Popular Posts on "In a far away Galaxy".

This little Star Wars blog, has been chugging along since April this year. It’s been great fun – I’ve learned a heck of lot about the Star Wars universe, the films – especially in terms of the production of them and the plot points – some of them are really subtle!

Many fans have sought out facts and trivia about the franchise – here’s the popular posts that they’ve come across as part of their quest to learn more about Darth Vader, Obi Wan and blue milk.

• Everybody Loves Obiwan – well his quotes at least! The General knew a thing or two about fighting in the Clone Wars and had a lot to say.
• Same with Han Solo. Everyone wants to know why he said “I know”.
• The fact that Steven Speilberg’s E.T. made a cameo appearance in the Phantom Menace seems to make people really happy.
• There’s a lot of myth and legend floating around the web about Star Wars. This mythbusters post went some way to getting to the facts, and just the facts ma’am.
• These 11 crazy stories, facts and myths about Darth Vader are quite popular.
• Bikinis. People love Carrie Fisher at the beach in a bikini. I have no idea. Adrianne Curry is nearly as popular….
• Facts about the making of The Empire Strikes Back and Jedi are popular, as are those about the Prequel trilogy.

The lore and legend of Star Wars by way of facts, myth and trivia

There are many cool things about the original Star Wars trilogy. Han Solo, Chewie and the Millennium Falcon are but three. The lore and legend of Star Wars goes beyond what you see on the screen as these twenty one pieces of triva and myth show....

1. In a New Hope, Leia was kept captive on the Death Star in cell number 2187. This was a deliberate choice as 2187 is the year that the Lucas directed film THX 1138, was set. 
2. Ewoks were a late addition to the Star Wars mythology in Jedi. Their part in the story was to be played by the Wookiees, but by the time Lucas and his production partners sat down to write Return of The Jedi, they realized that, because Chewbacca could fly the Millennium Falcon, repair the ship and operate pretty much any weapon or machine in the known universe, they'd made the Wookiees too technologically advanced for the plot.
3. Is Wedge Antilles really Obi-Wan Kenobi's Uncle? Yes, from a certain point of view
4. In Jedi, listen very carefully as Darth Vader picks up the Emperor and throws him down the Death Star shaft. This is the only time the Jedi theme music plays over a shot of Vader, reflecting his return to the light side of the Force.
5. Myth - The Wampa was created to allow for Luke's rearranged face after a car accident. Mark Hamill was injured prior to the filming of The Empire Strikes Back. This is fact. The myth is that due to his face being rearranged, Lucas had to re-write the Hoth events to include the Wampa attacking Luke to account for his injury. The truth is that no accommodations were made for Hamill’s face.
6. After appearing in Jedi, Wedge becomes the only X-wing pilot character (apart from Luke) who survives all three major battles in the films.
7. Anakin Skywalker really is the ‘Chosen one’. While Yoda and Obi Wan may have thought a mistake had been made in the reading of the prophecy, Anakin was the one who actually killed Sith Lord Palpatine by throwing him down the Death Star’s reactor shaft in Jedi and thus restored balance to the Force. 
8. The famous reveal of the father and son relationship between Vader and Luke in The Empire Strikes Back is often misquoted as "Luke, I am your father". The line is actually "No, I am your father".
9. "It's a trap," which is arguably the most famous line in the ROTJ, was, incredibly, not in the screenplay. The line was scripted as "Its a trick!" and was later changed post-filming after a test screening because, let's face it, "it's a trick" just doesn't have the same ring to it.
10. While Return of the Jedi saw Luke return the favour to Vader and cut his arm off, the idea for it actually came from the expanded universe novel, ‘Splinter of the Mind's Eye’. This book was intended to be turned into a sequel to Star Wars but when that movie became so popular, the idea was abandoned. Vader was actually the only Star Wars film character to lose an arm three times! And both his legs as well. Obi Wan Kenobi got 3 of his limbs in Revenge of the Sith!
11. James Earl Jones is famed for providing the voice for Vader however he didn't do the famous breathing effect. This was done by Ben Burt placing a microphone inside the mouth piece of a breathing apparatus and recording it being used. 
12. Leia's character has her own musical theme titled "Princess Leia's Theme". It is represented by the musical leitmotif method which is famously used across the films. The piece was composed by John Williams and was used several times. It first appeared in A New Hope, heard when Princess Leia is captured by the evil Sith Lord, Darth Vader. Later, it surfaces as R2-D2 plays her holographic message to Obi-Wan Kenobi. 
13. George Lucas at one stage considered using the great Orsen Welles as the voice actor for Darth Vader.
14. Myth - Lucas had 12 films all mapped out before the first Star Wars was released. That’s the legend but the mythology of it has grown over the years. The nutshell is that Lucas wrote a great deal of material when he was developing his little sci-fi adventure. Based around a so called “Journal of Whills”, Lucas script eventually was cut up and Star Wars as we know it was filmed. It was not until Empire Strikes Back came out that the term Episode 5 was mentioned officially. Lucas’s grand vision was actually pieced together over severalyears in very broad strokes. The 12 or 9 films as most people know of were never fully scripted but were largely imaginings of Lucas that were eventually firmly realized well after 1977. The story about the novel, Splinter of the Mind’s Eye effectively confirms this. Well this hand written vision by George totally proves it (to the right). Indeed he had A New Hope at 6. 
15. Princess Leia never actually gets to 'meet' Obi Wan Kenobi. She sees him from afar when she's escaping the Death Star and Obi Wan is about to let Darth Vader kill him but that's it. Unless you count Obi Wan being present for her birth in Revenge of the Sith...
16. Jedi was originally going to be called Revenge of the Jedi until Lucas decided that Jedi do not seek revenge. This was quite late in the production so there was a lot of promotional gear with the title already printed on it. 
17. As Adele would say, rumour has it that Carrie Fisher had a massive drug problem during the filming of Return of the Jedi. Cocaine was apparently her powder of choice. Apparently. OK, there is no apparently, in Jedi you can see she wears and extra long finger nail which is just a perfect instrument to assist with the distribution of nose candy up the nose.
18. Darth Vader was referenced in the film Back to the Future by Marty McFly as being from the planet Vulcan. No one was sure who was more upset - Star Wars fans or Trekkies!
19. Princess Leia was subject to one of the most famous ad libs in cinema history - that being Han Solo's response to her declaration of love - "I know". Harrison Ford apparently made it up at Irvine Kershner's suggestion. Leia got to return the line in Jedi during the Battle of Endor.
20. E.T. made a cameo appearance in Revenge of the Sith
21. If you asked the average Star Wars fan what was Leia’s home world, they would be correct in answering the planet Alderraan and they could go to the head of the class. If you asked the most hard core fan, they might also quickly add that Leia and Luke were actually born at a medical facility on Polissa Massa – if you’ve seen Revenge of the Sith you might recall that is where Obi Wan Kenobi took the injured Padme for medical assistance.

