Club Jade

Michael Heilemann takes to the archival footage and shooting screenplay to see if there’s evidence for George Lucas’ claim that Greedo always shot first.

The Phantom Menace is coming upon us yet again, and the press has been piling up. We’ll have more of a roundup tomorrow, but for this afternoon let’s start off with The Hollywood Reporter’s feature on Star Wars George Lucas. In it, we learn the franchise raked in $3 billion in licensing revenue last year. (That’s a lot of lightsabers – in the accompanying photo gallery, they say the franchise has raked in $20B in licensed goods alone.) Overall though, the feature doesn’t hold much for informed fans – merchandising rights, The Clone Wars, etc. So what’s really making waves among the geeky internet is a Q&A sidebar, where Lucas talks reaction to his Star Wars tweaks (“…when I make the slightest change, everybody thinks it’s the end of the world.”) and Han not shooting first:

Well, it’s not a religious event. I hate to tell people that. It’s a movie, just a movie. The controversy over who shot first, Greedo or Han Solo, in Episode IV, what I did was try to clean up the confusion, but obviously it upset people because they wanted Solo [who seemed to be the one who shot first in the original] to be a cold-blooded killer, but he actually isn’t. It had been done in all close-ups and it was confusing about who did what to whom. I put a little wider shot in there that made it clear that Greedo is the one who shot first, but everyone wanted to think that Han shot first, because they wanted to think that he actually just gunned him down.

He also talks about CGI Yoda, Martin Scorsese’s Hugo and SOPA, but you know what’s getting passed around the internet for the rest of the evening…

This second set of Etsy finds this week highlights things you wear and carry. Corsets, hats, buttons… Anything you can imagine, someone has no doubt made it. (No jewelery, but everything I saw this time I’ve already blogged about.)

• Darth Vader Corset Top (Custom order) by TheVintageDoctor, $130.

• Leia Earmuffs Beanie (Crochet pattern) by Talli’s Designs, $5. Or buy one already made in lilac/cream or red, $25.
• Star Wars patchwork scarf by Sweetharsh, $45.
• Luke Skywalker pouch by Dang Argyle, $17. Also, Luke, Leia & Han, $12. (I actually bought a similar item from Dang Argyle at a local craft show about a year ago, and I can vouch that their goods are very sturdy and well-made.)
• Han Shot First button by The Pink Samurai, $1.50.

Come back Wednesday for the final installment!

The webzine’s issue #156 is devoted to Star Wars, from to lightsabers to gaming to merchandising to the Expanded Universe (plus an interview with Drew Karpyshyn) and even pirating the original original trilogy.

(via)

Yes, Spaceballs, very nice. Or perhaps:

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Oh my god, George Lucas has a sense of humor! Who knew?

Lucasfilm is releasing the unaltered Original Trilogy on DVD this September. They’ll only be available for a limited time, but they will be available. StarWarsShop even has Han shot first t-shirts for the occasion.

I’m in shock. How about you?

Media coverage: USAToday / MTV / Zap2it / E!Online / Mercury News / MSNBC.

Forget my two front teeth, I want Santa to bring me my very own “Han Shot First” T-shirt for Christmas.