prequel trilogy

With the year 2000 coming, George Lucas felt that special effects technology had reached the level he wanted and began to create the first three movies in the star wars story he had envisioned.

The hype for the movies was immense.

And then the first movie, Episode One The Phantom Menace came out.....and there was nerd rage beyond expectation.

The problem was the immense expectations of the fandom had grown so much anything less then perfect would not do so perhaps that is a bit to blame for the reaction to the prequel trilogy.

But there was nothing to cover the problems that did exist with the first movie. Jar Jar Binks has become such a figure of ire to the star wars fandom mentioning him will incite rage and prayers to Khorne for his swift demise.

Episode Two Attack of the Clones and Episode Three Revenge of the Sith followed after a few years each and there was dissatisfaction by the fandom generally to the movies. Fan complained they didn't match the greatest of the original trilogy and were more action concerned then story line.

What was generally more well received during this time for Star Wars was the Clone Wars animated series (both the traditionally-animated Clone Wars and CGI The Clone Wars), following the war between the Republic and the Confederacy.

Disney and the sequel trilogy

Finally, all the efforts by Disney to woo George Lucas paid off and in 2012 Disney acquired the Star Wars franchise and immediately announced they would produce a new trilogy of films set after the original trilogy.

Expectations for this new trilogy are high.....as are the private fears of the fans about what will happen and what direction Disney will take their beloved franchise in.

Expanded Universe

It can be said what makes a franchise into a long term lasting thing is when a wealth of extra story and background is created that expands on the original story far beyond what there was. It could be argued Star Wars leads the race in this, as the sheer amount of extra novels, graphic novels and games based on Star Wars would overwhelm the ordinary fan.

The background has expanded right into the distance past before the founding of the current Jedi and Sith orders and into the far future looking at the descendants of Luke Skywalker and other popular characters.

Impact on 1d4chan and associated games etc

Star Wars has had subtle and clear impacts on a number of other franchises and genres and it can had to gauge the extent of this influence. Certainly it didn't create the concepts of sci-fi, space battles, sweeping storylines and a blending of mystical and scientific ideas but it certainly popularized many sci-fi ideas during the years of the original trilogy and influenced many people that would go on to have interests in sci-fi, fantasy and epic adventure.

Tabletop games for Star Wars

Role-playing games

West End Games made a Star Wars role-playing game called Star Wars: The Roleplaying Game. Wizards of the Coast picked up the license later and made an RPG based on their d20 System, called Star Wars D20 (imaginatively).

Fantasy Flight Games is presently selling Star Wars: Edge of the Empire and is publicly beta-testing Star Wars: Age of Rebellion.

Card Games

The big card game set in the Star Wars universe is the Star Wars Customizable Card Game. It's no longer produced by Decipher, but there is still a sufficiently large player community to organize annual tournaments, rule on cards, and so on.

Wizards of the Coast made the Star Wars Trading Card Game.

Fantasy Flight Games is presently selling Star Wars: The Card Game.

Obviously, nobody is capable of creating a Star Wars card game with an interesting name.

Miniature Games

Fantasy Flight Games is producing the X-Wing miniatures game based on starfighter combat (because, let's be honest, that's what Star Wars is all about).