I may have gone full Star Wars nerd lately. Deal with it and read this:

I may have gone full Star Wars nerd lately. Deal with it and read this:

• Here's my rant about why everyone needs to chill out about Star Wars production because there's at least 5 reasons to love that JJ Abrams is the man to direct Ep 7.
• I've put together a piece on how Carrie Fisher made Leia and how Leia made Carrie  Fisher. I also looked at 11 crazy stories, facts and myths about Darth Vader you probably want to know about. It also turns out that he's quite quotable. 
• Then I busted some long believed myths about Star Wars and we did our best to convince readers to read a certain book written by Alan Dean Foster.
• Some secret Ralph McQuarrie concept art work was found that guided how Empire Strikes Back looked. So that got posted.
• I learnt there might be a new Indy movie if the rumours about Han Solo being in Star Wars 7 are true. 
• Finally, I proved that Wedge Antilles really is Obi-Wan Kenobi's Uncle. From a certain point of view you understand.

Myths about the Star Wars franchise and the reality of the truth behind them!

Myths about the Star Wars franchise and the reality of the truth behind them!

A film franchise with such a long history as Star Wars is sure to have acquired a few myths and urban legends about the development and production of the films. Here's 5 myths that are now forever debunked!

Myth: George Lucas actually directed Return of the Jedi instead of Richard Marquand. 

The reality is that Marquand directed Jedi. Which is not to say it was a smooth process. It was speculated that due to many of the technical elements of product Marquand was out of his depth and this caused several issues.

It has even been whispered that Lucas asked the Director's Guild of America to get himself a directing credit for Jedi. This seems fanciful however as Lucas had a famous falling out with that group! In reality, Marquand was the director of the film and was clearly very crucial to some very successful elements of it!

Myth - George Lucas secretly filmed a horror film Blue Harvest but never released it.

Blue Harvest was the working / filming title of Return of the Jedi. It was so named as to try an put offs who might other wise have visited the film sets and let some secrets out of the bag. The film production was heavily into the joke and lots of caps and t-shirts were made to put people off.

The 'official' logo, note the Star Wars font!

While it was rumoured that Lucas wanted to actually make a horror film with the Blue Harvest name, no filming ever took place. The name has since become the stuff of legend - so much so that the Family Guy Stars Wars spoof was named for it.

Myth - Splinter of the Mind's Eye was the scripted sequel to A New Hope

The book ‘Splinter of the Mind’s Eye’ was commissioned by Lucas as a potential sequel to Star Wars. The myth is that the novel was written based off a script written by George Lucas. There was no written script at all -  Alan Dean Foster was writing the novelisation of Star Wars and also a second book.  He was as simply instructed by Lucas to write the book based off some ideas and film treatments that George threw at him.

Lucas could then turn it into a film script down the line, if he so chose. The reality is that when Star Wars 'went global' Lucas changed gears and the sequel script was first drafted by Leigh Bracket, which after her death from cancer, Lucas refined further with help from Lawrence Kasdan. 

Interesting side note - the novel was interesting in that Luke cuts off Vader's arm with a saber in the climax, an action which became common theme in the Star Wars movies.

Myth - The Wampa was created to allow for Luke's rearranged face after a car accident

Mark Hamill was injured prior to the filming of The Empire Strikes Back. This is fact. The myth is that due to his face being rearranged, Lucas had to re-write the Hoth events to include the Wampa attacking Luke to account for his injury. The truth is that no accommodations were made for Hamill’s face.

He did apparently get a black eye when filming the famous 'Dianoga' attack in the Trash Compactor' scene from A New Hope which meant he was filmed from one side only for the rest shooting that scene.

Myth - Lucas had 12 films all mapped out before the first Star Wars was released.

That’s the legend but the mythology of it has grown over the years. The nutshell is that Lucas wrote a great deal of material when he was developing his little sci-fi adventure. Based around a so called “Journal of Whills”, Lucas script eventually was cut up and Star Wars as we know it was filmed. It was not until Empire Strikes Back came out that the term Episode 5 was mentioned officially. 

Lucas’s grand vision was actually pieced together over severalyears in very broad strokes. The 12 or 9 films as most people know of were never fully scripted but were largely imaginings of Lucas that were eventually firmly realized well after 1977.  The story about the novel, Splinter of the Mind’s Eye effectively confirms this. Well this hand written vision by George totally proves it (to the right). Indeed he had A New Hope at 6. 

So there you have it, some Star Wars myths and the truth behind them. It's amazing how much history Star Wars really has!

Extra for Experts:

• Facts about the making of the Return of the Jedi - including it's original title.
• Quotes from Obi Wan, Han Solo, Vader and the original Starkiller himself, Luke Sykwalker.
• Facts and trivia about The Empire Strikes Back

How many number one songs have U2 had?

Bono

How many number one songs have U2 had?

The short version: UK 7 and US 2

The long version:

U2 have had all kinds of hits on the music charts but at the end of the day it’s the songs that made number one on those charts that are often the ones asked about as questions in pub quizzes. So to help you out, here’s a list or two of U2 songs that have made number one.

There are various kinds of charts that track popularity and they often revolve around rock, country and blues and are used to allow music that would never be mainstream get some air time. There’s even the itunes charts which for some unexplained reason people seem to think matters…

Two my mind there are only two charts that really count. Being ‘Top of the Pops’ in the UK means you are number one and crowning the Billboard 200 means you have the most popular song for the week in America. And we’ll use those charts to show how many number on hits U2 have had.

First up is the America Billboard chart which shows the U2 have had two number one hits. Both hits were from The Joshua Tree and were With or Without You and I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For. Desire from Rattle and Hum made it as high as 3 and a couple of singles from Achtung Baby and Pop made the top 10 and that’s it.

So, U2 have only had 2 number one American hits.

It’s a better story for the UK chart where U2 have had a bit more success in terms of chart toppers.

Nothing from The Joshua Tree went to number one despite the album’s massive success so it was Desire that became U2’s first UK number one hit It came from Rattle and Hum. In 1991 when The Fly flew off as the lead single from Achtung Baby it landed at number 1. It was a long time between drinks when Discotheque dropped in 1997.

U2’s All That You Can’t Leave Behind had a string of popular singles but only Beautiful Day in 2000 managed the spot. A debatable number one is Take Me to the Clouds Above" by LMC vs. U2. Debatable as it was a song featuring samples from U2's With or Without You with a health splash of Whitney Houston thrown in. At the end of the day, the song has U2’s name in the space where the artist’s name goes so it counts as a number one.

How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb offered a notable double with both Vertigo and Sometimes You Can’t Make It on Your Own grabbing their time in the top position.

No Line on the Horizon suffered from a lack of hit singles.

This means U2 have had seven number one hits in the UK and two in the U2. Unsurprisingly U2 are even more popular in their home country of Ireland and owned the number one place an awesome 21 times.

The next most popular country is the enlightened people of Canada with 14 which is twice as many as the UK successes.

List of U2’s UK number one songs:

• Desire
• The Fly
• Discotheque
• Beautiful Day
• Take Me to the Clouds Above
• Vertigo
• Sometimes You Can’t Make it On Your Own